// Film and Television
Doctor Who - The Shakespeare Code
There’s a worry, isn’t there, when someone you know writes something? That fear that they’ll go “oh, give it a read and tell me what you think”, the fear that you will give it a bash and not like it and then have to be nice about it, and get so sincere about the whole thing that they can tell you want them dead and thus start to harbour similar feelings towards you.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’m a bosom buddy of Gareth Roberts. Yes we’ve met a fair few times, I’ve been to a party at his, we’ve shared conversations on the increasing “WFT?” choices and views of Popjustice, and had lengthy conversations about the relative merits of Stock Aitken Waterman songs (in particular a shared view that Lonnie Gordon’s “Happenin’ All Over Again” is a work of sublime genius).
But even then we aren’t exactly close.
But that doesn’t stop you worrying. What if a passing acquaintance should suddenly sour? Eggshells all round.
So I was a bit nervous about the Shakespeare Code. I worried I’d hate it. I worried it wouldn’t just be me who hated it. I worried it would be just me who hated it. In short… I was a right old barrel of fret, me.
Thankfully, I thought it was great fun. Yes, there was a certain pantomime element to it all - from the very first moment with the cute guy and the three witches (always there have to three - Shakespeare’s definitely got a lot to answer for) and there were moments when I first watched when the whole “Doctor giving Shakespeare quotes” thing occasionally made me think “hmm”, but it has to be said… how enjoyable was that episode?
For me it attained a level of sheer joie de vive that was quite simply breathtaking. I think you could even call it rumbunctious. Colourful, noisy, brash, pun-laden, gorgeous (I mean… how much did they spend?) and playful. It was an episode that I actually cheered during - and not just at the line about the 57 academics.
This - mark my words BBC - is the sort of telly I pay my licence fee for. Not Castaway, not dreary doom-laden soaps, up-itself twisty gritty drama, or reality shows fronted by some old git who made the worst, most plasticy Hi-Fi’s I’ve ever seen, but something which is actually simple, honest-to-goodness, glorious fun.
Fun, I find, is hugely underrated as an art-form. And this should change. Now.
So… if Gareth doesn’t get invited back next year I swear I will camp outside BBC Wales and belabour Julie Gardner around the knees with a pick-axe handle (and manifest meself over Russell T. Davies’ keyboard) until the producers relent.
I was worried about Series Three, I’ll admit. But two episodes in and I’m really fired up again.
Posted on April 12, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 1 Comment
Agatha Christie’s Marple
Hmm.
Now, I love Geraldine McEwan normally but it’s not just me who thinks that she’s hopelessly miscast in the role of Miss Marple is it?
That said, she’s also adrift in a fairly apalling set of productions anyway. Somehow the BBC adaptations I grew up with keep on shining by comparison. I caught the new “Sleeping Murder” the other day and - whilst Sophia Miles was predictably brilliant - somehow something didn’t feel at all right about the whole thing.
Joan Hickson, we miss you.
Posted on April 9, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 2 Comments
Doctor Who - Smith and Jones
“Look, I’ve even brought a straw!”
Lord… I can’t be bothered with doing big reviews of every episode any more. Life’s too short after all.
But I will just say that as far as I’m concerned Martha Jones’ debut as the new companion took place in what was frankly a blinder of an episode. (Which, considering episode one is usually the weakest in the run, bodes well for the coming weeks.)
And for me “Smith and Jones” was possibly the most perfect single-part episode Davies has done for the series so far. Previously he’s been all too fond of marring an episode with a sudden, unlikely resolution that leaves you feeling a bit “where did that come from?” but this time it was immensely satisfying and played out from quite away in advance of the end.
And d’you know… I think Freema’s going to be just great as the new companion. She was really very good.
Sighs of relief all round I think.
Posted on April 2, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 0 Comments
Here we go, impossible again…
Now, my love of hating Eurovision is something which many people are surprised by. It is assumed that as a card-carrying gay man - and one with a fervent love of pop music - I must adore it, but I don’t.
It’s like drinking gin. Somehow it’s one of those aspects of being a gay that doesn’t appeal.
Generally the songs don’t move me because I find them just a little bit too trite (classics such as Gina G, ABBA and Bucks Fizz aside). And I refuse to sit through the tedium of the performances and scoring just to hear the genius that is Terry Wogan being rightly disdainful of the whole misplaced purpose of the thing.
I think I also bridle at the assumption that “you’re gay, you like pop, therefore you must like this or be a bad gay”.
Well… if so I’m a bad gay. No biscuit. (You can hit me on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper if it would make you any happier).
I do, however, have a vague interest on a national pride level of how well we do. And I’d quite like us as a country to do something un-self-consciously poppy, bright, breezy and produced in a way which doesn’t suggest a quick sequencing job in the back of a mini on the way to the studio.
So people… who’s in the running this year then?
Ah. It’s that oddball who used to be in the Darkness, some thug who used to be in East 17, some bint who used to be in Atomic Kitten and… hang on a second… bloody Scooch!
Now, as someone with a lot of fondness for Scooch (they had some great singles and their cover of the Littlest Hobo theme is amazing) a part of me is really glad to see them back.
But from the tiny clip available on the “Making Your Mind Up” site I can only assume that the studio was in the middle of nowhere and the mini had a fair bit of off-road to do to get there.
Still, I suppose there’s no danger we’ll bankrupt the UK by hosting the contest next year…
Posted on February 28, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, Pop Music | 0 Comments