Let's Fold Scarves » Television

Samuel West as Mr Heath

Hazel — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:26:45 +0000

Samuel West as Mr Heath, originally uploaded by moley75.

Sam West

Hazel — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:04:44 +0000

Half watching a documentary on the Wilson/Heath rivalry. Chock full of ancient politicians including a very old and different looking Denis Healey and the evergreen Shirley Williams who hasn't aged in decades - that must be the advantage of not giving a toss about your appearance. One of the odd things about it, is that it is narrated by Samuel West who played Ted Heath in the fabulous The Long Walk to Finchley. He was hilarious in that.

I follow him on Twitter: he has a rather unusual handle for someone you might assume to be a self publicist. He is funny, a die-hard lefty and a twitcher: @exitthelemming

River Song

Hazel — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:57:34 +0000

River Song may be my favourite character created by Steven Moffat - and he created Lynda Day.

It helps that Alex Kingston is fabulous in the role:

Not NaNoWriMo #5

Hazel — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:04:20 +0000

This article about Amanda Redman over at the Hathor Legacy made me realise just how good we have it on British TV in some ways; how we do have a fine variety of individual and, dare I say, normal looking women on our screens at all time. I watched the first few episodes of Parenthood and all the women are slender with no imperfections (not even glasses) and, sadly, Bonnie Bedelia doesn't look her age (though, actually, she does look her age...), and that is symptomatic of all US series.

The casting of Miracle Laurie in Dollhouse was a miracle and yet over here we had the two successive leading women in Jonathan Creek and neither of them, Caroline Quentin and Julia Sawalha, just wouldn't get leading roles on US TV because they are both overweight.

Would Denise Black with her deformed hand get the same number of prominent roles in the States?

Our soaps are full of fabulous women of all shapes and sizes with women who look their age but it's not perfect in GB TV land because outside drama and comedy, older and fatter women are invisible. The current tribunal involving Miriam O'Reilly and Countryfile is a perfect example of this. Along with Charlotte Smith or Juliet Morris, there was no way these middle aged woman was going to be on prime time TV. Obviously, if a show needs a shake up you're not going to get rid of the fascinating blokes like John Craven and Adam Henson, are you?

Not NaNoWriMo #3

Hazel — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:35:15 +0000

We have been watching Jonathan Creek episodes each evening with Adam and the most obvious thing is is that I had never noticed the sex scenes before! It's like watching something with my own parents!

They are pretty impossible to solve even when I've seen them before which says something about my memory. I know my memory is terrible because I have reread (possibly) two books that I had read before (see, I can't even remember that).

What I like about David Renwick's writing is his incidentals: the oddities and asides in the show that have nothing at all to do with the main plot. For example, in the last episode we watched "Angel Hair", there was Carla, the gynaecologist and the rap album; the 12 foot dummy and the windmill; and the make up artist* and her love of dogs.

What I find odd about the programme is that I feel I know more about Maddie and Carla than I do about Jonathan Creek himself.

*played by the ever wonderful Tamsin Grieg - apparently Renwick wrote Love Soup just for her.

“No, but he’s renting it.”

Hazel — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:38:38 +0000

Mad Men - "The Rejected"

What a cracking episode of Mad Men. It was most satisfying and had me directing two thumbs up towards Allison in her tremendous confrontation with Don ("I don't say this easily but you are not a good person").

It had absolutely everything from the ensemble cast including fabulous dialogue, hilarious scenes, heartbreaking scenes and great character moments.

Loved Joyce ("sweetheart") and loved her even more when I found out she was Lindsay Crouse's daughter (Zosia Mamet). Her scenes were very funny and managed to make Peggy less awful than usual because her scene with Allison was spot on in showing her cluelessness with people.

The scene as Peggy and Pete's eyes meet each other as they both acknowledge they are truly happy going their separate ways was lovely. Pete is comfortable and very successful as part of the old guard while Peggy is looking for fun and excitement with the bright young people of the future.

Via

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Sherlock: The Blind Banker – some notes

Hazel — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:44:59 +0000

If this had been the first one, would have I watched the second? The answer is no.

It made no sense (why the graffiti? why were these Chinese people using A to Zs? why was that Chinese circus act so poorly attended?), it was nonsensical (the doctor who whacked somebody on the head made no attempt to overturn her chair when her life depended on it and even Holmes never thought of knocking her over) and it failed to update 19th century attitudes into something less, um, stereotyped.

The doctor must have fancied Watson a lot to put up with him falling asleep at work when sick people needed to see him and with him yelling he wanted to get off with her in a desperate sort of way.

The two leads are still fine in their roles but Sherlock needs to stop treating that mortuary woman like shit.

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Who is Don Draper?

Hazel — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:36:09 +0000

Mad Men "Public Relations"

The opening line of the show asked "who is Don Draper?" and I'm pretty close to not caring. I'm beginning to feel like one of those people who watch Buffy for anybody other than the title character. Don is the lead and I don't like him. Almost nothing about him is pleasant, not even his face which looked older and flabbier. His lifestyle is catching up with him and it is skeevy.

Betty looked like Margaret Thatcher with her helmet hair, pearls and matronly dresses.

There was yet another Don and Peggy conversation in his office. Her manner has changed, she has more confidence and called Don "spiteful" which seems about right.

Why is Betty still living in the house she had with Don? Is this believable or is it just to create tension (and to make all the Betty haters feel even more justified)?

Overall, the episode didn't appeal to me. I can't really remember that much of it i.e. there was nothing outstanding.

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Sherlock: A Study in Pink - some notes

Hazel — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:07:32 +0000

I loved this.

Benedict Cumberbatch was instantly and charismatically just right as Holmes while Martin Freeman quietly became perfect as heroic Watson.
Three caveats:

The bit about the wedding ring sounded like nonsense to me. Wedding rings are generally made from gold which doesn't tarnish and they clean themselves every time you wash your hands.
Phil Davis's turn as the sinister taxi driver didn't work for me partly because the concept reminded me too much of the way that serial rapist Warboys operated. I also felt that he was a little actorly (is that a nice way of saying hammy?).
Unfortunately a taxi driver being a villain was totally obvious from the second victim.

However, none of these stopped me from enjoying it tremendously, For example, Mark Gatiss was perfection as Mycroft while his assistant was great too. Her blankness at meeting Watson again and his resigned reaction was just one of the very many hilarious things about the programme.

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Tipping the Velvet

Hazel — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:33:12 +0000

I saw Jodhi May in something today and suddenly got an urge to watch her in the TV version of Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet. I bunged in the DVD and starting watching it from when Florence (played by May) tells Nan (Rachael Stirling) about her relationship with Lilian (Cyril's mother). The next morning, Florence suggests they go out together. Nan takes her to a pub where she has to tell Florence that some of the clientèle of the spacious pub are not, in fact, men. Subsequently, they overhear a conversation which puzzles Florence who has to ask what "tipping the velvet" actually means and Nan explains in words and mime. They then walk home and, in scene of astonishingly awful cheesy CGI, they kiss on a bridge over the frozen Thames while a man skates on the river below them. By this time I'm going "something isn't right" (and I didn't mean the terrible effects) so I rush upstairs to grab the book.

Anyway to cut a long story short, in the book the scene when Flo tells Nan about Lilian is pretty much the same sans the politics but it is Flo who chooses the pub (actually, a small room in a pub), it is Flo who informs Nan that not all the blokes are blokes ("to think...that I might have worn my moleskins, after all"), and much more importantly, it is Flo who tells Nan what "tipping the velvet" means to Nan's great confusion.

What was the thinking of Andrew Davies here? Why did he swap the dialogue around? Maybe if I reacquaint myself with the adaptation I'll understand what he was trying to do but otherwise it removes Nan's essential naivety and places it on the sensible and straightforward and quite frankly wonderful Florence who doesn't deserve that.

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