The Great – Channel 4

The Great had me under its spell immediately, the cheeky footnote to the title promising an “occasionally true story”. It’s a playful comedic satire of power, gender roles and royalty set in 18th century Russia, from Tony Mcnamara the co-writer of Oscar-winning The Favourite and reminded me in equal parts of The Personal History of David Copperfield and Channel 4’s rip-roaring The Windsors. Which is certainly no bad thing.

Nicholas Hoult embodies the young Emperor Peter III, who has found the right kind of woman to marry. She’s from a French aristocratic pedigree but her family is out of favour, languishing in financial dire straits. Elle Fanning is Catherine, who looks beautiful, which is really all an Empress needs to be, but she’s intelligent and cultured too, keen to be a good wife and to share in the ruling of Russia.

Catherine has barely set foot in the palace before she meets Adam Godley reveling in his role as the revolting ArchBishop. In a shocking scene, he accompanies her into her bedroom and licks his fingers as he talks about checking her “interior wall”. With the comforts of a  gilded palace life comes a number of dreadful indginities, as Catherine is about to find out. Oh and by the way, the wedding is at 7pm sharp.

Continue reading “The Great – Channel 4”

‘Harlots’ – BBC2

Like an experienced woman in the oldest profession Harlots has been around the block. Originally an ITV production, aired way back in 2017 on ITV Encore (who knew they broadcast anything new?). It was also shown in America by Hulu and came back to the UK by way of Amazon Prime – only on one of those misspelled channels within channels (StarzPlay) that demands you pay extra for access to streaming content you’re already paying for. Thankfully in the fraught and fierce contest for any new-ish content in a bleak and empty Covid-19 drama wasteland the BBC have bought it and it’s on BBC2 and iPlayer. And might finally find a UK audience.

So what I’m saying is, unlike their excitable punters Harlots has been a long time coming. Was it worth the wait?

In 18th century London, women’s opportunities for economic advancement are either through marriage or sex work. The city’s brothels are run by single-minded businesswomen; the two we focus on are Margaret Wells (the excellent Samantha Morton) and Lydia Quigley (Leslie Manville, having the time of her life in Georgian make-up and powdered wigs). The story revolves around Margaret, her daughters and the women who work for her, all victims or benefactors of her ruthless determination to move up in the world. This go-getting attitude puts her at odds with Lydia Quigley, who she previously worked for. The fighting between these two women is set against a backdrop of a new movement of religious zealots demanding the closure of brothels, and police now trying to subdue Soho with brutal raids.

Continue reading “‘Harlots’ – BBC2”

'The Handmaid's Tale'

If you’ve not yet heard anything about the The Handmaid’s Tale, let me give you a hand getting out from under that rock where you’ve been hiding. This is an MGM production being show on Hulu in America. They seem to be a good 7 episodes ahead of us. Sadly, even in 2017, sometimes America is ahead of us in tv land. It’s great to have synchronised start dates, but it’s still not the norm. Avoiding spoilers for this much talked-about show is going to be a killer.
A few weeks after starting in the USA this 10 part drama series has been picked up by Channel 4 in the UK, which, as the young, intelligent, and left-leaning political channel is a really good fit for their brand and a bit of a coup. The series is based on a novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and despite its startlingly relevant content was actually written in 1985. So this dystopian future Atwood envisaged is 30 years closer than we’d have hoped for, and none of her themes are any less relevant or possibilities presented any less realistic. In interviews Atwood says that none of these war crimes in the fictional Republic of Gilead are entirely made up – all have happened somewhere on the globe. This really is extremely dark stuff. Do we as the audience have the stamina to get through it?

screen-shot-2016-12-02-at-11-19-30-am
The handmaids distinctive uniforms at a ceremony

 
The series opening is distressing, as our heroine Offred is violently parted from her husband and daughter, but it’s not a tense escape. We know she’ll get caught. The rippling tension comes from her social position at her new posting with the Commander (Joseph Feinnes) and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski).
Continue reading “'The Handmaid's Tale'”

The Great British Sell Off

Alarming news for the legions of Great British Bake Off fans as the BBC have lost the contract to broadcast the baking behemoth. The series now on tv will be the last to be broadcast on BBC1.
Channel 4 announced last night that it has signed a three-year deal with Love Productions. The first programme, a celebrity version for the charity Stand Up To Cancer, will come in 2017.
Love Productions said negotiations with the BBC had been prolonged to say the least – taking place for a year! When talks with the Beeb fell through they signed a deal with Channel 4 the same evening. They don’t hang about.
Continue reading “The Great British Sell Off”