It was very strange to see the credits at the end of Sharpe last night. This quintissentially ITV show (that I only ever caught up with on DVD) has returned for one-off seven or eight years after it last graced our screens. It’s a sign of the times that whereas before Sharpe was always made in 120 minutes episodes (including adverts) it now has to adopt the 2 x 90 minute episode mantra that ITV dictates nearly all major dramas should adopt.
But back to the credits. Whereas in the past this would have been made by Central for ITV, it’s now a coproduction between Picture Palace and Celtic Films. But the strangest partner is BBC America – complete with big BBC logo at the end if not the start.
It’s one thing to occassionally see Granada logos at the end of BBC shows (University Challenge, What the Papers Say, The Street), but quite another to see a BBC logo at the end of an ITV programme. till, the DVD is being released by 2Entertain, and that’s a BBC Worldwide/VCI Group joint venture. And VCI is owned by Woolworths – so expect copies to be readily available there at least.
On a separate note, did Kathryn Flett’s replacement in the Observer, Andrew Anthony, see a different production of Mary Bryant to me?
I’ve developed a way of watching David Mamet’s new TV series about an elite group of soldiers sent around the world to sort out problems for America: fast forward through all the bits featuring their wives and girlfriends. Most annoying of all is the self-satisfied character who’s Dennis Haysbert’s wife. If the wives really did have to rally around someone like her, there’d be plenty of deaths on-base to sort out.
Still, the recent episode where one of the soldiers gets left behind in Valencia was a little hard to believe. It seems that Spain is something of a police state, and it’s necessary to befriend drug dealers and rich gay Brits with yachts to get out of the country. You wouldn’t have though that it shares massive borders with countries such as Spain and France across which anyone can walk.
I haven’t heard of a British station that’s picked up this show yet, although if it’s renewed for another season, someone’s bound to.
Finally, if I ever make a television documentary (something that’s pretty unlikely), I’d want all my rostrum work done by Ken Morse. I caught up with the excellent Top of the Form Story at the weekend, presented by Dave ‘Flickr‘ Gorman in a programme that was as much about changing attitudes to the education system. Ken Morse, or his company at least, supplied rostrum work.