THAT WAS THE BOX – February 2015 (Week Three)


Find the latest TV reviews - The Casual Vacancy - BBC1
 

THE CASUAL VACANCY‘ BBC1 Sunday (BBC1 – BBC IPLAYER)
 

This is the adaptation of JK Rowling’s first adult novel, and overall I was impressed. Let’s put our cards on the table, it’s a glorified version of ‘Midsommer Murders‘ crossed with ‘Hot Fuzz‘. The snotty parish council of Pagford (Sandford), led by the ghasty Mollinsons (Julia McKenzie and Michael Gambon) are annoyed with their picturesque village being over-run with drug addicts and dole scroungers (thieving kids and crusty jugglers), and when right-on council member Barry Fairbrother dies, the council see it as a chance to elect someone who will rid the village of scum once and for all.
 

The programme was filmed beautifully – almost as dreamily as ‘Broadchurch‘, but there was a feeling of claustrophobia, how I imagine one would feel living in such a small community. There was no shying away from modern social problems, like Krystal, the spunky schoolgirl who lives with her heroin addicted mother, or Simon, Barry’s half-brother, beating and bullying his teenage sons. But unlike Julian Fellowes who tends to canonise the upper classes and make the lower orders appear to be the ones with problems, in ‘The Casual Vacancy‘, we also had the spineless Miles Mollinson being bullied by his father for standing for election. Miles is married to Samantha, who appears to be a lush (but it’s nice to see Keeley Hawes looking pretty again). There is also the middle-aged teacher and his counsellor wife, who appears to be harbouring some secret because she cries all the time, especially when Barry Fairbrother is mentioned. In Pagford everyone seems to be hiding something, and a lot of it seems to revolve around the dead man. By the end, Barry is sending ghostly emails to the residents of the village, and even though I have a good mind is doing it, maybe I will be surprised.
 

What I enjoyed about ‘The Casual Vacancy‘ was that not all the eggs were crammed into one basket. For the first half hour I wasn’t sure what was going on, and by the time it finished, I was hooked on the story, even though there has been no murder or actual huge plot development, it just has enough tension to promise that something is going to happen – rather like a very good soap opera. I shall be tuning in next week and hope that episode two lives up to the opener.

 

Read the latest TV reviews - UKIP - The First 100 Days - Channel 4
 

UKIP – THE FIRST 100 DAYS‘ (CHANNEL 4 – 4OD) 
 

Now there is more chance of me watching ‘Birdman‘ on a twenty-four hour loop than voting for UKIP, so in no way do I sympathise with them. But I have to say this is one of the most biased programmes I have ever watched, and no doubt Ofcom will be rapping Channel Four over the knuckles for it. This drama-documentary was a foretelling of what might happen if UKIP won the upcoming general election, and the effect it would have on the country. To add extra controversy, the story was seen through the eyes of Deepa Kaur, the party’s only Asian MP. Born and raised in Romford, she is seen as the acceptable face of UKIP, and she is determined to make a difference in the deportation of illegal immigrants, but as time goes on, and her involvement in a raid on a restaurant employing illegal immigrants, she begins to question her political conviction and it ends with her being reconciled with her brother who has opposing views.
 

As a story, it was good, but politically, it was as pointless as Channel Four’s ‘The Execution of Gary Glitter‘. What is the point? UKIP are not going to win the election (although they may well win some seats) and even if they did, I doubt in three months, they would have been able to make enough changes to provoke race riots, and for British industry to collapse because we’ve left the European Union. Surely anyone who is planning on voting UKIP, knows they are going to be doing their best to deport illegal immigrants, and they are hardly likely to knock on said immigrant’s front door and present them with an air ticket and complimentary luxury hand luggage. They will use brutal means, because largely, if someone is that desperate to stay in the country, they’re going to put up a fight. In the show, some unseen kid was injured in a raid. Surely, more thought-provoking would have been a family torn apart because one of them is an illegal immigrant, or a similar case to a recent real-life one where a mother tried to stay in England to prevent her two young daughters from undergoing FGM. Something like this might just tug at the heart-strings of someone who is considering voting UKIP without considering the consequences.
 

To be fair, what do we have next? Labour the first 100 days, whereby England falls apart because Labour starts overspending; or Conservative the first 100 days, where there is a return to workhouses? How far do you go?
 

I can’t help but think Channel Four made this programme knowing it would be broadcast the same week all the front pages of the tabloids would be dominated by the Who Killed Lucy Beale saga in ‘Eastenders‘, and they were hoping to steal some column inches. For me it was a silly programme that completely missed the mark, and could have done with being more impartial and maybe focusing on a longer period of time.

 

Read the very latest TV reviews here! The Great British Sewing Bee - BBC2
 

THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE‘ (BBC2 – BBC IPLAYER)
 

This week we went back to the Fifties and our remaining eight sewers had quite a challenge on their hands. They had to use sixty year old Singer sewing machines to make a walkaway dress (me neither), the pattern was simple, but the actual composition was quite tricky, and surprisingly, the one who exceeded was young Ryan, even though he was using a machine three times his age. He won the first round, which I thought was amazing given that it was out of his comfort zone.
 

Next came the alteration challenge and the brief was to make an outfit from of a pair of 1950s curtains. Anyone with any imagination could go to town in this challenge and indeed some people did. Lorna made a beautiful sundress which won her the challenge; but Matt made a dress even I –as a non sewer – could have made. and Neela attempted a very basic boyfriend shirt and still stuffed up.
 

The final challenge was to make a 1950s blouse, using sheer fabric. Smug Amanda made something she thought Princess Grace of Monaco might wear (after mentioning her about fifty-nine times) and indeed made a lovely lime green affair. Equally smug Neil made a weird blouse-cum-wrapover top which lovely Patrick couldn’t quite fathom, and even the poor model wearing it looked uncomfortable. Lorna won with her negligee turned into a blouse, and at the moment, she is beginning to look like a front-runner in the competition.
 

Next week they’re making kilts. Let’s hope Patrick models one.

 

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