Monday’s Sarah Jane and movie news

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US TV

Things we’ve learned from Bonekickers: suspension of disbelief doesn’t cross the Atlantic

Bonekickers

Remember BBC1’s Bonekickers, which was let loose over the Summer? Here’s my review of the first episode to jog your memory.

It was a sub-Dan Brown piece of escapism created by the guys behind Life on Mars, Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, in which a team of archeologists would go hunting for precious relics, such as the cross of Jesus Christ, get chased by other people who wanted it, then at the last possible moment they’d burn/throw into a bucket of acid/smash with a mallet the very precious, unique, vital relic they’d dedicated their entire careers to searching for and treating with respect. Then they’d head down the pub.

Now, ever since it’s been on, I’ve been pondering a couple of issues that Bonekickers has raised

  1. Ashley Pharoah (apparently) gets miffed about criticism and likes to leave messages on The Guardian‘s blogs insulting Gareth McLean and co as a result (do a search for TheWordBoy, which is also his Dome of Stars name). How odd
  2. It’s much harder to suspend your disbelief for a UK show than for a US show

The second point is the one I want to look at. Why is it that something like the US’s Relic Hunter seems almost acceptable as a bit of escapist fun, when Bonekickers isn’t?

Is it just we hold our own shows to higher standards? Is there something about the unfamiliarity of US settings that forces us to suspend our disbelief anyway – so it’s a smaller leap to other more far-out ideas? Does the US simply have a greater tradition of escapist shows, so we’ve learnt to adapt? Are the US’s actors simply more credible in escapist entertainment, while our slightly more down at heel, less gym-friendly actors don’t look like they could run for more than a couple of minutes anyway? Or was it simply that Bonekickers wasn’t very good?

And US readers: do you have any ideas on this and is there a similar situation for you? Do you hold US shows up to a higher standard than UK shows or vice versa? And do you even agree that there are more escapist shows on US TV?

Over to you, guys. What do you think?

Friday’s 30 rocking news

Doctor Who

Film

Commercials

Theatre

British TV

US TV

  • Gossip Girl girls to guest in 30 Rock
  • …and footage of Jennifer Aniston on-set
  • Mitch Hurwitz and Jason Biggs working on sitcom for CBS
  • Aliens land with Greg Berlanti and Rene Echevarria for The Return for ABC
  • Anthony Edwards and Noah Wylie to appear in ER‘s final season
  • Michael Rodrick to guest on 24 and Without a Trace
  • Jodie Foster to play Maggie in The Simpsons; Anne Hathaway also to appear
  • Swingtown creator to develop BiCoastal for Showtime
  • New Amsterdam‘s Zuleikha Robinson cast in Lost
UK TV

Free Big Finish audio play: The Coup, starring Nicholas Courtney

UNIT - The Coup
Not all of you listen to the Big Finish audio plays. That’s fair. Although there are plenty of good reasons for this, including not liking Doctor Who, Sapphire and Steel, etc, one big reason is they cost money.

But Big Finish is currently giving away a free play from their UNIT range of stories that stars Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier from the adventures of the second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh Doctor TV stories), Siri O’Neal (Moondial anyone?), Scott Andrews, Matthew Brehner, Sara Carver, Michael Hobbs, Joseph Lidster and Mark Wright. So if you fancy a taster and have half an hour to spare, why not give this one a go?

Written by Simon Guerrier, The Coup is set in London in the near future. The UK division of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce is prepares to cede its authority to a new organisation. But who is attempting to sabotage the hand-over?

You can buy the full first series for only £20 and it’s worth noting that episode four also stars David Tennant. Yes, that David Tennant.

Sitting Tennant

Today’s Sitting Tennant: Derren Brown again

David Tennant on a space hoppe

It’s been quite some time since our last Sitting Tennant, which came from Anna. So to kick it off again, here’s one I prepared earlier: it’s from the finale of the last series of Derren Brown: Trick or Treat, in which DT and friends did all sorts of weird things in an unwitting attempt to get fish to swim.

The current Sitting Tennant league tables stand (ho ho) as follows. For pictures, Rosby is still in the lead with five entries, Persephone at four. Poly with three and a half, Toby on three entries and Scott on two entries. Anna has one and a half and Marie and Rullsenberg are at the back with one each.

The Witty And Amusing Captions league table has changed. Thanks to some dueting between Toby and Persephone, Toby is top now with seven captions, while Marie and Persephone have six, Rullsenberg and Electric Dragon both have three captions and Poly and Stu_N are on one each. Feel free to leave captions below for this entry, too.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. You can also enter the witting and amusing captions league table by commenting on existing photos in the gallery.

If you want to watch all the Derren Brown: Trick or Treat episode from which this picture came, here it is on YouTube.