This is another in a series of posts where I look at a common theme over more than one TV play. I was working on one that looked at how past TV dealt with children in peril but in light of the events in Manchester, I've decided to shelve that for a little while. Here, … Continue reading The Value of Myth #2: Fall of Eagles: Absolute Beginners (1974), Screen Two: Hope in the Year Two (1994)
Many people with an interest in such matters will have no doubt purchased Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence's recently published Scarred For Life Volume One, examining just how dark and macabre pop culture could be in the 1970s. And that includes a hell of a lot of kid's stuff. If you ever saw Building Sites … Continue reading Foreign Countries #6: Music Scene: Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance (1976)
Ghosts don't exist, Brian Cox said so. Well he said the Large Hadron Collider said so anyway. As ghosts aren't made of matter they must be made be made of energy and would therefore dissipate as they succumbed to the second law of thermodynamics. So you don't all stop reading at this point, here's a … Continue reading Foreign Countries #5: Shades of Darkness: Afterward (1983)
Last week I considered in passing how Brexit engenders a sense of belonging for certain people. This community feeling is often portrayed in a negative light, defined as much by those whom it excludes as much as those who are within. Being British means that a lot of this feeling is underpinned by class, and … Continue reading Foreign Countries #4: Unnatural Causes: Ladies Night (1986)
This is the first in an occasional series of posts where I'll cover common themes on television around a particular time, starting here with the ever popular Pagan Village Conspiracy. If the Brexit vote taught us anything, it was that the ignored and the dismissed do not go away, and they will take any opportunity … Continue reading The Value of Myth #1: Play For Today: Robin Redbreast (1970), Doctor Who: The Dæmons (1971), Thriller: A Place To Die (1973)
The 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) seems as good a time as any to answer this question: Why has 90s TV drama aged so badly? This time I'm talking about the look of the piece, all centre partings and chinos. It looks dated rather than old. The past is indeed a foreign … Continue reading Foreign Countries #3: Ghosts: Three Miles Up (1995)
Most TV and film productions are products of their time, less in terms of their technological and budgetary limitations, more that they reflect the society in which they were created. This is particularly true in both science fiction and historical drama. Setting a story in the the future or the past (or on another … Continue reading Foreign Countries #2: Hammer House of Horror: The House That Bled To Death/The Two Faces of Evil (1980)
Half hour dramas are a challenge, in that timeframe, decent characterisation and development become broad brush strokes to serve the idea, and subtlety is an anathema. The BBC’s ‘Thirty Minute’ became a training ground where writers such as Dennis Potter, David Rudkin and Jack Rosenthal honed their craft. It follows then that genre fiction … Continue reading Foreign Countries #1 Tales of Unease (1970)
This is a blog for my thoughts on old telly. I've been watching lots of old telly recently. Lots of it. Particularly anothology series. I've decided to write down my thoughts on it as I go along. There's no real attempt at a canon, if it looks interesting or undiscovered (by me at least) I'll … Continue reading Pilot
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