Friday Five: TV Programmes

After the excitement of the World Cup, Tour de France and Commonwealth Games, my television viewing has hit a barren patch. There are, however, a few programmes that I will make an effort to watch.

Neil Stuke, Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones in Silk

Five Programmes I'm Watching:

1. Silk - created by Peter Moffat and starring Maxine Peake, Rupert Penry-Jones and Neil Stuke, this is season three of the adventures of the barristers and clerks of Shoe Lane Chambers. Each episode is a self-contained piece of drama with some fine acting and larger themes of justice and morality.
2. Dr Who - He's back and he's Peter Capaldi. I'm still not impressed with Jenna Coleman's Clara companion, and the signs show no indication that she might fade back into the role of assistant rather than trying to take over. The Doctor, however, has a little more of the edgy madness and less of the cuddly doofus aspect that was threatening to spoil the franchise, so I'm prepared to give it time. (Do you see what I did there?)
3. Utopia - a sort of Australian version of The Thick of It. It's not quite as classy, but office politics and government departments are such rich comedy seams to mine that there are still plenty of nuggets to polish.
4. The Book Club / At the Movies  - personable people having intelligent discussions and reviewing stuff that interests me (i.e. books and films).
5. The Project / Have You Been Paying Attention? - information and questions about current affairs both portrayed in a lighthearted manner, or, as they say themselves, 'It's news delivered differently'.

Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who

Travelling on buses...

David Tennant (Doctor Who) and some chocolate on a bus - any tenuous link will do.

"Any man who rides a bus to work after the age of 30 can count himself a failure in life." - Margaret Thatcher

Despite what Her Ironess  thought, there are many reasons for choosing public transport. From ecological concerns to responsible drinking, you get all types on the bus. My favourite are the borderline nutters, who like to have conversations with total strangers, even if they are trying desperately to read a book. Here's one from today.

Her: I really like your top. It's such a beautiful colour [Liverpool red] but it doesn't go with your shoes. Such a shame. You should always match your shoes. 

Me: Oh.

Her: What are you reading?

Me: Gone with the Wind

Her: Oh, I loved that book. You must keep it forever.

Me: OK.

Her: Is it yours?

Me: Yes.

Her: Well, that's even better. I read it twice - once when I was younger and I thought I was Scarlett O'Hara, then when I was older and I realised I was more like Melanie, which is a shame because she's so dull. It would be nice to be a mixture of both... Melanie always reminded me of those assistant lecturers, so grey and boring. Do you know what I mean?

Me: Um...

Her: Of course you do, you live in Canberra. Did you go to university?

Me: Yes.

Her: I thought so. What did you do?

Me: English.

Her: Ah, is there anything else?

Me: Well...

Her: Do you read feminist literature?

Me: Some.

Her: Fay Weldon is wonderful, and Marilyn French - The Women's Room had a huge effect on me when I was younger. It changed my life. But that book (points), oh it's wonderful. And I love the ending, because life's like that sometimes, isn't it?

Me: Well I haven't got there yet.

Her: No, but you've seen the film?

Me: No.

Her: Well, it's not the same. They did a fairly good job, but then there was the Civil War, you see... It was 1860 something, wasn't it?

Me: Yes - 1865 it finished.

Her: Yes. She got hit by a car. Stepped out into the street and hit by a speeding car. She only wrote one book. Such a shame. 

Me: Um...

Her: You should never grow up. 

Me: Right

Her: I've just been to the National Library but I'm so cross because there are no guides to take you round the cartography exhibit. They're booked up to the end of the season. 

Me: Oh.

Her: Have you been to it?

Me: Yes - it was very good.

Her: Did you do the guided tour?

Me: No, I just walked around by myself.

Her: Hmm, It's not the same.

Me: Oh.

Her: I must sit down. Keep that book forever. And stay young.

Friday Five: TV Detective Duos

I was going to make this post about something else entirely, but then I heard this morning that Lewis Collins had died. Instantly I heard the theme tune to The Professionals in my head. It was one of my favourite television programmes as a kid.

I think my first childhood crush was on Martin Shaw (closely followed by Kevin Keegan - odd to think that I may have had a thing about perms?) but I loved everything about it from the opening credits, with the car breaking through the window, to the solid plot-lines and thrilling (to a young viewer in the late 70s/ early 80s) stunts and car chases. We used to play The Professionals in the playground, ducking behind doorways and running along corridors to fling ourselves on the floor shouting 'Cover me!' 

What stood out most, however, was the excellent characterisation, dialogue and chemistry between the actors. They seemed real people with a sense of humour and a past that influenced their actions, rather than just puppets mouthing the words to advance the story. Bodie and Doyle were among the finest TV detective duos I have ever seen, and they established my appreciation for the gritty/ witty drama I have admired ever since.

Apart from Bodie and Doyle (who are unquestionable leaders of this genre), I would also like to make a special mention of the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston/ David Tennant) and Rose. Their partnership across time and space was a powerful one, although they can't really be included in this list as they are not strictly detectives. 

5 Favourite TV Detective Duos:

1. Sam Tyler (John Simm) and Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) - yes, there is Life on Mars. This was such a wonderful concept with brilliant acting, and the sum of these two was way more than their parts.
2. Inspector Morse (John Thaw) and Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whatley) - later Inspector Lewis and Detective Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) - the interaction between the characters in Morse was as important as the sleuthing, and the spin-off series of Lewis was equally (but differently) remarkable.
3. Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) - the reinvention of this famous duo was superb. Once again, individual talent is more than doubled.
4. John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) - The Avengers was the stuff of my childhood dreams, and nightmares.
5. Maddie Hayes (Cybil Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis) - the first two series of Moonlighting were the best thing on American television - the mixture of comedy and drama with witty dialogue and larger-than-life personalities was quirky and original. As usual, for American series, it went on too long past its sell-by date.

Friday Five: Super Heroes!

Last night I went to watch The Dark Knight Rises. With the exception of Anne Hathaway, everything about it was brilliant, and, in her defence, she does have a nice bum. It got me thinking about the whole super hero thing (Super Hero is actually a trademark co-owned by Marvel Characters Inc and DC Comics, but I'm sure they won't mind me using it here). I asked Him Outdoors who was his favourite super hero, and he said Thermoman, so I stopped asking him.

According to Wikipedia, a super hero is 'a type of stock character possessing extraordinary or superhuman powers and dedicated to protecting the public.' Although there is no specific mention of 'human', let's assume this is so, and therefore rule out Danger Mouse and Hong Kong Phooey. They also 'do not strictly require actual superhuman powers' and can be 'costumed crime fighters'. So that includes Ironman, but I only like that (and I do like that) because of Robert Downey Junior's performance.

Now, I know he's up there on a lot of people's favourite superhero lists, but I just don't get the whole Spiderman thing. I mean, he's nice enough, but what's he got that you can rely on in a crisis? He spins webs, he catches flies... why is that a good thing? I'd take Bear Grylls over Spidey any day. In fact, I'd just take Bear Grylls.

5 Favourite Super Heroes:

1. Batman - It's not just the outfit (although that's pretty fine); he's dark and disturbed and has great toys and fast cars and a mansion with a cool butler. His moral sense of justice and defence of his fabulous city are legendary.
2. Superman - He was the first. In the Great Depression era, America needed heroes, so they invented them. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932. This era is excellently described in Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Superman is 'faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.' Of course he can fly, has super strength, speed, vision, hearing and even breath. His main failing for me is that he is too perfect, and good.
3. Wonder Woman - Okay, so who didn't play at spinning round and repelling bullets with magic bracelets? The truth-lasso was a thing of beauty. And those boots! Lynda Carter was a wonderful feminist icon of the 70s. We loved her.
4. Dr Who - Well, maybe he doesn't count as an official superhero, but he can travel through time and space, has amazing geeky intelligent powers, can regenerate, and has a charming determination to save the human race for all the evils that beset it.
5. James Bond - And while we're on the subject of stylish dudes with fast cars and flashy gadgets who selflessly defend the world (and specifically Great Britain) from evil, I would happily put my money on Bond, James Bond.

It's Never as Good as the First Time

We are having a mid-season break from Dr Who. This might be a good thing: I need to pause for breath and to recap, as the plot developments have come thick and fast, distorting perceived realities and suggesting thast time is, indeed, 'bendy-wendy'. I like this new series, although it is more sci-fi geekdom and less personality-fest than on David Tennant's watch, but the latest instalment of Harry Potter is out next week and I can only cope with one time-travelling, parallel inter-dimensional universe thing at a time.

I mentioned to a friend how I was hooked on Dr Who and wondered whether I really should have grown out of it by now, or whether it was actually no longer targeted at kids. Apparently what I should be watching is Torchwood as that is the 'adult version', but I am worried that like every other spin-off ever, it will be crap.

Yes, I know, that's a bold statement, but can you really think of any spin-off that is better than the original? Tucker's Luck, Going Straight and Joey spring to mind. So, no, then. Him Outdoors loved the chaos of Tiswas, but it didn't translate to the anarchy of O.T.T., which seemed more like 'Try Too Hard'. And while Dallas and Dynasty may have been bad, they were still compulsively watchable, unlike Knot's Landing and The Colbys which were convulsively execrable.

Apparently Boston Legal came out of The Practice, which I find interesting because I never watched the latter (although it was the fore-runner) but enjoyed Boston Legal immensely. Lawyers and doctors series (Holby City out of Casualty for example) make fertile grounds for spin-offs it seems, as do detectives and cops in general. Inspector Morse was very good and I like the emergence of Lewis as he stalks the streets of Oxford with the sardonic Hathaway in tow.

I remember (in 1980, preceeding Juliet Bravo by four months) Jill Gascoine as a (shock horror) female police detective in LWT's The Gentle Touch. My mum loved it. I preferred C.A.T.S Eyes (1985-87) partly because I was a bit older, and partly because it featured Don Warrington, whom I adored, and Leslie Ash whom I admired (who didn't want to look like her in the 80s before she discovered Lee Chapman and plastic surgery?)

From cartoons to teenage angst, children's programmes have proved a rich seam to mine. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels began on Scooby Doo; The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines all emerged from Wacky Races; Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock are all inter-linked; and Count Duckula hatched from Danger Mouse (an intriguing zoological phenomenon).

Party of Five (remember that? It was the first time I'd ever heard of a boy being called Bailey - I thought it was the name of a dog or a drink) led to Time of Your Life (I don't remember that); The Six Million Dollar Man spawned The Bionic Woman (as it were); similarly Hercules: The Legendary Journeys begat Xena: Princess Warrior (a favourite of my Dad's - I can't imagine why...); and, from a more innocent era when kids were encouraged to do things with their hands that didn't involve computers, Vision On evolved into Take Hart (not to mention The Morph Files).

Frasier was okay, but true Cheers fans will claim it is nowhere near as good as its parent programme. Not that I was ever a fan of Who's the Boss, but I did watch it occasionally when I lived in New York - not so the sequels Living Dolls or The Upper Hand. It wasn't my era, but I believe many people who liked Man About the House were less than enamoured of the follow-ups, George and Mildred and Robin's Nest.

Sometimes you just have to be in the moment and, if you try to recreate something later, it just doesn't work. Sometimes it really is the X-Factor that can't be reproduced. There are few more depressing developments than Coronation Street: Open All Hours which featured several Street characters (Steve, Vicky, Vikram, Bet, and Reg Holdsworth) floundering in Brighton. Truely it was painful.

And then you get the weird crossover, which isn't so much a spin-off as an odd collaboration - such as when the character of Tanya Turner from Footballer's Wives was sent to prison and ended up in three episodes of Bad Girls. Has this sort of thing happened before, and is there a name for it, I wonder?

Characters can emerge from a trial on a comedy series (or chat show in the case of Dr Phil) and sometimes steal the show from their screen nativity. French and Saunders gave us Absolutely Fabulous; The Mary Whitehouse Experience conjured up both Newman and Baddiel in Pieces and The Imaginatively Titled Punt and Dennis Show; we have That Peter Kay Thing to thank for Phoenix Nights, and Naked Video is responsible for Rab C Nesbitt - make of that what you will.

So, being as it never is as good as the first time, why do the producers of shows think it might be? Why do they tarnish the lustre of successful programmes with at best dull sequels? Are they ever hopeful that they might find The One, or are they just going through the motions, lazily milking the cash cow. I am reminded of a comic who once reckoned that casting director for a sequel must be the easiest job ever: 'That Arnold Schwarzenegger was quite good as the Terminator in the last film - what say we get him for the next one?'

Who's Your Doctor?

I’m a Tom Baker girl myself. He was the one I grew up with. I felt reassured by his avuncular charm, and I hid behind the sofa and was terrified of the monsters who attacked him (even if they were made out of egg-boxes with  plungers and whisks for appendages). Before he made me laugh as the pompous voice (over) of Little Britain, he was saving the galaxy one planet at a time and haunting my dreams with K-9, his scruffy perm and his ridiculously long scarf.

Like James Bond, there are the ones you fancy (Daniel Craig/Paul McGann); the ones that make you laugh (Roger Moore/Peter Davidson); the ones that are just plain wrong (Timothy Dalton/Colin Baker) and the ones who define the character (Sean Connery/Patrick Troughton).

Him Outdoors is a fan of Jon Pertwee – personally, I can’t see past Worzel Gummidge. Of course, this is a problem and the reason why some who you think brilliantly embody the role, leave before they become typecast.

Christopher Eccleston was great with his gritty Salford accent but he wanted to do other things; mainly stage, which makes me yearn for England. He will always be DCI Bilborough from Cracker to me – murdered by the stunningly charismatic Albie; the first time I ever saw Robert Carlyle, but that’s another story…

I went off Dr Who – it was a kid’s series, right? – and although I kept an eye on the latest incarnation, it wasn’t until David Tennant assumed the mantel (with aplomb – is it possible to assume one without?) that I fell back in love with the franchise.

Of course, it’s Christianity 101 (a being that looks like us, but isn’t one of us, spans time and saves our souls over and over again – sound familiar?) but I love the simple storylines where nothing gets too complicated and it will work out alright in the end. And I love David Tennant; the man can act!

The baddies are excellent as well – along with the sexy sidekicks, that’s another James Bond parallel – and the other brightest star before he fell (classmates and equals in everything except the path they chose; again, I'm sure I've heard of that before somewhere...) is The Master. I must admit I would willingly go over to the dark side if John Simm were his embodiment.

Him Outdoors doesn’t like Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) – I’m not quite sure why (maybe he’s still pining for Billie) but he says she fancies herself far too much; she’s young.

So, what do we think of Matt Smith? On the evidence so far, I like him. His first episode in which he goes through a range of foods before finding that he likes fish fingers and custard reminds me of Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and his penchant for malt extract.

He wears a tweed jacket and a bow tie. He is arrogant and dismissive while still being compassionate and slightly naïve – he’s young, in other words. His scripts are good and he delivers the lines confidently. He has a floppy fringe and an edge, and no, I wouldn’t invite him home to mum; she’d fancy him too (she likes Johnny Depp. I told her to stick to her own… Paul Newman for example – she can have him – oh, and dad).

So far; so Gallifrey – but is he just what the doctor ordered? Only time will tell…

British television

Just in case anyone has been getting any ideas, rest assured, that my main love is still British drama and comedy – I thought that went without saying when I let the Americans have their day.

There are so many great series that they are actually too numerous to mention. On quiet nights I am thankful for UKTV where I can watch reruns of Cracker, Doc Martin, Grumpy Old Men, and Shameless. I have the boxed sets of various comedy shows including Blackadder and Black Books, which I can watch repeatedly, and often put on a couple of episodes to cheer me up when the dearth of decent television just gets too much.

I thought Cold Feet, Green Wing, Hearts and Bones, and Teachers were all fantastic, but they seem to have been and gone and the powers that be at New Zealand television seem to have no intention of showing them again. They have filled up their repeat schedule with endless reruns of Frasier and The Nanny.

Recently I have been watching Dr. Who, Mountain, Oz and James’ Big Wine Adventure, Robin Hood, and Top Gear.

Much as I like Christopher Eccleston, I didn’t think there would ever be a Dr. Who to rival Tom Baker. I may have been wrong. David Tennant is excellent! The plots are still ludicrous and the monsters look like they’ve been sellotaped together, but the moving garden angel statues still managed to give me nightmares!

Top Gear is a classic with intelligent journalism, exquisite photography and entertaining banter. I know it's men behaving badly but I love it, and I don’t even really like cars (if it’s not an E-type Jag, it’s just a car) so that’s a real testament to its appeal. The spin-off Oz and James’ Big Wine Adventure is an excellent with more of the same combination of enthusiasm and geekiness.

Mountain had the most fabulous scenery and Griff Rhys-Jones; what more could you want? It made me feel homesick for gentle hills and humour. Robin Hood is interesting. Robin’s a bit wet and Marian looks like she’s been slapped in the face with a halibut, but the merry men are fun, Dick Allen’s sheriff is a fantastic pantomime villain and Richard Armitage’s Sir Guy of Gisborne is incredibly sexy.

I am eagerly anticipating the second series of Life on Mars – a fabulous Manchester drama with a preposterous storyline and compelling acting. John Simm and Philip Glenister are a classic combination – The Sweeney dragged kicking and screaming into the present. Naturally it has been on in Britain and my mum keeps threatening to let slip what happens next.

I was recently very pleased to note the success of Lewis. I loved Inspector Morse and I watched this new series with great trepidation, worried that it might not be able to achieve the same cachet as it's parent programme. As it is, the sergeant has grown into a great inspector (although the directors have cunningly got rid of his wife - obviously they only complicate things and prevent the great detective mind from solving cases, flirting with ladies and drinking pints), and I really like his new sidekick too. Oxford is a stunningly picturesque setting and I can annoy fellow watchers by playing 'spot the pub' and reminiscing about my youth.

Him indoors is of course a Coronation Street fan – I blame the parents. He has watched it since he was a kid and is a big admirer of all things Jack and Vera. We now watch it religiously twice a week and he refuses to find out what happens ‘in the future’, although we are a year behind and lagging further every episode.

When we were first courting, I was an Eastenders girl – it’s a north/south divide thing – but the television scheduling in New Zealand soon cured me of that habit. I suppose I have something to be grateful for after all.