Greek tragedy was the very first formal theatrical genre to be invented. Created in the 5th century BC to honour the Greek god Dionysos during his annual festival in Athens, it developed over the next century or so thanks to numerous playwrights, including Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, to give us some of the greatest ever works of Western theatre and literature.
But since those times, as a genre, it’s pretty much fallen by the wayside. For all that David Simon and his fellow writers on The Wire may claim to have written to the rules of Greek tragedy rather than the more common Shakespearean model, they rarely touched on the classic formula devised by Aristotle for tragedy: the hubris, catharsis then nemesis of the protagonist, an ordinary man, who through some tragic flaw or mistake is eventually undone by the gods.
Greek tragedy itself didn’t always stick to the formula (e.g. Euripides’ Helene, Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound), so you have to hand it to former Daily Mirror journalist turned TV writer Michael J Bird to not only create one of the very few modern pieces of drama to stick to that formula, but to also set it and film it in Greece with a largely Greek cast.
1977’s BBC2 serial Who Pays The Ferryman? sees former soldier turned boat builder Alan Haldane (Jack Hedley from Colditz) return to Crete after more than 30 years’ absence. A legendary fighter with the Crete resistance during the War, he’d been a hero to the people and had fallen in love with Melina, one of the women he’d met there. Hoping to meet with her again after all this time, he tragically discovers that she has died. Compounding his misery, he is now getting a cold shoulder from the people who’d formerly seen him as a hero and been his friends.
Why? Well, unbeknownst to him, she’d fallen pregnant with his child. She wrote to him and, given the Cretan attitudes of the time and receiving no reply, she ended up marrying another man who would raise the daughter as his own. Haldane, who never received the letters and who now discovers his own letters to her were never received, decides to meet the now grown-up daughter he never knew he had and become her benefactor. And along the way, he meets a woman Annika (played by the very famous Greek actress Betty Arvaniti), who seems very familiar …
Why no one received the letters from their respective lovers and the lengths some people will go to to destroy Haldane are some of the central dilemmas of a very Greek story about vendetta, family and even the gods themselves that does not, of course, have a very happy ending. Here’s the title sequence, followed by the opening of the second episode. It features the incredibly popular and catchy theme song by Cretan composer Yannis Markopoulos.
Oh, and here’s Marina Sirtis – Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation – in her second ever TV appearance. This is all she gets to do, mind.
In the US: Mondays, 9/8c, SyFy. Starts April 15th In the UK: Tuesdays, 9pm, SyFy UK. Starts April 16th In Canada: Mondays, 10pm, Showcase. Starts April 15th
When a new show hits the airwaves and becomes a cultural phenomenon, it can take a little time for the copy-cats to appear. Case in point is HBO’s Game of Thrones, now starting its third season, which until now has had few imitators. Now comes SyFy’s Defiance, which although limited by its basic cable licence and family audience, features all the culture- and world-building, tribes, fights and weird sex of Game of Thrones, albeit in a sci-fi rather than fantasy setting.
Developed by Farscape, seaQuest DSV, Cult and Alien Nation creator Rockne S O’Bannon, Defiance is set a few decades from now on a radically transformed Earth that has seen the arrival of not just one but seven alien races who had come to what they thought was the uninhabited Earth in order to settle on it. Initially willing to co-exist, things go a bit pear-shaped and a war breaks out. The terra-reformer technology the aliens were going to use in a controlled manner gets unleashed accidentally and haphazardly, remaking the Earth in unpredictable ways. After the war winds down, both sides exhausted, the world becomes more like the wild west, with gangs of humans and aliens roaming around in a relatively lawless society.
Against this backdrop, we follow two scavengers – Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his adopted alien daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) – as they try to get rich by selling parts of old spaceships that they find, broken bits of which continue to fall from orbit. Eventually, they find themselves in St Louis, now a frontier town that has been renamed Defiance. There they have to get to grips with all the different alien communities, the tensions, the politics and more – including this Earth-thing called love.
And while the show is certainly ambitious, surprising and involves plenty of hard SF – even simultaneously having a tie-in online multi-user game that you can play set in the same world – it’s also depressingly conventional in exactly the same way Terra Nova was.
TV presenting, particularly for documentaries, is not an easy job. Not everyone can do it. Even if you go on one of the training courses that’ll teach you all the ins and outs, you’re still effectively acting: learning lines to be recited to camera for a show that millions and millions of people will watch, if you’re lucky, can be nerve-wracking and difficult. Even if you pull that bit off, there’s the intangible question of whether the camera will ‘love’ you or not, and whether you’re attractive enough as far as commissioners at least are concerned.
So a set of skills that aren’t entirely negligible. No wonder we end up with so few faces on the TV: Kirstie Allsop, Professor Brian Cox, Liz Bonin, Bettany Hughes, Sir David Attenborough, Bear Gylls et al – you’ll be familiar with practically all of them.
To a certain extent, particularly with documentaries, there’s also the ‘area expertise’ required to be authoritative: there’s a qualitative difference between documentaries that have Danny Wallace as their front man than Professor Brian Cox, because Wallace is hired to be an everyman while Cox is An Expert. Cox, however, is a scientist, so you don’t get him to present an episode of Timewatch, say, unless there’s some scientific component to it. There’s also the built-in marketing associated with a known face: it’s a lot easier to get money and an audience for something featuring Sir David Attenborough than some complete unknown naturalist.
But despite all that I’ve just said, I am worried that this concern with known faces and professionalism in broadcasting is impoverishing our broadcasting.
Now I love Bettany Hughes: I think she’s a fabulous broadcaster and she’s extremely knowledgeable about her subject area. The key point there is ‘about her subject area’. She specialises in Ancient Greek culture and history, and it’s noticeable that her best documentaries have been about these areas. Where she’s strayed out into other areas, with shows such as Divine Women, Alexandria or Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World, they have been noticeably poorer, less detailed and in some cases factually incorrect.
Ditto Brian Cox. He’s a very personable presenter and a particle physicist – he certainly knows his stuff in that area. So why on Earth was he host of The Wonders of Life, attempting to explain biophysics at a GCSE level, when that’s clearly not his area of expertise? Hell, I’d have taken Liz Bonnin over Cox for that, since she could arguably have added greater detail to the show, being a trained biologist. Which doesn’t explain why she was involved in the archaeology show Egypt’s Lost Cities, which largely consisted of shots of her and her co-presenter going “Golly!” at remote sensing data.
Unless you’re a genuine polymath like Jacob Bronowski, this cross-discipline hosting is something that should be avoided at all costs, otherwise, you might as well just get Vernon Kay in and be done with the whole ‘expert’ thing.
Meanwhile, surprisingly over on BBC2 rather than BBC4, which until now has been the last hold-out of truly intelligent documentaries at the BBC, they’ve been running the rather good The Other Pompeii: Life and Death in Herculaneum. Timed, I suspect, to coincide with the British Museum’s new exhibition on the subject, it’s hosted by Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, one of the archaeologists who has been excavating Herculaneum. He’s not exactly a novice broadcaster, having been in several documentaries over the years, but he’s not one of the usual suspects. Despite essentially being a tour of the remains and a look at how the population of Herculaneum lived, from the lives of slaves through to what the poor ate (discovered by analysing their coprolites), the programme was utterly engaging, Nicholson pottering around markets, talking Italian to professors involved in the project and a variety of untelegenic fellow experts adding to the wealth of information imparted. Nicholson knew what to talk about, knew what he was talking about and knew how to talk about it.
By contrast, BBC1 went for the ‘TV face’ route, getting Margaret Mountford from The Apprentice to present Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time. Now, being BBC1, this was always going to be a dumber documentary anyway. And Mountford does have archaeological expertise, famously retiring from The Apprentice to finish her doctorate in papyrology, particularly as it pertains to Roman fragments from the Oxyrhynchus collection. But this was far the inferior show, leaving Mountford to stare at wax figures without adding much herself. Because knowing Latin and being able to analyse papyrus does not make you an expert on the archaeology of Pompeii.
So my pleading isn’t so much for fewer famous experts on TV as for more experts, and for those experts to be able to talk about things in which they are experts and interested. If someone like Wallace-Hadrill can make good TV, then there must be many others out there capable of hosting documentaries that will add to our knowledge rather than insult our collective intelligences.
But what do you think? Do we need professional TV documentary presenters who can host shows even on subjects that aren’t in their area of expertise? Or do we need more experts on shows, even if they’re not as good at hosting TV programmes as their more experienced colleagues?
PS I am aware, of course, that documentary hosts don’t necessarily write shows they host, even for subjects that they are experts in. There are researchers and consultants, obviously. Yet I still feel there is an empirical qualitative difference in terms of what goes into these documentaries if the host actually knows about the subject.
In the UK: Saturday, 6.15pm, 6th April 2013, BBC1/BBC1 HD. Available on the iPlayer In the US: Saturday, 8pm/7C, 6th April 2013, BBC America
Once upon a time, Doctor Who was a different kind of show. It was a show that could wonder at being able to touch alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds wheeling in another sky. It could dedicate six episodes to a planet entirely inhabited by giant talking insects, each with their own cultures, or have a whole episode without the Doctor and companions, in which decidedly inhuman aliens discussed peace treaties and vegetation.
Then the show moved on. It became more of an action show, in which poetry and metaphor took a back seat to an action hero Doctor foiling aliens’ schemes.
Thank God. And if you don’t think that was a good idea, The Rings of Akhaten were an epic demonstrate of just how staggering boring just 45 minutes of little girls singing to false gods can be.
It’s “What did you watch this week?”, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I’ve watched this week that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
First, the usual recommendations:
The Americans (FX/ITV)
Archer (FX, 5USA)
Arrow (The CW/Sky 1)
Being Human (US) (SyFy)
The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV)
Cougar Town (TBS/Sky Living)
Doctor Who (BBC1/BBC America)
Elementary (CBS/Sky Living)
Go On (NBC)
Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living)
House of Cards (Netflix)
Modern Family (ABC/Sky 1)
Plebs (ITV2)
Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4)
Southland (TNT/Channel 4)
Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1)
Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic).
These are all going to be on in either the UK or the US, perhaps even both, but I can’t be sure which.
I’m adding to the recommended list both Plebs (ITV2) and Hannibal (NBC/Sky Living) (hopefully, I’m not being too quick off the mark there).
Still in the viewing queue: Jonathan Creek, last night’s Orphan Black, Arne Dahl and Rogue. I’ll be reviewing last night’s Doctor Who on Monday, when I’ve woken up. But I’ve tried a few new shows this week:
How To Live With Your Parents For The Rest of Your Life (ABC)
In which Sarah Chalke (Scrubs,Mad Love) is once again wasted, this time in an incredibly bland sitcom with an almost zero joke count. The story, for what it’s worth, is that Chalke splits up from her no-hope, but good-hearted husband and takes her kid with her to live with her parents. Six months later, she’s still there. Everyone, including Elizabeth Perkins as Chalke’s mother, tries really, really hard to make this work, but i’s just utterly bland.
Corleone (Sky Arts)
2007 Italian crime drama aka Il Capo dei Capi based on the life of real-life gangster Salvatore Riina, aka Totò u Curtu, growing up in post-war Sicily. Surprisingly well made for Italian TV, it is, nevertheless, completely unremarkable and lacking in interest for anyone who doesn’t know about said gangster. Trailer over here, for those who want one.
I’ve also been watching a few things on Netflix, just to mix things up a bit:
Black Books Yes, I never watched Black Books. Treat me like the leper I am. The first episode wasn’t bad and it surprised me to see Martin Freeman in it as a doctor, doing the exact same Martin Freeman routine he’s apparently been doing for the last 12 years now. Still feels like a slightly less funny cousin to Spaced, Hippies and The IT Crowd. But I’ll keep watching when I have time.
House of Cards (remake)
I finally got to the end of it. Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger. Yes, that cliffhanger is not the same as the BBC original’s cliffhanger. Yes, nothing much at all is resolved. But it’s still magnificent.
Spiral (season 1)
Yes, I know I’ve watched it already, but I thought I’d give season one a re-watch, since I’m now horrified to discover it was filmed in 2005 (although I think it took BBC4 a couple of years to pick it up). It’s remarkable to see what’d different and what’s changed. The directorial style, with the CGI zoom and crash zooms with sound effects are just weird; the swearing was considerably less than it is now; it’s filmed in Summer, so everything looks sunny for a change; Laure’s happy; Karlsson’s still learning how to be evil from the drunk struck-off solicitor; Clement’s still a magistrate; Romanians are the ethnic enemies; Pierre and Laure are shagging like very French bunnies. It’s all just so fascinating to watch and fun to see how the Spiral formula is still being worked on.
Now, some thoughts on some of the regulars and some of the shows I’m still trying:
The Americans (FX/ITV): Just keeps getting better every week, blurring the boundaries between who’s good and who’s bad in the cold war between the KGB and the FBI. The separation was unexpected, as was the final killing, and while the show obviously amps up the intrigue beyond what the KGB would have allowed their sleeper agents to do, it’s all done in as unshowy a manner as possible. A regular must-see.
Arrow (The CW/Sky 1): Despite the presence of Count Vertigo, this episode surprisingly didn’t suck and was actually quite good. Nice to see that they’re making the Chinese woman Oliver’s flashback mentor, rather than Deathstroke.
Being Human (US) (SyFy): Another US TV season ends with an overly sentimental wedding. Quelle surprise. But despite some good jokes in this final episode, it’s largely been a bit of waste of a season, offering no real plot advancement, with everything that happened in the first few episodes effectively reset by the end of the season. There have been a few changes and clearly a whole lot of things are being set up for next season that might pay off. But unlike the British original, it’ll probably still be worth watching. UPDATE: Duh! Obviously, it wasn’t the season finale. Silly me…
The Doctor Blake Mysteries (ABC1/ITV): A decent 10 episodes of intelligent TV period crime drama. It became a little formulaic towards the end, with less of the period commentary than before, but the story arc about Blake’s family was very well handled and moving, and the ending only promises good things for the future.
Elementary (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Surprisingly close to a genuine Sherlock Holmes mystery, although Jill Flint was badly unused. The addition of Doyle’s Hudson to the roster of characters was very welcome, changing the Watson/Holmes dynamic in useful ways, and well handled, too, given the changes made by the producers. The story was also a good way to capitalise on New York’s recent weather ‘issues’.
It’s Kevin (BBC2): Cameos from Stewart Lee, Peter Serafinowicz, Matt Berry and more show how respected Kevin Eldon is. Definitely getting better but a little bit of an acquired taste. The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber sketch was marvellous though.
Parks and Recreation (NBC/BBC4): Six episodes into the second season and I’ve finally see a funny episode that didn’t entirely depend on Ron Swanson for the jokes. And that’s after an episode that didn’t have Ron in it at all, and so was virtually unwatchable.
Plebs (ITV2): While largely The InBetweeners in Roman times, it’s surprisingly clever and this week’s “role reversal” episode where the hero and his slave swapped jobs for day and the two cousins who shag were interesting marriages of laddish humour with Roman cultural differences. If you watch one ITV2 show, this is the one to watch.
Shameless (US) (Showtime/More4): Surprisingly, not the final episode of the season, despite the apparent resolution of so many plot threads, including an unexpected act of kindness by Frank. What they do tonight should be the last thing we expect then.
Southland (TNT/Channel 4): More or more like a series of vignettes, rather than an actual drama, with our characters almost aware that their television time is drawing to an end and looking for personal closure. A great couple of cameso this week for long-time fans of the show, which I’m hoping will lead to more by the end of the season.
Strike Back (Sky 1/Cinemax): I’m finally catching up with this, which has been sitting on my Apple TV for months now. Funny to see Tim Piggott-Smith running around with a sub-machine gun, Charles Dance being an arms dealer, and
Spartacus (Starz/Sky 1): We’re on the home straight of the season, the traditional time for the show to really dig into the politics and intrigue. An almost nostalgic episode, where the gladiators return to the ‘arena’, various characters get the vengeance they want and deserve, and with the arrival of the third member of Caesar/Crassus triumvirate, Pompey (if not yet in person), it’s starting to feel more and more like a prequel to Rome as well as decent ending for one of the most surprising shows on cable TV in years.
Vegas (CBS/Sky Atlantic): Finally realised that the FBI guy is Shawn Doyle (with US accent and black hair) from Endgame. An odd little procedural about an under-age prostitute, with a somewhat surprising, feminist conclusion that once again shows what a standout Sarah Jones is. That, and the addition of a new title sequence, suggests the producers have been having a slight rethink in the show’s extended absence. Needs a little more umph, but still a good drama and a cut above the standard CBS procedural.
And in movies:
No Country For Old Men
An excellent movie with a great cast. Josh Brolin finds some money, Javier Bardem chases him with a bad haircut, Sheriff Tommy Lee Jones wanders around cluelessly. It’s quite a scary movie, in some senses, where the moral of the story is that even if you are a Vietnam vet and a hunter, there’s always someone deadlier than you out there, and beyond that is God/Fate who can kick that person to the kerb, too. It’s ending defies analysis, too, although it’s efforts to defy the standard Hollywood traditions of how plots must be resolved, particularly violent plots, is welcome.
The Raid
An elite Indonesian SWAT team have to take in a crime lord who lives at the top of a building. To get to him, they have to shoot, punch, stab, kick and beat everyone they come across along the way, in what is largely a demonstration of the Indonesian martial art of pencak silat, starring some of the art’s greatest living practitioners. Not exactly the most plot-driven or character-rich movie out there, but a cracking action film, incredibly shot on a ridiculously low budget, that’ll be too violent for a lot of people. Came out at the same time as Dredd 3D, to which it bears such a similarity that it largely (unfairly) killed that movie’s box office.
Bad Boys 2
Dreadful, even by Michael Bay standards. Shame, because Bad Boys was actually quite good.
“What did you watch this week?” is your chance to recommend to friends and fellow blog readers the TV and films that they might be missing or should avoid – and for me to do mini-reviews of everything I’ve watched. Since we live in the fabulous world of Internet catch-up services like the iPlayer and Hulu, why not tell your fellow readers what you’ve seen so they can see the good stuff they might have missed?
