Verity Lambert: 1935-2007

It’s one of those strange, sad coincidences that occur once in a while: on the same day Doctor Who fans are celebrating the 44th anniversary of the screening of the series first episode, An Unearthly Child, comes the news that the series first producer, Verity Lambert, has died.

The word that is often used to describe Verity is ‘pioneer’. Back in 1963 the BBC was very much an old boys network, a male dominated institution that reacted slowly to change.

To suddenly have a young female producer (she was the only one at the time) arrive to take the reigns of a fledgling sci-fi series must have been a shock to the system.

She and her production team made the decisions that would set Who up as one of the most (if not the ultimate) high concept series to appear on British television screens.

As Head of Drama at the BBC, Sydney Newman, commented in 1993: “I remembered Verity as being bright and, to use the phrase, full of piss and vinegar! She was gutsy and she used to fight and argue with me, even though she was not at a very high level as a production assistant.”

After Who she would go on to produce another cult classic in the form of Adam Adamant Lives! before heading to ITV in the 1970s to make Budgie with Adam Faith and Iain Cuthbertson. From here the list of high quality, highly rated and well remembered series starts to grow…

• The Naked Civil Servant
• Rumpole of the Bailey
• Rock Follies
• Edward and Mrs Simpson
• The Sweeney
• Quatermass
• Minder
• GBH
• Love Hurts
• Jonathan Creek
• Love Soup

…and that’s just a sample of them.

I was lucky enough to meet Verity a few years ago in London. She happily signed my Dalek Invasion of Earth DVD cover, mentioned that the story was her favourite and I had my photo taken with her. I’m glad I made the effort to go to Riverside Studios that weekend.

On reflection, it was easy to forget that day that Doctor Who was a tiny part of her impressive career, something she did for a few years four decades ago. I hope I’m as enthusiastic about my current job in 40 years time!

If you’ve read this and think it’s a bit lacking in critical observation, then you’re right. If you really want to get a better handle on why TV fans around the globe will be pausing over the next few days to remember Verity Lambert’s legacy then I’d advise you take a visit to one of the links below and invest in one of her series on DVD:

• Doctor Who: The Beginning Box Set
• Minder: Series One
• GBH

It was a nice tribute to both Verity and Sydney Newman when, in Human Nature, an episode of the 2007 season of the new Doctor Who, John Smith referred to his mother, Verity and father, Sydney.

Here’s hoping the Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, has a tribute to her on the end titles. Maybe we can all raise a glass on Christmas Day in memory of her achievements – rest in peace Verity.

Here’s a clip starring one of TV’s best loved double acts from Minder, a Verity Lambert produced series I grew up watching…

Zatoichi meets Monkey!

I finally managed to see Kitano ‘Beat’ Takeshi’s masterpiece, Zatoichi, tonight. After missing it at the cinema, nearly buying the DVD a while back and forgetting to tape it off the TV a few times, I managed to record it the other night off Channel Four.

Well worth the wait.

Zatoichi (Takeshi) is a blind swordsman and masseur, who roams feudal Japan helping the helpless. It’s a violent, witty and tragic tale of revenge, directed beautifully by its star.

The music is noticeable but not intrusive, adding to the tension of scenes rather than guiding them or demanding emotion. I don’t claim to be an expert on Japanese martial arts films but this surely ranks as one of the better ones.

The last time I watched anything similar was a few years ago at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, when they held an Akira Kurosawa season. I’d read that 1958’s Hidden Fortress was a heavy influence on 1977’s Star Wars and had to see it for myself.

One last thought on martial arts films and TV… I don’t know what it’s like for anyone else in their 30s brought up on the weekly adventures of Monkey back in the early 80s, but I still hold that up as something of a benchmark for these sort of things.

Monkey had some superb scripts that had both comedy and a touch of (occasionally heavy-handed) morality. Granted, UK audiences only got a roughly translated version, but even these managed to tug at the heartstrings once in a while, usually just after Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka had liberated another village from demons during a bonkers, high-octane, dodgy effects-laden fight scene.

The fact that it’s stuck in my memory for 25 years suggests it must have done something right.

Anyone for ‘Zatoichi meets Monkey’?

And here’s the fantastic end title music…

Doctor Who: Time Crash

A little bit of history happened last night on BBC One – Five met Ten.

Five, of course, being the Fifth Doctor as portrayed by Peter Davison and Ten being Tenth Doctor, and current TARDIS incumbent, David Tennant.

Past met present via mini-episode Time Crash, all in aid of the BBC’s annual Children in Need event. And it was a corker.

At only eight minutes in length there was a lot to pack in. Due to Ten forgetting to raise his ship’s shield there was some sort collision between…blah, blah, blah. Who cares what the reason was: Classic Who and New Who finally met the way they always should have.

The return of Daleks, Cybermen, Macra and the rest were merely a teaser.

It was great to see Davison back as the Doctor and Tennant, thanks to Steven Moffat’s affectionate script, pitched his reaction perfectly. Now the precedent has been set, they could do a lot worse than adapting Cold Fusion in a few years time.

To days to come.

[In case anyone asks, I've pinched the above image from the BBC website and bunged a few quid Pudsey's way as a thank you.]

The Street: Series Two, Episode Two

Claiming that British drama is is currently in the doldrums is something I’ve been guilty of recently.

It’s often difficult to compare favourably the high quality American series that come back year-after-year (after year) for runs of six months at a time with the fare offered up by British broadcasters. Ongoing drama tends to mean the soaps, propping up the schedules that are otherwise chock full of “Reality” series.

So it’s refreshing to see BBC One have brought back Jimmy McGovern’s The Street for a second series. Last week’s episode was a cracking start to the series, as David Thewlis (co-star of one of my favourite series, A Bit of a Do, with David Jason in 1989) played identical twin brothers, both living in the titular street.

Tonight’s episode starred another icon of 80s television, Timothy Spall (Brummie Barry in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet) as Eddie. A chain of events are set in motion within the first 10 minutes that would be funny if they weren’t so tragic.

Alongside Spall was Ger Ryan as wife Margie who finds a lump while in the shower. The dawning realisation that her life could soon be filled with chemotherapy and pity from her peers is portrayed with both deep emotion and stunning direction: a dream sequence on the bus, as other passengers told their stories of living with cancer, was captivating.

And as the characters in this episode go through their story they briefly mingle with characters from other episodes who will take centre stage in future weeks.

I hope the ratings are as high as they deserve to be and that season three is commissioned soon. Either that or Tim Spall gets his own show…it’s been a while since Frank Stubbs Promotes.

US TV writers’ strike hits

As reported by most news outlets, American television networks have in recent weeks been working under the threat of an all out strike by writers, the first for two decades (back in 1988 I seem to remember some jokes in Moonlighting about off-screen strikes).

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been in negotiation with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over various issues, mostly related to the impact new media is having on traditional contracts.

According to a mediaguardian.co.uk report:

“The WGA wants writers to receive a slice of the advertising revenue that companies make when TV shows and films are streamed over the internet. It also wants an additional reward for creating bespoke digital content for the internet or mobile devices.

Another key sticking point is how to split DVD revenue. Consumers are expected to spend $16.4bn (£7.9m) on DVDs this year, according to Adams Media Research, but writers receive only about 3 cents on a typical DVD selling for $20.”

And over at the LA Times, the following quote sums it all up:

“If you look at iTunes, ‘Hannah Montana’ and several other Disney shows are among the most avidly downloaded shows — they are hugely successful on the Internet,” Steven Peterman, an Emmy-winning “Murphy Brown” writer and “Hannah Montana” executive producer said as he picketed Disney. “And we make no money from that — zero.”

Personally I’d like to see the people responsible for writing my favourite episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Boston Legal, Heroes and 24 receive a few more dollars in their pay packets.

The first casualties in the war of attrition include Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, screening in the UK on More4. The writers and production staff are now on the picket lines.

Other shows being hit include Heroes spin-off Heroes: Origins, (which has been cancelled), Scrubs (in its last season and threatened with losing its last six episodes), Smallville (which has around 14 episodes stockpiled) while Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives are waiting to hear their fate.

For anyone that buys DVDs or downloads TV or movies over the internet, this is something worth keeping an eye on.

Oh yeah, and about that Moonlighting episode…

Boston (is it) Legal

One of the finest series to come out of America in the last few years is Boston Legal. Sadly it’s fanbase in the UK is probably a fraction of the higher profile Desperate Housewives or Ugly Betty as it’s hidden away on Living TV and now Virgin 1 (where??).

It’s a crime worthy of the series itself.

Created by Ally McBeal’s David E Kelly, it stars William Shatner as the brilliant-yet-bonkers attorney Denny Crane and James Spader as brilliant-yet-highly unethical Alan Shore.

Plots don’t unfold so much as explode onto the screen at breakneck speed. Nifty editing and a superb theme tune help things rattle along nicely.

Humour and the odd dash of pathos combine to tell stories that at first seem ludicrous but which more often than not shed light on aspects of the human condition and post 9/11 America that deserve an airing on primetime television.

There are also a myriad of intertextual in-jokes that make it clear the characters know they’re in a TV show – in one scene, a character even watches as the credits slide off-screen.

I love it.

And yet to be a fan in the UK is a traumatic experience. Trying to keep track of when and where an episode is going to turn up next is almost as bad as when Oz was screened by Channel Four.

A few months back Living TV kindly repeated season two nightly so the DVD recorder was working overtime. Then it came to an end and…nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a sign of season three.

Then along came Virgin 1 and they started screening it from the beginning a few weeks back at 9pm on a Sunday. This isn’t the best time as it clashes with a few other decent series on the main terrestrial channels (and BBC Four), but beggars can’t be choosers.

So, imagine my surprise when I glanced through the listings the other night only to see that season three is three quarters of the way through back over on Living. At 3am. I’m hoping this is a prelude to the appearance of season 4, just started in America, but I’ve a feeling this could be an early-2008 kinda thing.

Anyway, while I still think there should be laws against this sort of thing, and crazy scheduling isn’t uncommon in our multichannel world, I’m moaning when I suppose I should be thankful we have so much to choose from. Thanks to Virgin I can see where it all started and that’s no bad thing…

[The clip below is from a first season episode screened last night on Virgin...great stuff...]

More 4

I noticed this tonight while doing a bit of googling…

…beating me to it by a day or so, John Plunkett over at mediaguardian.co.uk celebrates 25 years of Channel Four with a rundown of favourite moments and links to YouTube.

Glad to see someone else had trouble choosing which Father Ted clip to link to…

Happy Birthday Channel Four!

In the week of celebrations for Channel Four I’ll add my congrats here.

As the first real UK TV channel to launch in my lifetime (Channel Five and a million digital channels appeared much later) I can hardly remember a time it wasn’t out of my personal viewing schedule or the papers.

I can remember watching Brookside with my mum and that it was a world away from the cosier Coronation Street on the other side. Max Headroom was plain weird and The Crystal Maze was a revelation compared to the likes of the Krypton Factor or Mastermind.

Then, just as Nintendo and Sega were taking over the world, GamesMaster appeared with Dominik Diamond and Patrick Moore. This was cult viewing in my school, certainly amongst the geekier elements.

Vic Reeves Big Night Out was also required viewing in the early 90s, though I don’t remember being a huge fan – it was more a case of being uncool if you missed it. The Word was very risky, needing to be watched in your room on the portable telly.

And mornings weren’t complete without The Big Breakfast. Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush and TFI Friday were the natural progression.

There are loads more series that stick in my mind: Nightingales, the TV Heaven season, Sean’s Show, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Chance in a Million, Brass Eye…

But the one that probably remains with me most depicts the misadventures of three priests off the coast of Ireland. A true classic (a word I’ve been told I use too much, but this time I think a few million others agree) and the death of Dermot Morgan at the end of series three was truly a tragedy. In memory of Ted Crilly, here’s just one clip out of too many I could have chosen from Father Ted. You’ll enjoy it…ah you will, you will, you will…

The Greatest American Hero Intro

Following on from the previous post…

The Greatest American Hero

Hailing from a time when CGI was but a glint in a computer programmers green screen monitor, and Superman had just done great guns at the box office, The Greatest American Hero was an attempt to revitalise small screen superheroes for a 1980’s TV audience. On a budget.

The series was following in the footsteps of other small-screen superfolk: Wonder Woman had finished in 1979 and The Incredible Hulk was fast running out of pairs of new trousers at the time of GAH’s appearance in 1981. Creator/producer Stephen J Cannell’s (The A-Team, The Rockford Files) aim was to bring his own unique mix of humour and humanity to a new genre.

Rockford Files fans were used to seeing Jim get beaten-up each week in the pursuit of justice and Cannell decided that in his new show it was the suit that had the powers, not the guy wearing it – you’ll believe a man can fly, but can he land in one piece…? All three seasons are now out on DVD.

The Pilot introduces us to high school teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) who, while taking his class on a field trip through the LA desert, teams up with world-weary FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) as they encounter a UFO whose inhabitants gift Ralph with a magic suit. The problems start when Ralph loses the suit’s instruction manual. Cue much crashing into walls, accidental invisibility and slightly ropey special effects.

Season One introduces Ralph’s lawyer girlfriend Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca) and his class of remedial class schoolkids. Thankfully most of the screen time is given over to the pairing of Katt and Culp, both perfect in their roles. Culp in particular is eminently watchable, with Maxwell’s Commie-bashing, post-Watergate attitude constantly at odds with Hinkley’s liberalism.

Highlights of the season include My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboy’s, where Ralph, after a crisis of conscience, decides to give up “the jammies” (as Maxwell dubs the ridiculous red suit) for a quiet life. His meeting with TVs The Lone Ranger at a shopping mall makes him assess the concept of heroism and hero worship and makes interesting watching for all fanboys. Here’s Looking At You, Kid is another early classic, co-starring the original Mrs Robinson, Lost in Space’s June Lockhart as Pam’s mum.

Season Two is more of the same, but bumped up to a full complement of 22 episodes. Here the series format is fine tuned, with the classic episode The Beast in Black an exercise in prime-time horror. Ralph is now less bumbling, the scriptwriters ramping up the danger, not only to our heroes, but to the World at large.

Season Three would be a shorter season, and would be the end of the road for Hinkley and Maxwell. Only 56 episodes were made in total.

Up till now GAH has been something of an unknown entity to UK viewers, and there is little chance that these boxsets will be released on Region 2. If you’re a fan of sci-fi-cop-show-comedy series, want to make your friends jealous down the pub as they react with “never heard of it” or just want to immerse yourself in some classic 80s telly, then this is the series for you.

DVD Extras: Season One comes with just over an hour of new interviews with the cast. It’s also bundled with the unaired pilot for the proposed spin-off series, The Greatest American Heroine. It’s a curiosity, but doesn’t match the high standards of the original show. Season Two comes with an interview with composer Mike Post (the bloke who wrote the A-Team theme tune!) as well as, bizarrely, a Japanese language track on one episode. Why?