Manchester Passion

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

What the fuck?

[chand]

I forgot this was on. I decided not to watch it when I saw an advert which featured the letter 'M' followed quickly by the word 'People'.

Flicked it on, Keith Allen and some guy just killed Wonderwall there!

[Neil]

Almost wanted to vomit when I saw the advert.  Manchester certainly has a good music heritage, but it's already too fetishised as it is.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

It's horrendous, but in a really cynical/knowing way. In other words, it's not even funny.

[chand]

Almost wanted to vomit when I saw the advert.  Manchester certainly has a good music heritage, but it's already too fetishised as it is.

Yeah, I get disappointed when I go to gigs round here and we still have new bands forming that are just aping Oasis and all that other stuff we had around that was great from the late 80s to mid-90s.

Ah, 'I Am The Resurrection', I'm guessing this is the song that generated this whole idea on the back of a beer mat somewhere.

'Angels'? Oh, do fuck off.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Robbie Williams isn't even from Manchester, is he?

[chand]

He's from Stoke-on-Trent, which is quite a way from the centre of Manchester, being as it is in fucking Staffordshire. The only time I went anywhere near there was when I went through it on the way to Alton Towers many years ago (pretty much the only reason to go there unless you're into pottery).

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

Good Lord.

[benthalo]

The same director as Mike Read's Pop Quiz I notice.

I avoided it having seen the behind the scenes item on last Sunday's Heaven & Earth Show which let off heavy alarm bells. And yes, Manchester is self-aggrandising enough.

Keith Allen was involved too, which is never a good sign.

[chand]

I just tried to explain to my girlfriend who Keith Allen is without any real success, he's just one of those guys who's around and involved with various mostly forgettable things.

[poor fool]

I thought 'Sit Down' sounded nice with the Salvation Army brass.

[Darrell]

Just sent an email of complaint to the BBC, having soon realised that there are likely political connections between this having been broadcast and the huge amount of flak they got over Jerry Springer The Opera.

I not only felt that this programme was amateurish, poorly-conceived, and thoroughly undeserving of a prime terrestrial slot, but I am concerned that the broadcast of this tasteless religious propaganda severely compromises the artistic integrity displayed by the channel in screening 'Jerry Springer The Opera' last year (and the channel's subsequent staunch defence of said programme's ethics and values).

In the eyes of myself and those I watched it with, the screening of 'The Manchester Passion' distinctly un-did and cheapened the advances made in free speech and liberalism in broadcasting that came from 2005's broadcast of Jerry Springer The Opera. Tonight's programme came across as practically an apology for last year's furore, indirectly insulting those that stood up for the channel for Jerry Springer, and not the kind of conceding compromise I expect from the BBC.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

I'm sorry Darrell, but that complaint comes across to me as slightly insane. It's like the ramblings of a paranoid schizophrenic or something, feeling certain that their decision to broadcast something about Easter at Easter is in some way an insult to you and all about Jerry Springer The Opera.

I noticed that Terry Wogan blinked in a particular way after my letter was read out on Points of View. I know that when Terry did this he was indicating to me that he thought I was ridiculous and that he was watching me through the cameras that the BBC have illegally installed in my home and laughing at my reaction to the reading of the letter. This is the third such incident of harassment I have noticed this week, the previous two being the increasingly frequent fluffing of lines by Peter Sissons on BBC News 24, which he does with the purpose of annoying me.

[Sadness]

The Irish may be Riverdance-loving-drunks but we'd NEVER do anything as horribly stultifyingly crap as that waste of an hour.....

Grumpy Old Men was great tonight though.

[The Mumbler]

The same director as Mike Read's Pop Quiz I notice.

And the first series of Absolutely...

[John Self]

It's horrendous, but in a really cynical/knowing way. In other words, it's not even funny.

No, it wasn't, but I really don't think the story of Christ's death was funny in the first place. But I don't want to get into a religious argument with you: after all, this is Stereo Excursions, not Comedy Chat. However:

One of the concisest and funniest thread-openings ever

Hehe! "What the fuck?" ME NOT KNOW.

I just tried to explain to my girlfriend who Keith Allen is without any real success

He's the man he is today, is who he is- and he's done so much to deserve it.

Did anyone else cringe at that bit at the end, where he sternly told the crowd about the really actually quite bad time Jesus had just before his death? I guess humour would have been inappropriate, but maybe the shite acting and shite actor were too: he reminded me, with his  scruffy unshaven earnestness, of some trendy teacher or drug-lecturer giving 'the harsh truth' to 'the kids'. At the bit where he said, "And they forced 18-inch long pins into his wrists", I was half-expecting him to add, "Sounds like fun, doesn't it? "Bit of a buzz", you're thinking? Well it's not- CRUCIFIXION KILLS".


And then they should have cut to Christ on the cross: "Am I cool? Am I cool? Am I cool now?  Does this look cool?"


Best song was the M-People one, because, unlike all the others played, it's improved immeasurably for not having been performed by the original artists.

But Tim Booth doing The Smiths- that was just horrible. I never realised that 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' could seem so whiny; I never realised that Judas Iscariot could seem like such an arsehole.

Manchester is self-aggrandising enough.

I agree. Should have been set in London.

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

But Tim Booth doing The Smiths- that was just horrible. I never realised that 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' could seem so whiny; I never realised that Judas Iscariot could seem like such an arsehole.

That was Tim Booth?  I just switched on to see HKIMK being sung in an amusingly deep voice by some weird baldie.  Fuck, that was Tim Booth?

[Labian Quest]

I thought it had it's moments, like when Keith Allen tried to get everyone to sit down during...'Sit down' and noone could be arsed, also wasn't the fact that it was set in Manchester something to do with the theory that Jesus had visited Manchester when he was younger?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Jesus WAS a Mancunian though.

And will be in the Second Coming.

[Almost Yearly]

I thought 'Sit Down' sounded nice with the Salvation Army brass.

:-)

I'd actualy blanked out the fact that I watched some of this, until I saw this thread. I felt like it was me being crucified. Maybe that was the idea. I was reminded of a really uncomfortable event from my childhood when Gary came round to my house crying - we never cried - because he had a christian relative staying and she'd been giving him a right old fire and brimstoning and he wasn't going home 'til she left.

[Jemble Fred]

Hoho. It was true cock, wasn't it? I only tuned in to catch the murder of Wonderwall, but my brother taped it and we watched as much as we could bear this morning. It had one or two nicely dovetailing moments, but very few, and the fizzle out was shocking – "we can't show the crucifixion or anything, but it hurt, and... and... READ THE BIBLE!"

As heavily fictionalised stories go, Jesus' death is quite a good one, and I'm a sucker for any show that tries to retell a story via music, but this was bungled to bits.

Basically, not a patch on the Beatles Xmas Carol...

Grumpy Old Men was great tonight though.

That was mainly good because Nigel Havers was so unbelievably rubbish at it:

"I don't want some... some FRENCH ARSE in a... in an... some FRENCH ARSE! I mean, what's that all about? Send 'em all back.... Er, is that the kind of thing you wanted?"

[Abbatoir worker]

Whoopsie - got locked out of GD posting on this.  Forgot to look in here, sorry gods of CaB, should have searched it, sorry.

Well, I have just watched it again and still enjoyed it overall.  Obviously the interest was increased for me, by going 'that's where I eat my sandwiches!' and so on.  There were some horribly clunky bits but I liked the way the songs changed context.  I particularly enjoyed the accordian parts and the Sally Army.  I didn't think the content was rabidly Christian enough, to be honest.  I don't see the point of shoehorning other religions and even atheists into the proceedings.  I know the producers of these things probably have a remit to make them accessible, but I think they did that through the modernisation.  It's a Christian festival, so if you're going to celebrate it at all, just present it as such.  The Guantanamo references were a bit too morally relativist and simplistic for me also.  Still, I was impressed that it all came off technically, but that's maybe because I was looking at it as a particularly elaborate local church fete.  I kept thinking 'oh, jolly well done ' that nothing exploded or no mics cut out.  

I agree. Should have been set in London.

Yes, with you as Our Saviour I presume?  *winkie*

[fbb bastard]

the "blue monday" bit was good though. the lyrics and mood worked quite well in a dialogue between jc and judas.brought a whole new level of subtext to it

[Cack Hen]

That was mainly good because Nigel Havers was so unbelievably rubbish at it:

"I don't want some... some FRENCH ARSE in a... in an... some FRENCH ARSE! I mean, what's that all about? Send 'em all back.... Er, is that the kind of thing you wanted?"

Yeah, that was awful. I generally find Grumpy Old Men to be annoying because the grumpy men on it tend to generalise absolutely everything and some of them verge on cretinous. They bang on about how young people today don't give a shit about anything and listen to shit music and watch pointless films yet they're just as bad at being ignorant. Like the comments about their not being any good actors and "young people listen to awful music" do they? How many young people have you spoken to?

[Morgan]

So, a production based on Manchester music, and no Fall?  Doesn't that render the whole thing pointless?

[chand]

That was mainly good because Nigel Havers was so unbelievably rubbish at it:

"I don't want some... some FRENCH ARSE in a... in an... some FRENCH ARSE! I mean, what's that all about? Send 'em all back.... Er, is that the kind of thing you wanted?"

Yeah, that was awful. I generally find Grumpy Old Men to be annoying because the grumpy men on it tend to generalise absolutely everything and some of them verge on cretinous. They bang on about how young people today don't give a shit about anything and listen to shit music and watch pointless films yet they're just as bad at being ignorant. Like the comments about their not being any good actors and "young people listen to awful music" do they? How many young people have you spoken to?

The fact that Tony Slattery doesn't understand hip-hop makes me want to listen to it all the more. I didn't like the segment about foreign countries changing their names which degenerated into them all going 'Blobbyblobbystan'  or something.

[poor fool]

So, a production based on Manchester music, and no Fall?  Doesn't that render the whole thing pointless?

Imagine what Mark E Smith said when they asked him if they could use 'Kurious Oranj'.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

So, a production based on Manchester music, and no Fall?  Doesn't that render the whole thing pointless?

A distinct lack of Freddie and the Dreamers too!

[monkhouse terror]

and Autechre!

[Sadness]

And - THE BEE GEES..........!!

They could have done "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You"....?