Joe is five, and spends most of his time belting out his dad's favourite music while listening to the songs on his headphones. He doesn't get invited to his classmates' parties. His mum and dad reluctantly consult doctors as to whether their son is somewhere on the spectrum of the 'A' word.
We seem to recall a similarly-themed one-off drama on ITV a few years ago with Keeley Hawes and Ben Miles as worried parents of a young boy. As there, the wider family get involved (the boy's brewer uncle and his adulterous doctor wife, the un-pc granddad played by a surely-too-young Christopher Eccleston) and there's clearly a rocky road ahead. It's watchable, has great performances and beautiful Cumbrian scenery, but at the moment it feels a little by-numbers and predictable. It's true we've been spoiled with the likes of the second series of 'Happy Valley' - better than the first - and the upcoming third series of 'Line of Duty', but we're not yet sure what this will have to offer to offer above and beyond another exploration of autism.
George Mottisford (Lee Ingleby) is a dispirited veteran of the Great War, living with his parents, wife Lizzie (Liz White) and two daughters in a small terrace and running a grocery shop. He suffers from what would probably now be called PTSD, and survivor guilt at having come through the war that killed his brother Stanley. A chance encounter with his rascal brother-in-law (Ralf Little) leads to him rescuing a parrot and a monkey from the docks and then, in the teeth of opposition from his mother (Anne Reid, splendid as usual), an elderly camel from a circus. Don't try this at home....
This is Hovis-cozy Sunday night drama airing on a Wednesday, for some unfathomable reason. The first episode of six sees George's enthusiasm persuade his wife to agree to stake everything on a bank loan to buy a derelict stately home and turn it into a free-roaming zoo. In time-honoured, TV-drama fashion, George triumphs against the odds and takes the first steps towards making his dream come true, with the slightly baffling support of a posh lady (Sophia Myles) and the interest of the local vicar (Stephen Campbell-Moore). Peter Wight is his amiable dad Albert, rounding out a good cast, and the story is based on the founding of Chester Zoo.
The preview of episode two suggests that George gets off to a shaky start and may have bitten off more than he can chew with the residents of Upton. We know he overcomes it, so no spoilers possible really, and no real tension either. He has an amazingly precocious - for the time - 15-year-old daughter who has already tried to elope with the neighbour's boy, prompting bad CGI of a departing steamer. It's not challenging stuff, then, and its 9pm weekday slot is probably not as good a fit as 8pm Sunday, but we think fans of Anne Reid and cheeky-looking camels will probably find it worthwhile tuning in.
TV producers, and presumably viewers, have a longstanding preoccupation with the love lives of groups of friends, a la 'Cold Feet' and 'This Life'. Seemingly we love to see people form deep friendships and betray each other. 'White Heat' takes this format and adds a 'Big Chill' opening (the death of one of the group) and a big dose of social history straight from 'Our Friends in the North'.
First episodes are often awkward, bearing the burden of introducing everyone and generally setting the scene. The scene looks prop-perfect and the performances are as good as anyone would expect from a classy cast, which provides a gloss over the unsubtleties. It's an ok ride so far, but a slow one, with only marginally engaging characters. The six flatmates are very PC for 1965: gender balance; the men a gay Asian, a Caribbean, and a Northener; the women an arty blonde, a brainy brunette and a poor overweight Catholic. There are three initial attractions pointing to pairings that will of-course rearrange over time. And just in case you forget which time they're all in, there's plenty of television and radio reminding you of events, and a soundtrack almost as intrusive as that of 'Heartbeat'. Nothing by The Who and no mention of an ailing Churchill, however, can detract from anachronisms like telling a girl to take out her aggression in the gym. Boxing gym? She'd be waiting a long time for a Fitness First.
Comparisons to 'Our Friends...' are inevitable, and not discouraged by the BBC, but this may prove to be a double-edged sword.
AKA Gently Round the Bend. Never was viewer in search of guilty pleasure so confused. Martin Shaw? Check. Lee Ingleby? Check. Geordie accents? Check. Beehives, mini-skirts and kohl-rimmed eyes? Check check check! Just as we thought it was safe, up pops craggy-faced Sean Gilder to the unmistakeable strains of quavery-voiced angst used similarly in 'The Shadow Line'. Then, as if one puzzle isn't enough, there's a 60s anthem, followed by another, and then another at regular intervals, providing aural backdrop to the neat 60s cars. Ah, so this is 'Heartbeat'! Or...
By the end of the 90-minute episode, we'd worked it out: 'Gently' has turned into a prime example of television's plat du jour. Here's our version of the recipe:
- Cops! Between two and four, usually two; one older, one younger (other examples:- Lewis; Scott & Bailey)
- Kitsch historical setting. N.B. anachronisms no object. 'Gently' served up a Geordie housewife at an evening yoga class in 1966. Hmm. (Heartbeat, The Royal, Born and Bred, The Hour, Downton Abbey etc. etc.)
- Kitsch geographical setting. (Heartbeat, Ballykissangel, Doc Martin...)
- 'Quavering-voiced angst' soundtrack (The Shadow Line, Wallander)
- Cliche! A plot involving deviant sexuality of some kind (too many examples to mention)
- TWNHs! They knew the facial cuts were fresh despite the face having been eaten away? The teenager was such a natural in the TV audience that she was made host of the show? The friend named the wrong colour of dress worn by the above teenager, thereby proving she hadn't turned up "til much later"... but when she had turned up, presumably she'd have been wearing something??
Stir thoroughly for up to 90 minutes, but don't worry too much if the mixture doesn't achieve a decent consistency. For extra flavour add seasoned actors, et voila! A dish that can be served up time and again.
