Trapped!

[Jemble Fred]

The Sound of Music one was pleasant enough, even if it did rely on the most ridiculous coincidences I've seen in any form of TV drama...

But did anyone else see 'Beauty'? For me, it was one of those one-off shows where, as you're watching it for the first time, you're looking forward to buying the DVD. I wish I'd taped it, in fact. With the less-than-reasonably-good Carrie & Barry on at the moment, it was extremely comforting to see a Simon Nye script being performed by one of the old MBB guard, and it feeling completely new, and unexpected, and with some real depth. Plus I laughed like a bitch.

Okay, so I'm a sucker for adapations of old stories like this, even if you know how the plot's going to work out, but I generally thought this was a great comedy-drama, (especially due to the cast – Clunes has never been better, and Peter Vaughan was on top form, even Sam Kelly showing up for a vague Porridge reunion) as well as being the ideal date film for ugly blokes.

[Darrell]

'Beauty' was excellent yes. The "they're not our names" scene was the best exchange Nye has written for years.

I've taped both Trapped films so far, but it's Tim Firth's 'King of Fridges' that I've been looking forward to the most. If this season has showed one thing, it's that ITV can make much nicer-looking TV films than the BBC - they use actual film for starters.

I just wish they were 90-minute affairs rather than truncated-feeling 45 minute things.

[benthalo]

The Jonathan Harvey opener was dreadful for many reasons - clearly commissioned for a much longer slot and forced mid-production into becoming one of the clunkiest hours of television I've seen in a long time. Wasn't the transexual thing obvious from the opening minute, when it really didn't have to be? There was a hideous inevitablity to the whole thing. Harvey's a very frustrating writer - he can be surprising, incredibly funny and reflective, but can also bash out any old bollocks about gays at a moment's notice. His musical with the Pet Shop Boys managed to do both. His work's rarely political or attempting to change attitudes, which would at least have redeemed Von Trapped. Rather like the first appearances of homosexuals or other minorities in early film and television, it simply serves as a way of spicing up tried and tested formulas.

I've taped Beauty and look forward to Baby Cow's second Tim Firth film enormously. ITV are putting an interesting season together at the moment, it must be said. With Christopher Brookmyre and Alan Plater filling up the Sunday schedules, you have to wonder what on Earth BBC1 are playing at.

[Darrell]

Wow, frankly.

I'd hyped it up enormously in my expectations of it, and it surpassed those entirely. Tim Firth is FUCKING GREAT.

[benthalo]

And every bit the writer that Jack Rosenthal was, which it was fittingly dedicated to. God, that was good. I could gush for hours. The first and only play in the Trapped strand which felt comfortable at 50mins and simply took its time to develop character and situation. The first fifteen minutes were quite slight but utterly captivating. Virtually a two-hander with chorus, which is all that you need in a slot of that length. And even though familiarity may have bred contempt in recent times, it showed that Mark Benton is growing as an actor. And it's fabulous to see Richard Wilson getting an interesting role for a change.

{Embarrassed correction - that was the third Baby Cow/Tim Firth collaboration. In my previous message I was forgetting Combat Sheep, besides the excellent Cruise Of The Gods.}

[cairnsi]

And every bit the writer that Jack Rosenthal was, which it was fittingly dedicated to. God, that was good. I could gush for hours. The first and only play in the Trapped strand which felt comfortable at 50mins and simply took its time to develop character and situation. The first fifteen minutes were quite slight but utterly captivating. Virtually a two-hander with chorus, which is all that you need in a slot of that length. And even though familiarity may have bred contempt in recent times, it showed that Mark Benton is growing as an actor. And it's fabulous to see Richard Wilson getting an interesting role for a change.

{Embarrassed correction - that was the third Baby Cow/Tim Firth collaboration. In my previous message I was forgetting Combat Sheep, besides the excellent Cruise Of The Gods.}

ARGGGGGHHHH I MISSED IT
and ITV rarely repeat these sort of things, took them an age to repeat Booze Cruise - which I thought with Neil Pearson and Clunes and Benton was excellent

[Darrell]

I didn't like The Booze Cruise - it was deriative, bland and horribly predictable. The fault was largely in the writing (lots of sub-One Foot in the Grave stuff throughout, from someone who clearly didn't have a complete grasp on why OFITG was great), as the production and performances were alright enough.

The whole thing smelt of mediocrity, really.

[Darrell]

http://playcom.at/cookdandbombd?DURL=http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=pfa&page=title&r=R2&title=681154

King Of Fridges gets a well-deserved DVD release on 19th September. My interest is only piqued if there are some nice extras, because £14.99 for a 45-minute TV play seems a bit, well, over-the-top.