UK TV

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

The Wednesday Play: The Long Distance Piano Player (1970)

29 August 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Ironically, given the title of this strand, today’s play, The Long Distance Piano Player, was actually the first Play for Today, the strand that replaced the BBC’s The Wednesday Play. Starring Ray Davies of The Kinks as well as Norman Rossington and James Hazeldine, the play is the story of a piano player’s obsession to win the world long-distance piano-playing record, whilst his wife and agent argue around him. Written by future Hollywood scriptwriter Alan Sharp (Rob Roy, The Osterman Weekend), it’s a little inexplicable and Davies’ performance is variable, but it’s well worth a watch.

Classic TV

Nostalgia corner: Mulberry (1992)

23 August 2012 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Mulberry

Sitcoms, as a whole, don’t do science-fiction. Fewer still do fantasy. You get the occasional one, such as Kröd Mändoon, but you’d be hard-pressed to come up with even 10 fantasy sitcoms once your initial flurry of 1950s/1960s sitcoms The Munsters, The Addams Family, Mr Ed and My Mother The Car was out the way, I reckon (challenge: extended).

1992’s Mulberry, created by UK sitcom stalwarts John Esmonde and Bob Larbey (The Good Life, Please Sir!, Ever Decreasing Circles), is one of these unicorn-tears rare few: a primetime fantasy sitcom. Intriguingly, for a whole series, it wasn’t even obviously a fantasy sitcom.

It starred Karl Howman (Jacko from Esmonde and Larbey’s womanising painter sitcom Brush Strokes) as the eponymous Mulberry, who appears at the country house of a crotchety spinster, Miss Farnaby (Geraldine McEwan of Marple), wanting to become her servant – a position which hasn’t yet been advertised. Over the course of the first series, it becomes clear that the mischievous Mulberry may not have Miss Farnaby’s best interests at heart: he’s in cahoots with a mysterious man in black (John Bennett of Saracen), who appears to want Miss Farnaby killed, even if Mulberry appears to be having second thoughts.

But all becomes clear by the end of the sixth episode: Mulberry has come to kill Miss Farnaby… because the mysterious man in black is Death, Mulberry is his son and Miss Farnaby is his test job for the ‘family business’. Here’s the title sequence and you can watch the whole thing after the jump.

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The Weekly Play

The Wednesday Play: Z for Zachariah (1984)

22 August 2012 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Z for Zachariah

Apocalyptic tales were all the rage in the 80s, thanks to the ever-present fear of nuclear war. 1984, with its obvious connections to Orwell, spawned more than its fair share of these terror tales on TV alone. Most famous was Barry Hines/Mick James’s ‘documentary’ Threads about a nuclear war and its effects on Sheffield, but the BBC’s Play for Today slot also featured an adaptation of the novel Z For Zachariah.

Radio Times coverOriginally set in the mid-West but relocated to Wales for the play – drama budgets being what they were back then – Z for Zachariah sees a young woman, Ann Burden (Pippa Hinchley), survive a nuclear war by virtue of living in a small valley with a self-contained weather system. At first believing she’s the only survivor, her lonely existence is eventually ended when a scientist, John Loomis (Anthony Andrews), arrives. The rest of the play details the changing, deteriorating relationship between the two (no, no spoilers).

As you might imagine, it’s not a cheery affair and with only a TV drama budget to work on and with its relocation from the US, it’s not entirely convincing. But as was common with many of the tales of misery from the 80s, it’s powerful stuff. Unfortunately, it’s not available on DVD, but you can watch it below on YouTube, you lucky people. Enjoy!

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Doctor Who – Asylum of the Daleks: a teaser trailer

20 August 2012 Rob Buckley Post a comment

If you want details, highlight the text to reveal it (SPOILER ALERT) Kidnapped by his oldest foe, the Doctor is forced on an impossible mission – to a place even the Daleks are too terrified to enter… the Asylum. A planetary prison confining the most terrifying and insane of their kind, the Doctor and the Ponds must find an escape route. But with Amy and Rory’s relationship in meltdown, and an army of mad Daleks closing in, it is up to the Doctor to save their lives, as well as the Pond’s marriage. Otherwise, look at the lovely pictures.