UK TV

An archive of blog entries about UK TV programmes and production.

The Wednesday Plays: Oedipus the King/Oedipus at Colonus/Antigone (1986)

19 September 2012 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

As you might expect, the US isn’t the only country to adapt classic plays for television. The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have obviously been putting on adaptions of classic plays almost for as long as they’ve been in existence.

However, unlike Shakespeare, for example, Greek tragedy is one genre that hasn’t seen many adaptations for British television. In June, the BFI gave a good sample of some of those adaptations, including one stage production of Electra for ITV that was broadcast entirely in Greek without subtitles.

However, one of the main catalysts for getting Greek tragedy onto the small screen and also radio was the writer/director Don Taylor. Taylor, whose career in theatre and television spanned decades, was responsible for numerous adaptations, sometimes of his own translations, including Euripides’ Helen for radio and Iphigenia at Aulis for the BBC. However, in 1986, he managed to adapt all three of Sophocles’ Theban plays – Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone – for the small screen as (surprisingly enough) The Theban Plays by Sophocles.

Starring the likes of Michael Pennington, Juliet Stevenson, John Gielgud, Anthony Quayle, John Shrapnel and Claire Bloom, all three productions are very theatrical and the translations are somewhat loose, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any better productions on TV anywhere.

Enjoy!

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Wednesday’s “Revolution sets a record, The Mob Doctor tanks and McG’s Alice in Wonderland” news

19 September 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Film

US TV

New US TV shows

Tuesday’s “Manimal movie, a second US Pulling and P Diddy goes to Philly” news

18 September 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

  • A Town Called Mercy gets best ratings for Doctor Who since 2010

Film

Trailers

  • Trailer for Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, with Helen Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes et al

Canadian TV

UK TV

US TV

New US TV shows

  • Howard Gordon sells Vigilant superhero show to Fox
  • Laura Prepon and Taylor Schilling to star in Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black
  • ABC having another go at adapting Pulling
  • The CW adapting Embrace
  • ABC Family orders pilots of Terminals, Phys Ed and Continuing Fred
  • Annie Potts to star on Paging Dr. Freed
UK TV

Question of the week: Is it wrong to recast Yes, Prime Minister?

17 September 2012 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Yes Prime Minister

Yes, Prime Minister is a true classic of British television. With characters almost inextricably linked to the actors who created them, Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington, it was a telling, comedic look at the British civil service by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn.

Since the programme ended in the 1980s, Jay and Lynn have since created a version for the stage starring David Haig and Henry Goodman, and now UK Gold are taking that cast and creating a new series of Yes, Prime Minister, with Jay and Lynn writing that as well.

Today’s question, though, is:

Is it wrong to recast Yes, Prime Minister or should Jay and Lynn create new characters for the series? Is it disrespectful to the memories of Eddington and Hawthorne to have these same characters revived? Is it just impossible to imagine anyone else performing those roles as well as the originals? Or does it make no difference – a character’s a character and we might as well object that people are still playing Hamlet, even though the original actor is dead?

Answers below or on your own blog, please?

What did you watch last week? Including Robot Chicken, Lilyhammer and Homeland

17 September 2012 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

It’s “What did you watch last week?”, my chance to tell you what I movies and TV I watched last 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: Perception and Doctor Who. I’m adding The Thick Of It to the list, which I negligently forgot to mention last week, despite its being brilliantly funny and making Veep look like luke warm cup-a-soup in comparison. The new coalition characters are excellent as well.

So here’s a few thoughts on what I have been watching:

  • Perception: Fabulous episode that took the precepts of the show to their logical conclusion. You’ll spot exactly where the episode is going about 10 minutes in, but knowing actually makes it more painful and heart-breaking to watch. Worth watching a few episodes before, if you haven’t already watched any, so that it’ll have the maximum impact.
  • Hunderby: Not quite funny enough to make me watch the whole of episode 2.
  • Screenwriters – The BAFTA and BFI lectures: showing on Sky Arts, a series of half-hour interviews/lectures by famous screenwriters. A bit variable, but with some great names (William Nicholson, Moira Buffini, Charlie Kaufman), with John Logan (Gladiator, Coriolanus, et al) being a great way to finish the series.
  • Go On – episode two was actually okay, a bit more Community-ish, although less ensemble than that show. Still an odd combination of the tragic and comedic, but it’s now starting to pick up, I’d say.
  • Robot Chicken – The DC Comics special, this was actually really funny. Not as funny as it could have been, but if you know your DC Comics, it had a lot going for it, particularly the relentless kicking of Aquaman.
  • Lilyhammer – a BBC4/Netflix piece about a New York gangster relocating to Lilyhammer in Norway as part of a witness relocation scheme. Baffling, rather than funny, it essentially has every joke in Norwegian, followed by a character saying “Oh, you don’t speak much Norwegian, do you?” then repeating the joke in English. It’s therefore at least 50% less funny than it needs to be, and I suspect most of the jokes work better in Norwegian. And Norway. I switched off after about half an hour. Fargo‘s a better bet, I reckon. Some people seemed to love it though – maybe they watched the second half.

  • Homeland – the first 20 minutes of season two only, mind. After watching the original Israeli show Prisoners of War, it’s a little harder to watch the more escapist Homeland than it used to be, but this preview does a good job of re-establishing everything, showing how Carrie and Brodie’s lives have changed, and we even get to go to Beirut. If you’re worried that season two won’t be as good as season 1, your fears should be assuaged.

“What did you watch last 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?