A bit of a guilty TV secret, this, for me... Sunday night (or is it Friday? can't remember, it was programmed in the machine) superior soaps starring the likes of Sarah Lancashire don't usually detain me. And some of the soapy aspects were ...
But there were sufficient real gems - of performance, of writing, of bravura plotting - in each episode to make this a treat.
Ms Lancashire was brilliant, imo (although the plot made it utterly incredible that she was the head teacher of a large secondary school - having grown up in the household of one such) - she and the other younger female lead, Nicola Walker ("Gillian") were excellent foils for one another; and the third female lead Anne Reid was even more brilliant earlier in the series when she had more to do. (Reid, Rylance and Kitchen - the three best TV actors in the country at the moment, I think). They contrived effortlessly to upstage Derek Jacobi, no mean feat. The sublimely vile Tony Gardner made the skin creep and the teeth gnash; and a series of very good little comic turns from a young actor, Louis Greatorex provided other highlights.
The wheel changing scene in the final episode this week had me weeping with laughter - Sarah Lancashire coming off second best to a wheel-nut in her wedding gear, to Nicola Walker's attempted encouragement ( "it’s just horse-shit, that… it’s nice… it’s friendly, it’s good for you… they’re not carnivorous, so… you know… could be worse… it’s just grass…. it’s grass and bacteria, really…" ).
Well, I liked it (overall). Anyone else? Or is no-one talking to me now?
But there were sufficient real gems - of performance, of writing, of bravura plotting - in each episode to make this a treat.
Ms Lancashire was brilliant, imo (although the plot made it utterly incredible that she was the head teacher of a large secondary school - having grown up in the household of one such) - she and the other younger female lead, Nicola Walker ("Gillian") were excellent foils for one another; and the third female lead Anne Reid was even more brilliant earlier in the series when she had more to do. (Reid, Rylance and Kitchen - the three best TV actors in the country at the moment, I think). They contrived effortlessly to upstage Derek Jacobi, no mean feat. The sublimely vile Tony Gardner made the skin creep and the teeth gnash; and a series of very good little comic turns from a young actor, Louis Greatorex provided other highlights.
The wheel changing scene in the final episode this week had me weeping with laughter - Sarah Lancashire coming off second best to a wheel-nut in her wedding gear, to Nicola Walker's attempted encouragement ( "it’s just horse-shit, that… it’s nice… it’s friendly, it’s good for you… they’re not carnivorous, so… you know… could be worse… it’s just grass…. it’s grass and bacteria, really…" ).
Well, I liked it (overall). Anyone else? Or is no-one talking to me now?
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