New British TV Show Reviews
July 9, 2009
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Bonekickers (7/09)
Julie
Graham and Adrian Lester star in this adventure series devised by the
folks who did Life on Mars with the focus this time on a team of
university archeologists who each week come across the sort of
incredible discoveries usually only found in a Dan Brown novel. You
have to suspend your disbelief extremely well to swallow what you are
seeing, but is it really any more nuts than believing a modern
policeman was sent back to the 1970s? Slick and enjoyable, as long as
you let your brain cruise on idle.
Britain's Got The Pop Factor ... And Probably A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice (7/09)
As
you might guess, this a parody of "Idol"-like talent competitions, done
in style by Peter Kay in this Channel 4 special. He does it properly
with all the trimmings including the jaw-droppingly awful auditions of
the finalists, insane judges, perky presenter, and freak show
contestants. We see their back stories, complete with melodramatic
videos where everybody cries, as well as the big production numbers on
stage. The two finalists end up being Geraldine, a post-op Irish
transsexual (Kay), and a singing act featuring two wheelchair-bound
sisters called "Two Up, Two Down" (their husbands push them around on
stage). Kay is very clever, and you never catch anyone telling an
actual joke, you are just meant to laugh at the insanity of it all,
like some weird parallel universe where these sort of people could
actually succeed. Yet, is it really that much different than the real
thing? I suspect the real viewers of the shows Kay is targeting
probably weren't watching this, or at least getting the joke.
Burn Up (7/09)
Canadian/British
co-production (which explains the presence of actors such as Neve
Campbell and Bradley Whitford alongside Marc Warren (Hustle) and
Rupert Perry-Jones (Spooks)) in this BBC mini-series drama set at a
global warming summit. There is a lot of running around, chases (and
acting, to be fair) but about as subtle a tract as Fields of Gold was
about genetically modified foods a few years ago.
The Cup (7/09)
Low-key
summer comedy featuring a boys northern soccer team and their overly
ambitious parents done in the style of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
The team actually has talent (or in some cases, luck) and makes it to
their league's championship final, although not without much
aggravation (and attempted fund-raising) along the way.
Dickens' Secret Lover (7/09)
Charles Dance presents this intriguing look at Charles Dickens and presents some plausible evidence about his affair.
Empty (7/09)
Scottish comedy featuring Gregor Fisher and Billy Boyd as Glasgow
repairmen on various jobs in what essentially is a two-person
show. Fisher is the cranky older one, while Boyd is his younger,
naive assistant who still has ambition. Low-key but the charm of
the stars make it watchable.
Filth! The Mary Whitehouse Story (7/09)
The
infamous little old lady who tried to clean up television is given the
biographical treatment by a not entirely sympathetic BBC TV Movie which
features Mary (Julie Walters) taking on then BBC Director General Sir
Hugh Greene (Hugh Bonneville).
Flood (7/09)
CGI
experts always say that water is the hardest effect of all to do right
digitally, but they cracked it in this slick ITV disaster film
mini-series with Robert Carlyle as an engineer whose ex-wife is the
manager at the Thames flood barrier when the "perfect storm" hits
London and floods the entire city. Thousands are killed and landmarks
destroyed, but will the plucky couple survive? Ironically, although
the water effects are impressive, less so are some digital helicopters
added to the action which look right out of a video game. Stick to
what you're good at, I suppose.
God on Trial (7/09)
Holocaust
drama set at a camp where the Jewish inmates decide to try God because
of what he has allowed to happen to them. Much of it is very stagy
(set in one barracks) but a framing sequence set in the modern day sets
the right tone. Obviously very grim and serious, but well written and
acted. Co-produced by the BBC and WGBH in Boston.
Headcases (7/09)
CGI
replaces puppets in this celebrity topical satire that tries to match
the outrageousness of Spitting Image. The best running joke is
Prince Philip's repeated attempts to get rid of Harry's latest
girlfriend in a segment called "Stop Kate Middleton Now" which bears
more than a resemblance to an old Hanna-Barbara cartoon about a
pigeon-obsessed villain and his snickering dog sidekick.
Ian Hislop's Scouting For Boys (7/09)
Satirist
(and former scout) Hislop takes a serious look at Robert Baden-Powell
and how he invented scouting from whole cloth in a book which became a
movement that swept the world in this BBC documentary.
Ideal (7/09)
Johnny Vegas stars in this BBC-3 comedy that is set entirely in his
flat where the strangest people drop in. That's because he plays
a minor dope dealer but must also deal with lodgers, girlfriends (and
ex-girlfriends), gangsters, and religious fundamentalists who are
renovating his bathroom. There is no laugh track, it's shot
single-camera style, and you either buy into this strange world and the
people who populate it, or you don't.
Katy Brand's Big Ass Show (7/09)
ITV's
answer to Catherine Tate with a sketch comedy series with Brand as
various recurring characters including Kate Winslett, a hard army
soldier, Jennifer Aniston, and Jesus's long-suffering girlfriend. Like
Tate, a lot of the humor is being familiar with each character's
catchphrases, but Brand holds her own here.
The Kevin Bishop Show (7/09)
Bishop,
a sort of younger John Culshaw (Dead Ringers), is a brilliant
impressionist who was the best part of Star Stories playing various
celebrities. In this series he is in the spotlight in what ostensibly
appears to be someone flipping through the channels of digital TV on a
Friday evening and catching what's on (even the time is in synch with
the actual Channel 4 broadcast). His characters include Ross Kemp,
Harry Hill, Harry Potter, and parodies of various low-rent satellite TV
shows. It's difficult for impressionists like Bishop, Culshaw and Rory
Bremner to break out into anything else, but I'll be curious to see
what he does next.
Lab Rats (7/09)
Despite a peppy animated title sequence, this hoary BBC sitcom based in
a university science lab plays like one of ITV's lesser efforts.
Everyone is a cliche and you can see the jokes coming a mile
away. Most shockingly, it's produced by Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Alan Partridge)
who usually makes much more subtle (and funny) shows. Maybe he
lost a bet that he could produce a "conventional" three-camera sitcom,
who knows?
Love Soup (7/09)
David Renwick (Jonathan Creek, One Foot In the Grave) wrote this low-key single-camera style comedy starring Tasmin Greig (Black Books)
as a cosmetic counter worker who is incredibly unlucky in love.
Renwick's forte is creating situations where some tiny bit of
information or business at the beginning of an episode pays off in
comedy gold near the end. Greig is the perfect person to be at
the center of it all, she wears her pain on her face like a younger,
female Woody Allen, yet she never gives up.
Merlin (7/09)
In
the 1960s, British TV shows like The Avengers and The Prisoner were
staples of American TV networks. Alas, those days passed as anything
"foreign" was relegated to the ghetto of public television or later,
niche cable channels. But in 2009 NBC picked up Merlin for prime
time (albeit in the summer) and presumably ponied up some production
money as well. Produced by BBC Wales (the Doctor Who folks), this
slick look at the Arthurian legend features a young, naive Merlin
(Colin Morgan) discovering (and hiding) his powers while trying to help
an equally young Arthur on the right path. Familiar BBC stars such as
Anthony Head ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Richard Wilson (One Foot
In the Grave) provide support, as well as John Hurt as a convenient
exposition-delivering CGI dragon whom Merlin often consults. The same
crowd that likes the updated Robin Hood would enjoy this series,
though obviously it's aimed at a young audience.
Mutual Friends (7/09)
Marc
Warren (Hustle) and Alexander Armstrong star in this BBC comedy drama where the
intersecting lives and loves of a group of friends is thoroughly
dissected. Warren's wife (played by Ashes To Ashes star Keeley
Hawes) wants another baby but things aren't going well for his law
practice, while lazy lay about Armstrong is losing his company (and
former girlfriend--played by Sarah Alexander) to his business partner.
It's very glossy and middle-class, but the charm of the many familiar
actors keeps you interested in their stories.
The Supersizers Go... (7/09)
Food
critic Files Coren and comedienne Sue Perkins team up each week to
recreate different eras of British history by wearing the clothes,
living the lifestyle and most of all, eating the food of the period.
We get extensive looks at the menus for each meal (most of which are of
course disgusting to modern tastes) and laugh as they must force them
down. Nutritionists are consulted before and after each episode to
inform them about what might have been missing from their diets, or how
much weight they gained from eating them (people apparently did much
more exercise in the past to burn off those calories). Even the period
of the 1970s seems just as dated as an Elizabethan meal, and the hosts
almost always seem to be relieved as each episode is over and they can
return to the relative comfort (and familiarity) of the 21st Century.
Teenage Kicks (7/09)
Former Young One Ade
Edmondson co-wrote and stars in this ITV sitcom as a middle-aged punk
rocker who gets divorced and moves in with his college-aged
children. As usual, Edmondson is game for horrific violence
inflicted on his person, but the generation gap humor leaves a lot to
be desired.
The Visit (7/09)
Dry,
observational BBC comedy shot single-camera style that each week
focuses on visiting hour at a prison. Each prisoner has his own
subplot going on, plus interaction with the guards. And nobody here is
going to be Brain of Britain, if you know what I mean.
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Written and maintained by Ryan K. Johnson (rkj@eskimo.com).
July 9, 2009