OK. I know that this little column gets treated as the runt of the litter that is my blog, so here's a bumper entry to make up for it.
I'm not sure that I really do want to see the return of Noel or Cilla dishing out presents to needy kids and families on Christmas Day, but the overall schedules are really disappointing. The only decent films were the classics on Five - naturally unavailable in my current location.
The highlight was inevitably the Dr Who Christmas special with the first proper appearance of new doctor, David Tennant. Despite having been advertised as taking a non-too-subtle anti-war stance, it was pretty even handed. Some of the one-liners were excellent ("Ooh, very Arthur Dent"), and it trod the perfect line for a Christmas episode. I hope that the new series begins to introduce us to a few new characters, as I've probably seen enough of some of the Earth-bound politicians we've had over the last twelve months.
Tennant was wonderful, and it was easily the best thing on over the whole period.
Over on ITV, while BBC1 was firing the big guns with an inevitably dynamic Christmas episode (everything always comes to a head in Albert Square around Christmas), The Booze Cruise II was beginning.
Although not brilliant, I moderately enjoyed the first film, with Neil Pearson, Mark Benton et al taking a trip to France to pick up, well, booze. This time around - and here's the first problem - it wasn't actually a "booze cruise" but a weekend quiz around the countryside. The lame plot-point to hang the production's title on, was that one of the teams was the "booze cruisers".
My main problem with this production was that despite introducing Ian Richardson to spice things up (although it was never entirely clear why he was participating in the quiz), the story really had nowhere to go. In the first film, one of the cast had fallen in love with a French girl and moved to France. He had a subplot in this that was so irrelevant to the rest of the production, that you began to wonder what kind of photos had of the producer in a compromising position.
Overall it was poor, and while there was the odd chuckle here and there, it should have been sent back at the script stage.
ITV slightly redeemed themselves on Boxing Day with Under the Greenwood Tree, with Keeley Hawes as Fancy Day (no really... Ian Fleming didn't have sole dibbs on leading names), a new schoolteacher in a Wessex village. No sooner had she moved in than she had at least three potential suitors. I've not read the Hardy novel (he never exactly leaps off the bookshelf to me), but you didn't need to be a genius to see where this story was going. I enjoyed it, but to be honest, it sometimes felt like period-drama by numbers. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but there was no real spark either, despite some fairly decent performances, including Hawes in the main role. The production was made on Jersey, and I suspect that tax incentives may have had something to do with this. I can't be alone in thinking that Dorset must offer some excellent locations for a village such as needed in this, yet all that lack of VAT sends productions into Bergerac country.
Strangest scheduling prize was certainly to ITV for putting on Jack Rosenthal's final film, Ready When You Are, Mr McGill, at 11.05 on Boxing Day night. It didn't finish until nearly 1am, yet boasted a cast including Bill Nighy, Amanda Holden, Sally Phillips and Tom Courtenay. This was actually a remake, and update, of a 1976 play. Nighy was the director of a two-bit TV cop series starring Holden (playing herself), as the production got bogged down on a single scene that was somehow supposed to be crucial to the entire film. Some of it was amusing, and some of it was laboured. I stayed the course with it, but I began to see why ITV had buried it despite the big names attached. In fact, this turns out not to be simply a TV production, but actually an unreleased feature film made in 2003 and sitting on the shelf until now.
A bright end to this particular batch of programmes came in the shape of My Family and Other Animals. Like Charlie Brooker, this surprised me since I can pretty well remember the last time this was dramatised by the BBC (I've now born witness to two Bleak Houses and two Vanity Fairs. When I reach two TV Pride and Prejudices, I'll know that I'm too old to go on living), but if my slightly faded memory is anything to go by, then this is a far superior adaptation. Despite having to rattle along at a fair lick, the madness and Bohemian wonderfulness were well sketched and there were good performances all round from a largely unknown cast (well, aside from Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton (aka Julie Enfield - more please Radio 4/Nick Fisher) and Chris Langham (I really hope it's not true...). Great Stuff. I may even read the book one day.
Posted by adambowie at December 28, 2005 06:09 PM