Recommended Television Programmes

[Nick Armstrong]

On a slightly different front, BBC2 have been running all series of 'Detectorists' weekly over the last few months. Although it is available on the i-player, I have been sitting down to watch it every week - I've seen it all before but it remains a TV highlight of the week for me. One of the all-time great British TV programmes for me.

Agreed! Just re-watched the last episode of season 3 (rebroadcast a few hours ago): what a gem. The putting-up of the field gazebo (and accompanying music) a lovely pastiche of the classic barn-raising scene from Witness … and the surreal property auction. Endless funny and touching details. Wonderful stuff.

[teamsaint]

Agreed! Just re-watched the last episode of season 3 (rebroadcast a few hours ago): what a gem. The putting-up of the field gazebo (and accompanying music) a lovely pastiche of the classic barn-raising scene from Witness … and the surreal property auction. Endless funny and touching details. Wonderful stuff.

Couldn’t agree more. I suspect that a few movie references are lost in me, but it is really superb.

[Nick Armstrong]

Couldn’t agree more. I suspect that a few movie references are lost in me, but it is really superb.

I went straight back from the final episode to watch the first ever episode (thanks to iPlayer) - some lovely linking touches, showing how intelligent the writing is. For example, ‘Lance’ offers ‘Garfunkel’ () a tissue in both, sarcastically in episode 1 suggesting he’s made him cry during their first encounter, but genuinely in the final episode because the offer to join forces really has reduced ‘Garfunkel’ to tears. I’d never noticed the parallel before.

[kernelbogey]

Anybody watched Annika (BBC)? I've just tried the first episode on iPlayer and found it difficult to follow: complex plot details delivered very fast in frequently inaudible conversations. I don't get the point of Nicola Walker (Annika) intermittently talking direct to camera. I'm unsure whether I'll bother to persist.

[JasonPalmer]

Wife and i have watched first two episodes of annika, seems ok but not gripping. Apparently it used to be on the radio and based in norway.

[kernelbogey]

Anybody watched Annika (BBC)? I've just tried the first episode on iPlayer and found it difficult to follow: complex plot details delivered very fast in frequently inaudible conversations. I don't get the point of Nicola Walker (Annika) intermittently talking direct to camera. I'm unsure whether I'll bother to persist.

Rewatched ep 1 and got the hang of it; then binge-watched the other 5 episodes. On the whole I enjoyed it - but too many characters and an over-complex plot. But Annika's team was done well, also her family life.

[johncorrigan]

Anybody watched Annika (BBC)? I've just tried the first episode on iPlayer and found it difficult to follow: complex plot details delivered very fast in frequently inaudible conversations. I don't get the point of Nicola Walker (Annika) intermittently talking direct to camera. I'm unsure whether I'll bother to persist.

Mrs C and I watched, attracted by the normally very reliable, Nicola Walker. However we both thought it was awful... and we agreed that we would miss out on watching any further episodes. Walker's co-star is Jamie Sives, in my opinion the poorest actor from 'Guilt' - a bit wooden, he played almost the same role in 'Annika' as in 'Guilt', giving the impression that he is a one-trick pony, and not a very good trick, I would suggest.

[kernelbogey]

Mrs C and I watched, attracted by the normally very reliable, Nicola Walker. However we both thought it was awful... and we agreed that we would miss out on watching any further episodes. Walker's co-star is Jamie Sives, in my opinion the poorest actor from 'Guilt' - a bit wooden, he played almost the same role in 'Annika' as in 'Guilt', giving the impression that he is a one-trick pony, and not a very good trick, I would suggest.

Yeah - not sure it was a good use of my time.

[vinteuil]

We watched the first two episodes of a promising new series on Sky Atlantic - Succession, a 10-parter which in the words of the Sunday Times TV critic Victoria Segal "staked out the territory between King Lear and The Thick of It. Thursdays, or binge via catch-up. Brian Cox as the Lear-Murdoch figure. The rest of the cast new to me.

... Apart from Richd: Tarleton's comment from August 2018 above, I can't find any references on this thread to Succession. Have people here not been watching / relishing this?

[eighthobstruction]

.....watched boxset of Series 1, and decided it was a bit thin really [and watched no more] /cliched/ writer driven....i think i read something somewhere that the writers themselves didn't think it had much 'legs' early on....

[Cockney Sparrow]

We intended to take our time watching the present series of 'Strike' on BBC1, but no such luck...we raced through the four episodes in two sittings, since it was all up on the i-player. Very enjoyable indeed, with some great ideas, as I have also found the previous series to be. I really like the two main characters, Cormoran and Robin, and like the way the characters have developed with a little added in each series. I'm already looking forward to the next instalment, whenever that is.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b093ypxy

We might take out a subscription for a month or two to access Succession and other programmes unavailable elsewhere, but then again, maybe not.

There was some publicity for Strike on the BBC last year (and/or I read John C's post) but over the course of a month or so we worked our way through the five series, and wondered why we hadn't been aware of it since the first in 2017. Enjoyable all the way through, unlike some others (I'm afraid we parted company with Spiral after Judge Robin's retirement and the first episode we next saw was such a step up in gore that it put Mrs CS, in particular, off watching any more).

Strike (also known as C. B. Strike internationally) is a British crime drama television programme based on the book series Cormoran Strike by J. K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The programme was first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2017
Fifteen episodes across five series have been broadcast to date, each series adapting the novels The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), Lethal White (2018), and Troubled Blood (2020), respectively…….

[Bryn]

How apposite that The Log Good Friday was rebroadcast on Film 4 last night, for today, the actor who played the iconic Jeff has announced he is to leave his long-standing role in Casualty. It seems the mode of his departure from Casualty is yet to be decided. How about replicating his departure from The Long Good Friday?

[Ein Heldenleben]

How apposite that The Log Good Friday was rebroadcast on Film 4 last night, for today, the actor who played the iconic Jeff has announced he is to leave his long-standing role in Casualty. It seems the mode of his departure from Casualty is yet to be decided. How about replicating his departure from The Long Good Friday?

Why not ? Let’s face it the violent death rate in Casualty is much higher than in the film.

[Belgrove]

... Apart from Richd: Tarleton's comment from August 2018 above, I can't find any references on this thread to Succession. Have people here not been watching / relishing this?

I’ve rather enjoyed Succession. There’s a lot of hype surrounding it - ‘best TV of the century’ stuff, which I don’t subscribe to. It does not have the narrative trajectory of The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, which at their heart were sagas of how an individual’s actions impact upon his family. Succession is made of the same stuff, but became too repetitive, with the principal siblings continually circling around and double-crossing each other to gain advantage and to curry favour or defy their father to gain control over a global media business (remind you of anything?) Where it succeeded is the quality of the ensemble acting and the whiplash viciousness of the script. Brian Cox dominated as the monstrous media mogul giving a virtuoso performance. But a more understated display of acting prowess is the ever excellent James Cromwell, playing his brother, who stands up to him and is the only character with a moral compass. His eulogy needs to be read when another media mogul in the real world finally leaves it. Also Harriet Walter as the siblings’s mother is wonderfully chilly - ‘Well here she comes, I thought I could hear the dalmatians howling’, quips the daughter. With parents like these, the kids didn’t stand a chance. Interesting that the best acting is by Brits, even their American accents convince.

[oddoneout]

I very much enjoyed this programme on BBC4 last night about some of the preliminary work to the Vermeer exhibition in Amsterdam.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mnbj

I don't know if it's because it is a Dutch documentary, but it was quiet and to the point, and the background music(by Alex Simu) was just that - background (and interesting I thought) - rather than the big stick "you will feel this emotion now" approach. A glimpse into the process of arranging the loans, making decisions about doubtful attributions, the role of the camera obscura, insights from an artist who copies Vermeer(not a forger) etc., and blessedly free of "clever" camera technique indulgence.