Black and British

Celebrate the good stuff while it's here. I think "Black and British" is terrific (BBC 2 on Wednesdays this week's was the third of four). David Olusoga is intelligent, engaging, very positive. There's a clever inclusiveness running through the series, whereby local people of all kinds are invited in, to share this common heritage, so that the aging, white members of a bowls club gather round to applaud the erection of a plaque on their clubhouse, recording the career of a former slave of whom none of us have ever heard - until now.  The series is full of interesting stories, stunning characters, which makes you think "Why haven't we heard about this before?" But now we have, and the plaque, and the series, and the book are there, leaving a trail which others will pick up, and from which we'll all end up wiser.

NW

There's so much drama on TV which doesn't quite make it - works hard, briefly promises, but just fails to convince or goes over the top, that it's a treat to welcome something that just feels totally right. Turning the whole of a novel into one 90-minute chunk feels like a huge risk, but for me the version of Zadie Smith's NW shown on BBC 1 was entirely convincing. Real characters, dialogue and situations. A huge range of background and character, but rooted in an utterly real London - part of whose identity depends on that rich variation within limited space. The friendship of the two main women, tied together but different in so many ways, was sympathetic and detailed, drawing you in. A mix of moods, no dull or stupid moments, just an hour and a half of sensitive intelligence and absorbing viewing. Such a treat. 

Ireland 40 All Blacks 29

For the past couple of months I've been virtually housebound. I've been really grateful for Netflix, and BT sport. when I signed up to them I wasn't at all sure they'd be worth it, but now there's no doubt. BT sport, rather suprisingly, had the Ireland v. All Blacks game, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Utterly rivetting. Three years ago, Ireland built up a 19-0 lead against the all Blacks, only to be caught at the end. Here they were up by 30-8 when the All Blacks started to haul them in. Three ruthless tries in hardly any time at all, and it looked like the same old story, yet again. But amazingly the Irish had the nerve and stamina to keep attacking, to chase every ball, make every tackle, and ended up scoring a wonderful try - intelligent, courageous, absolutely no doubt about it - and ended up winning by 40 - 29. Watching the highlights is pretty good, but there's nothing to beat seeing a story like that unfold in real time. Thank you BT sport. 

The Fall

Wow. Last week a Guardian critic wrote that they were still watching The Fall, even though nothing was happening. I'll bet they didn't feel like that after the last episode, when things kept happening all the time - often unexpected, invariably violent but totally gripping. I didn't watch this from the start, because "serial killer" to me isn't an attraction, but the strength of the recommendations, in print and by word of mouth, changed my mind during the first series, and I've been an avid fan ever since. Yes, it's intense, and maybe not entirely realistic all the time. Gillian Anderson is maybe more of a loose cannon than most police forces would permit, but she is so watchable. Most important of all, the writing's thoughtful and clever, dealing with real if nasty stuff, and there's a lot of minor characters taken seriously - the people in the hospital have been terrific. I've really loved it, and i'm praying that they'll accept the logic of the story and the script, and accept that this is the end of the line. I really do not want to watch The Fall, series 4. 

HyoperNormalisation

Not the snappiest title in the world, but it's worth remembering. It's the latest documentary from Adam Curtis, and I'm a fan. some love him, some hate him, because he has a very distinctive style, but he does make you think and he's not dull. HyperNormalisation comes in at a snappy two and three-quarter hours, and is only available on iplayer. and that's right. You don't want to take it in all at once, and this way you can go back to it, check over things that might have seemed preposterous or confusing, and generally do the kind of clear independent thinking which Curtis - and some of the rest of us - favour. 

what's it about? Oh, all sorts. Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran. the US and Russia. the history of suicide bombing. How news is presented to discourage us from thinking, Facebook stuff like that. Nobody else does quite what he does. Some of the links seem outrageous, and I don't agree with everything i hear, but I do feel a lot wiser and more energised for having watched it.

(If you want to catch it, it may be easier to type in 'Adam Curtis' - I got the title right, but still couldn't trace it first time round.)

National Treasure

Now that is more like it. Having moaned fairly steadily about the drama diet available on our small screens, we finally have something rivetting. it's got an immediate oomph, dealing with Savile type accusations/Operation Yewtree, celebrities under suspicion for sexual crimes etc...but there are so many ways of getting that wrong. Hiring Jack Thorne to write the script is a good start, but if you then get Robbie Coltrane as your central character you're cooking with gas. I've been a fan ever since tutti Frutti, and the big man did not disappoint. (He was even, like me, walking around with a stick - I know, Robbie, really, I do, I feel your pain). And his scenes with his brittle, disturbed daughter (the fabulous Andrea Riseborough) were electric. I have a regular TV date for the next three weeks, to which I can unequivocally look forward. Yippee!   

One of Us

There's not a whole lot of current TV that's "must watch", so I've allowed myself to watch all four episodes of One Of Us, knowing that it's  not that great, but it had a stunning cast and a great Highlands setting, even if moments seem a bit improbable. And then we get to the end of episode four and it goes totally off the rails - ludicrously unrealistic explanations and resolutions of what's been going on. From the look of it my outrage is widely shared, so how on earth has this project been able to command a massive budget for something that's ultimately so flimsy?     

Scottish Highlands

As previously mentioned, there's not a lot being transmitted in the routine Telly week that I want to watch. So - despite being ignorant of nature in most of its forms - I've given the series on the Scottish Highlands a go. Well, four goes, in fact, since it's been on over the last four weeks, and I've watched every one.

On the down side, someone's told Ewan MacGregor "This is a great script. Imagine it's Shakespeare." It isn't, and its phoney solemnity, backed up with some suitably self-important music, almost made me watch with the sounds turned off. But that would still have been with it, because the photography has been phenomenal. I have distant but vivid memories of walking in Scotland, but realism says that I shan't be doing that again. So this not only brought all of those snapshots back, but added detailed observation of wildlife which was simply amazing. Some mug with a camera has stood there for months, maybe years, just to bring us these sequences - osprey catching fish, salmon leaping up stream, baby guillemots somehow summoning up the guts to throw themselves off a huge cliff when they have no clue as to whether they'll survive. Utterly stunning. thank you, BBC. Again.  

Catastrophe

Gradually I adapt to the world of catch-up. Disappointed with the bitter, hollow world of The Circuit, I dimly remember "Sharon Horgan used to be better than this" and seek out Catastrophe, of which I had watched the first two series. Somehow, I hadn't kept going, but there they were, episodes 3 - 6, just waiting for me to catch up, which I do over the next two hours. Gorgeous - warm, witty, filthy, beautifully balanced between the two of them, with a lovely mix of affection and all-out warfare. Just a delight. and it's there to go back to, the next time current offerings disappoint. 

The Watchman

Oh dear. the familiar heartbreak, as you watch TV drama which looked as though it might be really good...I am a huge fan of Stephen Graham. I've been a huge fan since he dominated a TV drama about soldiers in Afghanistan, and sustained (very varied) exposure in Boardwalk Empire, This is England and The Secret Agent have done nothing to dilute my enthusiasm.

So tonight's one-off TV drama shows him gradually losing control inside his booth, monitoring video surveillance cameras which show him how his clumsy good intentions lead inexorably towards tragedy. Lots of solo stuff, close-up on great actor emoting - sad reminders of Ben Whishaw in London Spy - which I also hated. It's not the actor's fault. There just isn't the quality in the script to make that kind of detailed attention worth while. It's  a half-OK idea, carried out crudely, and a sad waste of a wonderful actor. .  

The Secret Agent

I know, I know. It doesn't fully reflect the subtleties of Conrad's novel, and Vicky McClure is far too attractive to be Winnie Verloc...I don't care. In a general TV desert the three episodes of the Secret agent are a welcome oasis of intelligent writing and superb acting, not to mention convincing setting and filming that keeps you hooked throughout the hour.i

Having Toby Jones and Ian Hart doesn't hurt, and Tony Marchant's script is a real clever balance of preserving the Conrad situation with a canny awareness of contemporary parallels without having them clumsily hammered home. It may be that bots of the novel are lost, but as i remember it, reading it wasn't a total pleasure and i'm very glad to have it transformed into something this watchable, this stimulating. 

Mum

So that's it - six half-hour episodes, and they've all gone. Mum has been a precious thing of beauty, subtle, quiet and unassuming, but full of intelligence and feeling. If you turned on for three minutes you might not think that. some of the people in it seem too dumb and insensitive to be believable. But if you give them the time, let them grow on you, then you realise there's a lot more going on. It's written by Stefan Golaszewski, who wrote the brilliant Him and Her. that had crude jokes. sordid details, ordinary characters, family disasters, but at its core a sweet relationship between the main couple - fallible, moody but deeply fond of each other. With Mum there's Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan, as her dead husband's friend, who thinks he's just being friendly - but the gradual attraction and longing that grows between them, in little looks, occasional words and lots of silence, is just wonderful. Don't take my word for it. Cath it up, or buy the set.   

Reg

Thank God for catch-up. I missed it at the time, but reading a review made me think it would be worth my while watching Reg, the TV play about Reg Keys, whose son was killed in Iraq. It's a sad, basically simple story, but if ever i go a play put on TV I'd want Tim Roth and Anna Maxwell Martin acting in it. So easy to think of wildly different characters which both of them have played, but for the ninety minutes of this they were totally convincing. Not perfect, just real, and utterly watchable. If the Chilcott report really is longer than all the Harry Potter books put together, then maybe this will have to do. My guess is that tony Blair wouldn't have found it restful viewing, but that's fine.    

Midsummer Night's Dream

Well, well, well..who'd a thunk it? Russell T.Davies has done a version of Midsummer Night's Dream, and the tabloids are agitated about a lesbian kiss. As usual these days, we get the row before we get the programme, and - again as usual - our media are childish and pathetic. I thought it was stunning. the purists would say that all you have to do is expose kids to Shakespeare and they'll be knocked out. not in my experience. there's a ton of padding, a lot of moments which aren't clear, or take too long to explain. This was lively and entertaining, brilliantly cut and easy to follow - and full of the mischievous romance which is the best thing about the original. Yes, of course it looked like Dr. Who in bits, but that's why they let Russell T.Davies do stuff on the box, because he knows how to entertain while also making subtle points and hinting at contemporary parallels. John Hannah, Maxine Peake and the rest clearly knew they were on to a good thing, so we all had a great time.  Yes, I'm very happy to pay the licence fee, thank you, Mr. Whittingdale.    

Grayson Perry

I've said it before, but now he;'s back again, and its still true. Grayson Perry is the best interviewer on TV, bar none. In his current series, All Man, he talks to hooligans, police officers, traders, casual passers-by, and treats them all with the same honesty and warmth. "don't take this the wrong way", he smiles at a huge cage-fighter who could clearly knock him into the middle of next week if he so chose, but then delivers a delicate, serious question - which, because it's offered that way, is answered in the same spirit. He's interested and he's pursuing a serious train of thought, but he doesn't have an agenda, or an urge to dominate, undermine or pigeonhole the people he's talking to. He's genuine, and they get that, so they're genuine too. Pure gold dust.

Hillsborough Evidence

Finally, the families get justice. Now the inquest is over, and the verdicts delivered, we get to see the evidence, and to watch the excellent documentary which TV was finally allowed to screen. To me, one of the great discoveries of this story was the academic who patiently worked to uncover what happened to the notes made by police on duty. First shock: senior officer tells them to put nothing in their pocketbooks. For a copper in the 80s, your pocketboojk is your bible, it's where you put everything that matters. But not at Hillsborough. At Hillsborough, you're given a blank sheet on paper, on which to write your recollections of the day. This is then typed up, into version 2, when someone goes through it very carefully crossing out any mention of errors in police tactics (of which there were plenty), any detail which might give a crumb of comfort to a relative who didn't think their deceased family member was a drunken hooligan. After that very detailed process, version 3 is typed up, very short, very neat, with the legend "signed" at the bottom - although it isn't. None of this is made up. It was all sitting in the House of Lords library, waiting for someone patient enough to dig it up, to correlate the different versions, and to prove beyond all possible doubt that senior police officers knew there were huge mistakes by commanding officers, but would go to considerable effort and expense to prevent that being known. 

Boris on the Trail

 I can't remember being as depressed as I currently am, about the nature of the EU debate. Yes, it's abstract and condescending, with all sorts of rich people telling us that business will fall to pieces unless we stay in. I'm not surprised that some voters are feeling stroppy, and are ready to vote Out just to be cussed. But what's mind-boggling is that some of them think that Boris Johnson is the most persuasive speaker on offer. Having hovered on a knife-edge as to which side he was actually on, he's now smarming his way around, getting photo ops, refusing to be tied down on immigration but offering casual comparisons between the EU and Hitler. And all this as we get the increasing wealth of detail that suggests his spell as Mayor of London varied between casual and outright deceitful. Vote In or vote Out, but why on earth would you want to vote Boris? 

Line of Duty

So that's it, done and dusted, series 3 of Line of Duty comes to an end. Already, they know there'll be a series 4, and yes, I suppose I'll watch it, but each time the mixture gets diluted. The core of it, the interrogation stuff, is still terrific, but there's too much else that isn't convincing. Kate going undercover, Craig Parkinson doing his crook cop act again (why did we have to know from the start what he was doing?), and the whole simplified, over-personal storyline around the Polly Walker character - none of this was really worthy of Line of Duty as we've known it in the first two series.  Daniel Mays was wasted before he began, which is why they had to bring Lindsay Denton back, and lean so heavily on series 2. Yes, it's been great, but i'm not sure it needs to be kept going for ever, not if this series is anything to go by. Why do they always have to recycle stuff, beyond its sell-by date?  

Undercover

Really sad, the day you part company with a show you'd hoped to enjoy. Undercover had all sorts of things going for it - serious presentation of a black family, engagement with complex political issues, stunning performers. But tonight i just couldn't stop shaking my head, and turned off. It's partly the real-life objections, from the partners of undercover policemen, this it isn't actually this way. Living in marital harmony with Adrian Lester for 20 years, before it comes out that hey, actually he's a cop. you can see why they wouldn't want to make him too obviously sick, but then what other kind of person would deliberately chat up, sleep with and then marry someone without telling them what they were up to? But it's not just that. It's the over dramatised flying top the US and back again, only to shout at a judge that her client is at risk. It's getting the DPP job and then deciding hey, all the resources in this organisation will be devoted to investigating a case from twenty years ago. Nothing happens this simply, in isolation, but because Maya's played by a terrific actress they assume she doesn't need to work or talk with anyone else. Charging down a corridor swapping barbed lines with a stuffy politician is fine for the West Wing, but it'snot how stuff actually happens. I tried, but enough is enough.      

Victoria Wood

Absolutely gutted. No, we can't afford to lose her. I remember going on course about TV sitcom writing a few years back, with lots of sharp young things, and getting very condescending looks when I said I rated dinnerladies.  And tonight I got out the old VHS tape of "An audience with Victoria Wood" just to listen to the finale again - the utterly stunning Ballad of Barry and Freda. Yes, you. Let's do it - or Beat me on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly. Yes, that one. Mounting rhythm and fabulous internal rhymes - they don't make 'em like that any more, but then they never did. The show was attended by all kinds of celebrities, and the camera keeps sweeping through the audience, picking out big names, helplessly laughing, obviously recognising that they ware watching and listening to someone very, very special. She was always unique, a real national treasure.