sn ht returns
Have British TV execs run out of ideas? Judging by the number of revamped, resurrected classics being hurled onto our screens, originality and ambition are now considered dirty words. The List’s TV editor is unimpressed.
here was a moment in the recent one-off
revival of ('raeker that spoke volumes about
the character of lidward ‘Fitz' Fitzgerald. Back in the UK from 0/ for his daughter‘s wedding. he just couldn‘t keep his chubby. gamble-stained hands away from a murder case on his old patch. When confronted by his wife with the sad fact that he'd rather be out playing with the cops and robbers than with his own grandchild. liitz nods a sad confession. This tragic and slightly farcical scenario is one that seems to be replicated in the rooms where decisions are tnade by TV execs these days. Scared to try and make a go of it with the new and untested. they‘d be far happier hitching a ride with the familiar and reliable comfort zones of the past.
Bttt those comfort zones are getting mightily crowded these days as the shows which have cropped up so often in those nostalgic I Love /()() (ireatest Top Ten trips have been used not simply as an excuse to kick back on the glories of the past but as some obscene spying trips to see what gruesome acts of small screen necrophilia can be inflicted upon its. The list is. of course. virtually endless. bttt picking on a sample. Randall and Ilopkirk only served the purpose of convincing us that Vic‘n‘Bob were not the greatest actors of their generation. and the new Robin Hood is almost unwatchable given the eponymous hero‘s smelly beard and the similar stench of Keith Allen's hammy sheriff.
Meanwhile. the marginally anticipated Bullseye hasn‘t even been deemed worthy of a Sunday teatime lTV slot. ls Dave Spikey really that bad‘.’ Joe Pasquale certainly is. yet lTV have the nerve to stick The I’riee is Right in front of our faces all week long. The time may be right to mention that [)()('I())' Who is exempt from all such criticism (and the maudlin pearl that was the recent Roy/e l'amily one—off).
When lTV looks back at yet another dull year for drama. it will at least have a couple of gems to report on. Not its festering Moors Murders showcase See No Iit'il nor its Shane Richie vehicle What W) Did On Our l‘]()/i(/(l_\' and certainly not the likes of The Best Man or Bon Voyage or The Outsiders (which you probably didn‘t even see never mind remember). No. the jewels in lTV‘s drama crown this year are (‘raeker and Prime .S'aspeet. Yet neither effort was a patch on their bygone productions: ('raeker in particular was a tlejii vu affair which replaced Bobby Carlyle‘s stricken Hillsborough avenger with Anthony Flanagan's traumatised British squaddie.
Have the TV execs simply given up the ghost and admitted that the all-singing. all-dancing new British
HERO'S
10 THE LIST 7 16 Nov .9006
THE NEW ROBIN HOOD
IS ALMOST UNWATCHABLE GIVEN THE EPONYMOUS
SMELLY BEARD
drama and comedy shows that are being churned out by the networks are not good enough. unless they have a script by the lad Dickens or one of the Bronte
lasses. which is simply just another form of
gravedigging‘.’ We used to say that the British were up against too much strong opposition from America. but even their most acclaimed shows (Lost. The .S‘opranos. 2-1) are all in ratings freefall. Can we really not come up with anything that even matches the ER- lite Grey's Anatomy. or pale X-I'iles wannabes such as Bones or Int'asion‘.’ Where is the ambition to produce a contemporary drama which spans to more than the six episodes that Jimmy McGovern was handed for The Street‘.’
Probably because that will cost too much money. cash which has been frittered away on big budget monstrosities such as Rome or on bidding wars for the likes of 24. Plttndering our heritage is presumably a cost-effective idea. How much convincing can it take for a tight-listed financier to release some cash for Robbie Coltrane to be dragged away from his vintage engines or Helen Mirren to be unleashed from her Elizabethan garbs'.’ If the truth is being told. then Rowan Atkinson will be slapping Tony Robinson about a hit again in Blue/(adder soon and the legal brats of This Life will be catching tip for a gin- soaked reunion. Dale Winton up for more .S'upennarket Sweep anyone‘.’ Oh yes.
.\'one of which is as appalling as the notion of an old favourite with new people in fttll destruction mode. So. Paul ()‘Grady will be hoping his health holds up when he fronts Opportunity Knoeks while Vernon Kay risks wrath and damnation for hosting Family l'ortunes. Lord knows what Albert Finney will do to Leo McKern‘s memory when he dons the wig for Rumpo/e of the Bailey. Too many repeats on telly? There clearly aren't enough to stop these small screen crimes from happening.
Jonas Armstrong plays Robin Hood
PlllflilNG lRUllS fROM lHt fllllllRAl BUSH
I A busy boy is old Brad Pitt these days. Among his many ongoing projects are a movie about Richard Nixon entitled Dirty Tricks in which he is joined by Sharon Stone. Jim Broadbent and Gwyneth Paltrow while Mr Jolie is also set to star in a movie version of the BBC drama State of Play. He is down to play the role of journalist Cal McCattrey. as portrayed so Britishly by John Slmm . . . Also no stranger to long working days is Brad's bud George Clooney who has agreed to star in new movie Burn After Reading. This will be his third collaboration with the Coen brothers and is to be loosely based on a novel by Admiral Stansfield Turner, the man who served as a director of the CIA during the 19803 . . . A short story from Ian Rankin is set to be made into a 8804 drama starring Alastair Mackenzie. Laura Fraser. Richard Wilson and John Sessions. The non-Rebus Acid Test has a detective investigating a century- old murder case . . . Come mid- January and Bloc Party will be heading our way with shows at Glasgow Barrowland and Edinburgh Corn Exchange. The dates will take place around the release of the band's no doubt glorious second album, A Weekend In The City . . . You might be of the opinion that there should be no more Davina McCall (pictured) on the telly. So. it's good to see that she's branched out to the book world. Let '3 Talk Sex comes out in February and will see the three- times mum scribble about how to deal with your bairns when they want to know your thoughts on the thorny subject of sauce.