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P H O T O © R C H A R D C A S T L E
‘He
undermined me in a
really subtle
way’
STAYING IN REVIEWS TV and DVDs to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa STAYING IN
TV THE FALL BBC Two, starts Thu 13 Nov, 9pm ●●●●● There are aspects of The Fall which might feel very familiar. This isn’t the first crime drama where the criminal investigator and chief perpetrator appear to share some common psychological ground, while the show eschewed the traditional whodunnit from its opening minutes for a more contemporary whyhavetheydunnit approach. But on the originality stakes,
it’s been a very long while since a British TV drama has held viewers in such a strangler-style grip for a full hour at a time, at which point a desperate collective gulp for air can be taken. As we embark upon the six-part season two, Jamie Dornan continues to excel as Paul Spector, a sensitive bereavement counsellor by day, caring father in early-evening and brutal killer of dark-haired Belfast women in the dead of night. Meanwhile, the always-excellent Gillian Anderson plays his opposite number, the deeply
troubled DS Stella Gibson, drafted in from London to take on this most baffling of cases. While she has made telephone contact with the murderer, the cops burrow away fruitlessly in the face of a funding crisis and internal wranglings. But, chances are that Spector might turn out to be his own worst enemy. The fear that all of his tracks may not be wholly covered will lead him to encounters that might compromise his identity. But with extreme cunning, creator Allan Cubitt keeps us dangling with Spector not simply a two- dimensional homicidal maniac whenever he finds himself alone in a room with a potential victim. The effect is to crank up the tension to new levels. (Brian Donaldson)
DVD SCOTT IAN: SWEARING WORDS IN GLASGOW (Megaforce Records) ●●●●● DVD WHITE REINDEER (Solo Media & Matchbox Films) ●●●●●
just undermined me in a really subtle way whereas Armando was more immediately confrontational.’ Although in the Morris-led extras for the DVD, Lee reveals his ‘gratitude’ towards the BBC for not ‘doing a Sky’ and barely lifting a i nger to promote the show, he does seem genuinely happy to be back in the Beeb family after being away for so long since the early-90s work with Richard Herring on Fist of Fun.
‘When I i rst went there in 2005 to talk about a show with a guy who is now about three controllers down the line, I wasn’t looking for a quick i x,’ recalls Lee. ‘I wanted to be like Dave Allen where you did something every three years or something, rather than be like Russell Howard and keep turning over a huge amount of stuff every year. The thing that’s unfair is that there only seems to be room for one kind of a thing: Stephen K Amos used to joke that they only had room for one black male comedian and they now only seem to have room for one thinky comedian. That means that I’m blocking it up for all the others.’
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle season three (Awkward Films) is out now.
As the only constant member of thrash titans Anthrax, Scott Ian is one of the most recognisable faces in metal and also boasts perhaps the best goatee in the business. Not only guitarist in a multimillion selling band, he’s a regular talking head in rock and horror docs and makes perhaps the bizarrest onscreen cameo of all time when Anthrax pop up alongside Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls. In 2013, following in the footsteps of rocker
turned raconteur Henry Rollins, Ian headed out on a spoken word tour. And now his Glasgow date, filmed at the Arches, is being released on DVD. He’s right not to label it ‘stand-up’ as, while it’s pretty damn funny in places, it’s more rambling stories than gag after gag. There’s a particularly good anecdote about when he first got pished with Motörhead’s Lemmy and the devastating aftermath, all accompanied by some great comic book art illustrating Ian’s despair. It’s simply shot, effectively capturing this stripped down show. He’s a decent storyteller with some wicked tales but this one’s for metalheads only. (Henry Northmore)
Not everyone wants the enforced saccharine sentiment that accompanies so many Christmas movies and White Reindeer takes a very different route than the usual yuletide fluff clogging up the multiplex. In this quirky low-budget indie drama,
Suzanne Barrington’s (Anna Margaret Hollyman) December gets off to a particularly traumatic start. This tragedy sets off a series of unusual encounters as this seemingly prim and proper real estate agent veers out of control. Lost, alone and drifting through the festive season she strikes up an unlikely friendship with a stripper (Laura Lemar-Goldsborough), over-compensating by over-indulging in cocaine, swinging and candy. There’s a seam of coal black comedy but
don’t expect the big laughs of Bad Santa; it’s far more subtle and grounded. White Reindeer is too downbeat and maudlin to become a true Xmas classic but offers an interesting alternative with a vaguely heart-warming message about muddling through the trials and tribulations of our lives. (Henry Northmore)
13 Nov–11 Dec 2014 THE LIST 33