As Sally Sparrow once said, "Sad is happy for deep people." And indeed, there have been a whole load of miserable plays, TV programmes, films et al designed for smart people: I love Se7en (as a quote in the introduction to the BFI book on the movie says – or was it one of the special edition DVD commentaries? – "Of course I love Se7en – I'm an intellectual"), for example, and Callan and The Sandbaggers are so brilliant because they're so bleak. Think of Turn Left and Midnight in the latest series of Doctor Who, as well as the fate of Donna in Journey's End: better for bleak, no?

Over the last year, though, there's been an increase in sad TV programmes on the Beeb: Wallander, The Day of the Triffids, Survivors, Paradox, Criminal Justice et al have all been deeply miserable. As Paradox shows, being miserable doesn't mean being good, but does it help – the bleaker moments of Paradox were its best bits.

So today's question (in parts) is:

Does being depressed, sad or miserable increase the chances of a show being good? Is sad happy for deep people? Are TV shows getting more depressing of late (thanks to the recession maybe?) And do you like watching sad shows?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

Read other posts about: Callan, The Sandbaggers

After Christianity became the dominant religion in the West, the Greek gods could have taken it easy and had a rest. Some suggest they did; others, however, tell a different story.

Modern US television suggests that right now, they're off running their own companies in Valentine, trying to matchmake mortals in Cupid, or both. Back in the 90s in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, they were either trying to make television shows while trying to rescue innocent mortals or sabotaging their relative's TV show so they could sit back and watch Millennium and Cop Rock in peace:

But if we go back to the late 70s, back when they were still in Greece (or Cyprus at least), they were busily helping to solve crimes - in their own inimitable way.

When David Collier arrives on Cyprus following the death of his brother, Barry, in what Collier believes was an accident, he meets the beautiful Helene and her mysterious companions, Basileos and Charalambous, who appear to know a great deal more about his brother's death than anyone is admitting. Slowly Collier is drawn deep into a complex conspiracy until neither he, nor the viewer, know who he can trust, particularly when it becomes apparent that someone is trying to kill him. The police, in the form of Inspector Dimas, don't believe a word Collier says, since every time he finds something, or someone, that could substantiate his story they inexplicably vanish.

When all is revealed and Barry's murder is solved, there's one last mystery: Collier discovers that rumours of the deaths of the gods Aphrodite (Alexandra Bastedo from The Champions), Pan (Stefan Gryff) and Dionysus (Brian Blessed in full Brian Blessed mode) have been greatly exaggerated.

It's not been repeated since UK Gold showed it a decade ago, it's never been released on DVD, although you can find it on YouTube (playlists later): it's The Aphrodite Inheritance and it's a Lost Gem. Here's the title sequence and for those who want to cut to the chase, the final ten minutes of the final episode in which the gods' game with the poor mortals is finally uncovered.

Continue reading "Lost Gems: The Aphrodite Inheritance (1979)"

Read other posts about: ITC shows, The Sandbaggers

This one was supposed to be easy. This was supposed to be brief: I said so, last time. You see – and there are going to be a lot of naval puns during this one, so brace yourself – Making Waves pretty much sunk without a trace.

After years in development hell and after being rescheduled four times, this ITV flagship drama emerged onto our screens in the summer of 2004, opposite Supernanny. Sort of Soldier, Soldier but featuring the Royal Navy (hence its nickname Sailor, Sailor), it depicted the arrival of a new captain – played by ex-EastEnders psycho, Scottish actor Alex Ferns – on board the fictional frigate HMS Suffolk, and his attempts to make it sea-ready, all to the backdrop of the relationships of the crew and various exciting naval events, such as piracy, illegal immigrants, smuggling and explosions.

With £5 million in budget and the might of legendary producer Ted Childs (Lewis, Inspector Morse, Soldier Soldier, Sharpe, Kavanagh QC) behind it, there were high expectations in some quarters, but after just three episodes, falling ratings meant it was cancelled. Despite there already being three more episodes in the can, ITV never repeated it or showed the remaining episodes.

There was a DVD of the show, but only ever 2,500 or so were pressed and they were mainly sold to the Navy. You can't get it from Amazon; you can't find it on eBay. And here's the only publicity still of our Joanna Page, who played new rating, Operating Mechanic Rosie Bowen, that appears to have survived online. 

So I thought this was going to be brief, since I couldn't really say much about it. As I said, easy.

But then I found out that someone had uploaded the whole series to YouTube, so meticulous journo that I am, I had to watch the whole thing – you can, too, if you hang around to the end of this entry.

And I have to say, despite a shaky start, it was actually really enjoyable (although typically, mainly during the cancelled episodes), has possibly one of the most exciting, hardware-based episodes of anything ever made for British TV – and more importantly for Today's Joanna Page, has her only outing so far as 'action heroine'.

In fact, I'm quite cross – angry even – that it was cancelled.

Continue reading "Today's Joanna Page: Making Waves"

Read other posts about: Gavin and Stacey, The Sandbaggers

At first sight, this looks like a meme. And it is. Sort of. But it's also about something that's been concerning me of late: the youth of today. Ah, I must be getting old if I'm getting concerned about the youth of today – and using the phrase "the youth of today". It's a short step to the Daily Telegraph from here.

What's your favourite TV decade? In other words, which decade produced the television you love the most? Maybe it was the 60s with its escapism and gritty social realism, all rolled into one. Maybe it was the bleak 70s, or the action-packed 80s? It might even be the 90s, when US television really got into quality products for the first time.

But the second part of the question is slightly different: how did you get to see that TV?

I'm gambling that, to a certain extent, most people's favourite TV decade – if they have a favourite decade – will be the time in which they were growing up. If they were young in the 80s, they probably fondly remember 80s TV. And so on.

But there will be a few who will cite an earlier time, and probably a few who will say that the current programmes on TV are the best we've ever had. I'm very fond of 1960s and 1970s, even though I was either too young to have seen very much of it or I hadn't even been born yet – and there's a whole load of 1950s TV that's very good, too.

I grew up in the 80s when there were just four TV channels available to most people. Back then, network programmers had no problem with sticking old programmes and movies on at primetime. Channel 4 stuck The Addams Family, Car 54 Where Are You?, The Munsters, and The Abbott and Costello Show on at 5pm on weekdays, and The Avengers on at night. BBC2 was quite happy to repeat The Invaders, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies, the Falcon and the Saint movies, and more at 6pm of an evening. ITV littered its daytime schedules with The Sandbaggers and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and stuck The Baron, The Champions and Thunderbirds on at the weekends. And BBC1 would trawl out Bonanza on a Sunday afternoon. That's how I got introduced to the TV classics of the past – as well as a few old bits of rubbish.

Nowadays, you can get all of this on DVD, of course, and with multi-channel TV, there are networks more or less dedicated to old faves: ITV4 is a haven for all those ITC shows (R&H (Deceased), Space: 1999, The Champions and The Prisoner are all on right now); there's the Bonanza Channel (or used to be at least) for anyone wanting to catch Lorne Greene before he boarded the original Battlestar Galactica; and BBC4 will occasionally dredge something up from the archives for a brief season (Steptoe and Son, recently, or Doctor Who, starting on the 5th April).

But not the terrestrial channels. More to the point, you have to go looking for this stuff: it's not right there in front of you when you turn on the TV. Which is all well and good, but how – and this is my big point – are the youth of today going to ever see any of their TV heritage and become interested in it? How will they ever experience the thrills of The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone or The Night Gallery? How will they know the joy of Mrs Peel and Steed's interplay, Carter and Regan's bad driving, or the simple happiness of life in Camberwick Green and Trumpton?

Obviously, learning French, reading classics of literature, and getting a fair understanding of physics, chemistry and biology so they can laugh at homeopaths, particularly French homeopaths, are far more important than tele. But whole lot of effort, expertise, creativity and passion went into creating these old shows, some of which are infinitely superior to their modern successors. Who wouldn't want the original Invaders over its remake, for example? Or, indeed, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - shame on you Vic and Bob. Some of the shows are historical documents in their own rights and are referenced in books and films of the time; some even changed society altogether. And I think it would be a shame to forget that heritage, just as it would be a shame to forget the literature of the 1960s, say.

Is it going to take parents forcing DVDs on their kids or locking every channel except the nostalgia channels to teach them TV history – not that that's a particularly good way to enthuse kids about anything? Now that MOMI's gone we no longer have the equivalent of New York's Paley Center so that's not an option. Worse still, are the youth of today just never going to be able to relate to old TV, any more than most people can relate to classics of Victorian literature? Should we just let ephemeral old TV disappear into the ether and live in the now?

What do you think?

Read other posts about: Battlestar Galactica, ITC shows, The Prisoner, The Sandbaggers

In the US: Thursdays, 10/9c, USA Network
In the UK: Not yet acquired but Hallmark or Five will probably get their greedy mitts on it

I'm rather partial to a good spy show. A good spy show is better than almost any other kind of genre show you can think of.

But note the use of the word 'good' there, because there haven't been many good spy shows. Not proper spy shows. Callan, The Sandbaggers, a couple of episodes of Man in a Suitcase but that's about it.

Don't you even think about mentioning Spooks. Just don't.

The other spy shows all suffer from a serious lack of realism. They aren't so much spy shows as action shows (or comedies in most other cases). And as Jeffrey Donovan points out during the voice over at the beginning of Burn Notice, most spy work is about as interesting as sitting in a dentist's waiting room all day. It isn't action work.

Burn Notice tries to have its cake and eat it. It tries to be a proper, grown-up spy show - the first the US has probably ever produced (don't even think of saying 24. Or Threat Matrix. Or whatever you were just about to say. Just don't). But it also tries to mix in a bit of action, a bit of humour - mostly through Donovan but also through MAN GOD Bruce Campbell - and a bit of that relentless “character” that USA Network is now (in)famous for.

And you know what? It actually works. I think.

Continue reading "Review: Burn Notice 1x1"

Read other posts about: Burn Notice, Callan, The Sandbaggers, Touching Evil

The Sandbaggers - Series 3

by Network

This will be popping up on the Action TV web site at some point soon, but you lucky people get to see it first.

On paper, The Sandbaggers could have been one of many lesser shows. Detailing life for the “Special Operations section” of MI6/SIS, it could have been a James Bond-esque tale of daring-do. It could have been a slightly more sedate, John Le Carré-style affair, all intrigue, politics and back-biting. Instead, it proved to be a combination of both worlds, marrying the excitement of a Fleming book with the authenticity of Le Carré.

Throughout the show’s three series, the agents of the piece – the eponymous Sandbaggers – and their boss, former Sandbagger Neil Burnside (Roy Marsden) were faced with as many murky plots from the depths of Whitehall and from the UK’s supposed allies as they were by Soviet espionage. They failed or died in their missions on any number of occasions because of office politics back home, all while being paid a civil service salary.

The success of the show was as much due to the authenticity of the scripts as it was the mesmerising central performance of Marsden. Much of that was a result of the (possible) inside knowledge of the show’s creator, former naval officer Ian Mackintosh, who wrote all the scripts for the show’s first two series. At the very least, it was because of his talent as a scriptwriter.

Tragically, Mackintosh died in an aircraft crash before the start of the third series of the show. He’d managed to write a number of scripts, including the final episode’s, but without his continued input, the show failed to hit the creative heights of the previous two series.

Continue reading "Review: The Sandbaggers - Series 3"

Read other posts about: The Sandbaggers

Just got through my review copy of The Sandbaggers, series three. What do you reckon the best special feature would be, bearing in mind it's a classic early 80s British spy show, starring Roy Marsden?

Some sort of interview with Roy Marsden?

A director's commentary, perhaps?

The scripts as a DVD ROM?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The actual special feature is a three-part story from Crown Court that features Roy Marsden.

Much as I loved – and it turns out love – Crown Court, the painstakingly, laboriously authentic dramatisation of typical English Crown Court trials of the 70s and 80s (this week, for three episodes, a woman accused of shoplifting), I'm not sure it's quite right for the DVDs. Do you?

Read other posts about: The Sandbaggers

Okay, so Scott's already got in on the act and Lisa looks like she's raring up to do her own posting elsewhere, but here's a list of some of my favourite TV characters in response to Jess Whedon's. In no particular order.

1. Neil Burnside, The Sandbaggers. Lots of explanation over here.
2. David Creegan, Touching Evil (US version). Lots of explanation over here.
3. Stringfellow Hawke, Airwolf. Because he was just so hard
4. Callisto, Xena: Warrior Princess. One of the few villains to have a good - and sympathetic - motivation. Plus how many characters get to die yet end up a god?
5. Chandler, Friends. Fantastic until he got neutered by Monica.
6. Lieutenant Castillo, Miami Vice. Even harder than Stringfellow Hawke. That's how hard he was. The less he said, the harder he got.
7. House, House. Do I really need to explain this one?
8. The President, The West Wing. Moral, dynamic, powerful and a complete nerd who speaks Latin. We need more characters like this. He made me want to be American, anyway.
9. Turlough, Doctor Who. Slippy, weasly and great fun - for three stories. Then he went off the idea of killing the Doctor. Oh well.
10. Anya, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just endlessly entertaining.
11. James T Kirk, Star Trek. Well, he was great, wasn't he?
12. Spock, Star Trek. And so was he.
13. Lynda Day, Press Gang. And so was she. Pretty much like most editors you'll meet, in fact.
14. DI Rosie Campbell, The Paradise Club. I just loved this posh, Oxford-educated police officer trying to spew out police slang, be street and it all going pear-shaped, every time.
15. Chloe Sullivan, Smallville. Smart, funny, loyal, brave, and willing to put up with a constantly broken heart for the sake of friendship - the best sidekick a superhero could want
16. Tony Hancock, Hancock's Half Hour. The funniest man who ever lived.
17. Avon, Blake's 7. Seriously, just watch any episode and you'll understand.
18. Jarod, The Pretender. A genius who could be anyone he wanted to be. Great character, shame the show got silly.
19. Nasir, Robin of Sherwood. Britain's answer to Lieutenant Castillo.
20. Austin James, P.R.O.B.E. Another genius, this one scientific. From the brain of Isaac Asimov and pretty much like all his other characters, James was the proto-House of his day

I've left a load out, I'm sure of it. But that's a good crop to be getting on with. Depressingly few women in there, though. How do we up the quota? Give me suggestions!

UPDATE: And Stringer Bell from The Wire! He's a drug-dealer, but he goes to economics classes in the evening. You've got to love that.

Read other posts about: House, Smallville, Star Trek, The Sandbaggers, The West Wing, The Wire, Touching Evil

God bless you BBC4. Every so often you'll come up with a cracking idea for a season of programming, like last year's Ghost Story season. Now we've got 'British Spies Season'.

I can't seem to find an in-depth listing of what's in it, but there's definitely a bit of Spooks, a bit of Smiley (don't know whether it was Tinker, Tailor or Smiley's People) and some decent documentaries.

It probably won't include The Sandbaggers, that being a Yorkshire programme, but I live in hope. I'll keep you updated as I find out more.

UPDATE: The trailer's up on the BBC Four site.

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Read other posts about: James Bond, The Sandbaggers

The Sandbaggers - Series 2

by The Sandbaggers

For the few interested parties, I've reviewed the Region 2 DVD release of the second series of The Sandbaggers. You can read the edited version over on Action TV, or the not-very-different original in my gallery (touch of the Tony Harts there) or after the fold.

Continue reading "Review: The Sandbaggers - Series 2"

Read other posts about: Callan, James Bond, The Sandbaggers