British TV Show Reviews "L"

The Lakes (11/97)
Four-part BBC drama about life in a small Lake District village as it suffers a crisis. The point of view character is a young Scouser (John Simm) who impregnates and weds a naive student (Emma Cunniffe) from the village and then follows her back home when his gambling habits become too much. Soon, he is implicated in a tragic accident and we witness the secrets and passions that threaten an entire community.

(9/99)
Frankly I was surprised when this mini-series from last year returned for a second season, but clearly the British public (and the BBC) wanted to see more of the soap-like shenanigans in a small village in the Lake District. There must be something in the water because everyone is shagging someone (usually someone they shouldn't), and the most mature character this year is Danny (John Simm), who spent most of the last season in trouble for one thing or another. But now everyone else gets a chance, but there's nothing a bit of saltpeter wouldn't cure!

A Landing on the Sun (11/94)
Despite the title, not an SF movie, but an interesting story gimmick unites the twin stories of a government clerk researching whether two employees were up to no good, as well as showing their story as it happens. He finds correspondence tapes they dictated in the their loft office in a ministerial building and he imagines them in the room acting out what he hears. A fascinating love affair begins and the juxtaposition with the present time is cleverly done. The title in this BBC TV Movie refers to the spot on the roof the employees discover to engage in some extracurricular activity.

Last Christmas (1/01)
A boy's late father (Ray Winstone) comes back as an angel to help him, but really it's the father who needs to get a life, so to speak, in this BBC holiday-themed TV movie.

The Last Detective (3/04)
Peter Davison stars in this series based on the books by Leslie Thomas about an unpopular divorced police detective who falls into offbeat cases.  Davison as usual is typecast as the schlubby loser whether it's this, A Very Peculiar Practice, At Home With The Braithwaites or Doctor Who (the only exception I can think of in his career was the brief Campion).  What's incredible is the man has barely aged in 20 years (though he's a bit thinner on top).  Although in interviews he realizes he'll always be identified as The Doctor, he certainly has had a variety of parts since then, and  holds the record for starring in the most TV series for a former Doctor.

The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick & "Eyes Wide Shut" (5/00)
Channel 4 documentary that coincided with the release in Britain of Kubrick's final movie, interviewing his friends and family about the reclusive director's life and times.

The Last Musketeer (3/01)
Heartthrob Robson Green (Touching Evil) stars in this ITV TV movie as an ex-con fencer who misses out making the British Olympic team and instead accepts a short-term teaching job at an out-of-way girls school in Scotland in order to avoid some angry gangsters when a job goes wrong.  The embattled headmistress of the school natural falls for Green, as does his best student, but he manages to inspire everyone to succeed before vanishing from their lives forever like the Lone Ranger.

The Last Salute (7/98)
This BBC comedy series set in the early 1960s demonstrates the long-standing rivalry between the two automobile clubs in Britain, the Automobile Association and the Royal Auto Club. Like our AAA, each provides repair service for members when their cars break down. Unlike the AAA however, their British equivalents wore official military-style uniforms and cruised the highways and country lanes (freeways were just beginning to be introduced then) in gleaming bright motorcycles equipped with sidecars, yellow for the AA, blue for the RAC. The title of the series refers to the precise salute these men were required to give passing motorists, which on more than one occasion resulted in the loss of control of one's motorcycle. The military aspect is particularly emphasized in the series by the supervisor of one AA district who overplans everything (with disaster usually resulting) and who insists Esperanto will be the language of the future. Co-written by Simon Nye (My Wonderful Life, Men Behaving Badly), this slice-of-life show is a gentle look at a bygone era.

The Last Train (1/00)
Six part ITV mini-series that is Survivors 1999. A group of middle class commuters outside Sheffield are in a train crash when a mysterious gas is released. When they crawl out they discover they were in suspended animation and the entire world has been destroyed by a meteor strike! A young scientist (Nicola Walker, from Chalk) seems to have all the answers, as well as a plan to reach a sanctuary that will have survived the apocalypse, but can she convince her fellow passengers to follow her and risk their lives in a hostile environment? Though incredible, it's nicely mounted and acted, though it gets a bit grim near the end.

Laughter & Loathing (1/96)
A documentary by Ian Hislop (Have I Got News For You) about Roman satirist Juvenal. In order to dramatize his most famous sayings and dramas, Hislop has actor Stephen Fry portray Juvenal walking around contemporary London wearing a toga doing monologues. Despite being a terrible misogynist and racist, Juvenal was responsible for many observations that live on today including, "Who is to guard the guards themselves?" and his most famous, "A sound mind in a sound body."

Laughing For Ages (7/99)
Stephen Tompkinson (Ballykissangel) hosts this six-part compilation of BBC comedy sketches each featuring a different historical age (e.g. Romans, Middle Ages, the War). Programs like this cost hardly anything, but a lot of vintage black-and-white clips that normally wouldn’t be seen were included at least.

Laughter In The House: The Story of British Sitcom (11/99)
Julie Walters narrates this BBC documentary look at the sitcom, from its beginning with Hancock's Half Hour, to such groundbreaking series like Steptoe and Son (remade as Sanford and Son in the US) and Til Death Us Do Part (which became All In The Family). Actors and writers are interviewed to give their perspective on things, especially how trends were developed, exploited, and then waned, and how the political and social situations were reflected by the comedies of the time.

Laura and Disorder (5/89)
Wendy Craig stars in this sitcom as a harried woman. Co-stars Stephen Greif ("Travis" from Blake's 7). Fairly amusing.

Laurie Lee’s Cider With Rosie (7/99)
Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply) stars as a single mother with a large brood living in the country, as told by her 8-year-old son (Lee actually narrates the story, based on his memoirs). There’s a rather ringing indictment of country life, with the occasional murder and rape just considered part of the post World War I landscape. At least that’s how I saw it. One particular incident concerns a visiting stranger from New Zealand who goes into the pub one night and tells everyone how successful and rich he has become after being sent away from the village to live abroad as a young boy. Afterwards the villagers beat him to death but nobody really seems to notice. Yeesh.

Lavender Castle (9/99)
Gerry Anderson's (Thunderbirds, Space: 1999) latest series, aimed at children, combining stop-motion and computer-generated effects in a series of 10 minute episodes on ITV. A odd collection of anthropomorphic characters form a crew of a space ship searching for the legendary Lavender Castle, while battling the evil Dr. Agon (get the pun of the name?) and having adventures, which are neatly told in the short time slot.

The Law Lord (12/92)
A political intrigue drama about an idealistic young lawyer who is elevated to Lord Protectorate of England and then manipulated by those around him (including a scheming civil servant played by Tom Baker).

Lazarus and Dingwall (8/91)
The BBC's answer to "Police Squad" stars Stephen Frost (best known as the overly enthusiastic head of the firing squad in the Blackadder Goes Forth episode "Corporal Punishment") as one of two cops in this laughtrack-less Professionals parody.

The League of Gentlemen (9/99)
The easiest way I can describe this BBC comedy series is it's like if Monty Python did a remake of Twin Peaks. Based on a BBC radio series, this odd combination of sketches and continuing characters set in a bizarre Northern village, is entirely performed by the same four actors (playing both male and female parts). Of note to fans of Dr Who is the presence of Mark Gatiss, who has written a number of Dr Who novels. It's all very odd and not for all tastes, but certainly something to be sampled just for its uniqueness. Read my feature article about The League of Gentlemen.

The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1/97)
The BBC, never one to let a past success go, even if the lead actor has been dead for years, resurrects this 1970s comedy, fully acknowledging that the brilliant Leonard Rossiter is no longer alive, and it is now 20 years later. Marking the occasion of Reggie's death, the entire cast of the original series reunite to discover Reggie had one little surprise left: a million pounds left to each of them if they can prove to a cool solicitor (Patricia Hodge) that they have done something truly absurd. Their plan: to mount a revolution of oldies - with dim-bulb brother Jimmy (Geoffrey Palmer) as their leader.

The Legend of the Tamworth Two (10/05)
"Babe"-like treatment of a real-life story about two pigs that became nationally famous when they escaped from the slaughterhouse and went on the run.  Kevin Whately (Inspector Morse) reveals his inner Klingon (both in makeup and acting style) as an over-the-top hunter determined to bring the pigs in.  Perhaps to make it more interesting to today's audiences, the pigs can talk and in fact narrate the story, in this light-hearted adventure.

Lenny Goes To Town (1/99)
Lenny Henry, now 40 but having been in the British eye since his debut at 16 in a competition, takes his act on the road, visiting different British cities each week in front of a live audience and tailoring his material to each venue. Clearly aimed at family audiences, Henry takes great pains not to offend anyone, and fortunately his huge charismatic presence overcomes any charges of blandness. If nothing else, he (and the BBC) deserve some credit for keeping the variety show genre alive, something not seen on American TV in many years.

The Lenny Henry Show (9/95)
The versatile comedian (best known to fans as the Black Doctor during a 1985 parody) returns in a new variety series. Henry is a funny guy although he seems somewhat pre-packaged and carefully sanitized for our protection in this BBC production. As part of the BBC Mafia of comedians (including his wife Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, her husband Adrian Edmondson, Fry and Laurie, and Peter Richardson) you get the feeling that once you get the "BBC Stamp of Approval" then there's no getting you off the air. And one begins to see the same comedians over and over again (at least on BBC-1 -- all the "cutting edge" comics are stuck over on BBC-2).

Le Show (1/00)
Frenchman Antoine de Caunes takes his Eurotrash act, and attempts to present French "culture" and humor to British audiences, in this fast paced studio show with celebrity guests, music, and sketches. How much you can take of someone with a thick accent making fun of the British is up to the individual, but as the producer (and owner of the production company), I suppose de Caunes is free to do what he wants.

Let Them Eat Cake (5/00)
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star in (but didn't write) this rather routine BBC sitcom set just before the French Revolution with Saunders as a clueless aristocrat and French as her servant. The results aren't terribly funny, which makes one wonder what prompted the ladies to participate.

Liberty: The American Way of Independence (1/99)
Something you wouldn't expect to see on British TV, but co-produced by Minnesota Public Television (and sure to arrive on PBS here soon) this nicely mounted Channel 4 production takes us through the Revolutionary War with recreations and actors reading actual letters and speeches made by the participants at the time. It's educational, but also fascinating stuff if you have any interest in how something as odd (and unique in its time) as the United States came into being.

Life After Birth (11/96)
Channel 4 sitcom about a young unwed mother (Emma Cuniffe) living in a London council flat with her best friend, a slightly dim girl who works at a betting shop. Motherhood doesn't come easily, and busybody neighbors and her interfering mum just add to the confusion. Responsibility seems to be the recurring theme here, but the series is honest and offers some good laughs as well.

The Life and Crimes of William Palmer (7/98)
True-life two-part ITV drama about a notorious 19th Century poisoner, a doctor with a gambling problem who finds a convenient death here and there keeps him ahead of the debt collector. The trouble is he soon starts in on his children (four "mysteriously" die in their cribs), friends, his wife, but finally goes too far when he kills a business associate with powerful parents. Protesting his innocence to the very end, nevertheless he was hanged, and the town he was a resident in all his life actually changed its name in shame. Beautifully mounted and costumed, it resembles a Merchant/Ivory production, with a great performance by Keith Allen as the title character.

Life As We Know It (3/02)
Richard Wilson (One Foot In The Grave) and Stephanie Cole (Waiting For God) star in this BBC domestic comedy that reverses the roles in "One Foot": here, Wilson is a weekly columnist for the paper who must deal with his long-suffering wife who has just been laid off from being the local school headmistress.  They also have some annoying grown children and a clever dog, but mostly it's tired material by actors we've seen this from before and better.

Life Begins (3/05)
Caroline Quentin (Men Behaving Badly) stars in this ITV comedy/drama series about a housewife whose husband (Alexander Armstrong) suddenly walks out of their marriage and she must cope with their kids and earning a living.  She ends up working at a travel agency (after first tricking them into hiring her in the first place) and slowly begins to make new friends and find her place in the world as an independent person.

A Life In Pieces (8/91)
Peter Cook sends up "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in this twelve part series of five-minute shorts shown over a two week period during Christmas 1990.

Life On Mars (4/07)
If you've only seen Life on Mars on BBC America, then you've only seen 75% of it: they cut 14 minutes out each hour-long episode!  And the running time is the best thing about this BBC drama about Sam Tyler (John Simm), a 21st Century copper who wakes up in the 1970s in what appears to be a remake of The Sweeney.  As the credits ask us is Sam back in time, in a coma, or just mad?  This Philip K. Dick-like questioning of reality keeps it interesting, but the real star is not Sam but his boss, Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) as the incredibly violent, un-PC detective superintendent, and one of the funniest (if foul) characters ever seen in a police drama.  Having a full 60 minutes (unless you're BBC America--shame on you!) to tell your stories results in great character moments and complicated plots that you think will be over quickly, but go off in interesting directions.  With its run of 16 episodes over two seasons over (and the mystery solved), Hunt's character is being spun off into his own series set in the 1980s.

Linda Green (11/02) 
A different writer each week tackles the singleton adventures of part-time lounge singer Linda (Liza Tarbuck) and her so-called love life in this BBC series.   The contrast between the episodes means you never know quite what it will deliver, and some of Linda's situations are those "only on television" kind of premises: dating twins (guest star Christopher Eccleston), trying a lesbian bar, but overall the results are successful even if the music that Linda sings is a bit too "right on" sometimes.

The Line of Beauty (4/08)
Andrew Davies adapts Alan Hollinghurst's novel set in the 1980s about a young gay man who rises from nothing to working in the highest offices in the land thanks to the sponsorship of a Conservative family that takes him in.  In the background is a look at the go-go "greed is good" Margaret Thatcher era, and how it ate up and spit people like him out once it was done with them. 

Lipstick on Your Collar (3/93)
Six-part Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective) drama set in the 50s during the Suez crisis, and features Potter's trademarks of sex and bizarre musical numbers erupting out of nowhere. Apparently Potter is running for familiar ground, as his last series, Blackeyes, was viciously pilloried for its sexism and content. Even if you don't like the plot in Lipstick, it's great to hear the old 50s musical numbers played. Lots of nudity, I'd be surprised to see it run in the US.

Little Britain (7/04)
Matt Lucas (Shooting Stars) and David Walliams (Cruise of the Gods) have been a comedy team for several years now (Rock Profiles) and now get their own BBC comedy series that is very reminiscent of The League of Gentlemen.  Flawlessly narrated by Tom Baker, Lucas and Walliams play most of the characters, male, female, or indeterminate.  Guest star Anthony Stewart Head appears as a Prime Minister who doesn't realize just how devoted his aide is.

A Little Loving (11/96)
Short comedy film about a young woman whose boyfriend won't commit until she gains the aid of the Greek Gods, who now live undercover in London. They try to help her out but Eros' arrows nearly cause disaster in the attempt. Amusing.

Little Napoleans (11/94)
Two immigrant London lawyers are persuaded to run for town council and get a taste of what politics is really about. Great characters and a ton of back-stabbing occur in this four-part mini-series from Channel 4.

Little White Lies (11/98)
A two-part BBC drama starring Tara Fitzgerald, Cherie Lunghi, and Peter Bowles) about a disintegrating marriage is shot on video and none-too-subtle. Cat-lovers are advised not to watch.

The Liver Birds (11/96)
Originally a 1970s BBC sitcom about two young women (Nerys Hughes and Polly James), this update has them now dealing with middle age. The trouble is the series, despite being set in 1996, still feels like it was produced in 1970. Hughes and James (both guest stars on Doctor Who during the Peter Davison era) are clearly 20 years older than the characters they play, and in light of modern shows about women like Dressing For Breakfast or Life After Birth, The Liver Birds seems badly out of synch with the times both in attitude and comedic style. Strictly for nostalgia buffs.

Liverpool 1 (1/99)
Samantha Janus (Game On) stars as the newcomer to a Liverpool undercover squad where she is partnered up with live wire who appears to be related to just about everyone else in Liverpool, including the local villains! There's romantic tension of course, but Janus acquits herself well in this gritty ITV drama series.

Lock Up Your Daughters (3/04)
Subtitled, "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," this documentary looks at 40 years of scandals involving the popular music scene.  Of course what was shocking in the early 1960s is now completely taken for granted, and even the 1970s revelation that David Bowie was bisexual seems quaint nowadays.  But it's interesting how every generation found a way to unnerve the establishment and raise the bar higher and higher.

The Locksmith (11/97)
Warren Clarke (Dalziel and Pascoe) stars in this BBC drama series about a divorced locksmith who takes on a worthless assistant at the same time his ex-wife is nearly killed by compulsive junkie thief. Their estranged daughter is no help, and the stress begins to break Clarke down as he searches for the assailant and plans his revenge.

Lock, Stock and... (11/01)
A series of TV movies on Channel 4 derived from the Vinnie Jones hit "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" (each movie in the series has some variation of this theme: "...and a Good Slopping Out," "...and One Big Bollock," etc.) based around an East End pub in London where a young, fairly photogenic group of gangsters try to get rich quick but mostly end up surrounded by corpses.  Lots of senseless violence but then that's rather the point.

The Long Firm (11/04)
You wouldn't think a series about a gay gangster in the 1960s would work but Mark Strong makes the most as a tough mobster who has big ambitions.  He manages to recruit a closeted Lord (Derek Jacobi) as the front man for his criminal enterprises and never fails to take advantage of anyone in his scramble for the top.

Looking After Jo Jo (3/98)
Hot actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) stars in this BBC mini-series as a young man in Edinburgh running with the wrong elements. The thick Scottish accents could use subtitles (and a slang dictionary), and of course every scene is grim, grim, grim. But Carlyle has star power, no doubt about it.

Lord of Misrule (11/96)
BBC TV movie with Richard Wilson as a retired Lord Protectorate who decides to sell all the dirt he has accumulated about the government to the highest bidder in order to pay for the upkeep on his house. Quickly the Prime Minister dispatches a cabinet minister (Prunella Scales) who was once an old flame of his to make a deal, while his granddaughter's journalist boyfriend negotiates on behalf of the press to get its hands on the incriminating documents. Unfortunately everyone arrives during a village festival where the town simpleton is crowned Lord of Misrule and allowed to run amok for a day. Added to the mix some gangsters intent on recovering a load of cannabis accidentally uncovered by a local fisherman try to get their property back. Naturally, Wilson watches with detached bemusement as all these chaotic elements collide.

Los Dos Bros (3/02)
Channel 4's attempt at "Dumb and Dumber" about two half brothers idiots getting into trouble and then discussing it afterward with an unseen therapist in this low-brow comedy series.  Notable for co-starring Darren Boyd, who appeared in the short-lived American series "Watching Ellie" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Lost For Words (9/99)
TV movie with Pete Postlethwaite ("In The Name Of The Father") recalling the life of his mother (Thora Hird), even after she suffers a debilitating heart attack. A nice touch is the newly remarried Postlethwaite's character is given a blind wife. Sentimental, but what do you expect?

Lost In France (9/98)
A serialized late night comedy series, set during the 1998 World Cup was shot on location as events were occurring with topical references sprinkled in (obviously, in an ideal world, the characters would have followed the exploits of the England team all the way to the Final, although their elimination in the second round to Argentina altered their plans slightly). But the main focus is on a soccer-mad Northern family, cruising all over France in search of tickets and various venues. Each segment was short enough not to become boring, and the sweet relationship between the characters worked well, whatever your opinion of soccer might be.

Lost In Space (9/98)
A series of 15-minute shorts on the BBC each highlighting different fandoms surrounding cult science fictions series. Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Gerry Anderson fans, Blake's 7, and Star Trek are all profiled, with interviews with their most loyal fans. Surprisingly, they manage to stay away from the most sad anorak-y types (although I suppose just by definition, anyone who is a fan of television can fit that category. Heck, I even get mail from time to time saying I watch too much telly!), with "serious" fans who are at least knowledgeable and dedicated about their devotion to a particular series.

The Lost World of Friese-Greene (4/08)
Dan Cruickshank presents a travelogue featuring color movies shot in the 1920s (!) and contrasting it with how the same locations appear today.  He even manages to locate people who appeared (or knew them) in the original footage.  Claude Friese-Greene was a film experimenter who developed his own color process and then decided the best way to show it off was to shoot a driving tour of Britain called "The Open Road."  Cruickshank follows in his footsteps in this amazing mix of archival footage and a look at how Britain has changed over the years.

Love Again (3/04)
BBC biography of poet Philip Larkin, perhaps one of the most cynical men of the 20th Century.  Expertly portrayed by Hugh Bonneville, it opens with his arrival at lowly Hull University.  His long-term inability to commit drives his girlfriend (Tara Fitzgerald) nuts, and it doesn't help that Larkin begins courting a co-working in the university library (Amanda Root).  But he was the right poet at the right time and eventually he had to turn down the laureate, preferring to write something rude about the Queen.  Incredibly, Larkin managed to avoid matrimony his entire life, as did the women in his life who all died single.

Love and Reason (9/93)
A huge disappointment. A three-part drama about how a feminist from a mining community becomes a Member of Parliament, all the while carrying on affairs and oblivious to the political machinations around her. Told mostly in flashbacks, as a promised satire it failed to deliver.

Loved By You (7/97)
The ITV remake of Mad About You with John Gordon-Sinclair in the Paul Reiser role. As far as I can tell they've taken the actual scripts and just modified them to fit London instead of New York. The rest is whether you are a fan of the original or not, which sadly I'm in the latter category.

Love In The 21st Century (3/00)
Channel 4 anthology series that is a cynical look at love, with frequent unexpected denouements. A different writer did each story, including a tale by Doctor Who novelist Paul Cornell with Ioan Gruffudd (Hornblower) as a husband who gets caught wanking by his wife. Other stories involve a doctor with two girlfriends, a woman who wants to get sperm donors, and a teacher who has an affair with a student. Adult material, to be sure, but tastefully done.

Love on a Branch Line (11/94)
Quiet and understated Masterpiece Theatre-like comedy about a young government clerk sent to a manor house full of eccentrics ostensibly to shut down an obscure ministerial program. But he is seduced by the beauty of the surroundings and the Lord of the manor's three beautiful daughters. Will he find love or obey his superiors and order the program shut down? A sweet period-piece although there is lots of sex and naked bodies too.

Love or Money (3/02)
ITV TV movie about a recently jilted young man (Steven Duffy) who goes on TV, gets an "instant bride" (Emma Cunniffe), and they both can win a million pounds if they can stay happily married for six months.  Needless to say, complication ensue and the big question is whether they are both doing it for love or money like the title suggests.

Loving (3/97)
BBC TV Movie about life in an Irish mansion during World War II. An upper class British family has retreated to Ireland for the duration along with their staff whose complicated lives form the basis for this drama. A bit ponderous but well acted.

Lucky Jim (3/04)
ITV TV movie adaptation of the Kingsley Amis novel set in the 1950s about a shy college professor (Stephen Tomkinson at his stammering best) stuck in a dead-end relationship who sees a more likely paramour (Keeley Hawes) currently with a pretentious beat poet.  A nice cast which also includes Robert Hardy, Denis Lawson, and Stephen Mangan.

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (9/00)
ITV mini-series based on a novel that has enough episodes that I think they adapted every word of the novel about a woman's quest for love.  What's amazing is they were able to break it up into self-contained episodes, and each had a different writer, rather than one person adapting the entire story.  With former EastEnder Letitia Dean, Sara Stockbridge, and Michael Troughton in supporting roles.