TV Preview: Being Human, Series Two, Episode Five

Please note that this preview doesn’t include spoilers, but if you’d rather know nothing about the episode then come back after you’ve watched it.

“It’s the library books isn’t it?”

Another week, another flashback and another shock ending which threatens to send Being Human off in another direction from the one we were expecting 55 minutes previously. Can this series lay claim to being the most surprising on British television today? Almost certainly.

It’s London, 1969, and we’re first introduced to…ah, but that would be telling. Typical of Being Human, there’s nothing typical about its opening salvo, a pre-credits sequence which is both shocking and hilarious, as is the programme’s wont.

The past is tied indelibly to the present in Being Human, this episode entwining the two as Mitchell recalls events from one night in the Sixties.

Back in 2010, Ian Puleston-Davies’ turn as Herrick-lite, Wilson, continues to impress, though the absence of Jason Watkins is still felt even with the new band of adversaries faced by Mitchell, Annie and George.

This week Wilson wants to recruit Mitchell to carry out a little job for him, one which goes against the new vampire code that demands that no blood is shed on his watch. This may seem a ludicrous turn of events but it’s given enough conviction from Aidan Turner that there seems nothing unusual with the idea.

Event Review: Slapstick 2010

Returning to the blog after his epic Manhunt review, Walter Dunlop takes us through four days in the life of a silent movie buff…in Bristol…

I’m just back from Slapstick 2010 in Bristol and what a weekend. What a wonderful weekend.

There is absolutely nothing to match the experience of watching really good silent movies (like any genre, there’s chaff and quality in equal measure) in a full cinema with live music.

As an experience, it’s…intense. A raft of great films. Superb guests. Convivial atmosphere and friendly attendees.

The first screening, Buster Keaton’s “The Navigator” went down well, trumped by Harold Lloyd’s “Girl Shy” which took the roof off the cinema. 1200 people in kinks.

The Kenny Everett tribute panel brought the house down – an appreciative audience, Barry Cryer on spectacular form, and clips so well chosen that I’m going to dig out as many of his old Thames shows as I can find from the Dunlop archive here and glut myself on his work all over again as soon as I get a free night.

Bonzo Dog Doodah Band co-founder Neil Innes got a night to himself – and quite right too. A ninety minute documentary on the man, followed by Neil himself introducing clips from his career and singing, playing piano and occasionally indulging in some virtuoso Ukulele antics.

There was a German bloke in the seat behind me – I heard him say he’d turned up because he liked the confluence of the words “Bonzo” and “Dog” on the poster. He had no idea what he was about to see, no idea who they were.

After ninety minutes of clips and chat in which the words “anarchy”, “anarchic” and “free-for-all” were mentioned about two hundred times, I heard him say to his companion, “So – was this Innes man the leader?” Ah well, can’t win ‘em all.

I met and spoke briefly to Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, stars of 1970s comedy series The Goodies. I had a lengthy chat with Neil Innes in the bar on Saturday night. He’s been a hero of mine for years, and he proved to be every bit as nice as his reputation suggests.

I asked him about the non-appearance of The Innes Book of Records on DVD. The BBC want a fifteen grand search fee for sourcing from their own archive, and they’ll charge any company that wants to release it 600 quid per minute. Not much chance of that, then.

TV Preview: Being Human, Series Two, Episode Two

Please note that this preview doesn’t include spoilers, but if you’d rather know nothing about the episode then come back after you’ve watched it.

“I wanted to be a normal girl, kissing a normal boy. I wanted to escape, just for a second.”

If there’s one thing you can be certain about with Being Human it’s that you can never be certain about anything.

Over just seven episodes we’ve so far learnt much about Mitchell, George and Annie and their predicament, the how’s and why’s of how they each arrived in a house in Bristol laid out via flashbacks and dialogue in parts hilarious and heartbreaking.

In episode one of this new series we saw Annie branching out further from the house, taking a job at a pub just a few feet down the road. As with most elements of this series, humour and drama would inevitably ensue – remember her job interview? – but with this episode things take a turn which nobody saw coming…and it’s as ridiculous and terrifying as it should be.

Elsewhere, the vampire community are still reeling from the departure of Herrick from the scene, a hole having been created which it’s going to take some time to fill. The appearance of figures of Mitchell’s past forces him back into a life he wants to leave behind, and it’s a different side to the character on show.

Being Human Revisited: the live blog

I love BBC Three’s Being Human. That’s probably an important disclaimer for this particular blog post so let’s get it out of the way first. I watched the pilot back in February 2008, instantly falling in love with the story of a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf sharing a house in Bristol.

Screened as part of a season which saw six pilots made for the channel, the intention being to turn at least one into a fully fledged series, Being Human may have stood out as one of the most original but it almost fell at the first hurdle. The Powers That Be decided to commission comic book action fantasy-thingy Phoo Action instead and Being Human was dead…or would have been if the fans hadn’t got involved.

Long before Twitter was the force for social good it is (we can debate that one another time), fans set up an online petition calling for Being Human to be given another chance. The short version of the ensuing saga is that they won, Phoo Action high-kicked into oblivion and we now have series two about to start on BBC Three tomorrow night.

I’ve now decided to watch it all again. Starting with the pilot (which isn’t in the DVD set), I’ll run through the series, watching the series first six episodes shown on TV last year.

My comments won’t be the most in-depth on the Internet – it is live after all – but I’ll do my best to capture some of the feeling of the series as it develops. This may stretch into tomorrow depending on other commitments, but I’ll make sure I finish it all by 9.30pm Sunday night. Promise.

There’s no real plan to this live blog other than that. I’ll link off to a few other sites, drop in the odd YouTube clip and trailer if it’s relevant and generally go a bit OTT on the series. Feel free to leave comments if you’d like and follow me on Twitter for the odd interlude and to find out when I’ll be starting each episode…oh, and watch out for spoilers folks…

Here’s a look at the original trailer for the pilot:

DVD Review: The Complete Lone Wolf & Cub Boxset

*****

Opening with an execution and closing with an extended, balletic and bloody sword fight, the complete series of Lone Wolf and Cub films (plus “composite” film Shogun Assassin) collected in this gorgeous new box set could never be described as tame.

Sword of Vengeance (1971) begins the series in style, director Kenji Misumi deciding to ignore the inherently pulpy nature of the stories by offering a glorious assault on the senses with as a series of blood soaked fight sequences accompany our heroes on their escape from Shogun ways.

Wakayama makes for a stoic lead, barely uttering a word of dialogue throughout the series, his skill with a sword matched by Misumi (who would remain as director until the third film) and his ever-watchful camera.

The rest of the series, made over a two year period, maintains the high standard of the original, each film opening and closing with scenes of Lone Wolf and his son meandering through some new part of Japan.

Whether its dusty streets, golden desert sand dunes or, in the case of White Heaven in Hell (1974), mountains capped with thick snow, the pair trundle on indefinitely, taking on various enemies as they try to kill them with ever more ingenious techniques.

DVD Review: Strangers – The Complete Series 1 – 5

*****

British television in the 1970s was something of a haven for cop shows, a place where men were men, slags were slags and Guv was seemingly the preferred title for any officer above the level of Constable.

Viewers more used to the gentle methods of PC George Dixon would soon be choking on their TV dinners as a decade of The Sweeney, The Professionals and a whole new lexicon comprised of shooters, blags and shouts was introduced to the national conscience, not to mention a host of imitators and rivals to Regan and co.

It was in 1976 that ITV brought author Kenneth Royce’s novel XYY Man to the small screen, the story of cat burglar William ‘Spider’ Scott (Stephen Yardley), his extra Y chromosome and the resultant criminal tendencies.

Co-starring in XYY was gruff actor Don Henderson, a man with a face for playing villains, who went against type to portray DS George Bulman, a no-nonsense copper with a violent edge.

XYY would only last 13 episodes, after which Bulman should have been relegated to TV history along with colleague DC Derek Willis (Dennis Blanch) – that is until Granada TV decided they wanted their own version of The Sweeney and lured Bulman away from the safety of the Met to the frozen North West of England circa 1978.

Thanks to Bulman and Willis’ anonymity in the north (they are the Strangers of the title), and after being joined by WDC Linda Doran (Frances Tomelty) and DI David Singer (John Ronane), the pair could go undercover in various operations which would have proved impossible for the local police.

Series One was clearly a something of a baptism of fire for all involved, the desire to create a fast-paced crime show somewhat neutered by the decision to shoot the series on video and give it a Light Entertainment-style theme tune which wouldn’t have seemed out-of-place on a Bruce Forsyth game show of the era.

DVD Review: Armchair Cinema

*****

“Get yer trousers on, you’re nicked!” Perhaps as well known in modern culture as anything  from the Bard or Dickens, those words are spoken (make that shouted) by John Thaw in the TV movie Regan, presented here as part of Armchair Cinema,  a set which presents some of the most sought after output from one of the UK’s most important production companies, Euston Films.

Best known for such long-running series The Sweeney (of which Regan is the pilot episode) and Minder, Thames TV subsidiary Euston were known for shooting on film and taking their cameras onto the streets of London, realistic dialogue and locations replacing studio-bound settings.

Five discs and ten plays are on offer here, brief summaries doing little justice to the quality and range on offer.

This new package opens with two pre-Euston films from Thames, Suspect (1969) and Rumour (1970), both written and directed by Get Carter director Mike Hodges. Suspect, starring Rachel Kempson and the first Thames drama filmed in colour, is the tale of a murdered girl and the effects on her family of the disappearance starring , while Rumour features Michael Coles as newspaper columnist who stumbles upon a conspiracy involving the UK Government.

The success of these two one-offs led to the creation of Euston Films and a series of plays with different casts and stories that would span the next five years, providing a consistently high standard of television drama to the ITV network.

DVD Review: The Avengers, Complete Series 2 and Surviving Series 1

*****

Bowler hats, kinky boots, scheming scientists and preposterous plots are probably the first things that spring to mind when The Avengers is mentioned to anyone of a certain age.

Images of the dapper John Steed and the leather-clad Emma Peel driving around the English countryside thwarting bonkers baddies may be most familiar to audiences today, but rewind a few years to the series early days and you’ll find a much different series.

Designed as a new starring vehicle for actor Ian Hendry, familiar to British audiences as Doctor Brent in TV series Police Surgeon, The Avengers premiered in 1961 with a new theme tune and a new premise.

In the pilot episode, of which only the first 15 minutes still exist, Dr Keel’s (Ian Hendry) girlfriend is killed before he then comes into contact with the mysterious Steed (Patrick Macnee) who is investigating the crime.

Determined to “avenge” the murder, the pair would go on to solve various crimes and misdemeanours for another 23 episodes, before a strike cut the season short and the creators retooled it to promote Macnee to series lead.

The return of the show for a second season, complete with new co-star Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), would see it become appointment television, if not for the strong scripts then certainly for its treatment of woman as equal – if not superior – to their male counterparts.

DVD Review: How Not to Live Your Life

*****

Back for a second series of embarrassment and strange situations, Dan Clark’s How Not to Live Your Life continues to be one of the more unique comedies on British TV while still hidden away on BBC3.

Heartbroken after the departure of his housemate and not-so-secret crush, Abby, Don Danbury (Clark) still shares his home with friend and (almost) carer Eddie (David Armand) while trying to navigate the pitfalls of modern life.

When a beautiful new lodger arrives in the shape of student Sam (Laura Haddock), Don starts to realise that perhaps Abby wasn’t the most important thing in his life, while events continue to move into odder and odder territory.

As the season goes on it’s clear there’s more progression than in the first series, Don’s relationship with Sam frequently allowing for moments of emotion in among the jokes.

TV Interview: Hagai Levi, creator of In Treatment

Gabriel Byrne as Dr Paul Weston

It stars some of Hollywood’s finest actors, including a star turn from the always watchable Gabriel Byrne as therapist Paul Weston, has won a raft of awards in America and comes from the TV powerhouse that is HBO – and now In Treatment has arrived in the UK.

Based on the Israel “telenovela” series Be’Tipul, HBO’s In Treatment is a novelty in a world of reality TV and dumbed down soaps: stripped over five nights of the week, each half-hour episode follows a different patient as they meet with Dr Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) for their therapy session, while Friday’s episode sees Weston attend a meeting with his own therapist.

According to series creator Hagai Levi, psychology is a way of life for many Israeli’s, him included.

“I was very religious when I was a child and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. I started therapy at a very early age, growing up in a Kibbutz in Israel which pioneered it, and I’ve found it very helpful throughout my life, very natural,” says the softly spoken Levi. “It can be odd and a problem in itself because you’re used to sharing everything with a stranger, but  basically it’s my language.”

To Levi, it seemed natural to develop a TV series focusing on therapy.

“I’ve directed a lot of television and feature films and I found the thing I enjoy most is two people talking, listening and getting involved with them,” notes Levi. “I worked for a few years in the telenovela/soap industry in Israel and hated it but I realised the power of a daily series.”

“I wondered why there couldn’t be a good daily drama rather than a bad one, one that combined my love of conversation and therapy. Everything came together about six years ago when I came up with the concept of Be’Tipul.”

Rather than introduce the viewer to a group of kooks and crazies to be laughed at or ridiculed, In Treatment offers up a cast of characters feeling mental pain or anguish, each one with their own foibles and strengths.