Britbox and the long wait for Helen Mirren

[imp]

We've finally got it in Germany, which means I can start catching up with all the programmes I've missed over the past 25 years, with the exception of stuff I've been given on DVD or been able to catch on Netflix, like Broadchurch. First, though, I need to watch episode 2 of season 3 of Prime Suspect. I watched the first episode when it was broadcast, but forgot to set the video recorder for the second episode the following night when I was working. This was in 1993. I have waited 26 years to finish watching a two-part crime series.

I may have to watch part one again to refresh my memory.

[elguapo4]

The butler did it.

[Satchmo Distel]

Broadchurch is several wasted hours of my life I'll never get back, despite Olivia Colman's customary excellence.

[Lang Spoon]

Is it just me, or is David Tennant a bit shit?

[Sits]

Don’t know about that, but a bit overrated.

[Stumpy Pepys]

imp Not sure I need another streaming service to subscribe to, but can you legally sign up for this, or do you have to watch it over a VPN?

[Jah Womble]

That would make a great title for your next novel.

[imp]

imp Not sure I need another streaming service to subscribe to, but can you legally sign up for this, or do you have to watch it over a VPN?

Just launched in Germany/Europe, so you can legally sign up for it. 30 days trial, and thereabout €6 a month, I think.

For the record, I loved Broadchurch. Then again I've been on a diet of Tatort for several years, which are about 30% great, 70% ridiculous.

[jwdd27]

Is it just me, or is David Tennant a bit shit?

I think a bit shit is fair enough.

He certainly didn't convince in Broadchurch as a senior police officer.
Olivia Colman didn't make an especially likely slightly less senior officer, but she acted her way out of it.

[G-Man]

I liked Broadchurch. But it has no light relief. A lot of British crime shows are bleak. What is the name of the series set in Wales? London cop goes rural, has trailer burnt down. That one was grim. Not a single person ever smiled in it, other than London cop giving it a half-smirk for a split second towards the end.

[Me Old Flower]

I liked Broadchurch. But it has no light relief. A lot of British crime shows are bleak. What is the name of the series set in Wales? London cop goes rural, has trailer burnt down. That one was grim. Not a single person ever smiled in it, other than London cop giving it a half-smirk for a split second towards the end.

Y Gwyll/Hinterland

[multipleman78]

Is the BBC show Cops on this? I have never seen it repeated even although it was a Bafta winner. It seems as if the Beeb have forgotten that they created something brilliant around the turn of the century.

[Snake Plissken]

Hinterland was bloody brilliant Mope TV.

[imp]

Is the BBC show Cops on this? I have never seen it repeated even although it was a Bafta winner. It seems as if the Beeb have forgotten that they created something brilliant around the turn of the century.

A search for Cops only came up with 'Ron Copsey', I'm afraid (something to do with Inspector Morse). Though they seem to be adding stuff all the time, and I'm sure they'd respond to viewer pressure.

Decided to start at the start with Series 1 of Prime Suspect, from 1991. Clunky acting and dialogue a lot of the time, though the plot (along with Helen Mirren, although she's not well directed in this episode) is just about enough to keep me in there. It's funny how established actors like Tom Wilkinson and Tom Bell seem so wooden now - you can telegraph their every move and expression, and what they're about to say. So, it's aged, but I'm hoping it will have picked up a bit by the time I reach my over-anticipated Series 3.

[Satchmo Distel]

Hinterland lead actor Richard Harrington was also excellent as a bereaved father in the Aberfan episode of The Crown.

[Various Artist]

I'm not surprised. I think he was probably born looking morose and put-upon.

[imp]

Watched Series Two of Prime Suspect last night. There was a noticeable jump in quality compared with Series One, especially in terms of the plot (with the requisite holes that come with all crime fiction) - presumably there were some criticisms that were taken on board, and the disappearance of the Bell/Wilkinson 'we learnt to act in the 70s' axis helped. What stands out, though, is how differently crime series are made nowadays. Thinking of The Fall or Broadchurch, for example. It's a lot to do with the pacing, the use of music, and the decline of method acting. There was one scene in PS where the sergeant goes to Birmingham and there's a brief sequence of 'atmospheric' music as he's driven through the suburbs - conspicuous because it was so rare. Nowadays there seems to be a huge emphasis on silence, long shots, atmospheric build-ups with accompanying electronic/piano music, whereas PS is built heavily around the script, with tension sacrificed to dialogue.

Is this a good thing? I thought both The Fall and Broadchurch were extremely well made, but were they too drawn out? Were there too many close-ups of Gillian Anderson looking cool and inscrutable? We always know DCI Tennison's feelings, because she shows them, in every scene. Overall, I think we're conditioned now to accept the latter-day approach, that we don't always know what characters are thinking, or what's making them tick.

Another thing - their cars are absolute crappy junk heaps that look like they're going to fall apart every time they sharply brake. Were all cars like this in the early 90s, or were the police so poorly financed after over a decade of Tory rule that someone was trying to make a point about under-funding? Or did the ITV props department have to buy cheap old bangers for budget reasons? I had my first small car in 1992, can't even remember what make it was, but it felt stable enough.

[Thierry Ennui]

Does it have Boys from the Blackstuff and The Singing Detective? There's so much amazing stuff from the 70s/80s/90s that the BBC haven't shown for years.

[imp]

So I've discovered 'Him & Her' on Britbox. Was looking for a thread on OTF, but the search words 'him' and 'her' are too common, and there's no result for Russell Tovey or Sarah Solemani. But I assume this series must have been raved about on here at some point.

[WOM]

Yeah, we're into Hinterland now and it's great. Fuck me does Wales look bleak 98% of the time. Gorgeous landscapes though.
Again, all the characters are stock UK Cop Show characters; everyone is surly / curt / standoffish loner with plenty of unexplained tensioned between each and every one of them.

[treibeis]

Fuck me does Wales look bleak 98% of the time.

That's nonsense.

The bit of Wales my family is from (Blaen-y-Maes, in Swansea) looks bleak 100% of the time.

[slackster]

If you think Wales looks bleak in Hinterland, wait ‘til you’ve seen Hidden.

Mark Lewis Jones - the go-to bilingual Cymraeg character actor who seems to pop up in nearly everything Welsh - is in both.

[treibeis]

If you think Wales looks bleak in Hinterland, wait ‘til you’ve seen Hidden.

I know the thing about Port Talbot being the Inspiration for certain bits of Blade Runner, but have there ever been any TV series actually set there?

[ursus arctos]

Cupboard looks a bit bare in that regard

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?l...%20Wales,%20UK

[treibeis]

Cupboard looks a bit bare in that regard

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?l...%20Wales,%20UK

My word. Although almost all of them were made after I stopped watching British television, so I'm excused.