THE AMERICANS
LES
DAWSON: AN AUDIENCE THAT NEVER WAS
Today,
STV, 8:30pm
LOVE
AND MARRIAGE
Wednesday,
STV, 9pm
QUEEN'S
CORONATION 60th
ANNIVERSARY
BBC/STV,
times and channels varyPaul Whitelaw
It's
clear that ITV have spent much of their time of late gazing enviously
at the success of their rivals, before pilfering their strategies for
themselves. So, after the success of the BBC's Mrs Brown's Boys,
they unleashe an unabashedly old-school sitcom too in the shape of
Vicious. And now, with US drama THE AMERICANS, they're
obviously hoping to emulate the ratings bonanza reaped by Channel 4's
Homeland.
But
will they succeed? The pilot episode is certainly quite promising, as
it introduces a pair of KGB agents working undercover as a married
American couple in the suburbs of early 1980s Washington.
Their cover is so deep, even their kids don't know the truth.
Played
by British actor Matthew Rhys (so that's a British actor playing a
Russian playing an American) and the feline Keri Russell, they're
intriguing protagonists, working as they do against the usual Cold
War stereotype of the villainous Russki. Her loyalty to the
Motherland is sturdier than a hammer and sickle, whereas he
entertains treasonous thoughts of defecting and settling down in this
sunny nation of affluent capitalist pig-dogs. Both trained assassins,
this leads to some rather fraught confrontations in the kitchen.
Although
the opening chase sequence, with its 1980s fog and neon scored to the
thumping blare of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk suggests The
Americans is some sort of cheesy pastiche, it then switches tone,
rather jarringly, into a relatively serious drama with darkly comic
undertones. Mercifully, it dispenses with the clunky ironic
foreshadowing so common to period dramas set in the recent past, and
never sniggers at 1980s fashions and mores. It opts instead for an
understated evocation of the era. Nevertheless, it doesn't yet feel
like it's decided what it wants to be: the use of Phil Collins' In
The Air Tonight over a supposedly dramatic scene towards the end
comes across as inadvertently camp and comic.
But
the ever-watchable Rhys is an interesting presence, as he goofs off
with the kids while privately wrestling with his conscience. Their
double life is rather brazenly symbolised by the presence of a
kidnapped KGB agent in their garage, with the decision of what to do
with him forming much of the episode's dramatic spine. The question
of whether their secret will be uncovered is heightened by the
introduction of their new neighbour, who - wouldn't you know it? -
happens to be an FBI agent specialising in Counter Intelligence.
Although
it takes a while to shift into gear, The Americans gradually exerts a
grip once we learn more about these character's backgrounds (cue
flashbacks in which they speak in heavily eggs-scented English). But
one does wonder if, like Homeland, the storyline can be
sustained over more than one season. The threat of dark secrets being
exposed is all well and good, but it tends to lose dramatic impact if
exploited for too long.
ITV's
bold new experimental phase continues with what sounds like one of
the maddest programmes in the entire history of television. In LES
DAWSON: AN AUDIENCE THAT NEVER WAS, the late, great comedian is
reanimated as, it says here, a "staggeringly realistic" 3-D
hologram performing in front of a celebrity audience. Preview copies
of this remarkable happening were unavailable at the time of writing,
but one fears that digital Dawson will be a unnerving creation marred
by the uncanny valley effect. But I can't wait to see how this pans
out, as it sounds like an almost avant-garde venture. And let's face
it, we'll all enjoy ourselves immensely if it turns out to be a
disastrous folly.
ITV
return to more traditional territory with the cuddly comedy-drama
LOVE AND MARRIAGE, in which - and steel yourselves here,
because this sounds like an outright parody - Alison Steadman stars
as a retired lollipop lady and matriarch called Pauline Paradise. The
sort of whimsical confection where nary a scene goes by without
chortling musical accompaniment, its "hook" is the device
of having the various members of the extended Paradise clan speak
directly to the audience from their sofas, much like those old
Prudential adverts. Other than that it's nothing you haven't seen
before: family strife presented as an ultimately positive cavalcade
of blunders and hugs.
The
60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation is celebrated with a few
programmes this week, with The BBC, as is its loyal wont, rolling out
the largest amount of bunting. Their first tribute is by far the most
enticing, as it's the actual archive footage of THE
CORONATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II from
1953 shown in its entirety on BBC Parliament. Famously responsible
for a huge spike in the sale of television sets - and therefore the
instigator for telly's first golden age - it's been scheduled to
follow the exact times of the original broadcast, meaning it begins
at 10:20am and finishes just after 5pm.
On
Monday on BBC1 at 9pm, David Dimbleby presents THE
PEOPLE'S CORONATION,
in which he talks to some of those who celebrated and took part in
the event. It's obviously a very personal trip for Dave, seeing as
his father, Richard, was one of the BBC's commentators during the
Coronation.
Finally,
ITV presents CORONATION
YEAR IN COLOUR at
5:30pm on Sunday, in which archive footage - much of it amateur home
movies - tells the story of everyday Britain in 1953. See, and I got
through all of that without once making a snide anti-royalist jibe. I
have matured.
No comments:
Post a Comment