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House of Cards (Review)

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Darren

The wonderful folks at the BBC have given me access to their BBC Global iPlayer for a month to give the service a go and trawl through the archives. Read my thoughts on the service here, but I thought I’d also take the opportunity to enjoy some of the fantastic content.

You might very well think that… I couldn’t possibly comment.

House of Cards is an uncanny political drama. Based on the book written by Michael Dodds, the former “baby faced assassin” for Margaret Thatcher, one wonders just how much of this very dark thriller might actually be based on fact. Charting the rise of the Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, Francis Urquhart, it’s a disturbing exploration of the workings of the system as our villainous protagonist manages to efficiently (and sometimes brutally) remove any obstacles on his path to power. It’s often darkly hilarious, brutally sinister and strangely compelling – sometimes at the same time. While airing, it was granted a sense of relevance by the resignation of then-sitting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but it remains a gripping example of British television drama even two decades after it originally aired.

Clocking in as a compelling lead actor...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, BBC iPlayer, Conservative, Conservative Party, David Cameron, david fincher, Francis Urquhart, House of Cards, house of cards (bbc tv show), house of cards (bbc), house of cards (netflix), Ian Richardson, margaret thatcher, netflix, Parties, politics, Prime Minister, United States | 2 Comments »

A Month on the BBC Global iPlayer

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Darren

The kind folks over at the BBC were nice enough to give me access to the iPlayer for a month in order to review it. So I’ve spent to past month watching various BBC productions on my iPhone in a variety of circumstances. I’ve streamed them at home, I’ve downloaded and watched them on the bus; I’ve used the iPhone’s speakers and I’ve listened with my headphones; I’ve tried old and new and various types of programmes and shows. I have to admit to being quite impressed with the product, even if I do have some slight reservations.

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Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: bbc, BBC iPlayer, Damian Lewis, Dennis Potter, Handhelds, iphone, iPlayer, Kinect, Michael Palin, Microsoft, monty python, Smartphones, Stephen Poliakoff | Leave a comment »

The Thick of It – Series III (Review)

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Darren

The wonderful folks at the BBC have given me access to their BBC Global iPlayer for a month to give the service a go and trawl through the archives. I’ll have some thoughts on the service at the end of the month, but I thought I’d also take the opportunity to enjoy some of the fantastic content.

No one forgot their first carpeting from Tucker – it was like a red hot poker.

– the BBC’s career retrospective on Malcolm Tucker

The first two seasons of The Thick of It proved to be quite the success for BBC4. Critics were raving about, the politicians it sought to ridicule were loving it. Creator Armando Iannucci even got to produce a movie with HBO using characters from the series (In The Loop) and plans were underway for a US adaptation. (In fairness, the adaptation was killed very quickly, which might be for the best given Iannucci’s opinion of it, but he’s currently working on Veep for HBO with Julie Louis Dreyfus.) So it seems fitting that the series came back to television in a big way. Fresh off two specials, with a new minister and a new slot on BBC2, the show was commissioned for eight glorious episodes. And it was great. The decision to re-focus the series on Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister’s advisor who thinks of himself”as a thin, white Mugabe.”

It's Party (Conference) time...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Armando Iannucci, bbc, bbc global iplayer, BBC iPlayer, Chris Langham, Conservative, Gordon Brown, hbo, in the loop, Malcolm, Malcolm Tucker, peter capaldi, Prime Minister, Spin (public relations), Thick of It, Tucker | Leave a comment »

The Thick of It: Rise of the Nutters (Review)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Darren

Are you f***ing kidding me? I mean, you’ve just watched me break my not-inconsiderable balls trying to get you the second spot on Newsnight. And succeeding! I can’t back down! No, no, you’re on, pal, right? And it better not be too boring, and it better not be too interesting either, ok? And it better not cost too much. It can’t be an old thing, obviously, and don’t make it too new. And whatever you do, please try not to embarrass yourself, right?

– Malcolm tells Swain his media strategy

I love the BBC’s Christmas specials. I mean, I know that other networks do Christmas-themed episodes of their shows, but the BBC does tend to go the extra mile. We get the opportunity to spend some time with a series that is on hiatus or even to provide an epilogue to a series that has ended. It generally affords considerably more leeway to a series to tell a different kind of story than they normally would. Here, in the hour-long Christmas special, Armando Iannucci’s political comedy gets a chance to drift its attention away from the fictional surroundings of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship to explore the resignation of the sitting Prime Minister. Mirroring Tony Blair’s decision to step down at the same time, it lends the series a somewhat especially timely feeling, as well as allowing more focus to fall on the show’s main attraction, the brilliantly cynical and manipulative political advisor Malcolm Tucker, brought to life by Peter Capaldi.

Bully to that...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Armando Iannucci, bbc, BBC iPlayer, Chris Langham, christmas, Christmas by medium, Citizenship, City council, Conservative, LOVE Park, Mayor, Michael Nutter, Newsnight, Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, peter capaldi, Philadelphia, Prime Minister, South Philadelphia, The Thick of It, tony blair | Leave a comment »

The Thick of It – Series II (Review)

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Darren

My expert would totally disprove that.

Who is your expert?

I don’t know, but I can get one by this afternoon. The thing is, you’ve been listening to the wrong expert. You need to listen to the right expert. And you need to know what an expert is going to advise you before he advises you.

– Malcolm explains how advisers work to Hugh

In its sophomoric three-episode season, The Thick of It remains a shrewdly-observed and immensely funny political satire. It’s a very British send-up of the sort of idealism inherent in drama like The West Wing, a show where everything is so murky and uncertain that the script is highly improvised and even the camera wobbles. While it’s still as funny as it was in its first season, though, I have to confess that the second season didn’t quite grab in the same way. The first season represents one of the most cynical explorations of mainstream politics that I have ever seen, but it actually seems relatively optimistic when measured against this much more scornful second cluster of episodes.

The series that coined the phrase “Malchiavelli”…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Abnett, art, bbc, bbc global iplayer, BBC iPlayer, Chris Langham, Government of the United Kingdom, Harvey Weinstein, kenneth branagh, Malcolm, Malcolm Tucker, Minister, Television, The Thick of It, the west wing, Thick of It, West Wing | 2 Comments »

Gideon’s Daughter (Review)

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Darren

Stephen Poliakoff’s companion piece to Friends and Crocodiles, airing just a month after that original drama film, Gideon’s Daughter feels like it owes a lot to a bunch of fascinating central performances. While Robert Lindsay provides the only on-screen evidence of a link between the two projects, reprising his role as an embittered old writer here, Poliakoff’s two stories are thematically linked, as the author focuses a lot of his frustrations on meaningless celebrity culture. This time, however, he sets the stories in the late nineties, allowing him to explore what he undoubtedly sees as the vulgarity of the millennium celebrations and to subtly examine the national outpouring of grief offer the loss of Princess Diana, while telling a rather simple story of a father and his daughter.

All tied up...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Arts and Entertainment, bbc, bbc global iplayer, BBC iPlayer, bill nighy, britain, Diana Princess of Wales, Emily Blunt, Gideon, ITunes, kenneth branagh, Mark Thompson, Nighy, novel, Poliakoff, Robert Lindsay, Stephen Poliakoff | Leave a comment »

Friends & Crocodiles (Review)

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Darren

Stephen Poliakoff is regarded as one of the best British film, theatre and television writers working today. In 2006, the writer and director produced two television movies linked by character and by theme. While Gideon’s Daughter is perhaps the more successful of the two, Friends & Crocodilesremains an interesting – if not consistently satisfying – viewing experience. While it doesn’t have as strong a cast as its companion piece, I think it covers more interesting ground, and feels a tad more ambitious, even if it does succumb to the same awkwardness in places.

Dealing with his inner Damians...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Barack Obama, bbc, BBC iPlayer, books, Chih-Yuan Chen, Crocodile, Crocs, Cuba, Damian Lewis, David Cameron, E-book, Great Britain, Great Gatsby, Guji Guji, Helen McCrory, Michelle Obama, Paul, Poliakoff, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Shopping, Stephen Poliakoff, The Selfish Crocodile, Venture capital, white house | Leave a comment »

The Thick of It – Series I (Review)

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Darren

The British sure know their political comedy. The Thick of It is something like a spiritual successor to the cult British political comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, from the mind of creator Armando Iannucci. Iannucci is perhaps best known for his work with Steve Coogan on the character of Alan Partridge, and there’s a lot of the same awkward comedy here. Perhaps it’s best to describe The Think of It as the ideological opposite of The West Wing, a bucket of cold British water chucked over America political idealism. It’s crass, profane, cynical, sly and absolutely brilliant.

Thick and thin...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Alan Partridge, Armando Iannucci, bbc, bbc global iplayer, BBC iPlayer, Chris Langham, Department of Social Affairs, iraq war, kenneth branagh, Mark Thompson, peter capaldi, Prime Minister, Sidetracked, steve coogan, Television, The Thick of It, the west wing, Thick of It, Tucker, Wallander, Yes Minister | Leave a comment »

Moses Jones (Review)

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Darren

The thing about Moses Jones is that it, quite simply, blaxploitation. I don’t mean that’s a comedy or a wry deconstruction, the BBC equivalent of Black Dynamite or Undercover Brother. It’s a modern example of blaxploitation rather than a post-modern examination. It offers serious issue-based drama, playing its subject matter with complete seriousness and utter respect. For most of its runtime, it actually works quite well as an attempt to pull the conventions of blaxploitation narratives into the twenty-first century and transport them from the mean American streets to inner-city London. While the ending falls apart under its own weight, and a desire to wrap up absolutely everything in a neat little bow, there’s quite a bit to like about this BBC detective show.

Holy Moses...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, bbc global iplayer, BBC iPlayer, Black Dynamite, egypt, god, Indira Varma, israel, Israelite, Joe Penhall, London, Lord, Moses, Moses Jones, Shaun Parkes, Shepherd | Leave a comment »

The Quatermass Experiment (2005) (Review)

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Darren

The Quatermass Xperiment was a very important place in the history of genre television. Originally airing as a six-part drama on the BBC, the 1953 adventure serial demonstrated that televised science-fiction could be written for adults. Written by Nigel Kneale, the show had a major influence on the genre not only at home (inspiring Doctor Who), but also internationally (allegedly paving the way for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien). In 2005, as part of BBC 4’s “TV on Trial” season, a remake of the classic serial was commissioned, with one especially fascinating facet: it would be broadcast live.