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Reviews
Changing Ends (2023)
A superb start
There are two shows that this Alan Carr effort really remind me of.
This is a 1980s version of two 1970s classics. The Dudley based Grimleys that starred Amanda Holden, Brian Conley, James Bradshaw and the real star turn, Noddy Holder. Then there was the much too short lived and brilliant Cradle to Grave. Difficult to look past the tour de force that was Peter Kay, utter genius in C2G (ably abetted by the fantastic Lucy Speed).
Hopefully Changing ends gets a longer run than Cradle to Grave which was criminally short at 6 episodes.
We've obviously moved far enough away from the 1980s to be able to eulogise it in the way that Ashes to Ashes etc. Did for the 1970s.
Carr's personal intrusions are well timed and well written, particularly the Prince / George Michael gag (Too soon?)
There are little lines like "Touch my Blue Nun and you're out" which will resonate with anyone born late 1960s hitting the full force of 1980s UK naffness at the Beefeater with Prawn Cocktail and Black Forest Gateau.
The star of it all, Oliver Savell, does an excellent job portraying the young Carr and hopefully he will have the career he wants from this like Laurie Kynaston and James Bradshaw before him.
The soundtrack is excellent too. So all in all an excellent first series that doesn't drag or outstay its welcome. Here is to more...It would be good to take this to sixth form. So at least 3 more series please.
The Woman in the Wall (2023)
great subject, great actors, disappointing writing
This had everything going for it, and bar the very odd "wtf" I was with it right up until the final episode. This is exactly why I never write a review lauding a programme until it is finished. Those gushing after episode 3 were right, it was pretty good at that point but the final episode lost the plot entirely.
Two main problems
a) Why did Aoife climb up the wall, how did she get in to the attic and if she had to smash through a wall to get in to the attic why didnt she smash through the wall which was freshly plastered and still letting light through and was right in front of her?
This made no sense. You wake up behind a makeshift plaster wall, not brick, not even wood and very poorly constructed. It would have fallen in an instant with any pressure from the inside. No, instead she scuttles sideways and climbs two floors of a house using the wooden frames of plaster boarded walls, losing a shoe in the process, just one shoe mind you. She is found dead in the attic. Now I am yet to see a house where you can climb up between the walls and end up in the attic without having to, at some point, break through a floor or a wall. No houses are ever constructed that way. One push or kick and she would have been straight in to Lorna's living room and free to leave. It strikes me they had a plot start and a plot end. "Woman thought to be dead is buried behind living room wall". The next plot point is "Wall is broken down and the person thought to be dead behind wall is gone". So we need those two things to happen. Problem is they had a complete brain fade for the middle bit so just made up something stupid, impossible and ridiculous.
As a late addition to point a) if I was a copper looking for a missing person in a suspects house and there was a freshly plastered section of wall with missing wallpaper that was about human size I would be asking questions about why is there a freshly plastered human sized section of wall right there in front of my eyes? Nope. Never even crossed anybody's mind.
B) sgt. Aidan Massey had already been warned off the case by his superior, he was on enforced leave. Is it plausible that his illegal theft of a mobile phone would be over-looked? Is it plausible that after already harrassing Coyle who was working for and with some very powerful people that he wouldn't have already have had Massey warned off again, that he would have had Massey suspended for harrassment, that he would have had Massey arrested for theft. That any evidence from the phone would be illegal. Are we supposed to believe that a powerful man carrying out illegal work on a mobile phone wouldn't have even had a simple numerical lock on that phone, such that Massey could just trip through the phone list to call the mysterious number of the woman who actually killed the priest in the first place. The real biggie is the lack of lawyer / solicitor. A very expensive one would have been crawling all over Massey after his first confrontation with Coyle.
It's like they had a lot of "A's" and a lot of "C's" as plot points but just didn't have the skill to join them up in a non-ridiculous way.
"Oh we'll just have the copper steal the phone from the man's pocket and it isn't locked".
Have they never heard of "warrants"? You kinda need one. It can take days / weeks to get a warrant to unlock a phone so they just had to make it "not locked".
You can possibly tell I am slightly annoyed with "The Woman in the Wall". It's a fantastic story that deserves to be heard by a wider audience. I just think it deserved a better writer than it got.
Executive Stress (1986)
Would have been a smash, if it had been a BBC Production
As a comedy vehicle for Penelope Keith "Executive Stress" written by George Layton is every bit as good as To the Manor Born. This is empirically backed up by iMDB figures. Layton has form and has been the quiet writer of many excellent "Comedy-Drama" series.
The maindraw back is that this was an ITV comedy, Thames to be exact. ITV doesn't have a track record in comedy and Thames even less so with the only Comedy worthy of the name that ever came from ITV being Rising Damp and that was Yorkshire TV.
This is a shame because it is rather good. Had Executive Stress been a BBC production I think it would be remembered rather better than it is. ITV comedy rarely gets repeated, for good reason in most cases, but this deserves it's spot amongst "The Good Life", "Porridge" and "Yes Minister" on the perennial roundabout of repeats with the BBC big boys.
So what held it back? Well the jarring change of main character didn't help. Geoffrey Palmer for Peter Bowles is hardly like for like, brilliant though they both are. Particularly with Peter and Penelope's history.
The aforementioned Thames production just robbed it of that certain something. Exposure for one. No-one watched ITV for comedy. All of the great comedy experience was tied up in the BBC. John Howard Davies was by no means a slouch (The Goodies, Python, The Good Life etc) but all of that experience was within the confines of the BBC. Maybe it's the fact that writers were restricted to about 22 minutes of actual programming once you take credits and adverts out of the equation. This is opposed to the 29 minutes you would get as a BBC writer / producer. Brevity certainly doesn't make things any tighter. Only Fools and Horses really blossomed when that went to 59 minutes. So maybe the longer screentime allows for something "More".
Anyway this is well worth a watch and is one of the better 1980s situation comedies. The fact that it is an ITV production , makes me even more astonished that it came out so well.
Endeavour (2012)
The end of a beautiful line
Well here we are The End. It's Over. Exeunt. Not just Endeavour but the whole canon. It has been a superb ride. I watched all of Morse "Live" back in the day from January 1987. It was brilliant, unbeatable and ground breaking. I bought all the double pack VHS tapes and then the DVDs with the magazines. It was that epic. I was thrilled when Lewis returned, almost in tears during the pilot, or "Reputation" as it became known, it was, in it's own right a really good series, not quite Morse, but close enough. The addition of Laura was the deftest of touches. (I'm looking for Inspector... Mouse?" - If you know, you know).
Then came Endeavour, what to make of this? There was a two series cross-over where both Lewis and Endeavour were on screen. How would the Liverpudlian Shaun Evans fill those massive Morse-sized boots?
Well he did and he was helped enormously by the cleverest of writing. Russell Lewis, I doff my cap. You achieved the seemingly impossible.
Endeavour works, like the very best of shows, on many levels. It works for the World wide audience, for people who have no connection, other than via media, to the UK. But it really works for those of a certain age. There are a *LOT* of the cleverest of Easter Eggs in many of the 36 episodes. Easter eggs than mainly work if you get the references.
From mirrored choirs, to mirrored songs bookending the series'. From Fred's "turn" in the very spot Morse met his end (what would have been) 28 years later.
Character names used in Endeavour that would turn out to be wrong 'uns in Morse like Matthew Copley-Barnes, unforgettably played by Geoffrey Palmer in 1990.
The mention of a young Police cadet up in Newcastle being the only relative of a dead man. One Robert Lewis.
So Endeavour really works if you know your Morse.
But in also works if you know your pop-culture Britain. Subtle and clever references to Thunderbirds, Crossroads Motel, Mr. Benn, On the Buses, James Bond's Thunderball, Dixon of Dock Green. There are too many to mention.
It also works if you know your Dexter with an unsolved crossword puzzle in the last episode being set by "Codex" the real life nom-de-plume of one young crossword setter called Colin Dexter.
All this is without the wonderful Dorothea Frazil, played superbly by Abigail Thaw, daughter of the original Morse, John Thaw. Her first meeting with Endeavour is a true gem. "Oh, another life then?"
Imdb is littered with failed endings of otherwise superb TV shows. This will not be in that group. It succeeded and like the whole show it succeeded on many levels.
The ending will have anybody who loves Morse gulping for air and wiping back a tear. The overhead shot of black and red Jaguars crossing should be a Bafta winning moment.
The main question has been answered as well. Why did Morse never mention Thursday or Joan at all in any book or film? Now we know. Sorted.
So thank you to all involved, I can't imagine there is anywhere else to go. Halfway through Lewis I could have seen a series called "Hathaway" but that is never going to happen now. 'Cos, y'know. There is a small 14 year window, from summer 1972 to summer 1986, when filming started for the first Morse, but I really can't see them going there.
My vote for the three series would be Inspector Morse 8.5, Lewis 8.0 and Endeavour 9.5.
Morse is only so low today as it is ageing, as any show with clunky car telephones will. In it's day it was solid 9.0.
So Endeavour bows out at the very top, it achieved something that very few long (cop) series do, it got better and the end was the best, rather than doing a "Line of Duty" hitting us with a bang and , ok not getting much "worse" but certainly not getting any better and leading to a very strange conclusion. Happy Valley is close but that was less than a 10th of the screen time that Endeavour had to consistently rise to those heights. Endeavour could easily have had 4 or 5 more series, but they are doing the right thing. Morse has done his time and is laid to rest before the gap gets too small.
"Gratias tibi ago pro omnem" as Morse might have said.
Grace (2021)
oh dear
The Books are great - I and the Missus have read and listened to them multiple times, all 17 of them at this point. They are as good as Colin Dexter's Morse...almost.
I really like John Simm and anything with Craig Parkinson is generally a hoot.
This is, however, very poor. I have watched all 4 broadcast so far and the "benefit of the doubt" is wearing extremely thin. Such that in the 4th episode I was screaming at the end. "No, Nooooo, they just wouldn't do that - nobody would". My equally disappointed wife had to stop me throwing the remote at the TV. The books made sense, this nonsense is just stupid.
The things that happen such as what Cassian Pewe does in his first appearance would never be allowed to happen. Never, but it did here. Utter tripe. Handled really badly.
I gave it 4 out of ten but even then I am not sure why. Maybe for the source material. Maybe it just doesn't translate from the page well or maybe it has just been done badly. I don't know but I, as I type, am not sure I will bother with part 5.
Morse is safe as the Genre King.
Death in Paradise (2011)
Patchy but worthwhile
The problem when you have a regularly rotating lead is that you are subject to the vagaries of how you feel about that lead. In general the leading support actors have been superb. The episodes with the best lead Detective also seems to correspond with a more enjoyable program and better acting all round. Gary Carr, Sara Martins, Elizabeth Bourgine, Don Warrington and Danny John Jules have had the best of the episodes.
I would rate the series thus...
Ben Miller 9.0+
Kris Marshall 8.8.
Ardal O'Hanlon 8.2
Ralf Little 6.5
It could be the writing getting tired, which I don't think it is as it a well trodden path the episodes follow. The key is that, sadly, Ralf Little is a poor actor. Rather like Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) he got lucky with an early role that suited his personality and the programme was a massive hit.
Now there are actors who can play the same guy over and over. When was the last time Hugh Grant didn't play Hugh Grant? Hugh Grant is deep but not very wide, as is Colin Firth, as is Marc Warren, as is Philip Glenister. The thing is they are exceptionally good, world class even, at being themselves. Very, very deep, but no Streep.
You then get other actors who can still only play themselves and are unfortunately, not very good at it. Not very wide and not very deep either.
So do watch this. Certainly up to about season 8/9 it is varying between very good and excellent. After that it is pot luck and you will notice the ouch. I really mean it, it hurts at times, wooden is an insult to wood. But do watch the rest.
Silent Witness: Matters of Life and Death: Part 2 (2021)
The lowest point yet
I have seen every episode of this. Sometimes twice over as it got really good when Leo / Harry and Nikki were in their pomp. Even bits with Jack and Clarissa were well written and Thomas grew on me.
Then how did we get here.
This set of episodes, in fact the last 4 episodes have been appalling.
Where do I start? The acting was atrocious, VIth form standard, maybe first year at uni at a push. The well known actors were better such as Dame Sian Phillips, although Pauline McLynn seemed to be phoning it in a bit. The young actors, those where this might be their 3rd or 4th thing were terrible. Last episode and this.
Plot: Utterly laughable. Watch it, I dare you and tell me one thread, one tiny strand of the plot that made sense. Walking elderly residents, some in their 90s out into "The worst storm in decades" because of an impending flood and then back again. Lightning was everywhere and yet one of the elderly patient was wearing a metal crown! Asking for it!
Lets go with Nikki, good solid dependable Nikki. Now Michael Crompton, who wrote this tosh has done 14 of these double episodes, so 28 in all. And yet you would think he didn't know Nikki at all. Hadn't watched an episode, passed off a teenage relative's wet dream as his own work. No way in a million years would Nikki allow herself to be manipulated by a callow student, ending up at a stupid halloween party and then to bed with said callow youth.
Continuing the massive plot holes and inconsistencies.... So Nikki has been up early, worked a full day, gone out on the lash and ended up in bed with a student at 1 or 2 am at the student's falt, then somehow, during the "Worst storm in decades" without so much as a blink of an eye is in the relief / rescue sports hall the following day where it is still lashing down and the roads are impassible, so Nikki gets from Uni where she had been drinking, to student's flat, to Sports hall / rescue centre, to Middle of nowhere Nursing home to Scene where the Nurse's body is found, I make that about 40 hours of solid rain and 40 hours without sleep and Nikki is as fresh as a daisy and goes where the army fear to tread..
Finally the Brother who had the farm, was constantly angry, angry at his sister, massively so, so much so that he had a shotgun to his chin and was only stopped from committing suicide by the arrival of the new, awful, forensic trainee. Then suddenly a few days later he's as happy as Larry at his Dad's funeral holding his Sister's hand. For starters, he would have to undergo psychiatric assessment and probable hospitalization for the attempted suicide with a (one presumes) legally held shotgun. That's how Dunblane and Hungerford happen, letting shotgun owners with suicidal tendencies wander around.
It pain's me to say it but I almost feel like suing the BBC and demanding my evening back. 24 series. Much of which has been consistantly the best thing on TV.
Reduced to this badly acted, awfully written mess. Yes, mess. It's a mess from start to finish. Every single point is nonsense. If you know Silent Witness you will spend 2 hours with your head in your hands saying, on repeat "They just wouldn't do that" or "Why are they doing that, it doesn't make sense"
The coup de grace is Nikki with her legs in the air one minute drunk in some weirdo's bed and then, bright as a daisy next minute in some distant rescue centre in entirely different clothes all whilst the worst storm in decades is raging.
Please get better writers and better actors or put this once brilliant show out of it's misery.
Silent Witness: Redemption - Part 2 (2021)
Plot holes to the fore
Another excellent start to a new series of one of my favourite programs.
All the usual stuff is here to make you feel comfortable.
The gaping plot holes, Nikki running around like a cop as if she doesn't have one the most important, time consuming jobs to do. She is part of the Lyall Centre still but she is the only pathologist at a busy teaching hospital and as usual she spends a LOT of time not doing her job.
The ending was great but as much as I always enjoy these things they always end with both the Mrs. And I looking at each other laughing and saying something along the lines of "What a load of tosh!"
Without giving too much away there is no way on earth that Nikki, given the final situation she got into, would have come out alive or without being seriously sexually assaulted. And no way the main villain would have survived either. Half a dozen serial and serious prisoners, one of whom had already shown a penchant for inflicting massive damage, giving a non-violent middle aged man the kicking of his life? No way.
So, as ever enjoy the ride, it's great fun but suspend any thoughts of reality.
Nikki is dead or seriously traumatised.... except she isn't. Enjoyable nonsense.
Jonathan Creek: Black Canary (1998)
The best of a very good series
Every good series has a goto episode, the one, if you had any friends, that you would recommend. This is that episode.
The first 4 series of Jonathan Creek are exceptional. Brilliantly conceived, brilliantly acted, funny and thoughtful. So the best of that bunch would have to be the cream and it is. Released as a Christmas special in 1998 it sits between series 2 and series 3.
It should also be said if you were looking for the best piece of work Rik Mayall ever did then this is right up there with anything he did with Ade Edmondson, who Ironically turns up as a side character in a couple of series time.
So why is it good? Where do I start, the plot is superb, the Police / amateur detective interplay is just brilliant.
For once we get a cop who is almost, almost as sharp as Jonathan. There is that Indiana Jones feeling with Inspector Gideon Pryke, he would have got there with or without Jonathan.
The Creek specials like this one are mostly excellent. Satan's chimney is almost perfect too.
The problem with brilliant series that end too soon is that there is always a clamouring for more. The problem here is they relented and series 5 and those specials (2013 onwards) are mostly a very poor imitation, they are not rubbish, anyone who says they are is being silly, it's just that they are nowhere near the quality of writing that got us to the end of series 4 a decade earlier.
I would always start with series 01 episode 01 and go through to the end of series 4 and make your mind up whether you wish to continue. But as a one-off The Black Canary is peerless.
The Movies That Made Us (2019)
Good ideas ruined
I do love these kind of programs, right back to the 1970s with James Burke and Connections. Then the BBC Comedy Connections. So when I saw this I thought, fantastic, this'll be fun. I know all of the films, they are my era and my style of film.
Unfortunately they made it unwatchable. I mean totally unwatchable with the awful voiceover. The film is the star, unfortunately no one told the voiceover guy. It's probably not his fault as a pound to a penny he was exactly what the Netflix guys were looking for. Unfortunately they pegged it at annoying 7 year old rather than somewhere between 30 to 55 with at least half a brain. Everything is telegraphed, everything is over-explained.
The clips and the people who made the film were more than enough, a little background a little dissection would have been fantastic. But No. Everything is so over the top. I did try to complete Die Hard, one of my favourite films. I moved on to Jurassic park to see if things got better. They did, significantly. A much calmer voice-over. But then I realised the irritating voice-over is only part of the problem. It's the structure and the audience that the producers have plainly got this series aimed at.
If you are somewhere under 10 and with the attention span of a gnat, you might like this but then the films will mean nothing. They pick 8 films aimed at a certain generation and then present them for an audience 30? 40? Years below that and 50? 60? IQ points lower than it should be.
It makes me realise as a Brit that anything but the very best US entertainment isn't meant for me. The best is brilliant. The average is nauseating. I get it, it's the same as someone from your side of the pond just doesn't get Inspector Morse or Line of Duty. It's not meant for you, if you do get it then great. I just don't get this, They had a killer idea, the movies are stellar but they needed a proper documentary maker like Simon Sheridan making it. One guy who knows what he is doing is way better that a whole team who don't.
Hey it might be a success and hit all the right numbers but it is just awful, awful, awful, as it is, to me.
Kurenai no buta (1992)
A film about redemption
Just because you have, or you think you have done bad things it doesn't mean that those things should always define you.
And that's Porco Rosso in a nutshell. Porco feels guilty that he survived missions that his friends died in, particularly the husband of a woman he has always been close to.
Porco wasn't turned in to a pig, he turned HIMSELF in to a pig as self punishment and loathing due to survivor's guilt. That's my take on it all anyway.
It is so tiresome to read people saying you shouldn't admire Porco because he is "Mysoginistic" that's utter modern "woke" nonsense. It's a 30 year old film about the 1930s. His initial dismissive nature towards Fio would have been an absolutely genuine reaction in 1930s Italy, or elsewhere. He was Pig enough to admit he was wrong and grew as an individual. It would have been a mis-step if he was still dismissive of her after she showed she was utterly brilliant. But no he was nothing but polite and impressed. In fact he could have used Fio's infatuation for him against her, but he behaved impeccably. If you look for flaws you will find them in everyone, including those who shout the loudest.
So, Porco finds redemption with the woman he genuinely cares for, Gina. It's a terrific tale told beautifully.
Up there with the Solid Gold Ghibli Greats of Mononoko, Spirted Away, Howl's Castle. I put the lower marks down to misunderstandings of the time-frame and aims of the film.
Line of Duty: Episode #6.7 (2021)
An intelligent ending
Don't be taken in by the , frankly, ridiculous, attention seeking low marks for this final episode.
It is incredibly thought provoking and serious in it's outcome. AC-12 were fighting a long battle that in all liklihood they would never win. "Sometimes you don't lose, you just run out of time" says a downbeat Ted and he is absolutely right.
The reveal of who the 4th man was, needs thinking about, if you wanted a big bad, and there were a couple of candidates such as Osbourne or Carmichael, yes, you will be disappointed, but they would have have been even more ridiculous than those who are claiming the real ending is ridiculous.
Now we know it is Buckles we have set about watching it all again and it makes pure sense. Most people in the real world are promoted one or two stations above their skill levels, why should a disparate crime syndicate be any different.
Buckles didn't climb the ladder, he fell up it as more skilled, dangerous and deceitful coppers were nabbed by Ted or killed by the OCG. By being underestimated (quite rightly) by people on and off screen (it can't be Buckles he's an idiot) he always crept off early to consolidate his position.
So ignore the thoughtless reviews who want the obvious, the DieHard reviews who want shoot out after shoot out and the romantic reviews who want the most hated character to be the lynchpin. Think about it and realize why it was always the guy in the background, the muppet who couldn't spell, the guy who always wanted to go home on time. He was there from series 01, getting in the way, making an pain of himself, doing the wrong thing. Others came and went, but at the end of the day, what held everything up was Buckles.
Most Definately.
Man Stroke Woman (2005)
less than the sum of it's parts
The main problem with this is that it is up against some pretty stiff competition. By that I mean "Big Train" and "Smack the Pony". I don't include the Fast Show as that is a different beast. You could even include "Bruiser" in that list.
Firstly although there are 5 "names" here and one I hadn't come across before none of them have set the world on fire. When you look at the list of people who came out of those three shows you have Oscars and Baftas falling out out of the sack. Plus one of the funniest men to ever grace our screens, yes I am looking at you Mark Heap!
So here we have Nick Frost, the second luckiest man in Showbusiness (take a bow Paddy McGuiness) who owes virtually everything he has to one vastly more talented friend (take a bow Paddy McGuiness). Amanda Abingdon ditto the above but make that luckiest woman. Then there was the guy who was in Game of Thrones as a bit part and also in Strike as a bit part. Then there is Daisy Haggard who had a bit part in the wonderful Episodes. So, you get the point, none of them have the talent or more importantly "charisma" to hold your attention.
Then the writers are quite.... errrm..... average? I mean it's not that the ideas couldn't have worked. It just wasn't tightened up enough and the cast didn't have the quality to pull it off. Take Smack the Pony, some of the ideas were very similar to these ideas (but 6 years earlier), silly men vs. Sillier women, people vs. Life kind of thing. But the hit to miss ratio was 10 to 1 in Smack the pony where two sketches per show might have been a bit weak or Big Train where one or two sketches fell flat ....... across the whole series.
So.... The cast added to the writing just don't hit the mark at any point. There is not one solid guffaw, not one belly laugh in the whole thing. Yes there are a few chuckles and yes there are a few points where you think "That's a good idea" but there aren't enough and they aren't enough to make you really smile.
Repetition. Ok it can really work. The Fast Show showed what can be done. But they did it with an utterly stellar cast. Paul Whitehouse? C'mon. The comedian's comedian Mr. Versatile. Need a teenager? Call on Paul. Need an 80 year old alcoholic? Call on Paul. Bruiser showed what you can achieve with weaker writing but a talented cast who can hold their own. Colman, Freeman Mitchell and Webb made the absolute most of what they had to work with. I think if there had been a series 2 of Bruiser it would have rocked the world. Then Big Train. Brilliant writing / Brilliant cast.
Not one performance in MSW leaves you thinking, ooh they're good. The women are painfully unfunny. Fiona, Doon, Sally and Sarah are funny in Smack the Pony. Not only are they funny thay have the confidence to know they are funny and the ability to pull it off. Amanda, Daisy and the other one are just not funny.
Why have I written all this. To show that this isn't a dumb 3 out of 10 thrown out by a bored housewife in Montana who fell across this somehow. The same woman who would give Big Train a 3 out of 10 because she just doesn't get "humor". This show is a 3 out of 10 because it fails at just about everything you could ask of a sketch show. The only surprise here is that they got a second series.
Do yourself a "favour" and watch Big Train and see how it should be done. Be warned if you laughed, even once, at Man Stroke Woman you won't stand a chance of surviving.
The main blame is with the writer's. None of it is that funny. And when you have that to surmount you have to be more talented than this group to pull it off. I saw it to the end and no, it didn't get better.
Hotel Desire (2011)
Come for the flesh, stay for the soundtrack
There is something extra about mainstream films like this. Classy, well made with proper actors who are prepared to give their all, literally. There are some excellent films made in the last decade that mix mainstream qualities with highly erotic visuals. The best on the hardcore side of the industry are the Lustcinema films and Erica Lust operating out of Barcelona I think. Well made and classy, usually. Then there are films that err on the side of mainstream and Hotel Desire is one of the best. What tips it over the edge is the delicious soundtrack finale provided by Stefan Maria Schneider. It's very difficult to get hold of as a pure soundtrack so I actually listen to it from the movie with my screen turned off. The last 5 minutes of this film are an aural delight. Strings swooshing and whoosing everywhere. So yeah, view it for the images if you wish, and don't get me wrong the main scene is beautiful, but do listen to the music as well, it's stunning.
Bloodlands (2021)
promising
I always think some peoples reviews say a lot more about them than they are happy to let on.
So many times whenever a there is a healthy caring relationship between a parent and child or siblings the old trope trops of "It's Creepy" comes out. Well it's good to have a parent / child shown on TV where they actually seem to care about the welfare of each other instead of the usual hatred and shouting. The fact that some reviewers read more into that, well maybe *that's* creepy.
James Nesbitt proves, yet again that he can carry the leading role. The last thing I saw him in was The Missing and here he is just as good.
The script needs some tightening but it is certainly no worse than just about everything outside of Unforgotten or Line of Duty.
The reviewers who say that too many people have a "sudden volte-face from them all thinking Brannick is the murderer to then believing his every word." Plainly have no idea how team work or policing happen.
There is room for a second series and then we shall see how much they believe him.
It's only 4 hours so even if you don't like it it won't waste your life and sure, what else are you going to do.
The other thing this programme did very neatly, perfectly actually, was to not show bias for either side. It showed that all three sides are capable of being a complete shower. As the old saying goes "The only thing wrong with Northern Ireland is there are too many Catholics..... too many Protestants.... and not enough Christians".
The two young coppers and the daughter come out of this best and I do hope that if there is a second series that Izzy, Niamh and Birdy will make it back
It's hard to like any character played by Lorcan Cranitch, but that's because his portrayal of DS Jimmy Beck in Cracker still haunts me from 28 years ago. That must make him a very good actor.
Will I watch a second series, for sure. There is room for improvement, but not much.
Knights & Emeralds (1986)
Brassed Off for Birmingham, Full Monty for the Midlands
There is a strong track record for small, independant UK films (this is Film4) making quite the impact. Films like Brassed Off and The Full Monty were impressive hits. Sadly Knights and Emeralds managed to slip that net. It's every bit as good as the aforementioned films but never really got noticed like many of the really early Film4 efforts.
Directed superbly by Ian Emes, who was a brilliant visual artist working with the likes of Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield. I first saw Ian's work in 1980 and he has an eye for detail that few can match.
The engaging young leads playing Kevin and Melissa are superb throughout and the supporting cast range from the world famous Warren Mitchell to the unknown.
This is one of the first UK films to have a look at multi-culturalism and some of the worms living under those rocks don't come out of it too well.
I have to admit I am from Birmingham and from a mixed race family (British / Asian) so maybe that is why it spoke to me. But you don't have to be a welder from Sheffield to like the Full Monty do you?
The soundtrack is excellent and I bought it on Vinyl back in the day. Not many places where you will find Rick Astley, the formidable Slade and the criminally under-rated Stephen Duffy on the same bill.
There are a slew of Film4 titles on Britbox right now and I was thrilled to see this one finally added to the list.
Watch it if you can find it, it's a crackin' little film. My only disappointment is that Frank Skinner wasn't in it, it would have been perfect for him, however in 1986 Frank was just emerging from his dance with the bottle. But there was a small role for David Neilson who became Roy Cropper for decades in Coronation Street (and would work with Frank Skinner 8 years later in the fabulous Blue Heaven (1994).
Worzel Gummidge (2019)
The best of the (not so) new breed.
Mackenzie Crook, you dark horse! Plainly most will remember you for The Office, or maybe Pirates of the Caribbean. Then there was Detectorists. The best kept secret on the BBC. Like the best of the best loved comedies from the Beeb, that was a slow burner, like Only Fools.... and The Office itself. This gave it time to find it's audience which in did and you just know you are talking to someone with a brain when they mention "Detectorists". Now all is not golden, and it would be remiss not to mention some clunkers, namely Sex Lives of the Potato Men (2004) or the marginally better Three and Out (2008).
It has to be said though you are on a streak now though. Detectorists is a show that brings tears of joy to my eyes. It Is BEAUTIFUL. From first to last, one of those shows you just don't want to end, but end it must because that is what makes it stellar. Top of the game, on a high note. Leave 'em wanting more, whichever way you want to put it. The house buying ending was just heart-felt. The recent passing of Diana Rigg can only ever make it more so. OK you got lucky. One hit wonder. Ricky Gervais. Remember him. The Office.... that's it. Oh and then there was Extras, OK so two hits. Oh and don't forget the truly wonderful "After Life", which made me laugh and cry in equal huge nmeasure. So I'll give Gervais three monster hits... "But what else has he done" - haha.
So here we are Worzel Gummage. Quite simply it's better than "Extras" (apples and oranges I know). It has everything that Detectorists has. Gentle humour - tick. Eye-wateringly fabulous scenery - tick. Mesmeric soundtrack - tick. Deceptively excellent casting - tick. An old-worldy outlook whilst maintaining at all points a modern outlook -how? - tick.
Just like Detectorists also, the show grows with re-watching. You'll pick up subtle jokes or asides that you just plain missed the first time.
I absolutely get why some have given this 1,2 or 3 stars. I do. Sadly it says everything about the writers of those reviews. Whom I would lay odds never even saw it or half watched it because they were determined to hate it the moment that the programme was mentioned or they found out it had two young black actors in the lead roles or the moment it had "Environmental issues" in it (The world's gone PC mad!!!) . It's a programme about the English Countryside of course it's going to have an Environmental message. Is being asked to pick up your litter or close a gate behind you too much to ask? Or does that, and not being able to say certain words, infringe on your rights?
One giveaway was "The actor playing the Green man looked like a tramp" as a negative. No human alive, with half a brain, would call Michael Palin, one of the greatest comedians, writers, actors, indeed one of the greatest humans who has ever lived "The actor who...." Did you even watch the show?
Worzel Gummidge is subtle, witty, slow and yet engrossing, modern and yet old-fashioned. It works on several layers, young "chillun'" will love it as much as older people who did or didn't see the original 40 years ago. Maybe it helps to be British, but really it speaks so many universal languages it shouldn't be a problem for overseas viewers with a decent outlook on life.
Cup of tea, slice of cake and an hour of 21st Century Worzel, what could be better?
Keep 'em coming Mackenzie you've got a third belting programme to make after you're done with this, but more of this first please. And if you can find a role for Bill Bailey all the better. He'd make a decent scarecrow I think.
Kate & Koji (2020)
A comedy? On ITV? yes.
Rising Damp... The list stops there. Even the list of 30 best TV comedy characters, broadcast last night, stopped at Rigsby as far as "The other side" was concerned. I am not saying for a second that this will alter many opinions or disturb that top 30. BUT it is rather funny. The writers have previous and Brenda Blethyn is worth a watch (in the style of Sarah Lancashire, David Tennant and Nicola Walker being "Worth a watch") she will not let you down.
The premise is good, and the single location whilst limiting in some respects allows for a revolving cast coming and going. I get the similarities between this and Count Arthur Strong, which I found to be utterly brilliant so no problem there. I could watch Barbara Flynn reading the 'phone book as she is just a lovely human.... playing agin type in this show as she is the counterpoint against which the cafe owner rails. Ever since I first saw her in A Very Peculiar Practice back in the day she has epitomized beauty. So for a first series it is very promising. I can't understand those saying they can't see it running beyond two series (using that number as an intended insult).... I can name lots of the funniest UK shows ever than didn't run to more than twenty shows and some of the biggest piles of rubbish that can run to 60 or 70. So enjoy it for what it is, a quality ITV show with some very funny lines and some very (extremely) talented actors. A final word on Jimmy Akingbola, superb. Once the characters gain traction it will build on a promising start.
Doctor Foster (2015)
Misogyny writ large
(minor spoilers ahead)
I am no feminist (as far as you could get from it for a rational male person), but it is interesting after watching the series and then reading the comments here.
The series itself is well shot and very well acted, the premise is very good, what stops the show from being perfect is the inconsistency of the writing. These days it is the norm when watching so many thrillers for one of us to say "Who does that?" or "That doesn't make any sense". The very best shows keep you grounded in reality, even if the premise is bonkers (Life on Mars for example). Doctor Foster got this the wrong way around. Good premise but bonkers decision making by the key character. By the time we had got well into the series I had started to lose sympathy for Gemma, she had turned from wronged woman to instigator, through a series of poor decisions.
This is where the misogyny comes in. The husband was a despicable, deceitful, dishonest, foolish, selfish coward of the worst kind. Really the kind of person you would want to keep as far from your family as possible and yet so many of the friends knew what he was doing and normalized the behaviour. A 40 year old man cheating on his wife and child with a 23 year old girl and it was 38 / 21 when it started. He can seem to make bad decision after bad decision for a couple of years and that is OK, but the wife finds out and makes a couple of bad decisions and the knives are out and no-one likes her anymore. I think it's probably that the other main female characters are good, quiet, accepting housewives who know their place and accept male infidelity as an occupational hazard. Gemma is a busy, excellent, female GP who is not going to go quietly and they don't like it. (question - do women make the worst / best misogynists?)
The first thing Gemma should have done is just leave with Tom and get as far from this nest of very unlikable neighbours, colleagues and friends as possible. Special mention to Ros, the GP colleague / friend who I hope finds a special place in Hell and I pray I never have need of the most useless, treacherous, devious, cowardly friend imaginable. I am trying to think of one character that comes out of this mess well and the only one is Tom,... and maybe Anwar, the lawyer with the head lump. A yet, strangely, I enjoyed it.
Every one a horror you hope to never meet let alone have a relationship with.
After Life: Episode #2.6 (2020)
The Widow and the Magnate
Here be spoilers.....
For a Brit of a certain age, with a keen interest in UK TV history, this episode, more than the others had me crying tears of joy (between the real tears as I told my wife of 25 years that I love her).
It's Paul and Ann. Paul and Ann walking away into the sunset, talking and laughing as if Martin Bryce was in the ground. (Ever Decreasing Circles 1984).
Genius. It might pass many by, but to me it is the beautiful end to unrequited love. Like Ria and Leonard in Butterflies but better.
Leave on a high, and this series did, the last two scenes of episode 6 are dynamite. Pure tension, laughs, tears and love. It's a shame some reviews on the main After Life page don't get it, but it really is your loss. But really don't listen to a 20 something from the US with zero life experience. Watch, Laugh. Cry. You will do both in equal measure. Maybe more crying if you have ever truly loved before. Maybe more laughing if that joy is still to befall you.
Congratulations Ricky, After Life is pushing hard to find pride of place on your epitaph, which hopefully will not be written for many long years. Well done.