This article was originally published in The Courier on 7th October 2017.
THE LAST POST: Sunday, BBC One
PORRIDGE: Friday, BBC One
History
is an endless spin-wash of repeated mistakes, never to be learned from. That’s
the sobering message at the heart of THE
LAST POST. It’s a sound point, but I didn’t enjoy this new drama from Peter
Moffat (Silk; Undercover; Criminal
Justice) in the slightest.
Caked
in sweat, violence and despair, it’s set in a British military police compound
in Aden, Yemen, in 1965.
Aden
was one of the oldest colonies in the British Empire. By the mid-1960s, it was
a moribund anachronism, one of the final, desperate shreds of this shameful
chapter in our great nation’s mission to civilise the world with politely armed
oppression.
Potentially
fascinating subject matter, but The Last
Post is just another staidly prestigious production in which the usual
stock cast of decent actors go through the motions while a writer hits you over
the head with their political point. Yes, I get it, Peter. The torture of
prisoners in Yemen really did resemble the treatment of prisoners in
Guantanamo Bay. Let’s smack ourselves sore on the back for recognising that.
It’s
such a boring shimmer of expensive waste. The excellent Jessica Raine does a
good, committed drunk-act in a drama that no one will remember in six weeks
time. The cinematographer might get a BAFTA. Earnest speeches will be made from
the podium. Life marches on.
Last
year’s unpromising pilot for a new series of the classic prison sitcom PORRIDGE was greeted with a shrug from
most viewers and critics, hence the ensuing bafflement when the BBC announced
that it had been picked up for a series.
The
pilot wasn’t terrible, but it felt pointless. Although episode one of the new
series was an improvement – it felt more comfortable in its own skin - there’s
still no way of forgetting that you’re not watching Ronnie Barker and co delivering
a masterpiece. It’s difficult to appreciate this Porridge on its own terms.
Of
course, everyone involved in the production must be acutely aware of that. It’s
written by the estimable Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, creators of the
original, who couldn’t write a bad half hour of comedy if they tried. But I do
wonder whether, in their heart of hearts, they’d rather be writing a brand new
sitcom, rather than a tribute to one of their previous successes.
They
haven’t altered the original formula at all, which works both for and against
it.
Fletch’s
grandson is a chip off the old recidivist block. That is, he’s exactly the same
character, albeit played by someone else (Kevin Bishop). The younger Fletch is
a cyber-criminal (how terribly modern) serving five years in a prison which
just so happens to employ a tough, no-nonsense Scottish warder with a
well-meaningly lenient sidekick. History repeating, once again.
Bishop
has clearly studied Barker’s performance and delivers a likeable imitation. I
don’t envy him having to step into such enormous shoes, but he doesn’t
embarrass himself in the slightest. Clement and La Frenais still know how to
write for Fletch. Again, however, that only serves to encourage comparisons
with the original.
It’s
a prison from which they can never escape.
This
new Porridge is occasionally quite
funny, but it’s essentially a competent facsimile of a superior work. It
doesn’t really need to exist.
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