I watched quite a lot of British entertainment over the past week so I thought I’d give you a quick run-down. You may be horrified by the amount of time I spend watching a television or computer screen or maybe you’re jealous of all my free time. Whatever your reaction, feel free to comment on these or suggest new programs for my perusal. I’m always looking for the next thing to watch.
1. Twenty Twelve (BBC, 2011) starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes and Olivia Colman. I enjoyed this mockumentary-style comedy about a team charged with organizing the London 2012 Olympics. The best part is the narration by David Tennant (yea!) as he emphasizes the painfully obvious inadequacies of the organizers with such earnest professionalism.
An Olympic blunder:
2. Doctor Who: Series 1 (BBC, 2005) starring Christopher Eccelston, Billie Piper and John Barrowman. I watched the David Tennant episodes first and, as I have mentioned here before, I was hesitant to move on to other Doctors. I had no problem with Mr. Eccleston’s incarnation and things that had been mentioned in later series were cleared up for me here, including the origins of Captain Jack Harkness. It’s fun and sort of disturbing to realize how much of this world you absorb just through one viewing of a series, but it’s something I feel I must experience in order to really understand the British psyche.
Here’s a regeneration for your enjoyment:
I also watched two films:
1. Jane Eyre (2011)with Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Judi Dench. Period dramas are a genre I enjoy and I thought this was well-done especially the acting. I have to admit I’ve not read the very thick classic so I’m certain a lot was left out, but I thought the film stood alone as a very complete story.
2. Control (2007) with Samantha Morton and Sam Riley. This modern black and white movie chronicles the short career of Ian Curtis, the singer of the late 70’s band, Joy Division. I liked the music and the look of the movie but I also liked the main character well enough to feel ambivalent about his behavior as time went on. All in all, I feel I learned something about the British music and culture of the time and it’s worth a DVD viewing.
As you can tell, I don’t mete out scathing opinions. If I liked something well enough to watch the entire work, then I probably will find it had some merit. Some time I’ll do a post about the things I just couldn’t be bothered to finish. Until then, happy viewing.
Everything I Know about the UK... I Learned from the BBC 