Recommended Television Programmes

[Nick Armstrong]

The Trial of Christine Keeler is for me the best series on BBC for ages, in casting, acting, directing...

Stacked up on the hard drive recorder under the telly! Looking forward (even more so now) to getting my teeth into it now festive guests have departed.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Stacked up on the hard drive recorder under the telly! Looking forward (even more so now) to getting my teeth into it now festive guests have departed.

It's a compelling series, making very clear just how used and abused these (very) young and naive women were by everyone they seemed to encounter - and then discarded once they'd given them what they needed. Fascinating parallels made between Keeler & Rice-Davis and Valerie Hobson, too - Emilia Fox in her best role to date, I think - the gradual realization of the weak, horrific man she's married to.

James Norton particularly fine, too, as a simultaneously repulsive and attractive Stephen Ward, also naively unaware of the fire he was playing with, until it was way too late.

[Stunsworth]

Remember the girls getting dressed in Scandal, to the Shadows' Apache? This time it was less overtly sexy, to The Crystals.... da-doo ron-ron....still a kind of affectionate homage, I thought.

A lot of the music is from the wrong period though. I've only seen the first two episodes and couldn't help wondering why they were playing the Kinks - this is a nit well and truly being picked, I've enjoyed what I've seen.

[LMcD]

It's a compelling series, making very clear just how used and abused these (very) young and naive women were by everyone they seemed to encounter - and then discarded once they'd given them what they needed. Fascinating parallels made between Keeler & Rice-Davis and Valerie Hobson, too - Emilia Fox in her best role to date, I think - the gradual realization of the weak, horrific man she's married to.

James Norton particularly fine, too, as a simultaneously repulsive and attractive Stephen Ward, also naively unaware of the fire he was playing with, until it was way too late.

Agreed on all points - it's gripping stuff.

[Serial_Apologist]

A lot of the music is from the wrong period though. I've only seen the first two episodes and couldn't help wondering why they were playing the Kinks - this is a nit well and truly being picked, I've enjoyed what I've seen.

The representation of the clobber is pretty accurate, though. I was there - a budding 16-year old Mod with a keen interest in all things style before it started going downhill with Carnaby Street trend-setting (apart from the gels!)

[Bryn]

It's certainly a world apart from Fool Britania.

[Richard Tarleton]

It's a compelling series, making very clear just how used and abused these (very) young and naive women were by everyone they seemed to encounter - and then discarded once they'd given them what they needed. Fascinating parallels made between Keeler & Rice-Davis and Valerie Hobson, too - Emilia Fox in her best role to date, I think - the gradual realization of the weak, horrific man she's married to.

James Norton particularly fine, too, as a simultaneously repulsive and attractive Stephen Ward, also naively unaware of the fire he was playing with, until it was way too late.

The representation of the clobber is pretty accurate, though. I was there - a budding 16-year old Mod with a keen interest in all things style before it started going downhill with Carnaby Street trend-setting (apart from the gels!)

The swimsuit Sophie Cookson ( ) was wearing on the beach in Alicante was [a replica presumably of] one CK wore at the time....I'd forgotten about George Wigg's role....talking of wigs, the one misfire so far the portrayal of Barbara Castle (cf her portrayal by Miranda Richardson in "Made in Dagenham"). We've still got the Arne Jacobsen chair and "He would, wouldn't he?" to look forward to (Lewis Morley's famous photo taken in September 1963...).

[Richard Tarleton]

Other flagship BBC programmes over Xmas - Gavin and Stacey, Call the Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys - I seem to have fallen out of the Beeb's target demographic, if I was ever in it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... the one misfire so far the portrayal of Barbara Castle (cf her portrayal by Miranda Richardson in "Made in Dagenham").

(the only "character" in this history that I ever actually met. )

[cloughie]

A lot of the music is from the wrong period though. I've only seen the first two episodes and couldn't help wondering why they were playing the Kinks - this is a nit well and truly being picked, I've enjoyed what I've seen.

Not surprising nobody at the BBC now recognises 60s music!

[Richard Tarleton]

(the only "character" in this history that I ever actually met. )

Wow - when, where, how?

I sat a few feet away from Harold Macmillan once.....

[vinteuil]

I sat a few feet away from Harold Macmillan once.....

... yes, Macmillan is the only one from this shower I've met - I suppose we'll encounter him at some stage?


.

[LMcD]

Other flagship BBC programmes over Xmas - Gavin and Stacey, Call the Midwife, Mrs Brown's Boys - I seem to have fallen out of the Beeb's target demographic, if I was ever in it.

Well .... (IMVHO):
The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special, which we 70+-year-olds watched and thoroughly enjoyed, was very funny and came across as a genuine reflection of the lives and concerns of a younger generation, which perhaps explains its consolidated audience of just over 17 million. The idea of a borderline neurotic setting up a walkie-talkie link so that he could check on the sprouts situation in the house across the road struck as us hilarious but not impossible in real life. The choice of 'sing-along Christmas anthem' was a good example of the welcome avoidance of sickly seasonal cliches.
I'm sure 'Call The Midwife', which we've never seen, achieves it modest aim of providing a dose of well-crafted escapism.
As for 'Mrs Brown's Boys', we repeatedly find ourselves subjected to the last few minutes when waiting for the news when programmes are running late. This experience suggests that the programme is beneath contempt.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Wow - when, where, how?

When I was 17, she came to my school to give a talk ("Even if you vote for the Tories, VOTE!") to the Sixth-Form. She was a powerful, engaging, and very funny speaker, and this was a formative experience for me.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well .... (IMVHO):
The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special, which we 70+-year-olds watched and thoroughly enjoyed, was very funny and came across as a genuine reflection of the lives and concerns of a younger generation, which perhaps explains its consolidated audience of just over 17 million. The idea of a borderline neurotic setting up a walkie-talkie link so that he could check on the sprouts situation in the house across the road struck as us hilarious but not impossible in real life. The choice of 'sing-along Christmas anthem' was a good example of the welcome avoidance of sickly seasonal cliches.

- I love Gavin & Stacey, too: very well-written scripts, touching & very funny - and very carefully caressing the borders of caricature without ever stepping over the mark. My only concern was that Jones & Corden might have lost their touch in the intervening years - needn't've worried: the script was immediately back in the standard they'd set for themselves. And wasn't that the best cliffhanger ending!

Lush.