New British TV Show Reviews
July 8, 2008
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The Abbey (7/08)
Morwenna
Banks starred in this comedy pilot as a Courtney Love-like rocker who
opens a dodgy celebrity detox center (not to be confused with The Priory).
With Russell Brand, Omid Djalili, and Reece Shearsmith.
The Bad Mother's Handbook (7/08)
Catherine
Tate stars in this ITV movie as a woman who never got to college
because she got pregnant trying to prevent her daughter from suffering
the same fate. She also has issues with her own mother and Tate
delivers the goods as a dramatic actress.
Benidorm (7/08)
Dry ITV comedy shot on location at an "all inclusive" Spanish resort
favored by British holiday makers, represented by various types
including pub quizzer Johnny Vegas with his mum, Steve Pemberton and
his white trash working class family, a kinky older couple, and a
middle-class couple having marriage problems.
Bonkers (7/08)
Sally Wainwright (At Home With the Braithwaites)
wrote this ITV farce about Helen (Liza Tarbuck), a happily married
middle-class schoolteacher who discovers on their 20th anniversary that
her husband has been cheating on her and kicks him out. Her neighbors,
brothers and even son are all up to sexual escapades as well, but the
kicker is Helen's house becomes inhabited by Felix, the sexy movie star
of her dreams who has fallen into a coma while on location in New
Zealand and now only she can see him! Is it a dream come true or, as
she suspects, she has finally gone bonkers?
City Lights (7/08)
Robson
Green stars in this ITV series that is an odd blend of serious drama
(he and his best friend witness a brutal gangland slaying) and
slapstick humor (these two bozos often act more like Laurel and Hardy
than serious characters). After the murder, they and their two families
(their wives are sisters) enter Witness Protection and move from
Manchester to London with new names and try to fit in. But domestic
problems keep rearing their heads and the gangster's goons get closer
and closer to them.
A Class Apart (7/08)
Tony
Grounds wrote this BBC TV movie about a woman who wants her
multi-racial son to get a better education than at the local public
school and gets the chance when the progressive headmaster of a posh
private school offers him a scholarship. But is the boy too working
class to fit in and is the headmaster merely trying to prove a point to
a rival that he can education anybody? The relationship between the
mother and the headmaster is less interesting than the educational
drama but I suppose love sells.
Comic Relief 2007 (7/08)
The biennial Red Nose Day telethon features Mr Bean at a wedding, Lauren
Cooper (Catherine Tate) antagonizes her new English teacher (David
Tennant), Little Britain meets Dennis Waterman, Catherine Tate as a
woman who doesn't realize her boyfriend is Daniel Craig, Sting visits
the Vicar of Dibley, Peter Kay and Andy from Little Britain sing "500
Miles," Lauren meets Tony Blair (a true highlight, Blair unexpectedly
turns the tables on her and got a huge response afterwards), plus
appearances by Kate Moss, Borat, Lenny Henry, Mitchell & Webb,
Christa Berg, and Jimmy Carr among many, many others.
Fear of Fanny (7/08)
BBC TV
biographical movie about early TV chef Fanny Cradock, a fixture on the
telly in the 50s and 60s but she couldn't adapt with the times. It also
didn't help she was a monster in real life and Julia Davis (who has
done a few comic monsters in her time, particularly in her Nighty Night)
nails this impersonation. Mark Gatiss plays her long-suffering husband
whose public persona was the bumbling second banana, but his devotion
to Fanny (despite her many failings) was absolute.
Fear Stress & Anger (7/08)
Peter
Davison and Pippa Haywood star in this BBC comedy about a married
couple (who actually are passionate about each other and often show it)
coping with their jobs, their friends, and two teenage daughters.
Farcical at times, but amusing.
George Gently (7/08)
Martin
Shaw stars in this police drama set during the 1960s as a recently
widowed Met detective who goes into the country to solve a case
involving his old nemesis and meets an ambitious young policeman who
wants to learn from the legendarily incorruptable Gently. Mysteries are
solved and male bonding occurs, set in an era when the Met still had a serious
corruption problem.
Get A Grip (7/08)
Ben Elton
and Alexa Chung debate serious issues like bullying and conspiracy
theories with humorous banter accented with amusing sketches in this
ITV series. A lot of the joke is the substantial age (and cultural)
difference between the two presenters (though most of it is written by
Elton) as they discuss various opinions, but Elton almost always makes
the best point (though Alexa keeps him from being too pompous).
Party Animals (7/08)
BBC
political drama focuses on the personal lives of the researchers and
assistants who help MPs get through their days. We see both sides, Tory
and Labour, as well as the political consultants both rely on.
Primeval (7/08)
ITV's answer to Doctor Who
features a group of university scientists working with the government
to investigate time rifts that allow prehistoric creatures to venture
into modern-day London. The first episode is terrible, featuring a
young boy who nobody believes is being stalked by a dinosaur in his
suburban neighborhood (and befriends a cute little lizard), but
subsequent episodes ditch the kiddie angle and things get more serious,
particularly when the head scientist discovers his long-thought dead
wife has been using the rifts to live in the past. The monster effects
are done by the same folks who did Walking With Dinosaurs and the production values are uniformly high.
Ruddy Hell! It's Harry & Paul (7/08)
Harry
Enfield returns to sketch comedy on the BBC with pal Paul Whitehouse as
they assay various new characters including an American retired couple
visiting Britain, U2 at home, Bill Gates & Steve Jobs, Laurel &
Hardy's Brokeback Mountain, and Nelson Mandela shilling for various
dubious products.
Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (7/08)
Children's
BBC production featuring Jonathan Pryce as the great detective, but the
focus is on the street urchins he employed, this time a multi-racial
and co-ed group, rather unlike Conan-Doyle's originals. But the plot
involving an evil Mistress of Disguise kidnapping kids and Holmes
framed for murder features enough peril and detective work to keep kids
entertained.
Wedding Belles (7/08)
TV movie based on Irving Welsh's novel with a startling beginning
featuring four women in wedding garb kidnapping four men and executing
them. The rest is flashbacks showing the run up to Amanda's (Michelle
Gomez) wedding while various dramas swirl around her girlfriends
(including Shirley Henderson). Alas, the great opening proves to be a
dream sequence (what a gyp!) but the rest of the drama is
heartfelt.
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Written and maintained by Ryan K. Johnson (rkj@eskimo.com).
July 8, 2008