Banished – TV Drama

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Banished, BBC, Jeffrey Walker, Jimmy McGovern, Joanna Vanderham, Joseph Millson, Julian Rhind Tutt, MyAnna Buring, Russell Tovey, Ryan Corr, TV Drama

Banished – A stunning drama – The first and (sadly), the only series.

I was completely hooked on this excellent 7 part series when it was transmitted earlier this year, and have been urging anyone who missed it to buy the DVD.

It was a stunning drama – the fact that Jimmy McGovern was the writer, almost guaranteed that we would have gritty realism, punches (many) to the heart and gut, and a lot of complex and nuanced issues to leave the viewer puzzling over – not to mention difficult challenges for the characters, who would be complex people.

The script then would be a wonderful starting point for a potentially brilliant drama, and ‘all’ that would then be needed would be equal brilliance from director, (Jeffrey Walker) technical crew, and most of all, some wonderful actors. Tick, Tick, TICK!

The background and setting is Australia, 1788, and the arrival of the first convict ship with transported criminals to be banished (some for life) into this new world. So, the convicts are one group, struggling in a harsh place, to survive. Then there are the military, here for a limited term of duty (but this is still in years) to keep those convicts under control. And then there is the governor, not a military man, a Crown appointed ruler. So, clearly some different agendas going on, and a wealth of potential conflicts. And also of course some other disparate people, with different agendas again – mainly, the representative of Divine Law – the Church, which in this case is in the guise of a Reverend (and his wife) who are deeply committed to saving souls.

And, almost greater than all of these individuals and their conflicts is the harsh, unknown, inaccessible continent itself. Reaching Australia was dangerous and hazardous, the colony will need to support itself – growing food, farming the livestock they brought with them, hunting what they can, and the difficulty of the journey means that it is impossible to know when more convict ships (with more supplies) will arrive, the present military will be relieved, or, indeed whether the mother country will remember its servants and its outcasts at all. And, even more unknown – what of any indigenous peoples, and will they be friend or foe, ‘savages’ who can be duped and exploited, or, perhaps, peoples to be respected and negotiated with.

Now the bad news, the very very very bad news is, that the BBC recently announced that there would not be a second series, so some of the threads which were clearly waiting to be developed will not happen – and the relationship with the indigenous peoples was clearly a strand for the second series, as, in the first series, almost the whole focus is ‘inside the colony’ with only one episode indicating that there might be some other human life outside the cleared area of the first settlement.

Please note, the fan made trailer below uses the dreadful trailer music employed by the Beeb on the show – it is not indicative of any in show soundtrack. I recently read an interesting article by James Gill on the Radio Times website about the dire inappropriate use of trailer music which seems snatched at random from a ragbag entitled ‘any old stuff for trailers’. I guess this is Auntie thinking this is the way to get down with the kidz and attract a younger generation. Seems a bit reductive/insulting/patronising to me. But then I’m not a kidz.

This is an absolutely operatic, epic, classical tragedy type piece, – the very antithesis of a familiar, little, domestic drama. Consider, for example, the fact that there are male and female convicts, but soldiers do not come with their wives or with their children. So, how are ‘men’s needs’ to be met – why, the female convicts of course. They are there as bounty, the soldiers’ creatures for the choosing. And it is a hanging offence (for male convicts) and a flogging (for females) for the convicts to have sexual relationships with each other.

Then there is the issue of how the female convicts  should be assigned. For fairness, lots are chosen, women will be the property of several men, and of course, higher ranking officers get dibs. Disobeying orders given by a superior officer is also a punishable offence. There are potential challenges between the military and the governor, with a more hard-line military leader, and a governor who is more idealistic, and with more ‘humane’ ideas (though still autocratic)

Even more pressing, with effectively 1 armed soldier to 10 convicts, in a situation where there is extreme shortage of food, where sex is a hanging offence, and heat and drought are extreme, the whole situation is a tinderbox of conflict. And this is not a confined prison where cons can be locked in a cell and all kept apart from each other. Compliance is needed for any kind of physical structures to be built. It is only the hostility of the land itself which prevents mass escapes. Or indeed any escape

“Stinging tree” by Cgoodwin – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Don’t even think about all the things which slither, scuttle, swim, crawl, hover or lumber ponderously, Oz even has lethal trees!

There are some wonderful central stories to follow. First are two sets of star crossed lovers. One is a more mature couple – the charismatic Julian Rhind Tutt as Tommy Barrett, who has fallen in love, on that voyage, with Elizabeth Quinn (MyAnna Buring) Quinn is a strong, forthright and equally charismatic woman. The two also have a fierce friendship with fellow convict, James Freeman, the magnificent Russell Tovey. Freeman’s story is the central one. He also loves Quinn – and has an equally strong bond of friendship with Barrett. So clearly, a painful struggle for him between sexual love and the strength of loyalty given between friends. The rules of the colony of course prohibit Quinn and Barrett being together, and Quinn is useable by the soldiers, and cannot choose refusal

Buring, Rhind Tutt, Tovey

The second star-crosseds are a young and beautiful pair, innocent and in some ways not yet tested by complexity. Pretty Katherine McVitie (Joanna Vanderham) has been falsely accused of theft by her jealous employer, because the master of the house tried to force himself upon her. She, and an idealistic young soldier, Private MacDonald (Ryan Corr) have fallen in love, and both are anxious that she should only be his bedfellow, and that she shall not have to share her favours. Unfortunately, MacDonald’s highest ranking superior, the Machiavellian, Iago like figure, Major Ross (Joseph Millson) – another stunning performance, the person you love to hate, also develops a growing obsession with McVitie

Hiss the villain – Millson

But there are many many more conflicts than these – every single character is nuanced, and at times divided against themselves, torn by different beliefs, different loyalties. It almost feels invidious to name any of the actors, as every one commits wonderfully to the piece, and many of the performances are brave, raw, and shocking.

However, it is James Freeman, more than any other character, who is tested, torn, challenged by some unbearable choices; he is forced to be both villain and hero, sometimes in the same instant. And I have to say that a number of times, in the series I was on the edge of my seat, literally shouting ‘No, NO, NO!’ as something absolutely inevitable was clearly going to happen, and Freeman would be both the perpetrator and the victim, and torn apart by conflict. And Russell Tovey rises to meet the challenges of playing this character beautifully. He is raw, subtle, ferocious, a brave maelstrom of emotion. At times watching him was almost uncomfortable because of the nakedness of the ugly struggles the character goes through – struggles with himself. It’s a performance without confines, almost going right up to the wire of being overdone, but I never felt that TOVEY was self-indulging. Where there was a sense of ‘overdoing the emo’ it was FREEMAN. It must be said that there was an excellence in performance by all,  and each actor was contributing to cranking up the standard of everyone else.

I SHALL be buying the DVD, for sure, but I am still kind of needing the astonishing power of the initial transmission of this to settle, before I am ready to watch it again.

The series was fairly rapturously received by viewers, but did not do well from the professional reviewers. However, there has been quite a strong campaign launched on social media to demand the BBC rethinks its decision not to go for a second series. Whether public affection can override a generally ridiculing response from the heavyweight papers, remains to be seen.

Jimmy McGovern

The heavyweight TV reviewers pretty well all  found the piece overdone and kind of uber-soapy. My word, though is ‘operatic’ , even ‘elemental’ not to mention, naked and dangerous – that’s because I really did ‘get’ the rawness of the world that those early convict ships and their entire community, were establishing.

It gets my very high fives.

And here is an interesting piece on the Beeb and its cutbacks, as well as more info about ‘Banished’ from a blogger who is external to WordPress, so I can’t appear her in the Posts That Caught My Beady Eye widget

Banished Amazon UK

Alas, Statesiders, this does not seem to have made it to your side of the pond.

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Our Friends In The North (DVD of BBC Production)

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Alun Armstrong, BBC, Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Craig, David Bradley, Gina McKee, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Strong, Our Friends In The North, Peter Flannery, Peter Vaughan, Tony Haygarth, TV Drama

When Memory Turns Out To Be Vindicated…………..

Back in 1996 I was completely glued to BBC’s 9 part drama series, Our Friends In The North, produced by Charles Pattinson, directed by Stuart Urban, Pedr James and Simon Cellan Jones, and scorchingly written by Peter Flannery, based on his original idea and stage version for the RSC in 1982. At that time, I knew it was one of, or possibly THE best TV drama series I’d ever seen.

OFITN, which had had a hugely checkered, difficult, stop-go history at ever reaching transmission at all, for over 12 years, was an examination of British Politics, corruption in local government, central government, the Met, an indictment of class and the North-South divide, far-left politics, old-style Labour, new-style spin, and the rise of Thatcherism. It covered a period from 1964 and the Wilson government, – the `white hot heat of technology’ when Britain was cool and a country of potential, to 1995, when the opportunities offered in the 60s for a more egalitatarian society had all gone, and the politics of a different class had resulted in `there’s no such thing as society’

It was a drama tackling serious issues, but what made it magnificent drama, rather than merely `talking heads analysis’ was that it was based around the lives of 4 working class or lower middle Geordies, a group of friends in their late teens in 1964. Over 30 odd years the friends, two of them on the verge of University or already in academia, one indulged one dreaming of musical stardom, and one blighted by a violent, deprived, alcoholic upbringing, meet, connect, divurge, meet again and follow different ideologies and trajectories.

Eccleston, Craig and a bad hair day in 1970

That this still astonishing, still stunning, still thought-provoking and gut punching drama was released onto DVD, is probably down to the fortunate result of 2 of the 4 leads becoming pop-culture stars – Christopher Ecclestone, as well as being known for serious, intense, quality work, – Shallow Grave, Cracker, Jude amongst others – and also the 9th Doctor Who, played the politically focused Nicky Hutchinson in OFITN. But it probably did the fortunes of the release onto DVD no harm at all, that the most emotionally hard-punching, heart-breaking role was given to an unknown, only a couple of years or so out of drama school, called Daniel Craig….For anyone with a complete indifference to Hollywood blockbusters, who has, moreover, been stranded on a desert island without any access to the broadcast media, for the last 10 years, Craig became James Bond in 2005. Geordie Peacock, his character in OFITN is a far cry from the muscle man, secret agent and swoon factor of Bond

Nor have the careers of the two other `Friends’ sunk without trace – Mark Strong, playing wannabe a pop star Tosker – credits include Prime Suspect, Fever Pitch, Emma – his is a solid, working career rather than the stardom which happened to Craig. And Gina McKee (the only genuine North-Easterner of the four) whose Mary goes through the most steady progression into self-awareness and growth of the four, again has a solid rather than starry career (though award winning) and works as much in theatre as media – The Forsyte Saga, The Street, Waking The Dead.

Supporting the 4 relative unknowns were a wealth of amazing, established actors, including Tony Haygarth, Malcolm McDowell, Alun Armstrong, Peter Vaughan, David Bradley

Unfortunately the YouTube upload in sections has rather poor sound quality

A gripping, riveting storyline, based on real scandals around bribery and corruption – T. Dan Smith, John Poulson, the attempt to clean up Soho and the Countryman enquiry into corruption in the Met, there is a lot of sex, a lot of violence, an explosion of wigs and funny fashion to be recollected – and a wonderful, evocative soundtrack of 30 years of music as commentary to events on screen.

Friends in 1995

If I were to be a little picky, yes, the `Geordie’ accents of the 3 male friends are at times (particularly in the earlier episodes) a little ouchy, and there are a few technical hitches in sound quality in some scenes which mean that I was rapidly turning up and turning down the volume as the occasional scene descended into something approaching a whisper whilst the following scene boomed out blaringly till the level was taken back down, but, hey, these are minor. And then there are the wigs…but these are as much a pleasure as a pain

It’s a cracking, cracking drama, ye kna, man…………….

However, poor Statesiders, be aware this does not seem to be available in a DVD version outside Region 2 (Europe) so unless your player is all regions or you know someone with an all region player, these delights are not for you………….though you can at least see some of the done in sections uploads on YouTube

Our Friends In The North Amazon UK
Our Friends In The North Amazon USA – Region 2, Europe

Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky – TV adaptation

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BBC Drama, Bryan Dick, Film review, Kevin Elyot, Patrick Hamilton, Sally Hawkins, Simon Curtis, TV Drama, TV Film, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Zoe Tapper

Patrick Hamilton’s stunning trilogy beautifully rendered

I completely missed this at the time of transmission, possibly because at the time I was unaware of the trilogy of which it was based. And in many ways I am very glad of that, as I do prefer to have read the book on which a film or TV dramatisation has been made, as going to the book afterwards seems to get in the way of my own experience of the original.

Of course the danger of this approach might be the purist reader is forever nitpicking about how badly the book has been served and doesn’t do it justice.

Happily, this is not the case here, and in the main there has been not only a faithfulness to the book, but something added by performance and by the wonderful visual element showing the minutiae of a vanished time

Patrick Hamilton’s book, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky was originally 3 interlocking books, published over a period of some 5 years, centring around a Fitzrovia pub, The Midnight Bell, in the late 1920s, and telling, from 3 different viewpoints, stories of hopeless love, broken dreams and the aspirations and hardships of ‘little people’, the ordinary lives of those without the benefits of money and education, but with the desire for something better, somewhere……

Bob is the barman at The Midnight Bell self-educating himself, wanting to be a writer. Pretty Jenny, from a very poor background, is initially proud to get a live-in job as a housekeeper and cook to 3 elderly people of means. Warm-hearted, homely Ella is the barmaid at The Midnight Bell. Bob loves ruinous Jenny, who loves no-one, though Bob in turn is beloved by Ella. It’s a kind of much more sparkling, much more witty, much more emotionally, less didactic Huis Clos.

Simon Curtis is a director of fine pedigree from stage, where his credits include the original production of Jim Cartwright’s Road, TV – credits include BBC’s Cranford and film – My Week With Marilyn.

Kevin Elyot was a fine writer (My Night With Reg) – and wisely here uses much of Hamilton’s sparkling, precise dialogue, lifted from the trilogy, and does not seek to impose his own voice. He prunes, shapes and guides, trusting in the source material.

All performances are assured, Bryan Dick as sweet, charming Bob, far too susceptible to the twin delights of a pretty ankle and the alcohol he serves, Zoe Tapper as ravishingly pretty, dramatically damaged Jenny, and, especially Phil Davis, always worth watching, here, more dapper, less outwardly seedy than his usual casting, but still definitely a bit creepy, as Ernest Eccles, erstwhile admirer of the stand-out, heart-breakingly must-stay-upbeat Ella, beautifully played by Sally Hawkins

The last section of the piece, Ella’s story, The Plains of Cement, as in the book itself, is the one which best manages the balance between humour, pathos and a kind of anxious terror. Davis’ horribly lonely Eccles is both repulsive and inviting of pity, and the scenes between him and Hawkins’ overwhelmed, not quite sure what is going on Ella are both funny and creepy, and I found myself with anxiously thumping heart resonating with Ella’s troubled confusion, bewildered by it all.

The structure of the 3 stories is beautifully woven together. If I have one minor criticism, it is that the end of the piece half suggests a sense of missed opportunity for Bob, which is not suggested for him, in Hamilton’s book – it may well be the reader’s, and indeed, the viewer’s perception, but it is not something which is made part of Bob’s perception.

The DVD has been uploaded in entirety (in small sections) to You Tube, I thought it was worth getting to play as a seamless whole in good definition, but at least the You Tube gives a sneak preview and allows you to make your choice!

Highly recommended

Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky DVD Amazon UK
Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky Blu-Ray Amazon USA

Tutti Frutti

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BBC Scotland, Emma Thompson, Glasgow, John Byrne, Maurice Roeves, Richard Wilson, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Smith, Tutti Frutti, TV Drama Series

Oh glorious, hysterically funny knife edging with pain and tragedy simultaneously

I remember being GLUED to this when it was first broadcast, and again on a rerun some I think 10 years later…..but like its many other fans was left wanting the ability to watch again (and again!) whenever I, as opposed to the schedulers, wanted.

It felt at the time a remarkable programme, all credit to John Byrne’s script, Tony Smith’s direction, Andy Park’s production and performances by a fabulous, stellar cast, headed by Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson, who are well matched in the scene-stealing stakes by the likes of Richard Wilson, Katy Murphy, and particularly Maurice Roeves as the hellishly accident and prostrate-by-lust prone lead guitarist Vincent.

The fortunes of the never quite made it 60s rock and roll band the Majestics, desperately still trying to scratch a living in the 80s, receding hairlines, middle-aged bellies and all is a fabulous mix of the gritty and fantastical.

Curiously, whilst being AS enamoured of it as I was back in 86 I have a bit more trouble with some of the very fast paced exchanges – Back in the 80s I travelled round more, including some time spent working in Glasgow, so had no problems in comprehending what was said. Glaswegian – in common with pretty well all city accents, is delivered at a lick, so it can take a little while to adjust your ears – and with dialogue this tight and punchy, delivered with a fast and furious throw away, you really won’t want to miss a single line ! Nice that DVDs offer a subtitle if you need it – though I prefered to watch each episode a couple of times to make sure I’ve missed nothing – the performances warrant that anyway. They are that good.

However, for those without access to Region 2 Players, a cut up version exists of the whole series on You Tube I’ve linked Episode 1, Part 1 which will give a taster or the wonderful juxtaposition of mordant humour, pathos, wit , strange and wonderful images – and great music. But, be warned, the You Tube videos are not subtitled, – plus it IS annoying to run to the end of a clip every 5 minutes or so and have to search for the next Part of the same episode to watch

There are some similarities with another BBC Scotland production of the 90s – which equally carved out a sure road in black comedy, heartbreak and searing performances, balancing realism with something on the tightrope of caricature – edgy, brave, on the edge work Takin’ Over The Asylum [1994] [DVD] This latter once again with the wonderful Katy Murphy, Ken Stott and a beautiful, vulnerable lead performance from a young David Tennant.

BBC Scotland, you rock!

Tutti Frutti Amazon UK
Tutti Frutti Amazon USA

However, for those across the pond, this marvellous series, whilst available, is only for those with Region 2/Europe Players

Takin’ Over The Asylum

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Angus McFaddyen, BBC Scotland, David Tennant, Donna Franceschild, Katy Murphy, Ken Stott, Takin' Over The Asylum, TV Drama

More quality from BBC Scotland (and Happy Hogmanay, to one and all, given the date of this posting!)

Well, I’m SO pleased David Tennant achieved great fame as Dr Who, as undoubtedly it was THIS which caused the long overdue release of this wonderful 6 episode series to DVD. I was gripped by this when it was broadcast, (20 years ago now) due to the marriage of a wonderful script by Donna Franceschild, and a chock-full batch of brave and gritty performances. Franceschild had previously written for some of the small scale political theatre groups. She manages social content and a serious message whilst using all the tools of entertainment skilfully.

The young David Tennant is brilliant in a large, on the edge of going over the top but never doing so, performance of a young man with Bipolar disorder. The performances which really hung in my memory over the years though were the always wonderfully complex Ken Stott – here as a bruised, messy, alcoholic – in many ways less sane, outside the asylum, than some of the inside the asylum characters, particularly, much less sane than the intelligent, tender, witty performance by Angus McFaddyen, as the schizophrenic Fergus (this is the second performance which stayed with me) – beautifully restrained, full of depth, breaks your heart – and then there is the achingly vulnerable Katy Murphy as lacerated, self-harming Francine. Ruth McCabe is beautifully low key as a woman with OCD and there’s even a delicious performance by Elisabeth Spriggs, looking eerily like a fatter, older Meryl Streep as Stott’s Lithuanian grandmother.

At the time, the series won a BAFTA for best series, and Franceschild an award for her wonderful script, so the release to DVD was well overdue!

Cracking drama, inventive, great soundtrack – it’s set in a hospital radio studio, after all, sparkling humour, and break your heart painful emotions. Like life, there are winners and losers in the story lines, and there’s little which would satisfy Hollywood in their endings, but they are RIGHT.

You can even watch episodes on You Tube – annoying cut up into several sections, but maybe watching Episode 1 Part 1 will whet your appetite for more

Takin’ Over The Asylum Amazon UK
It is available in the States, but only for machines which play European region DVDs
Takin’ Over The Asylum Amazon USA