Him & Her - End of Series Review

Friday 28th December 2012

I have something shameful to admit. I had never watched Him & Her before this series. I know – I’m embarrassed to even say it. I feel like everyone must have been pointing and giving me odd looks as I missed the first two series, like the time I walked all the way back from the library oblivious to the fact I was having a massive nosebleed.

When I did stumble across the first episode of series three, tucked away on BBC Three Sunday evenings in the shadow of Peep Show on the other side, I was absolutely hooked. Him & Her is without a doubt one of the best comedies on television right now, and I’m a little bit ashamed I wasn’t aware of it before.

If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it generally goes like this – we never leave the grotty flat of Becky and Steve, the couple played with complete believability and naturalism by Sarah Solemani and Russell Tovey. As they lounge round their flat they are interrupted each week without fail by the supporting cast, from odd neighbour Dan (Joe Wilkinson) to Becky’s sister Laura (Kerry Howard), probably the most brilliantly horrendous character on television. Often crude but always somehow lovely and charming, you’d think being stuck in the same flat with the same group each week would become repetitive, but rather each episode forms a beautifully crafted, perfectly observed half hour of comedy, usually with an undertone of some delicately touching drama, and carried off by superb performances from every single cast member.

The main plots that gently rumbled along through this series were Steve building up to proposing to Becky (done with the help of homemade Deal or No Deal boxes), a blossoming relationship between Dan and Shelley, and the unhappy union of the nightmarish Laura and her possibly gay fiancé Paul. Sunday night marked the end of the current series with a Christmas special, an occasion which doesn’t seem the most obvious to spend with the lazy couple, and indeed the episode opened with them in bed dipping turkey into mugs of gravy. Soon the guests descended, including Steve’s often absent dad, leading to a quietly heartfelt subplot playing out alongside the comedy provided by Laura arriving with a karaoke machine and a whistle, gifting everyone with Mothercare vouchers and reacting with barely concealed disdain when Shelley splashed out on an antique necklace for her.

It was another warm and at times surprisingly touching episode, just what I had come to expect - I may have only watched one series, but I already feel at home in Steve and Becky’s flat. Not that I’d be welcome there, of course; I’d get in the way of them watching TV.

Put simply, I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on. If you made the same mistake as I did, it’s not too late to redeem yourself. Just quietly treat yourself to the DVD boxset, and we need never speak of this oversight again.

Viva Forever! - Review

Not a TV review, but an amazing musical which I reviewed for the Yorker.

Monday 10th December 2012

 

Viva Forever, the long-awaited musical based around the hits of the Spice Girls, has finally arrived to spice up the West End. For anyone who lived and breathed the Spice Girls in their 90s childhood (and if you didn’t, then you made some poor life choices), this was a much anticipated chance to relive the heyday of girl power.

Having bumped into Olympian Louis Smith on my way to the theatre, I was already pretty hysterically excited, which is probably the perfect mood to be in for this musical. Produced by Mamma Mia mastermind Judy Craymer and penned by comedy legend Jennifer Saunders, Viva Forever follows Viva (Hannah John-Kamen), a talent show hopeful and member of a spirited girl group, whose loyalty to her mother and friends is tested as she struggles with overnight fame and the machinations of her mentor (Sally Dexter).

While satirising the evils of a contrived reality show is hardly a new idea, even the caricatures are tackled with such verve that it feels fresh. The plot plays with the themes of the original Girl Power group – friendship, loyalty and fun – but bases little on the band themselves. Perhaps I’m biased, but it felt much more clever and self-aware than Craymer’s previous hit musical.

The audience were buzzing with excitement before the curtain was raised, and a fantastic opening sending up talent show clichés before exploding into the unmistakeable sound of Wannabe sent the atmosphere into fever pitch. The exuberant cast, particularly the band members (Siobhan Athwal, Lucy Phelps, and Dominique Provost-Chalkley), brought irrepressible energy, and portrayed the all-important group dynamic completely believably. I only wish we’d seen more of them – whilst Viva was wonderful, the relationship between the group, particularly during their anarchic rendition of Stop, was brilliant, and could easily have borne more time on stage. The ending was pure uplifting joy, even before the obligatory sing-a-long to finish.

The show bears the clear stamp of Saunders, with Sally Ann Triplett as Viva’s mother occasionally resembling Ab Fab’s Eddie, and also in Saunders’ keen eye for humour in the songs - her re-imaginings of Too Much and 2 Become 1 were particular highlights. Overall the Spice Girls’ back catalogue was wrestled into a narrative surprisingly well, and a nice balance was struck between classics, imaginative re-workings and mash-ups, with even some lesser known songs included (although we could have done without Let Love Lead the Way. No one likes that one).

For those of us whose childhood was defined by the Spice Girls, it is undoubtedly one of the best feel-good musicals around. Suffice to say, if the thought of leaping out of your seat to bounce along to Spice Up Your Life fills you with dread, then it’s advisable to steer clear. But the irresistible charm of the lively cast and the enduringly catchy music mean it’s hard to walk away from Viva Forever without a huge smile and the urge to listen to Wannabe on repeat. A reminder that no girl band has come close to the iconic hits, charisma and sheer joy the Spice Girls brought, it’s fantastic to have a home for them on the West End – I will definitely be going again.

Goodnight Britain - Review

Sunday 2nd December 2012

 

After being the victim of a night-time assault in second year by a housemate who revealed his sleepwalking habit by appearing in my room and throwing his toiletries bag at me, Goodnight Britain looked to me to be a timely insight into unusual sleeping habits.

According to the documentary, my housemate is one of half a million Britons who suffer from parasomnia, the technical term for sleep-walking, talking, and in the case of one woman featured on the programme, screaming and running about in the belief that you are being assaulted. I sympathised with her frazzled housemate.

Goodnight Britain also tackled sufferers with common problem sleep behaviours such as snoring and insomnia. The first step involved going all Carrie Mathison on the sleep sufferers and rigging their homes with night vision cameras, which were closely monitored by two sleep experts (who weirdly never seemed to need sleep) in their ‘sleep mobile’, where they proceeded to make borderline creepy observations such as “she looks like a good sleeper.”

To begin with it was hard not to see the funny side of the unusual night time activity; I have a friend who talks in her sleep and once hosted an imaginary dinner party where she offered me cheese canapés. In such cases, it’s easy to regard parasomnia as pretty harmless. However the show soon highlighted the serious side of dodgy sleeping, as one participant was suspended from his job as a van driver due to his suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea, a terrifying condition which meant he stopped breathing in between snores.

The insights into the science behind a good night’s sleep were fascinating, but stretched out to two hour long episodes things became increasingly tedious. In the first episode we watched the sufferers in their homes, before watching them again in a special ‘sleep house’, which felt like a particularly dull episode of Big Brother. It wasn’t until the second episode that they actually underwent treatment, a repetitive affair of analysing each night’s sleep, until the interesting tips about “sleep hygiene” and how to treat insomnia were buried under all the content. Condensed into one hour we could have avoided all the unnecessary attempts to inject drama with the most clichéd TV terms available – apparently treating the various conditions would mean “pushing sleepers to their limit”. Sometimes it’s better to just admit that you can’t wring that much drama out of watching someone try and sleep with a mouth guard in.

Nevertheless it was great to see the participants overcome the night behaviours that tormented them, and to see snorers returning from their banishment to the sofa. As for sleep walkers, apparently the solution is to rig their doors with alarms so they can’t get out of their bedrooms – I’ll definitely be trying that one out.

Derren Brown: Fear and Faith - review

 

Friday 9th November 2012

 

When it comes to Derren Brown, people are split into two very distinct camps – the believers and the cynics. Personally I’m in the former; not only am I a little bit scared of him, but I’ve seen him live, and unless he’s a professional Frisbee thrower with infallible aim, he definitely doesn’t use actors in his stunts.

The cynics, however, came out in full force after last week’s Apocalypse experiment, when accusations that the volunteer had been an actor caused a stir in the media – claims which Brown was quick to refute. Regardless of this controversy, I find Brown is at his best not with huge bombastic stunts involving plenty of zombie extras, but with the subtler and scarier mind-meddling. Some of his most memorable mind games have turned members of the public into bank robbers and assassins, so the concept of Fear and Faith sounded particularly tantalising.

The resulting show, however, was not at all like Brown’s usual experiments – it was, in fact, all rather nice. Brown purported to be investigating the placebo effect, by giving test subjects ‘Rumyodin’, a drug that would help them overcome their individual fears, be they confrontation, heights, or singing in public. The theme, rather than seeing how much Brown can traumatise someone before he is stopped by health and safety regulations, was about showing what we are all capable of when we are not held back by our fears.

If that all sounds a bit kind for Brown, it’s because this show had a much more positive feel than his previous nefarious experiments. Though the concept didn’t really lend itself to the mind-blowing twists we are used to with his programmes, the show found joy in the test subjects’ personal victories, providing a surprisingly uplifting hour of television. I was expecting Brown to push his volunteers more, to trick them into extreme situations and see if they crack, but really this programme was about the everyday struggles people face. Strangely, watching someone overcome a paralysing fear of heights can give just as much of a thrill as watching someone battle zombies. It’s great to see Brown using his powers for good, and makes a refreshing change of tact for a man that is usually so menacing (seriously, the guy scares the absolute life out of me usually).

Though the show wasn’t the mind-bending spectacle I was expecting, and arguably wasn’t quite as mischievously entertaining as the time he convinced someone  they were witnessing their own death, it was still a fascinating exploration of the power of psychology, and nice to see a positive programme by Brown. Though next week’s episode looks set to return to controversy by applying the placebo effect to the concept of religion, this week was a respite from feather- ruffling for Derren Brown. This time, no one can accuse him of forgery.

The Curious Case of BBC Three

 

Until a few weeks ago, the most I’d ever watched BBC Three was when it streamed Olympic sports over the summer. It was a channel that, with a few notable exceptions, I generally only resorted to if there was nothing else on and I couldn’t be bothered to pick up a book. But over the last month or so, something strange has happened. BBC Three has had a sudden surge of appointment television, of programmes that I would choose to watch, not just let wash over me because I can’t roll out of the dent I’ve made in the sofa (it’s been a long summer).

BBC Three’s remit states that it should provide “high-quality” programming that is “innovative” and utilises “new UK talent”. Maybe I have a selective memory or I’m being overly critical, but those certainly aren’t the words that would spring to mind if anyone asked me to describe the channel. Maybe I’ve just missed much of the good programming the channel has had in the past, or perhaps the fact that it is funded by the licence fee means that we will always expect more of BBC Three. Its rival E4, competing for the same age group, often seems to grab the big name US imports, which attract more attention than any misfires the channel might produce.

But recently on BBC Three there has been a glut of new, decent comedy, the likes of which the channel usually only likes to provide in sporadic episodes, often years apart, before coming to its senses and returning to its usual output of repeats and Greatest Movie Mistakes; see Little Britain, Gavin and Stacey, and Him and Her for examples, all of which, even if not to your personal taste, have garnered larger audiences and more critical praise than the usual BBC Three fare. The channel seems to be undergoing another comedy renaissance at the moment, producing a string of quality programmes that seem a cut above the normal channel output.

Jack Whitehall’s Bad Education was a strong sitcom debut that I found myself looking forward to every week, mainly due to the phenomenally talented young cast that populated the classroom. The show managed to produce a whole host of gifted young actors, certainly filling the “new UK talent” requirement.

Cuckoo, the channel’s latest comedy, is far from perfect, but driven by the ridiculously brilliant Andy Samberg, it has become compulsively watchable. The inclusion of Samberg seems to hint at the channel’s intent – an American comedy legend from The Lonely Island and Saturday Night Live, he is traditionally more likely to be found in a spoof music video with Justin Timberlake than fronting a BBC Three comedy.

The channel also aired what was perhaps my favourite new show of the summer, The Revolution Will Be Televised (although truthfully I can’t really remember what I was watching two and a half months ago at the beginning of the holiday). When I saw the trailer, it looked like a lazy prank show, featuring comedians handing out Jubilee merchandise to the public and chortling about how it’s cheap tat; obvious, and not particularly funny. But it turned out to be a brave, intelligent and most importantly hilarious show. Rather than being a mere exercise in cynicism, Revolution explained the cold hard facts behind some of the biggest scandals and injustices that are going on, and then combined this with hysterical public stunts – one of its stars was the guy who tried to give George Osborne a GCSE maths textbook. Unfortunately for everyone, Mr Osborne refused it.

Revolution was a genuinely excellent programme, the sort that feels so vital that you are relieved someone is making it. With output like this, BBC Three seems to be finally demonstrating its worth. Is this the start of rejuvenation in the channel? Or is it just another brief episode of brilliance before the channel suddenly remembers that John Humphrys hates it, is crippled by self-doubt and returns to being a bit naff? Who knows. But I will certainly now be more inclined to make time for new shows on the channel, even if they do rub up alongside Pop’s Greatest Dance Crazes.

Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip - Review

 

Thursday October 4th, 2012

In the wake of a summer of Olympic fever (I can’t have been the only one weeping on my sofa as Jessica Ennis took her gold), and following the annual catastrophic breakdown of reserve in X Factor contestants as they are granted 5 minutes of fame before being relegated from human memory forever, the time seems ripe for a documentary investigating that old stereotype of the British stiff upper lip.

The culture of Keep Calm and Carry On seems to suggest that this is a part of our national character that we treasure, along with insane queuing skills. Ian Hislop, as self-assured as a brilliant if slightly intimidatingly clever history teacher, sets out in Stiff Upper Lip – an Emotional History of Britain to discover where this perception of the British came from, and whether it still rings true.

It is a fresh and interesting way to explore British history, and the opening episode of the series, focusing on the emergence of the stiff upper lip, navigated a dexterous course through art, literature and our national treasures in order to interrogate a history more difficult to pin down but arguably more enthralling than one involving facts and dates.

The conclusion of this enjoyable hour of television was that whilst prior to the late 18^th Century we were quite an excitable bunch, when the French Revolution kicked off we became rather alarmed at the apparent link between excessive emotion and radical politics. Faced with the terrifying prospect of becoming like the French (a fear that still resonates with Boris Johnson today), the British reacted by constructing a contrasting national character, embodied by the restrained heroes and heroines of Jane Austen and the reserved British icon the Duke of Wellington, a suitable opponent to the rather more vulgar Napoleon. By the mid-1800s the stiff upper lip had become entrenched in the national psyche, evolving into the infamously repressed Victorian era, which will be explored by Hislop next week.

A fascinating, if hardly groundbreaking, documentary, Stiff Upper Lip benefits hugely from its timely airing – basking in the warm glow from our greatest summer, we are experiencing unusual levels of national pride and are once more intrigued by what it means to be British. This, and Hislop’s confident and wry presentation, adds weight to what could have been a flimsy subject. I have to admit I was surprised to see that it had being stretched to a 3 part series – whether it holds quite enough interest for that remains to be seen. I will, however, tune in for the conclusion, to see if my screeches of excitement during the Olympic Opening Ceremony mean I should be packing my bags for a less reserved isle.

Mrs Biggs

5th September 2012

After growing up near the site of the Great Train Robbery and completing a school project on the incident at the age of 5 (though the fact that I referred throughout to “Rony Biggs” somewhat ruined the integrity of said project), I was pretty confident I knew all there was to know about the infamous crime. Mrs Biggs, ITV’s new five part drama, offered a welcome fresh perspective on the robbery, both for the general public and experts on “Rony” and his gang like myself.

By focusing on Ronnie and Charmian’s relationship, the opening episode of the series felt less like a retelling of a historic crime and more like an original and interesting drama. It is a testament to the quality of the programme that it never felt like we were impatiently waiting for the Robbery to happen, rather it was enjoyable simply watching the couple’s relationship develop.

This was down in no small part to a stellar cast, headed by superb performances from a charismatic Daniel Mays and an outstanding Sheridan Smith, practically unrecognisable as the straitlaced Charmian who is tempted over to the criminal life by the man she loves. Their contrasting worlds were swiftly and deftly established, and their romance felt believable. Though the shadow of the future crime hung heavily over the audience this was not at the expense of a well told love story – the moment when Biggs decides to turn himself in to the police sniffer dogs rather than risk Charmian freezing as they hid in a stream was wonderfully played.

Having the attention span of a goldfish, I was worried that at one and a half hours the episode would feel rather over long, in fact it was anything but. The robbery hadn’t even taken place by the end of the episode, and yet the pace never felt slow. I completely invested in Ronnie and Charmian’s marriage, so that by the time Biggs’s conspirator Bruce turns up, tempting him like a devil (albeit with large spectacles) on his shoulder, I appreciated the painful inevitability of what was going to happen to the domestic life of the Biggs all the more.

The cinematography throughout the episode was beautiful and atmospheric, building to a crescendo with the robbery at the end, moving swiftly through the details of the run up to the crime as it is a path that has been trodden many times before. This, after all, is the story of Mrs Biggs.

The drama brilliantly told the story of the people behind the Great Train Robbery. If nothing else it is arguably worth watching for Sheridan Smith’s effortless performance alone, but all round Mrs Biggs is a top quality drama of the sort that is usually all too rare on ITV.

Turn Back Time - The Family: End of Series Review

26th July 2012

Turn Back Time: The Family was one of those very rare beasts – a programme that managed to be both entertaining and informative as well as something the whole family could watch together. Three generations of my family enjoyed the programme, including my gran, who is not usually impressed by anything without Emmerdale, Coronation or Come Dancing in the title.

 The concept of the show was to transform a street to replicate a different era of the 20^th century each week, with families “living the lives of their ancestors”, meaning that the quality of life and type of home they lived in depended on what earlier generations of their family had experienced.

 For this final episode the families were sent back to the seventies, enduring not only the atrocious fashion and the furry wallpaper (yes, apparently that actually happened), but also the effects of the 3 day week and strike action, power cuts and water shortages. To reflect the change in divorce laws during the era, a new family led by a single mum joined the street, whose two boys quickly evaluated the seventies in all its frozen food glory as “disgusting”. They clearly hadn’t seen the hilarious ‘Action Cook Book’ being used by the Taylor household – never had an attempt to get men into the kitchen been more transparent: just put a gun on the cover, they’ll love it!

 By tackling 20^th century history through the focal point of the family, the BBC produced a lovely, engrossing and quietly brilliant series. The winning formula of the show can be attributed to the fantastic choice of participants, all game for whatever history threw at them, and the seamless production, which utterly immersed the families in the past. Trying to recreate the terror of World War Two air raids in 2012 is no mean feat, but the show went the whole hog and imitated the effects of a bomb by trashing one of the houses. If success is measured by expressions of genuine fear on the children’s faces, then it definitely worked.

 There is a temptation nowadays to blame computers and TV dinners for the break-up of the family. What Turn Back Time managed to do superbly was examine the past without rose tinted spectacles, and to allow the families to make their own judgements on whether life really was better in the old days. The series hasn’t shied away from controversial and shameful aspects of British history, introducing a black family onto the street in the 60s and replicating the prejudice and squalid conditions their grandparents would have faced when they immigrated to Britain. In the end, many of the families felt that 2012 was a pretty good time to live, all things considered.

The show succeeded in reminding us in a non-preachy way just how good we have it in the 21^st century, and though we may have tough times to deal with, in the past things could be a lot worse. After all, nothing quite spells hardship like the delicate discussion of how to adapt toilet use during a water shortage.

True Love - End of Series Review

22nd June 2012

When I saw that True Love, the much hyped five part semi-improvised drama, had been scheduled so late at night, it seemed like a bizarre move – with such big names involved, it seemed like primetime viewing. Unfortunately after seeing the series in its entirety, I can understand why it was shunted so late in the schedules.

For a show that promised so much, most of True Love was decidedly underwhelming. I was propelled past a disappointing opening episode by my admiration for David Tennant, but things didn’t improve. Despite a strong performance by Lacey Turner as a shattered mother, the second episode ‘Paul’ felt too similar to the opener, with a husband being tempted away from his boring home life – for Tennant it was by an old love, for Ashley Walters it was, bizarrely, a random woman at a bus stop (it didn’t end well, don’t try this on the number 4).

Billie Piper’s episode, ‘Holly’, was possibly the weakest of the lot; in trying to explore a controversial storyline that was sure to grab headlines – a teacher embarking on a relationship with a female student – the episode took on a plot with implications it didn’t have time to explore, resulting in something feeling flat and implausible. Even the director seemed to be losing interest in the series, with the episodes comprised mainly of characters brooding dramatically on the Margate seafront, with a blaring soundtrack that sounded like someone in the editing suite had pressed play on their Cheesiest Love Songs compilation album. In such short episodes, this frustratingly overshadowed the actual drama.

By the mid-point of the series I was beginning to despair; for a Doctor Who fan, it feels morally wrong to criticise something David Tennant and Billie Piper are in, but True Love was feeling like a let-down. Thank goodness for Jane Horrocks’s episode, ‘Sandra’, which encapsulated everything the series could and should have been all along. Horrocks was outstanding as a woman awakening to her weak marriage and distant husband. Finally the overlapping nature of the series came into fruition, with the knowledge that her husband had an affair in the previous episode changing the dynamic of this one. Believable and perfectly paced, it was a great piece of drama regardless of the improvisation aspect. It was so good I could almost ignore the deafening soundtrack.

Sadly the final episode ‘Adrian’ suffered from its short run time, and despite a convincing David Morrissey as a man internet dating and a stand-out performance from young actress Jo Woodcock, the engrossing drama ended prematurely.

Ultimately True Love didn’t achieve the dizzying heights it should have done with the talent involved. The improvisation itself wasn’t to blame, as the actors mostly excelled with the challenge; rather it was the focus on this, instead of on decent drama, that let the series down. Too often the episodes felt disjointed and rushed, which was a real shame, as Jane Horrocks’s episode showed what the series was capable of. It’s certainly worth catching a couple of the episodes whilst they’re still on iPlayer, if only for the fact that by this showing, it doesn’t look like the BBC will be quick to venture into improvised drama again.

True Love

18th June 2012

The heavily promoted, star-studded improvised drama series True Love arrived on BBC One last night, prompting many questions. Would the improvisation prove to be a brave dramatic choice or merely a gimmick? Would the high profile cast be able to cope with the challenge of writing their own lines? And most importantly, would there be enough lingering close-ups of David Tennant’s face?

The answer to the final question, mercifully, was yes. The opening episode of the series revolved around David Tennant’s character Nick struggling to cope with the arrival of an old flame, tempting him to abandon his wife and family (I should probably warn you right now that I’m something of a Tennant fan – although I’m pretty confident it won’t be noticeable). The majestic Tennant starred opposite Vicky McClure and Joanne Froggatt, with Lacey Turner briefly popping up to provide a neat overlap into the next episode. The high calibre cast certainly can’t be faulted in True Love, and they coped well with the challenge of working without a script.

Director Dominic Savage’s choice to let the actors improvise their lines is obviously the main talking point of the drama. For the majority of the episode it really seemed to work, creating a fascinating realism that is rarely captured by a writer’s pen, and was particularly well suited for creating a realistic portrait of Nick’s family life. However sometimes I felt myself wishing for a writer to hone the more dramatic moments, and the occasional scene came to an unnatural end, as though the actors (though never the glorious Tennant, of course) hadn’t been sure when the scene should stop.

But what let this otherwise strong drama down was the fact that the episode was quite simply too short for what it attempted. At half an hour in length, the episode gave us very little time to engage with the characters (and even less time if you read the TV guide wrong and tuned in 5 minutes late – not that I did this of course). It felt like we were breezing through the plot, and as such it all felt a bit fleeting. The glimpses we got of the marvellous Tennant’s angst over the choice between his wife and ex-lover were moving, but the episode didn’t linger long enough to make it feel like there was ever a struggle. After seemingly deciding to ditch his wife, Tennant barely had time to pose for a dramatic silhouette on the sea front before changing his mind and sending Vicky McClure packing.  The ending of the episode was similarly disappointingly abrupt, with no time for the ramifications of Nick’s actions to be explored.

Overall the brief glimpse we got of the drama of True Love and the impact of improvisation was tantalising, but over all too quickly, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit flimsy. Perhaps as the drama continues exploring other characters over the course of the week it will form into something more substantial, but the first episode felt like it promised so much but never got the chance to stretch its legs, creating a rather sedate experimental drama.

Oh, and David Tennant was superb.

What Makes a Good Documentary Presenter?

April 21st 2012

On Tuesday night Mary Beard meandered onto our screens, peddling the eccentric Cambridge professor stereotype as she pedalled round Rome in the opening of her engaging Meet the Romans series. It struck me that this was the latest in a long line of outstanding factual series from the BBC, and so I decided to take a closer look at the different ways that they have hit upon a magic combination of fact and finesse in their documentary presenters.

My family and I were instantly entertained by Mary Beard. Not only was she a Trevi fountain of knowledge (I do apologise, it’s not often you can make a Rome pun), but she presented it with the unbridled joy of a slightly bonkers lady that the film crew had stumbled across and proceeded to follow round Rome, recording her excited and informed ramblings. At one point she told us that as she read tombstone inscriptions she could hear the voices of the dead Romans. Something tells me she didn’t just mean that as a figure of speech. Roaming round museums manhandling objects, chuckling gleefully at ancient wordplay, acting out a gladiator battle with miniature figurines a propos of nothing; Mary provided a glorious way into the fascinating world of Ancient Rome.

Another factual presenter who trades in a similar manner of enthusiasm is physicist Brian Cox, who rocketed to fame with his love of outer space. Whilst it goes without saying that documentary presenters are going to be passionate about their chosen subject, a special few find a way to infuse that passion in the audience, and Brian’s animated gesticulating and eager grin offered many a window into the wonders of the universe. Of course, in trying to attribute Brian Cox’s popularity merely to his infectious enthusiasm and knack for explaining confusing concepts, I am skirting round the elephant in the room. Brian is also famous for his ‘boyband good looks’, emphasised by many a lingering camera shot. It seems many viewers will become fascinated with any subject if the presenter has nice hair.

I apologise if my praise of Mr Cox sounds slightly disparaging. I don’t mean to discredit him: he’s very intelligent, a talented presenter and, for many, a heartthrob. But I cannot count myself among his legions of fans, because my heart belongs to Louis Theroux. He could make a documentary about soil (he may already have, such is the wide range of subjects he has covered), and I would still watch. His slight awkwardness, his innocent interviewing technique that can coerce all sorts of characters into suddenly blurting out something incriminating, and yes, his lovely face, all combine for me into the perfect documentary presenter. His polite probing into sensitive subjects leads people to reveal more to him than they would to others, and his open-mindedness and genuine interest in the people he meets has led to fascinating documentaries giving an insight into everything from the roughest of American jails to the home of Sir Jimmy Saville. A respectful tolerance for the weird and an ability to appear non-judgemental makes for superb factual television.

When I admitted my obsession with Louis to my sister several years ago she too praised his “doddery yet intelligent manner”, and I felt as if I had stumbled upon an underground religion. I now proudly number amongst his 172 thousand fans on Facebook, a veritable army of those with the good taste to recognise his humour, his consistently thought-provoking documentaries, and yes, his good looks (I won’t hear a word said against them).

Louis, Brian and Mary take on wildly different subject matters in their programmes, but all of them find a way to make their passions accessible and captivating for the audience. So it seems that the secret to being a great documentary presenter is having bundles of knowledge, passion and a lovely, lovely face. And if you haven’t got the latter, a bike and a bonkers demeanour will do just fine.

Homeland - End of Series

May 8th 2012

Homeland, Channel 4’s award winning US drama import, finished its first series on Sunday night, with its brilliance and popularity marked not by viewing figures, and not by the rave reviews, but by the fact that my housemate and I celebrated watching the last episode with a fry-up, a privilege previously only awarded to The Apprentice final. Nothing spells excitement like a celebratory fry-up.

The finale was as tense and rewarding as could be hoped, with Brody’s plan finally coming to light – kitted out in a bomb vest, he attended an event held by the Vice President, planning to exact revenge for a covered up drone attack the politician authorised that killed 82 children, including Abu Nazir’s son whom Brody befriended whilst held captive. Carrie, meanwhile, was depressed after her manic episode, pining for Brody, and jobless, with only Virgil and his van still willing to go along with her theories.

As rogue Marine Tom Walker unleashed his sniper attack on the event, only Carrie, roaming the area unofficially, understood this as a ploy to get Brody and his unorthodox undergarment into a secure bunker with his targets. Unable to get the CIA to listen, she had to rely on Brody’s suspicious daughter Dana to talk her dad down, in a thrilling race against time as Brody desperately rewired his bomb in the bunker.

Though Dana succeeded in getting the attack aborted, this left Brody still loyal to Nazir whilst appearing completely innocent, which drove Carrie to check herself into hospital to undergo ECT, worn out by her disorder and believing her theory incorrect. The series ended on a harrowing note as Carrie recalled Brody’s dream about Nazir’s son, a crucial indication of his links with Abu Nazir, but succumbed to anaesthetic before she could tell anyone. As she convulsed on the operating table, we were left to wonder whether this memory would survive the procedure.

The episode was a suitably exciting and nail-biting finish to a series that has been consistently superb, maintaining intrigue and intensity throughout. Possibly the best aspect of the series, however, has been Claire Danes’s outstanding portrayal of Carrie, especially in her accurate and powerful  depiction of her breakdown, leaving me genuinely upset to see her heartbroken and having lost the job she lived for at the end.

The character of Brody, meanwhile, was excellently handled, and given believable motives that made him more complex and interesting than a simple war hero gone bad, and was a perfect example of Homeland’s skill in blurring views of good and evil, and complicating the ‘them and us’ rhetoric of the war on terror.

The show is returning for a second series, and although the finale set up further avenues for the show to explore, with unanswered questions about a government mole and Brody’s missing confessional tape, I can’t see them topping the intrigue and originality of the first series now that we have a clearer idea of who Brody is. But while the second series will certainly have a different tone, if it can replicate the quality of the first series and its mature if bleak view on the war on terror, it will continue to be one of the best dramas on television.

Very Important People

May 1st 2012

When I first saw the advert for Channel 4’s new impressions show Very Important People, I had low expectations. Yes, the sample of impressions in the ad were spot on, but accurate impressions does not a side-splitting comedy make.

However after watching the show I was pleasantly surprised: Very Important People is not simply an impressions show, but a comedy in its own right. Undoubtedly Morgana Robinson and Terry Mynott are superb in their impersonations, but the show is not reliant on them for laughs. I remember being in stitches at Alastair McGowan’s impressions when I was young, but now I’m older and grumpier the mere ability of someone to pinpoint a celebrities’ quirks and exaggerate them feels somewhat tired and tame.

Where Very Important People sets itself apart, then, is in building its humour round the often bizarre ways celebrities make their fame, leading to hilarious sketches of Natalie Cassidy ambling around reading takeaway menus in her latest documentary “Natalie Cassidy is just doing this now”, and Danny Dyer taking on the hardest commutes, eventually becoming overwhelmed and having to bail at Didcot Parkway (although it bears more than a passing resemblance to Jon Culshaw’s Ross Kemp parodies, it’s funny enough to get away with it).

The show also works hard to feel cutting and current. Not only does it send up celebrities who are not often fodder for impressionists, giving us fresh laughs, the show doesn’t just rely on uncanny impersonations; it also takes a scathing look at the darker side of our obsession with a variety of unseemly celebrities. The ‘Fame Skillz’ sketch, whilst admittedly not the funniest part of the show, took a pop at throwaway celebrity culture and the absurd circus of the fame-hungry treading the well-worn route through perfume release, drug abuse, rehab and tabloid scandal, all hosted by an aggressively excited Fearne Cotton (a scarily accurate impersonation).

Amongst the send-ups of paint by numbers Jennifer Aniston movies (“Aniston and Owen Wilson in – Some Sort of Disagreement”) and Gordon Ramsey angrily demanding people get behind an anti-bullying campaign, the show also keeps itself right up to date, with a news segment that comments on the very latest celebrity scandals, allowing a take on the Cowell/Minogue revelations and a perfectly judged send up of The Voice mentors (it was dope, as Will.i.am has led me to believe the cool kids would call it). Even here we get a glimpse at the bite the comedy has: Amy Childs, hosting the news, finishes off with a passing comment on how lots of people are dying in Syria or something.

If you’ve written off Very Important People as just another impressions show, it really does deserve another look. Bolstered by the brilliant performances of Robinson and Mynott, if it can maintain its freshness and its satire, and avoid repetitiveness by taking on a big enough cast of characters, it could be the cleverest take on the genre that we’ve seen in a while.

Smash - Pilot

April 23rd 2012

Before I begin this review I should admit that I am an avid fan of Glee, and after seeing it steadily worsen after an outstanding first season, I approached Smash with a mixture of interest and trepidation, half wanting it to give me a new favourite show, half wanting it to fail epically and leave Glee the queen of musical drama.

Smash follows two writers staging a Marilyn Monroe musical, enlisting the help of a sleazy director and a producer I initially believed to be Dragon Dens’ Hilary Devey (it was actually Anjelica Huston), as they struggle to choose between Broadway regular Ivy and fresh-faced Karen for the lead role. It has been described, somewhat misleadingly, as “grown-up Glee”, although you can see where the comparison has come from: Smash is like Rachel Berry and co graduating and facing the real competitive world of musical theatre, where, as Karen’s father warns his ambitious daughter, “sometimes dreams just don’t mix with reality.”

But Smash would do well to distance itself from Glee, especially while it works out exactly what it wants to be. Despite this being a solid opening episode, I found that its realistic vision occasionally, confusingly, disappeared. The clever and arresting opening scene set what should have been the tone of the show: a rousing performance by a starlet glittering on a Broadway stage snapped back to reality to reveal a daydreaming hopeful auditioning to unimpressed producers. This is where Smash is at its best, achieving dark comedy and drama by undercutting the dreams of stardom voiced by Glee characters with harsh reality, leading to a gritty show occasionally brightened up by a dazzlingly slick Broadway number – the public face of all the hard work.

But at times Smash slipped jarringly into fantasy, with characters singing in the streets – standard Glee procedure, but odd in Smash. This confusion in tone was at its worst in Karen’s audition for Marilyn, which completely contradicted the opening scene. It felt contrived and unoriginal: the plain Jane turns up to an ultra-competitive audition, the producers sneer, but just by the sheer force of imagining she is singing to her boyfriend, she makes seasoned Broadway producers’ jaws drop as though they’ve never heard anyone sing competently before.

The excellent writing and strong acting that allows Jack Davenport’s sleazy director to escape the realm of cliché is nowhere to be found in this scene, perhaps because Katharine McPhee is not as convincing as Karen. Despite the contrivances of the show I couldn’t feel her challenging the phenomenal (and much more interesting) Ivy, and therefore couldn’t invest in one of the show’s central conflicts.

But this is not to detract from Smash’s strengths. The original compositions, particularly the baseball number, were superb, and an authentic world was built around the music, with a strong cast of characters driving the plot. As an embittered Glee fan I have probably been overly critical - I should emphasise Smash has a stellar cast, smart writing and great music. I personally prefer the escapism that a sing-a-long with Glee provides, but for those not as easily pleased as me, Smash certainly fits the bill.

Would I Lie to You?/Have I Got News For You

April 15th 2012

The BBC Friday night comedy juggernaut rolled back into town this week, with the return of well-established panel shows Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News For You. Though strikingly different beasts, both abided by the adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

The former kicked off proceedings with the familiar team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack with Rob Brydon hosting. Now in its 6^th series, the basic format, if you can’t work it out from the title, has panellists reading unseen anecdotes about themselves, or claiming a connection to a mystery guest, while the others interrogate them to sort the truth from the lies. David Mitchell remains effortlessly brilliant destroying newcomers with his pedantry and gunning down their falsities with his ruthless logic machine, and Lee Mack hones his posh jibes in response.

I’ve no idea who thinks up the lies or discovers some of the bizarre truths about the celebrity guests, but at times they can be inspired, and the subsequent cross-examinations can be hilarious – I’ve never forgotten Kevin Bridges’ utterly implausible story of how he once accidentally bought a horse, with his tale being ripped to shreds before turning out to be impossibly true.

But the very nature of this show is that it can be hit and miss – it relies on the perfect combination of inspired lies and quick-witted guests. By these criteria, the opening episode of the series, with the hardly magic combination of guests Alex Jones, Alexander Armstrong, Mel Giedroyc and unfortunately Chris Tarrant, was very much a miss. Then again, all it takes is one brilliantly tall tale and it could feel like a different show next week. And not that I’m biased due to my slight obsession with him since Gavin and Stacey, but Rob Brydon’s short dance sequence elevated the show to possible BAFTA standard.

By contrast, Have I Got News For You, the satirical news quiz now in its 43^rd series, seems like it will always have legs so long as politicians insist on making fools of themselves. With recent revelations of the rich avoiding tax by temporarily leaving British airspace, and the flooding of Greggs by politicians desperate to be photographed with a soggy pasty, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have plenty to take aim at.

Joined this week by Grace Dent, Miles Jupp and guest host Stephen Mangan, the show adhered to the familiar sequence of rounds that pick apart the news with aplomb. When faced with scandals where you have to laugh or you’ll cry, Paul Merton’s eccentricity is as perfect as ever for highlighting the absurdity of our ruling class, and for deflating Ian Hislop’s occasional pompous rants.

One of the few shows both myself and my parents enjoy (I don’t think I’ll ever convince them of the merits of Desperate Housewives), it is consistently the perfect tonic to depressing current affairs. Compared with a lacklustre edition of Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News For You demonstrates that often the truth can be funnier than fiction.

The Matt Lucas Awards

April 11th 2012

What with David Walliams’ recent forays into the Channel and the Thames for charity, and his new role as a scene-stealing judge on Britain’s Got Talent, you could be forgiven for forgetting about the capabilities of his Little Britain partner Matt Lucas, who has been ensconced largely in the world of acting since their hit show.

On Tuesday night, however, his Radio 2 panel show The Matt Lucas Awards made the transition to BBC One, offering a chance for Lucas to try his hand at presenting. The premise is pretty self-explanatory: three guests make nominations for a range of silly awards, and after a good deal of bantering Lucas judges the winner. Fittingly for the casual pub debate feel of the concept, the show’s set is ‘Matt’s flat’, with his mum sat in the kitchen, and composer David Arnold also on hand to play jaunty links on the piano.

Undeniably it’s a fun concept, but these kind of shows usually depend on a strong set of guests -  Tuesday’s episode featured the reliable Jason Manford, Graeme Garden, and the brilliant Henning Wehn. The awards up for debate were Smuggest Nation of People (the Swedes and the English beaten by the Chinese), Most Artistic Guest, judged by a life-size Morph, and Dreadfullest Football Song Ever, awarded to Glenn Hoddle’s ‘Diamond Lights’ after all the guests had given a rendition of their nomination.

But it is Lucas himself that makes the show fly, being a comedian whose jolly demeanour can make him seem charmingly inoffensive even when he’s insulting you. He’s impossible to dislike and irrepressible – there aren’t many presenters who can get away with singing the theme tune and then standing up at the end to sing again for no apparent reason. Under him the format feels cohesive and good-natured: a moment that could have been painfully awkward when Graeme Garden uncomfortably sang his football song was saved by Lucas joining in and getting the audience going.

The show has worked hard to make the transition from radio, and to liven up the debates about the awards. My only real criticism is that David Arnold was underused – it felt as if the format hadn’t quite worked out how to fit him in. Whilst Lucas’s mum popped up just enough to provide an irreverent and homely feel, Arnold’s role was unclear. Perhaps he had a bigger role in the radio version, which I’ve never heard, but here he felt somewhat surplus to requirements.

The format feels strong enough to contend with the established BBC comedy line-up on a Friday night, and perhaps once the show has established itself it will earn a promotion from an ill-fitting Tuesday night slot. But the show has gotten off to a good start; previously I counted myself as a huge fan of the charismatic David Walliams – this made me wish there was more of Matt Lucas on television.

Scott and Bailey - series two

March 15th 2012

For some reason the first series of Scott and Bailey, the Manchester based crime drama focusing on two female detectives, passed me by, which is strange as both of its lead actresses  have been in Doctor Who, something which is usually enough to make me watch anything. Perhaps ITV had put me off by promoting it as “fearless and feminine”, as the continuity announcer rather bizarrely described the second series, which began on Monday.

The show is indeed feminine, not only due to the titular characters (played by Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones) and their boss, DCI Gill Murray (Amelia Bullmore - not Doctor Who alumni but good nonetheless), but also the general women-driven vibe of the show, what with it having been created as a reaction to the lack of lead female roles on TV. Such a series can only be a positive force in my eyes, and it was certainly refreshing to see relatable female characters who don’t exist merely as an addendum to their husband or boyfriend.

The series opened with the team embarking on a murder investigation after the discovery of a couple of burnt bodies, which later evolved into a torture case, as both victims had been stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver. Lovely. And Lisa Riley, of You’ve Been Framed fame, is somehow involved, which is always a bonus. But the real focus is on the characters’ home lives, with DC Scott attempting to calm the tensions between her mother and husband after the former moves in, and DC Bailey trying to cope with the arrival of her brother, who it turns out is a convicted armed robber, which is going to be major awkward at any office parties.

This emphasis on the characters’ personal lives, believable in a way that other shows rarely manage (I often wonder how some police put in a solid day at work, the amount of philandering and drinking they have to squeeze in), makes the premise of the show wonderfully innovative. It also means that it doesn’t have to rely on a ‘crime of the week’ to keep audience interest piqued, allowing us to invest just as much in Scott and Bailey themselves. And, surprisingly for a show that features screwdriver torture, it is very funny.

Unfortunately it very much carried the whiff of an established drama, and offered little by way of exposition for latecomers like me. As such I was somewhat disappointed not to see more of the dynamic to live up to the tagline of “best friends, better policemen”. This isn’t to the detriment of the show – Sharp and Jones are immensely likeable, but for those of us trying to jump on the bandwagon it was a little frustrating not to get to see more of their chemistry. But really, the only complaints I had about the show were to do with the fact that I had missed the first series, and that seems to be a good indicator of how gripping Scott and Bailey is.

Homeland - 'Pilot'

 

February 23rd 2012

After years of trying to keep up with critically acclaimed, high-concept American shows, watching with my face almost pressed to the screen for fear that I miss a crucial piece of garbled dialogue and inevitably ending the hour of viewing with a headache, I approached the much-hyped Homeland with some trepidation. In this case, however, such fears were completely unfounded, and I instead found a perfectly paced and gripping drama.

The central premise of the series is that a raid on an al-Qaeda compound stumbles upon prisoner of war Nicholas Brody (played by a terrifically beardy Damian Lewis), an American marine who has been missing for 8 years. Triumphantly borne back to America as a war hero, there is one woman who is not welcoming him with open arms: renegade CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes). Based on information that an American POW has been ‘turned’, gleaned from an unauthorised visit to a terrorist in an Iraqi prison ten months earlier, she decides that Brody is the POW in question, that their discovering him in the compound was a set-up, and that he has been brought back to the US as a threat, a sleeper agent about to bring down the country from the inside. Overwhelmed with suspicion but in her superiors’ bad books after her sortie into the Iraq prison, she goes rogue and sets up surveillance in Brody’s home, determined to unmask him.

Playing brilliantly with post-9/11 paranoia, the key to Homeland’s success lies not just in this intriguing premise, but in the way these themes of paranoia and trust pervade the entire show. What could have been a simple “is he evil or not?” is complicated by the uncomfortable truths we unravel about his opposite number: Carrie turns out to be suffering from a mood disorder, on anti-psychotic drugs, and with a history of unstable and reckless behaviour – and it soon becomes not just a question of whether she can trust Brody, but whether we can trust her.

By the end of the episode, through clever use of flashbacks we discover that Brody is certainly hiding something, after it is revealed that he lied about his fellow Marine’s death – Brody, under orders from Abu Nazir who he had claimed he had never met, beat him to death whilst they were held captive. The details are hazy, but it’s a clever way to end an episode built upon conspiracy and deceit.

My only reservation about Homeland would be whether the central intrigue can be sustained over the entire series as masterfully as it is in the opening episode. The inclusion of clever sub-plots such as Brody’s wife, under the impression he was dead, conducting an affair with his best friend, plus Brody’s children – one an unruly teen, the other too young to remember his father – seems to show that the drama has mileage. Homeland has already garnered awards in America and has been renewed for a second series, which suggests that this intense and enthralling drama is most definitely one to watch.