New British TV Show Reviews
August 8, 2010
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Beautiful People (8/10)
Based on a true story, this BBC comedy uses a modern day framing device
to tell the story growing up as a gay 13-year-old in Reading in 1998.
His family (including mum--Olivia Coleman in a blonde wig, and Meera
Syal as his blind "aunt") are a hoot, as well as the payoff to each
episode that has intriguing titles such as "How I Got My Turner" which
usually turn out not quite what you expected. And despite only being a
decade ago, there is a surprising amount of humor to be mined from
mocking 1998.
Being Human (8/10)
I
watched the first episode when BBC America showed it in 2009 but it didn't grab
me enough to come back for more. But when the buzz on it started to
grow, particularly with the second season, I decided to give it another
chance. This is one of those series that the premise is so
high-concept: a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost sharing a flat, that it
lives or dies on whether you are interested and care about the
characters. And the more I watched, the more I did care, although in
the first season, George the werewolf (Russell Tovey) was probably my least favorite character. He
whined...a lot. And Tovey's Hugh Grant-like stammer and
awkwardness seemed like a poor substitute for actual characterization.
But the second season sees the show running on all cylinders and not
afraid to have three separate story threads running during each
episode, all three compelling. Even the baddies get quite a bit of
screentime and back story that you can understand why they see things
as they do. George in particular makes a real effort to take control
of his life, actually all the characters do, but it's a nice contrast
to his fecklessness in the first season. I look forward to see what
develops in season 3.
Big Top (8/10)
Amanda
Holden, Tony Robinson and John Thomson star in this second-rate BBC
comedy about a third-rate circus. The scripts seem like relics from
the 1970s, right down to Tony Robinson's cynical zingers at the end of
every scene which you can predict every single time. Alas, here in
2010, this sort of comedy is well past its sell-by date.
The Bubble (8/10)
David
Mitchell hosts this panel show where three celebrities spend a week
isolated in a house with no access to outside information and then are
quizzed on the week's news. The series was crippled by BBC News'
refusal to participate creating the fake news stories used to bluff the
contestants, and the series' lower production values might have played
better on radio. There are better current events news quizzes on
television (Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week) and the funniest bits of The Bubble were the scenes
showing the people trying to keep busy in the house (and we've seen
that show before, it's called Big Brother).
Enid (8/10)
BBC TV Movie
with Helena Bonham-Carter in one of her patented roles, this time as
Enid Blyton, one of the most beloved and popular children's authors of
the 20th Century (in Britain, at least), but who was in reality a cold,
demanding woman who didn't really understand her own children very
well. She has an affair with a doctor (Denis Lawson), then forces her
husband to divorce her and proceeds to engineer his estrangement from
their daughters. Despite her personal shortcomings, Blyton was a
writing machine, she could pound out (literally, on a manual
typewriter) 6000 words a day, leading to the occasional accusation that
she used ghost writers, which distressed her greatly. Her most famous
creations are "The Famous Five" and Noddy the gnome, although political
correctness and changing attitudes about class have revised modern
opinions about her works.
The Fattest Man in Britain (8/10)
Timothy
Spall stars in this TV movie as Georgie, a housebound man touted by his
best friend and promoter as "The Fattest Man in Britain" (mostly to
Japanese tourists who don't know any better, and insist on touching
him). But a rival challenges Georgie to a weigh-off to determine who
rightly holds the title and he must choose between friends who want him
to lose weight for his own health or whatever "glory" he can achieve by
being exploited as a freak. Caroline Ahearne (The Royle Family)
co-wrote the movie and gives it a nice, poignant touch, particularly
Georgie's relationship with a young runaway he takes in.
Framed (8/10)
Trevor Eve and Eve Myles (Torchwood)
star in this romantic comedy TV Movie about an uptight curator at a
museum who takes charge of the collection of priceless masterpieces
when they are secretly placed in storage in Wales during
renovations. The locals are unaware of what's going on at first
but eventually word leaks out and Eve learns a lesson about locking up
art and allowing people to experience it.
Getting On (8/10)
Low-key
comedy set in a hospital geriatric ward with former real-life nurse Jo
Brand on call along with Joanna Scanlan. The only way to describe this
series is it's The Thick of It (which Scanlan also appeared in) done
in a hospital. It's shot in exactly the same style (Peter Capaldi, Thick's Malcolm Tucker, directed this series), and with the same
deadpan reactions and attitudes about bureaucracy. Unfortunately it's
lacking the Malcolm Tucker type character who is singularly hilarious
on his own, as he explodes at the situations around him, shooting
expletives like knives at all around him.
The Great Outdoors (8/10)
It's
like a Mike Leigh film in that you have this batch of slightly demented
characters all trapped together and there's no plot in this BBC comedy series. They are just
walking after all, but only 30 minutes in, you know way more about each
of their dysfunctions than you'd care to hear. Mark Heap (Spaced, Lark Rise to Candleford) plays Bob, the
anally-retentive head of the local ramblers club who needs to add new
members or else it will fall apart. But he meets his match in
Christine, played by Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) using her English accent, an obnoxious
newcomer who challenges his authority. Bob's life is joyless except
for rambling and he knows that without order and rules, the result is
anarchy. But he's become a bit too in love of being in charge and
setting the rules, and Christine with her "new ways" upsets his natural
order of things. Other characters include an unhappy young married
couple, Bob's daughter, and a rather dim bulb who has no sense of
appropriate behavior. Even though there are no jokes, per se, I
instantly fell in love with the characters and wanted to see what
happens to them next. The Great Outdoors is never going to be a
world-beater, particularly languishing after midnight in August on
BBC4, but it's worth checking out as a great example of the British
character comedy.
Home Time (8/10)
This comedy
from Steven Coogan's Baby Cow company immediately clues you in for what
you will get: a deadpan character comedy about losers just looking for
a bit of dignity. In this case it's Gaynor (Emma Fryer), who returns
to Coventry after 12 years to move back in with her parents after
having been burned out living in London away from her mates. They
haven't changed a bit and after forgiving her for "running out" on them
(apparently you are expected to live within 10 miles of where you grew
up forever around there), she falls back into the same routines that
probably drove her out in the first place. Everyone from her Irish
mother to her rather doctrinaire friends are characters and though
low-key, you do care about them.
Material Girl (8/10)
Lenora
Crichlow stars this BBC drama as an aspiring London fashion designer
who breaks out on her own with the help of friends but finds out it's a
cutthroat business, personified by her old boss (played in high camp
style by Dervla Kirwan--Joan Collins couldn't have been meaner).
Chrichlow is an up-and-coming star (Being Human, Sugar Rush) and
she creates yet another sympathetic character in what is essentially an
uplifting melodrama.
Miranda (8/10)
Miranda Hart
wrote and stars in this cute but funny BBC sitcom about a large and
awkward woman-child who owns a joke shop but doesn't really seem to
have any designs on living an adult lifestyle. Her mother (Patricia
Hodge) despairs of Miranda ever getting married, and even though she
has a crush on the chef at the local restaurant, nothing ever comes of
it. Hart's ability at physical comedy (as a stand-up comedienne and
actor in Not Going Out and Hyperdrive she has much experience) is
used to great effect, she will do nearly anything for a laugh.
A Number (8/10)
Rhys Ifans stars in this TV Movie based on a play as a young man who
finds out he has been cloned by his father (Tom Wilkinson)--many
times. And each version is slightly different. It's a good
chance for Ifans to play variations on the same part but the production
comes off a bit stagy.
Penelope, Princess of Pets (8/10)
This
Channel 4 "Comedy Lab" pilot stars Kristen Schaal as an American
visiting Britain who must defeat an evil MP (Julian Barrett, The
Mighty Boosh) before he destroys the world in a year. Penelope is able to talk to animals (mostly done using obvious
puppets--the low budget is part of the charm here) who help her in her
quest. It's completely over the top and silly but Schaal is a winning
presence and the gags are funny.
The Persuasionists (8/10)
Adam
Buxton, Iain Lee, and Daisy Haggard star in this parody of the hip and
trendy advertising biz with Buxton as the uncool one trying to keep up
with his colleagues and insane Australian boss. The series is a bit
surreal at times, particularly in an episode where Emma (Haggard) is
put in charge as Head of Handsomeness and banishes all the ugly people
(or those who run afoul of her) to the boiler room. I like the actors,
so I enjoyed the series although it was considered a bit of a failure.
Pete Versus Life (8/10)
Rafe
Spall stars as sportswriter Pete in this Channel 4 comedy that uses the
gimmick of sports commentators narrating his life, commenting on the
action, and comparing his performance to previous outings. Pete's
biggest problem though is Pete, he's one of those characters who relies
far too much on shading the truth and it inevitably bites him on the
ass in the most humiliating way possible when he's found out. To be
fair, his nemesis, his best friend's fiancee is truly annoying to the
extreme and has a rather creepy relationship with her own brother,
another situation which Pete fails to deal with well and blows up in
his face. Poor guy, will he ever learn?
Pulse (8/10)
Claire Foy stars in this BBC3 pilot written by Paul Cornell as an
intern who starts her residency at a hospital where Creepy Things are
afoot. A patient with recurring cancer is being secretly
experimented on by hospital staff, and it's up to our plucky young
heroine to sniff out the truth. Extremely bloody and gory, not
for the faint of heart, this sort of set-up is usually better for in a
feature film (like the similar "Coma") rather than an ongoing series.
Rock & Chips (8/10)
John Sullivan wrote this prequel to his popular long-running sitcom Only Fools and Horses, set in the 1960s. Del is just a teenager (The Inbetweeners'
James Buckley) whose parents move into one of those new-fangled tower
blocks, but his mum catches the eye of the local gangster (Nicholas
Lyndhurst--who played Rodney in Fools). This BBC pilot will become a series, the Trotters live on!
Roger and Val Have Just Got In (8/10)
Dawn French and Alfred Molina star in this low-key BBC comedy that
could be equally staged as a play. There are only two characters,
the eponymous middle-aged married couple, and everything about them is
revealed through dialog as they do some mundane task around the house
such as searching for a warranty on their vacuum cleaner.
Sherlock (8/10)
Is Sherlock a series about the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and
Doctor Watson or a mystery program? If it's the former, it succeeds.
Martin Freeman (The Office)
makes a good Watson in that he is intelligent and
resourceful and not portrayed as a bumbler. And I predict
Benedict Cumberbatch as a young and dashing version of the eponymous
detective is going to be a big star. He told the Sun
newspaper he turned down being the Eleventh Doctor because he didn't
want to
be a face on lunchboxes. While Sherlock is unlikely to have the
merchandising that now accompanies Doctor Who, it will make him a
household name because of his energy, charisma, and let's face it, good
looks. But is Sherlock just another police procedural but one done
with a Doctor Who-like character at the center? As a mystery the first
episode is a bit of a cheat. My wife figured it out, but the villain
is introduced out of left field. Steven Moffat clearing enjoys writing
characters who are hyper intelligent, although it gave a sort-of
sameness to the mannerisms Sherlock used as we've seen on Moffat's
Doctor Who. And Mark Gatiss is a bit shameless in both executive
producing the series as well as having a recurring role. I won't say
who he's playing but my trouble is he always reminds me of someone
trying to do a Tim McInnery impersonation. Setting the series in the
modern day allows it to have a scope and feeling that would be
impossible for the BBC do as period drama, at least not without
spending as much as the recent Robert Downey Jr. "Sherlock Holmes" movie
did. But do we need a Sherlock Holmes set in 2010? What's so special
about London then? Why not just set it in Miami (see here)? Coming to PBS in October 2010.
Small Island (8/10)
A
young, ambitious Jamaican woman moves to gritty, ration-filled post-war
London and finds the "Mother Country" is not quite the land of
opportunity she had imagined. Based on the 2004 novel by Andrea Levy,
Naomie Harris plays Hortense Roberts, and when we first meet her, she's
a bit of a pill. Meanwhile Ruth Wilson plays Queenie who impulsively
marries in order to remain in London and off her family's Yorkshire
farm. Her husband Bernard, played by soon-to-be Sherlock Holmes
Benedict Cumberbatch, is sent abroad during the war leaving his invalid
father in Queenie's care. She opens her house to soldiers stationed in
London and soon meets Michael Roberts from Jamaica who is now serving
in the RAF and begins an affair with him. Because of all the flash
forwards and backs, mostly to fill in Hortense's back story, you have
to pay attention. Also it's easy to confuse the Michael character--who
not only is Queenie's lover but Hortense has been pining for all her
life--and Gilbert Joseph whose marriage of convenience to Hortense is
so they can both move to England. But good acting from the
up-and-coming stars, and the topic about mixed race relations in the
1940s make for good television drama.
You Have Been Watching (8/10)
Charlie Brooker (Screenwipe)
hosts this Channel 4 panel show that allows him talk about that week's
TV shows (what's great is he has an opinion about everything and never
minces words) as well as asking the guests trivia questions about the
programs. Anything that puts Brooker on TV is worth watching,
although one episode about crime from the 2010 season had to be delayed
due to sensitivity involving a shooting incident in Britain that
week.
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Written and maintained by Ryan K. Johnson (rkj@eskimo.com).
August 8, 2010