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BBC

Started by BlodwynPig, September 17, 2018, 09:19:16 PM

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BlodwynPig

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on September 18, 2018, 09:25:22 PM
I wasn't really suggesting that Bodyguard is a stellar piece of drama - I think it's pretty good, if flawed, for what it's worth - just that it's really quite pleasing to see such a blatantly anti-establishment drama on BBC One. It feels like a rare "fuck you" to the government.

Whether you like his writing or not, this is what Jed Mercurio does. Line of Duty - a similarly massive hit - was the same.

Nothing wrong with Richard Madden's acting either, I think he's very convincing as a PTSD-sufferer struggling to hold it together. He's subtle, not wooden.

Fair enough, but I suspect they'll have a twee ending with everything being all alright - the good cops save the day, Theresa May is still alive and bodyman skulks off to drown his troubles in a water cooler.

Funcrusher

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 18, 2018, 09:20:39 PM
People always forget all the shit that was on bbc 1 back then. Your 2.4 childrens, that wank one with the thick one from Father Ted, Keeping Up Appearances.

It wasn't all shit though.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: shh on September 18, 2018, 09:10:41 PM
There's a definite lack of original voices in BBC drama and documentaries. No matter the subject matter or theme there is the inescapable bland BBC aesthetic - characterisation, dialogue, visuals, soundtrack.

In terms of documentaries, only Jonathan Meades and Adam Curtis off the top of my head have any flair or distinctiveness (and the latter is a sub-Godardian conspiracy theorist). Fairly recently I've seen things like Boys from the Black Stuff and the early Mike Leigh films, it almost staggers me that the BBC was once capable of producing such programmes. Even Channel 4 (Channel 4!) used to commission films by Peter Greenaway and Jan Svankmajer though. The past is a foreign country...

Oh I know, I agree with all of that. I also watched Boys From the Black Stuff again recently, and it really is impossible to imagine a drama like that going out on the BBC these days. Every now and again you still get a furiously compassionate socialist diatribe from Jimmy McGovern, but he can be quite hit and miss. Great when he's on form, but tiresomely didactic when he's just railing against the ills of society within the framework of a daftly contrived morality play.

He's pretty much a lone voice in the wilderness, though, the last angry social-realist standing.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: BlodwynPig on September 18, 2018, 09:27:38 PM
Fair enough, but I suspect they'll have a twee ending with everything being all alright - the good cops save the day, Theresa May is still alive and bodyman skulks off to drown his troubles in a water cooler.

Possibly, but Jed Mercurio is fond of killing off his lead characters in shocking, brutal ways. We'll see.

Quote from: BlodwynPig on September 18, 2018, 09:26:09 PM
I don't know why it was so enjoyable but I did enjoy it. I think the French guy.

He's getting his own spin-off series!

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on September 18, 2018, 09:15:31 PM
Oh, fair enough, then. It 's a bit odd that something that is basically Deadpool* is getting all this hype and reverential reviews,  though * I haven't seen Deadpool.

I haven't seen Deadpool either, but it looks like the sort of thing that would annoy me. All those fucking smart-ass quips. Killing Eve should be annoying too, but I like the combination of droll British hoomor and violent cartoon thriller action.

I think having a protagonist who's likeable and down-to-earth really helps. The contrast between her sort of crumpled normality and the homicidal villain's entertainingly OTT psychopathy works a treat.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on September 18, 2018, 09:35:18 PM
Oh I know, I agree with all of that. I also watched Boys From the Black Stuff again recently, and it really is impossible to imagine a drama like that going out on the BBC these days. Every now and again you still get a furiously compassionate socialist diatribe from Jimmy McGovern, but he can be quite hit and miss. Great when he's on form, but tiresomely didactic when he's just railing against the ills of society within the framework of a daftly contrived morality play.

He's pretty much a lone voice in the wilderness, though, the last angry social-realist standing.

Loach got blacklisted by both the BBC and ITV in the 80's for making things about union collusion. These people exist, but the institutions are full of centrists and tories these days.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 18, 2018, 10:00:27 PM
Loach got blacklisted by both the BBC and ITV in the 80's for making things about union collusion. These people exist, but the institutions are full of centrists and tories these days.

McGovern sometimes feels like the BBC's pet socialist. "Look! Here's one of those angry left-wing dramas you like! See, we can still make them!" Then they put him back in his cage and commission another series of Poldark.

shh

Ken Loach is too often the one-dimensional Left Wing Film Maker in my book though, although he has his human moments.

Somehow missed Dennis Potter out. I think my first impression of the Singing Detective when I saw it was how much I enjoyed not knowing what was going on, a sort of effortless and unforced obscurity. In my experience the mystery you get in the current crop of dramas is the superficial type, whodunnit basically, and we always know we'll get the answer on a plate at the end. Anyway as the philosopher said, while we pine away for Noel's House Party, we're missing out on Alan Carr's Chatty Man.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: shh on September 18, 2018, 10:54:00 PM
Ken Loach is too often the one-dimensional Left Wing Film Maker in my book though, although he has his human moments.

Loach and McGovern are polemicists, no doubt about that, but their best work is deeply humane.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on September 18, 2018, 09:35:18 PM
Oh I know, I agree with all of that. I also watched Boys From the Black Stuff again recently, and it really is impossible to imagine a drama like that going out on the BBC these days. Every now and again you still get a furiously compassionate socialist diatribe from Jimmy McGovern, but he can be quite hit and miss. Great when he's on form, but tiresomely didactic when he's just railing against the ills of society within the framework of a daftly contrived morality play.

He's pretty much a lone voice in the wilderness, though, the last angry social-realist standing.

will have to watch BFTBS now, Bergerac style...Freddie Titmus was harping on about it and this is the deal breaker

Thomas


purlieu

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 18, 2018, 09:20:39 PM
Your 2.4 childrens
What, one of the most bizarre, surreal mainstream sitcoms ever made, which had frequent diversions into drama and black comedy? If there's ever a series that deserves reappraisal, it's 2point4 Children.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: purlieu on September 19, 2018, 03:33:01 PM
What, one of the most bizarre, surreal mainstream sitcoms ever made, which had frequent diversions into drama and black comedy? If there's ever a series that deserves reappraisal, it's 2point4 Children.

" Roseanne " rip- off. Featured the ghost of a dead motorcyclist for the first series or two, until the writer couldn't be arsed with that.