THE TROUBLE WITH MAGGIE COLE + JIMMY McGOVERN'S MOVING ON

This article was originally published in The Courier on 29th February 2019.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE TROUBLE WITH MAGGIE COLE

Wednesday, STV, 9pm

Dawn French stars in this likeable comedy-drama set, like 98% of all ITV dramas ever, in a picturesque English coastal village. She plays a local historian and cheerful chatterbox who inadvertently harms her close-knit community during a tipsy interview with an unscrupulous regional radio journalist. Maggie isn’t a bad person, but her fondness for gossip proves disastrous. Appearing in bittersweet confections such as this appears to be the fate of every major ‘80s alternative comedian, but there are worse ways to spend the autumn of one’s career. The Trouble with Maggie Cole is a watchable piece of fluff buoyed by an engaging performance from French and a solid supporting cast including Mark Heap, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Vicki Pepperdine.

JIMMY McGOVERN’S MOVING ON

Monday to Friday, BBC One, 2:15pm

A series of standalone dramas curated by one of British television’s greatest dramatists, Moving On adds a sprinkling of grit to the lightweight daytime TV schedules. These disparate plays are united by the theme of characters at a turning point in their lives. This time around we meet a recently released ex-con struggling to adapt to life on the outside, a blind woman about to undergo surgery to restore her sight, a young mother dealing with bereavement, a middle-aged woman being threatened with redundancy, and a retired rugby hero who’s hidden his homosexuality from the public for decades (not all at the same time, of course). A valuable breeding ground for emerging writers, Moving On reflects the compassion and humanity that define their mentor’s work.

AGE OF THE IMAGE

Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

This expansive essay from art historian James Fox begins with the dispiriting spectacle of Louvre visitors taking selfies in front of the Mona Lisa. “Why do we feel compelled to do this?” Fox asks. “The answer, I think, lies in a revolution in visual culture that has turned us into a population of image addicts.” This obsession began over one hundred years ago. Fox, in his slightly sinister yet oddly captivating way, examines the history of visual language throughout the ages. He begins with the early 20th century pioneers who captured and manipulated the space-time continuum. The starry cast includes Edison, Dali and Buster Keaton, but Fox also pays enthusiastic tribute to some unsung geniuses. This is what BBC Four is for.

TIGERS: HUNTING THE TRAFFICKERS

Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Tigers are on the verge of extinction. “They’re being hunted because people in China and Vietnam want to consume them,” explains former Royal Marines commando Aldo Kane, who presents this grim frontline/undercover report. Kane trains anti-poaching units in South East Asia, where wine made from tiger bones is a popular libation. It’s a growth industry with dwindling resources, but certain governments, zoos and farms in that part of the world provide support. I’m always wary of righteous westerners barging into foreign cultures and wagging their fingers, but that, thankfully, isn’t what happens here. Kane draws attention to a dedicated South East Asian movement set up in opposition to an appalling animal rights atrocity.

LAST WEEK’S TV

DOCTOR WHO

Sunday 23rd February, BBC One

This year’s two-part finale got off to a decent, if unevenly paced, start with an apocalyptic Cyberman epic. Chibnall’s clunky ‘say what you see’ dialogue is something we just have to begrudgingly accept, but he does know how to throw a superficially entertaining, action-packed yarn together. There’s an awful lot to wrap up in episode 10, though. If he pulls it off, I’ll be flabbergasted.

FLESH AND BLOOD

Monday 24th February to Thursday 27th, STV

This generically titled drama turned out to be a serviceable potboiler about an extended middle-class family dealing with the standard everyday miasma of secrets, lies and murder. Imelda Staunton and Stephen Rea added more class than it deserved.

THE WINDSORS

Tuesday 25th February, Channel 4

The latest series of this agreeably disrespectful sitcom/soap pastiche about the Royal Family has more to deal with than usual. Harry and Meghan’s abdication is a mere amuse bouche compared to the sordid details of Andrew’s private life. Apart from a brief mention of Epstein – presumably a last-minute addition – episode one side-lined the sweat-challenged monarch. The Windsors always tries to remain topical, and they’ve promised to tackle him in future episodes, but God only knows how they’ll handle it. The severity of that scandal won’t mix comfortably with the cartoony, knockabout tone of the show.

TV Review: WAR AND PEACE + DEUTSCHLAND '83

This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 9th January 2016.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

War and Peace: Sunday, BBC One

Deutschland '83: Sunday, Channel 4

Paul Whitelaw

The prospect of reading War and Peace is so notoriously daunting, its mythical reputation as an insurmountable literary Everest is probably more well-known than the contents of the book itself.

Most of us know the gist of Tolstoy's epic tome, thanks to endless references in popular culture. But have you actually read this gargantuan Napoleonic saga? I haven't. However, I've seen Woody Allen's hilarious parody, Love and Death, more often than I've seen my own reflection. Isn't that enough?

Even Andrew Davies, who adapts classic novels for breakfast, hadn't read it until the BBC asked him to write a six episode adaptation. Despite his trepidation, he eventually discovered that it wasn't an impenetrable chore after all, but a page-turner packed with romance, drama, action and satire. 

Of course, this will come as no surprise to anyone who's read it, but as we've established, no one ever has.

Davies is the ideal man for this ambitious task. He has a gift for condensing classic texts without sacrificing the essentials. His adaptations are accessible, but hardly dumbed down. The opening scene of this impressive production was a deft case in point. Set during a lavish drawing room ball, it introduced a banquet of characters without any fuss or confusion - unless you were playing familiar TV actor Bingo, in which case you probably missed most of the dialogue.

If a visiting alien were to switch on a TV at random, he'd be forgiven for thinking that the only working actors in Britain are Stephen Rea, Jim Broadbent, Tuppence Middleton, James Norton and Rebecca Front. They're all great, but must they appear in everything?

A refreshing presence among this plethora of ubiquitous faces was American actor Paul Dano as nebbishy hero Pierre. The illegitimate son of a wealthy nobleman, his liberal idealism is tested when he suddenly inherits a vast fortune. 

Played by Dano as a fretting, fumbling, bespectacled mouse caught in the sights of an oncoming lawnmower, Pierre contends with a scheming uncle – Rea, looking as always like a camel sucking a lozenge wryly – and an arranged bride (Middleton) who'd rather have his money than his milksop body. 

She's also having an incestuous relationship with her brother, a bizarre sub-plot which, according to Davies, is subtly implied in Tolstoy's novel. I'll take his word for that.

Despite his respect for his source materials, Davies is a mischievous adaptor. I can't be alone in detecting the ribald double-meaning of lines such as: “You need to let the old Count see you before he dies.” That's no accident, it's a cheeky Max Miller gag.

Director Tom Harper (This Is England '86; Peaky Blinders) also deserves credit for creating such a visually sumptuous, pacey treat. It doesn't drag in the slightest. A co-production with the Weinstein Group, no expense has been spared on striking costumes and palatial European locations. The grimly insane battle scenes, though presumably populated by just a few dozen extras, are a bold lesson in creative editing. Yes, the cast is over-familiar, but they fill their roles with aplomb. It's a stunning production oozing with charm, wit and class.

Old Tolstoy will be delighted by the boost in book sales.

Showing as part of Channel 4's admirable new commitment to foreign drama, Deutschland '83 is a Cold War thriller steeped in suitably pallid period detail. Unfortunately, it squanders an intriguing premise – a young East German solider is press-ganged into working undercover in the West – with a curiously superficial tone. It's so light and predictable, all potential tension is lost.

I'm usually a sucker for any '80s-based political drama stacked against the backdrop of nuclear annihilation, but even I must concede that Deutschland '83 is, at best, only mildly diverting.

A disappointment, but looking on the bright side there should hopefully be some gems in the rest of Channel 4's new overseas consignment. Onwards and upwards, as Brezhnev used to say.

TV Review: THE HONOURABLE WOMAN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 5th July 2014.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

The Honourable Woman: Thursday, BBC Two

Paul Whitelaw

Like a hand grenade exploding in a duck pond,The Shadow Line made a huge impact when it aired on BBC Two in 2011. While it never had a chance of becoming a mainstream hit – too violent, too off-kilter – this striking fusion of John Le Carre noir and Dennis Potter madness is rightly regarded as a modern cult classic.

Fans have waited three years to see what writer/director/producer Hugo Blick would come up with next. The answer is The Honourable Woman, a riveting political thriller set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Like The Shadow Line, it plants one foot firmly in the real world while existing in a heightened, disquieting reality. Both languid and lurid, this twisted aesthetic is Blick's distinctive calling card.

It's easy to see why American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal – sporting a convincing English accent - was attracted to this ambitious project. Her character, Nessa Stein, is an intricate gift. A powerful Anglo-Israeli businesswoman, Nessa has the surface appearance of a poised, charming, ethical idealist. But as made clear by her opening monologue, which unfolded over a brutal childhood flashback to her father's assassination, nothing is as it seems in this world.

Having inherited the family weapons business, she announced plans to drastically invert its modus operandi. Instead of procuring arms, it would now focus on laying broadband cables between Israel and the West Bank. By literally linking them together, she hoped to bring these bitter enemies one step closer to peace. Factor in her recent appointment to the House of Lords, and this decision naturally caused an explosive outbreak of controversy.

She'd offered the multimillion contract to a Palestinian businessman who, in an ostentatious flourish typical of Blick, was promptly assassinated with a lasso-loaded crossbow. Found hanged from a pole bearing Palestine's flag, the authorities were quick to deduce symbolic suicide. Anyone rolling their eyes at this unlikely turn of events should probably tune out now: dark, theatrical absurdity is at the heart of Blick's unique vision.

His penchant for droll black comedy is embodied by the character of Sir Hugh, a world-weary spy on the verge of retirement played by the impeccable Stephen Rea. Having worked with Blick on The Shadow Line, where he played a truly nightmarish villain, Rea is perfectly in tune with his acerbic dialogue. Resembling a crumpled mole sucking on a lozenge, he subtly steals his every scene.

Sir Hugh's lonely existence is mirrored by Nessa's private anguish: two powerful people with gnawing emptiness at their core. Traumatised after being kidnapped in Gaza alongside her brother's Palestinian nanny, Nessa now sleeps – when she can – in a cell-like antechamber hidden behind a bookcase. Thank you, Hugo Blick, for allowing me to write such an outlandish sentence.

A master of suspense, he closed this hugely promising opener with an elegantly-handled set-piece involving an ambushed theatre, a kidnapped child, a dramatic foot-chase, and an unexpected shooting. I can easily imagine him grinning as he wrote it.

Despite its weighty themes – it remains to be seen whether Blick has anything meaningful to say about the Middle East - The Honourable Woman is fundamentally a breathtaking thriller riddled with shocks and twists. Provocative entertainment for mature adults, how about that for a mind-blowing concept?

In a year full of unexpectedly impressive BBC dramas, the likes of Line of Duty and Happy Valley have a bold new contender.