I know that the lives and loves of early 20th century young, posh Oxbridge students are not the most original subjecs for a telly drama, but that doesn't mean they can't be good.
Sunday evening's Any Human Heart on Channel 4 featured a fictional elderly writer, living a lonely end to his life in a rural cottage, reflecting on that life and those loves. A melancholy Jim Broadbent the perfect choice for this one. Cut to his earlier years, starting with his desperate efforts to lose his virginity in his last year at University some time in the 1920s.
Oh to have been young and rich in England in that period. Cars, clothes, manners, even indiscretions were exquisite. I love pretty much anything set in this era - Jeeves and Wooster, Prohibition-era mobster movies, anything. So I was predisposed to like this, but it was also thoughtful, well acted and, let's be honest, liberally scattered with attractive ladies dressed and made up in the type of glamour so redolent of that time that makes these things eminently watchable.
It was the first of four parts on consecutive Sundays and promises much. Recommended.
Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts
Monday, 22 November 2010
Monday, 19 July 2010
Watch and learn
Interesting contrast on the Channel 4 schedules tonight. Just watched an extraordinarily moving documentary on the efforts to recover and identify the bodies of the Australian and British soldiers killed in the slaughter at Fromelles in 1916, and the resonance the loss of these lads still has for their relatives and descendants today. Made with sensitivity and intelligence, and showing the suffering and futility of the trench warfare, it brought a couple of the lads' and their loved ones' stories alive powerfully. Quality TV and it shows Channel 4 can still commission bloody good programmes.
What was on directly after it? Big Brother. I have nothing whatsoever against any of the people in the Big Brother house, indeed I know nothing about them having not watched any of it, but I'd suggest that the Fromelles documentary should be required viewing for anybody entering that house, just to give them all a sense of perspective.
What was on directly after it? Big Brother. I have nothing whatsoever against any of the people in the Big Brother house, indeed I know nothing about them having not watched any of it, but I'd suggest that the Fromelles documentary should be required viewing for anybody entering that house, just to give them all a sense of perspective.
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