"What Remains"... good creepy stuff but other TV series are available !!!

[AjAjAjH]

Bugler! I missed that then. Apologies

Replaced by the wonderful Eileen Atkins.

[amateur51]

Replaced by the wonderful Eileen Atkins.

Gosh, how wonderful indeed!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Gosh, how wonderful indeed!

She is indeed - but totally wasted in DocM (ie, "her talents could be better spent elsewhere", not "she's drunk all the time" - although I'm sure a few large whiskies wouldn't go amiss having to deliver* the scripts!) Lots of talented performers involved, shame about the plots.

(* = ie "perform", not "act as a postman" - although I'm sure there must be moments when reading the scripts that she questions her career** choice.)

(** = ie, "choice of job", not "aimlessly wandering around bumping into things" - although I'm sure ... [This stuff is a lot funnier and more original than the current series of Doc Martin, I'll have you know.])

[eighthobstruction]

Clunes characters lack of charm , sex appeal, or anything bar practical medical intelligence....has always been a thing that made me turn off....so one dimensional....if it was not shot in such a beautiful place (which they do not exploit enough), it would have none of the charm you said allowed you to watch it ferney....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

....if it was not shot in such a beautiful place (which they do not exploit enough), it would have none of the charm you said allowed you to watch it ferney....

Ooh, I dunno - I rather liked the concept of a surgeon who fainted at the sight of blood, and the effect this had on his self-confidence (a mixture of terror of and bewilderment by other people) - the way he couldn't operate in either sense. And how this was mirrored in his relationship with Louisa (terrified of, bewildered by and desperate for commitment) who herself was attracted by his dedication to his profession and simultaneously exasperrated by his social ineptitude - even repelled by the way this ineptitude often manifest itself in social hostility. And (in the first two or three series, at any rate) the character of Bert and his relationship with his son was well done, too - becoming a predictable set of "set piece" contrivancies in the later series. The policeman and Pharmacist were always two-dimensional at best (tho, in a couple of episodes in the series before this one, some attempt was made to pad them out) - better scripts and performances from the scenery, you're quite right. Never the best thing on telly, I used to quite not mind its amiable candy floss.

[eighthobstruction]

Candy floss....yes I was the same with Monarch of the Glenn and a couple of other such offerings....(usually with good scenery)....

[amateur51]

Clunes characters lack of charm , sex appeal, or anything bar practical medical intelligence....has always been a thing that made me turn off....so one dimensional....if it was not shot in such a beautiful place (which they do not exploit enough), it would have none of the charm you said allowed you to watch it ferney....

I've always assumed that Doc M 's personality deliberately but discreetly explores aspects of some sort of autism, like Asperger's but I could be wrong (it's been known )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Candy floss....yes I was the same with Monarch of the Glenn and a couple of other such offerings....(usually with good scenery)....

(I was thinking of Ballykissangel - same formula. Never got on with MotG, though - rather dull. Hamish MacBeth, on the other hand ... )

[eighthobstruction]

Yes Robert Carlyle....I was trying to remember the name....Hamish Macbeth....

....watching of all this type of stuff depends on whether I've a good book on the go.....(and Winter evenings).....

[Nick Armstrong]

I've edited the title of this thread to take account of the way it's developed !!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've edited the title of this thread to take account of the way it's developed !!

- but, seeing how we've mentioned Ballykissangel, Monarch of the Glen and Hamish MacBeth, shouldn't it now read "What Remains: good, creepy stuff, but other TV series are (or were) available"? (That way somebody can mention Heartbeat.

[Anna]

:(That way somebody can mention Heartbeat.

Funny you should say that ..... I caught repeats of this during the early afternoons whilst I was confined to barracks with illness, perhaps it was the result of being rather light-headed under the duvet with Benylin but I thought the early ones (was it Bill Maynard playing a character called Greengrass? Or maybe I'm still confused) rather good. I never saw MotG and never heard of Hamish MacBeth but, from distant memory, Ballykissangel was ok. The repeats I've seen of Doc Martin were probably from the first series? Again, amusing but quite frankly, having seen two of the new series I'm extremely unlikely to bother again.

As to Guilty, I'm afraid I'll have to watch the last episode merely to find out who dunnit!

[mangerton]

Anna, yes, it was BM playing Greengrass.

Heartbeat (filmed in Goathland, N Yorks), Hamish MacBeth (Plockton, Wester Ross), and Dr Finlay (Callander, then Auchtermuchty) are a few examples of series set in the more picturesque parts of the UK, and in some cases it's hard to say which came first, the chicken or the egg. Still, it did the actual locations no harm, tourist wise.

I never watched MotG, because the thought of quintessential English people like Briers Fellowes and Hampshire hamming it up in kilts and fake Scottish accents gives me the creeps. (Prince Charles has exactly the same effect.) There are plenty of good Scottish actors and actresses about.

I too will watch "Guilty", but it will be more of a chore than a pleasure.

[Nick Armstrong]

- but, seeing how we've mentioned Ballykissangel, Monarch of the Glen and Hamish MacBeth, shouldn't it now read "What Remains: good, creepy stuff, but other TV series are (or were) available"? (That way somebody can mention Heartbeat.

Or: good creepy stuff and many other Sunday night TV series are (or were) total sh*te...



(Heartbeat is actually still available, judging by the schedule it seems to be a daily fixture on ITV3)

[eighthobstruction]

Oh dear what us poor Baby Boomers must endure....to eek away those twilight hours/years....

....once tasted i never liked the real candyfloss.... i was a mint seaside rock boy....or Edinburgh Rock from Maynards at Zetland Road by the Arches.....

Ah TWTdays when 50 yds of Gloucester Road could supply me with all I wished for Sweets, Airfix Kits and Dinky Toys....and 2nd Hand TV's you had to bang in inventive ways to make them work....