The Year Zero

I’ve been really enjoying the BBC4 documentary series Golden Age of Glamour which has been airing over the past couple of weeks. It’s my favourite kind of TV. Well researched, very interesting, high quality documentaries and drama on a period that I’m really interested in.

I’ve always loved the 1920s-30s. I love everything about the period: the Art Deco styles, the fashion, the golden age of travel – cruise liners such as the White Star Line and Cunard. And this was the age when air travel got going, too. There have been some great documentaries as part of the series on both the ships and planes of the period.

The Handley Page H.P.42 and H.P.45 were British four-engine long-range biplane airliners designed to a 1928 Imperial Airways specification by Handley Page of Radlett in Hertfordshire.   The H.P.42/45 were the land-based airliners of Imperial Airways and along with the airline’s later flying boats are well remembered. Eight aircraft were built, four of each type; all were named, with names beginning with the letter “H”. One was destroyed in an airship hangar fire in 1937 but the remainder survived to be impressed into Royal Air Force service at the outbreak of the Second World War. No lives were lost in civilian service (a record thought to be unique for contemporary aircraft) but by 1940 all had been destroyed. More info.

The documentary on aviation – How Britain Took to the Air - was great. Amy Johnson was the UK’s  ‘aviatrix’ of the age:

Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly alone from Britain to Australia, which she achieved at the age of 26. Her flying career began in 1928 and other triumphs included becoming the first female ground engineer licensed by the Air Ministry, and being awarded the C.B.E. for her flying achievements. Source.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t watch a massive amount of TV but what I do watch can sometimes be considered a little niche. I watch a lot of documentaries – especially stuff on BBC4 which is probably my favourite channel (though most people don’t watch it). I’ve loved all the Apollo 11 stuff they’ve aired for the 40th anniversary, has been really good – much of it original programming, quite quirky (‘Astronaut’s Wives Club‘, for example).

I don’t have Sky as I’ve always balked at the thought of paying a monthly fee for TV. There is a lot about the UK that is sub-par but our TV isn’t one of those things. We have some really good stuff, much of it original. The BBC is a leviathan of an institution which also gets a lot of negative press from time to time, but not many people could really imagine life without it. Yes, every household in Britain pays a license fee, which pays for it, but as money spent goes – it’s worth it.

I have a DVD recorder which is very good, a Panasonic, which I bought a few years ago. However, I only got the regular recorder, rather than the more expensive models with built-in hard-drive. In retrospect this was a mistake. For recording, I use re-recordable RAM disks which are the most convenient, for day to day TV, which are double sided and hold 4 hours each side. I use cheap blank dvd-rs for permanent recording of things I want to keep).

Trouble is, remembering to keep setting the recorder and knowing it only holds 4 hours – especially for series, can be a pain. I loved the first series of Mad Men, for example, but ended up missing all of series 2 because I missed recording early episodes. This was very annoying.

So I’ve bought a PVR (I think that stands for personal video recorder) and so far so good. Can hold a couple of hundred hours of recorded TV, has twin-tuners (meaning you can record Freeview whilst watching another digital channel) and the picture is really clear and sharp. It also lets you record whole series at the touch of a button (I believe those with Sky+ can do this) and it’s really good to be able to do this at last.

I’m going to start recording the original Swedish dramatisations of Wallander which are airing on BBC4, among other things.

Tonight I’m going to watch The Street. Not sure I’ve caught it in the past but has good previews. If it’s anything like Clocking Off I’ll really like it.

The Street

Monday 13 July
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC1 London & South East
1/6

Jimmy McGovern’s Bafta-winning series returns with more morality tales about ordinary Brits on a terraced street in Manchester. When he’s on song McGovern is as good as anyone at dramatising the letdowns and wrong turns of everyday life, dressed up as hard-hitting, high-stakes tragedy. In this opener, he’s not in full flame-thrower mode, but it’s a tense, involving story nonetheless. Bob Hoskins stars as pub landlord Paddy, who one day catches teenager Calum smoking in the gents’ loo and bars him. But Calum’s father is Tom (Liam Cunningham), a local Mr Big whose interests span building, drug dealing – and funding the pub’s football team. When Tom demands his son be served, he and Paddy move towards a violent confrontation with a weird formality, rather like 18th-century duellists choosing their pistols. As the ritual unfolds we have plenty of time to reflect on issues like honour and the heroism of the little man. Cunningham is good and there’s a brief cameo from Timothy Spall, who returns as hopeless minicab-driver Eddie, but Hoskins’ performance is what makes this worth watching.

(Source: Radio Times)

I’m not actually a big watcher of TV. That said, I was looking through the tv guide showing what’s on over the next 7 days and there is a lot that caught my eye. Namely:

Sunday

South Pacific

Sunday 14 June
8:00pm – 9:00pm
BBC2

6/6 – Fragile Paradise

Documentary series. The South Pacific is still relatively healthy and teeming with fish, but it is a fragile paradise. International fishing fleets are taking a serious toll on the sharks, albatross and tuna, and there are other insidious threats to these bountiful seas. This episode looks at what is being done to preserve the ocean and its wildlife.

I’ve watched most of this series since it started and have really enjoyed it.

Monday

The Secret Life of the Airport

Monday 15 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC4

1/3 – Preparing for Take Off

From the makers of the hugely enjoyable The Secret Life of the Motorway, this three-parter explores the history of civil aviation. Nowadays, airports are steel and glass behemoths with art installations and fancy cafes, but Britain’s first was more spartan. Forgetting the teeny-tiny matter of runways, excitable architects wanted to build slap-bang in the centre of London. Although in the end it was to Croydon that pioneering toffs (flying was the preserve of the wealthy in the 20s) trooped to be weighed alongside their baggage. Crammed full of archive footage and quirky anecdotes, this should be shown in airport lounges, so disgruntled travellers can be grateful they’re not in tents – as Heathrow passengers were for the first decade of its existence. Oh yes, and again last year: during the disastrous opening of Terminal Five.

I am a big BBC4 fanboi and love their interesting documentaries on subjects that wouldn’t get airtime on the terrestrial channels. This will be good.

Goodbye London Aerodrome

Monday 15 June
10:00pm – 10:35pm
BBC4

Glyn Worsnip presents a history of RAF Hendon. Originally called London Aerodrome, this extraordinary airfield has been an RAF station since 1918. Current and former pilots talk about their memories of Hendon.

Tuesday

Occupation

Tuesday 16 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC1

1/3

A word to the wise: you’ll need to take a deep breath before sitting down to Occupation, which runs nightly until Thursday. Peter Bowker’s visceral drama about British soldiers struggling to cope with life during and after the invasion of Iraq is shattering. We’re immediately pitched into the hell of combat in an unbearably tense sequence that introduces us to the characters at the heart of Occupation: Sergeant Mike Swift (James Nesbitt), Corporal Danny Peterson (Stephen Graham) and Lance Corporal Lee Hibbs (Warren Brown). As the men enter a hospital, there’s a grenade attack that leaves a girl grievously injured. Swift becomes a media hero when he returns to Britain with the child, who is treated at a British hospital. For entirely different reasons, all three men’s ties with Iraq are complex and deep: Swift has a strong romantic and emotional bond, Peterson needs the buzz of war and Hibbs wants to do the right thing for his country. All three central performances are towering and Bowker’s superlative script grips right from the start. Make no mistake; this is an important, unmissable piece of drama.

The BBC have been airing a lot of adverts for this. Major 3 part drama about soldiers in Iraq – before, during and after the invasion. Looks like it will be powerful stuff and not for the faint hearted.

Personal Affairs

Tuesday 16 June
9:00pm – 10:10pm
BBC3

1/5 – A Decent Proposal

BBC3’s big new summer series wears its Sex and the City colours proudly, even giving it a cheeky namecheck. Office quickies, dream sequences, filthy innuendo…they’re all here, dappled with crazy bits of animation. The attention-seeking opener introduces us to willowy Grace, gobby Lucy, fame-mad Midge and catty Nicole, and their romantic entanglements, while the male characters are the kind who are barely visible when they turn sideways. It’s a mad storm of different styles, but it may just capture the Carrie Bradshaw crowd.

This looks interesting. Kind of a UK ‘Sex and the City’. It clashes with Occupation, but everything is repeated so I’ll just record it. The thing to remember about BBC3 is most stuff on this channel is deliberately quirky and off the wall. Take Being Human, for example. Was like a humourous horror.

Wednesday

Occupation

Wednesday 17 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC1

2/3

All three of Occupation’s soldiers have returned to Iraq in the second part of Peter Bowker’s stunning drama. Their reasons for going back differ, but each has an overwhelming need to be in the crumbling, chaotic country. For tiny, restless scouser Danny Peterson (the brilliant Stephen Graham), it’s simple: “The madness here – I get it.” He is, you feel, a man on his own private road to hell. For Mike Swift and Lee Hibbs (James Nesbitt and Warren Brown, both memorable) there are more complicated emotional reasons. Hibbs needs a sense of purpose – that he’s doing something useful. Swift needs to find the love of his life. Around them, Iraq is awash with coalition money supposedly for rebuilding, yet the cash never seems to get to where it’s needed the most. More dangerously, the insurgency is gathering momentum, which has appalling consequences for one of the trio. Be prepared for a heart-rending, harrowing climax to the episode.

Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer?

Wednesday 17 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC4

1/2

Architectural historian Jonathan Foyle explores the paradoxes of Henry VIII’s cultural life, which looked back to medieval chivalry, but also took in the new humanism of the Renaissance. Foyle is good at the detailed examination of Henry’s buildings such as King’s College Chapel in Cambridge and extends into looking at tapestry and the paintings of Holbein. What gives it all a distinctive twist is that this journey into Henry’s past progresses against the backdrop of contemporary London.

Thursday

Occupation

Thursday 18 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC1

3/3

The searing effect of Occupation is cumulative, as anyone who has watched the first two episodes will know. So the tension and the pervading sense of a world spinning out of control are heightened as we reach the final instalment. It’s December 2005, but there is no Christmas cheer for Danny, Mike and Lee (Stephen Graham, James Nesbitt and Warren Brown, a trio of actors for whom no praise can be high enough). Emotions – ours and the soldiers’ – are ratcheted to breaking point as catastrophe piles upon catastrophe and lives are fractured for ever. This is a very adult drama about the terrible reality of the Iraq invasion and its aftermath, so there can be no happy endings and Peter Bowker’s script is grown up enough to leave its characters, and its audience, weighed down with sadness.

Psychoville

Thursday 18 June
10:00pm – 10:30pm
BBC2

1/7

The League of Gentlemen’s Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton join forces once more as writers and stars of this weird, black comic drama…and at this point it would be handy to give a plot precis but, frankly, I have no idea what’s going on. A handful of apparently unlinked, disparate people in different parts of the country are sent wax-sealed letters bearing the words “I know what you did”. But what did they do? No idea, though the recipients include a barmy midwife obsessed by the doll from her childbirth classes (Dawn French), a telekinetic dwarf, and a wildly inappropriate children’s entertainer, Mr Jelly (Shearsmith) – a cross between the evil clown from Stephen King’s It and the League of Gentlemen’s infamous creation, Papa Lazarou. There are some funny bits, the gothic atmosphere is very Royston Vasey-ish, and the cast is stellar, but I suspect Psychoville will take a wee while to get going properly.

I’m not a huge watcher of comedy but this kind of highly eccentric stuff I’ll probably like. I always found League of Gentlemen and Little Britain very watchable.

Crude Britannia: The Story of North Sea Oil

Thursday 18 June
11:30pm – 12:30am
BBC4

One of the most momentous events in the UK’s postwar history has to be the discovery of large reserves of oil and gas in the North Sea. A country saddled with balance-of-payment problems was able to reap many benefits from the windfall, but what has been the impact on today’s economy? This three-part doc promises a fresh perspective on the origins of the find 40 years ago and a look at how the tide has ebbed in recent years, beginning with the story of risk-taking and technical innovation that brought the oil ashore.

Friday

The Fallen: Legacy of Iraq

Friday 19 June
12:30am – 1:10am
BBC4

Don’t miss this updated re-showing of Morgan Matthews’s extraordinarily moving film from last year, for which he rightly won a best-director Bafta. It commemorates the 300-plus British troops lost in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, one by one, through frank interviews with their surviving family members – the parents, siblings and (most heartbreakingly) children of those who died. The result is a remarkable portrayal of the way grief can shred families. It’s a giant mosaic of bereavement and loss, every piece of which is powerful in itself. That may sound grim but there are moments of humour and wisdom here too. Yes, at times The Fallen is almost too much to bear, but if you don’t feel up to the full four hours, it’s worth watching as much as you can handle.

This is the update to the 3 hour documentary I blogged about last year. Immensely powerful. Whether you like it or not, these people are fighting (and dying) in our name. Ordinary people whose deaths will shatter the families, friends and communities they leave behind.

Leonard Cohen Live in London

Friday 19 June
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC4

When the Canadian singer-songwriter and poet started performing again last year after five years in seclusion as a Zen Buddhist monk and the disappearance of his retirement fund, he received rave reviews. If you haven’t seen this performance, catch it now and marvel at his spare lyricism. Live in London is a parade of old and recent favourites, delivered with authority, tenderness and humour. It’s followed by a 1973 BBC film combining an interview, biography and concert footage plus there’s also a tribute show featuring famous fans.

Leonard Cohen – Songs from My Life: Omnibus

Friday 19 June
10:00pm – 11:10pm
BBC4

Portrait of Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen, originally recorded in 1973. Featuring interviews, archive film and live performances from London, Paris, Athens and New York.

What Leonard Cohen Did for Me

Friday 19 June
11:10pm -11:40pm
BBC4

A celebration of the career of Leonard Cohen, one of contemporary music’s most revered singer-songwriters. The Canadian poet and novelist has gradually transformed over the years into an international star. Contributors include Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Ian McCulloch, Arthur Smith, Kathryn Williams and Paul Morley.

Source: All listings from The Radio Times website.

At last the day has come. Mad Men series 2 finally aired on BBC4. I have waited a long time for this and seeing it again on our screens has been sublime.

I love how the Radio Times described it:

The first season of Mad Men probably won more awards than it did viewers. But its tiny band of devotees on both sides of the Atlantic treasured it as a polished pearl, a television series of wit, thoughtfulness and elegance. So bless the BBC for keeping the faith and bringing us series two. Source: Radio Times.

It’s so true. Very few people I know watch it, but that’s such a shame as it’s one of the very best things on British television right now. In the sea of mind-numbing, amorphous, celebrity crap – this really is delicious. The attention to period detail is absolutely exquisite – like no other TV program I’ve seen. The smoking, the drinking, the womanising, the clothes, the marital dysfunction, the desperate housewives, the search for meaning. All very powerful stuff and highly compelling viewing.

Episode 1 of season 2 followed on from where the last series left off. The arrival of the revolutionary photocopier has the office abuzz. I won’t write too much more as it can be watched again on BBC iPlayer.

Masses of photos on AMC’s website.

Series 2 episode 1 on iPlayer.

PS OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG they’ve just advertised the second season of Damages beginning on Sunday! My two favourite US imports restarting on television for their new seasons! Happy days indeed!

Very good news yesterday. I was reading a long article in The Telegraph about Mad Men and its creator, Matthew Weiner, at the end of which I read the magic words:

‘Mad Men’ series 2 starts on BBC4 on February 10

I’ve been so looking forward to it coming back to our shores. It was one of the very best things on TV when it started last year on BBC4.

Birdie is also a big fan.

There is also a good article in the DT about voluptuous siren Joan Holloway (played by Christina Hendricks). Can be read here.

I watched this last night, having recorded it the other week. It’s a BBC4 drama on the life of the late Dame Barbara Cartland, the prolific (and flamboyant) UK author who would write 723 books with estimated worldwide sales of one billion copies.

The drama flipped between her early life, growing up in the 30s, and her ‘mature’ life in the 1970s, at the height of her fame, when she forged an unlikely close relationship with Lord Louis Mountbatten (cousin to the Queen).

I didn’t know much about her, never having read her books. She wasn’t a prude but didn’t write about carnal relationships, instead her entire oeuvre remained highly formulaic – dashing young man sweeps beautiful young woman off her feet and they live happily ever after. I think people like that, which is probably why she sold so many books translated into 38 languages.

Her life wasn’t easy. She lost her beloved brother Ronald (whom she’d help get elected to parliament) as well as her other brother, in WWII. She also lost ‘Dickie’ (Lord Mountbatten) who was killed by the IRA in the late 70s. Her first husband was an alcoholic whom she divorced and her second husband, having been injured at Paschendale, was not the dashing romantic man she craved. Her daughter from her first marriage – Raine – would marry into the Spencer family, becoming Princess Diana’s stepmother.

An enjoyable drama that was well cast, especially the mature Dame Barbara played by Anne Reid (pictured).

You can read some funny quotes of hers here (she was a staunch champion of family values and a believer that the role of women was to tender to the whim of their menfolk, look pretty, etc).

The dramas on the BBC4 are consistently good. BBC4 is the ‘thinking person’s channel’ and I don’t care how pretentious that sounds. It is something of a bastion in the sea of dumbed-down bilge that proliferates across much of our TV channels – notably BBC1 and ITV.

Anyway, other notable – and very good – similar dramas that I’ve seen over the last year or so (either on BBC4 or occasionally on BBC2) include:

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa

I think this was probably the best of all the ones I’ve seen. Desperately poignant, at turns tragic, but offering a real insight into Kenneth Williams as a person ‘off screen’. He could never really accept his sexuality which really did torture him. He was intensely close to his mother his whole life, too. Brilliantly acted by Michael Sheen who would go on to win the 2006 Royal Television Society best actor award. More info. You can rent it or buy it on DVD if you haven’t seen it and I’d definitely recommend it.

Fear of Fanny

About the celebrated British television chef (in the era before the likes of Nigella). Enjoyable. A difficult woman trapped in a bygone era to some extent. She was a dragon and a battleaxe, but had a vulnerable side too; it was very watchable. I spose she was a bit of a latter day Gordon Ramsay (though probably preferable, seeing as I can’t stand him as he represents all that I can’t abide in ‘celebrity’). More info.

Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story

This was on just the other week and was a fascinating insight into Mary Whitehouse – stalwart of family values, principally in connection with the ‘increasingly immoral’ stuff the BBC was showing on television.  Julie Walters gave an excellent performance and Whitehouse’s stubborn, determined, naive yet unstinting crusade was wonderfully recreated. More info. I quite liked part of The Independent’s write-up of it:

“Mary Whitehouse” has become, over the years, less a person than a figure of speech, a shorthand for suburban prudery. This programme made her flesh and blood again. Sometimes it went a bit too far – did we need to witness Whitehouse connubial congress? Or Mary sitting on the lav? No – but seeing the hurt in her eyes when she watched her husband mocked on the television programme Swizzlewick was a powerful moment. Source.

Tonight, in contrast to the Barbara Cartland drama last week (books written about spiritual love) – BBC4 is premiering Consuming Passions: 100 Years of Mills and Boon which from the trailers looks to be very good. I’ll be watching it.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the popular romance publishing phenomenon Mills and Boon, a colourful and camp drama which charts the witty and moving stories of three very different women affected by the brand’s success: co-founder Charles Boon’s wife Mary, daydreaming 1970s writer Janet and modern day literature lecturer Kirstie.

Whilst I have limited sympathy with the BBC over the recent Jonathan Ross / Russell Brand debacle, I still think – and have probably always thought – that their drama and the quality of their programming is absoultely top notch for the most part. Having lived abroad and seen just how dire the television is in some other English speaking countries can be (and in fairness, EU countries also) – we don’t do too badly.