New BBC sitcom pilot: Shush

6 October 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I’m going to be off watching The IT Crowd being filmed that day, but if you’re interested, this looks promising, given the talent behind it:

Shush

17 October, BBC Television Centre

We’d like to invite you along to see two of Britain’s top comedy actresses, Morwenna Banks (Saxondale, The Thick Of It, Absolutely) and Rebecca Front (Nighty Night, The Day Today, Knowing Me, Knowing You) joining forces in Shush, an absurd sitcom pilot set in an archaic library perpetually fighting the threat of closure.

Alice (Rebecca Front) a hopelessly romantic misfit and Snoo (Morwenna Banks) an indolent meddler are determined to prove to the library inspector Raff (Ben Willbond) that they can attract new readers and raise enough funds to save their library.

Meanwhile, Alice finally looks set to go on her dream date with Dean, the local porn-mag seller (Simon Greenall).

Produced by Armando Iannucci (I’m Alan Partridge, The Thick Of It, The Day Today) and written by Morwenna Banks, Rebecca Front and Arthur Mathews (Father Ted, Big Train).

The Cast also includes Michael Fenton-Stevens and Alex Macqueen.

Recording on Friday 17 October at BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London. Doors open at 7pm.

To apply for tickets, call the BBC Ticket Line on 0370 901 1227

Monday’s deeply implausible news

6 October 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Doctor Who

  • Deeply implausible Patrick Stewart rumour clearly made up by fans to see if The Sun would publish it

Film

  • Brandon Routh, Gil Bellows, Martin Donovan and Carrie-Anne Moss join Unthinkable
  • Under Siege 3. In space. With aliens. Hmm.

British TV

US TV

US TV

Review: Dirty Sexy Money 2×1

3 October 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Dirty Sexy Money

In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, ABC
In the UK: Channel 4, probably sometime in January if their acquisitions budget holds up

As we’ve found out already, the US writers’ strike has proved to be a boon creatively (if not ratingsly) for a host of shows. Heroes has come back refreshed, albeit daft as a brush as always; My Name is Earl is back on track, but still not desperately funny; and The Unit is vibrant and exciting again.

Other shows haven’t quite fared as well. Chuck‘s a little better, but is pretty much the same old, same old; while Life‘s intricate storyline is proving hard to get back into without sufficient incentive for the viewer.

Dirty Sexy Money is having similar issues. Last season, it was confused. It thought it was intelligent television and so needed to have a message – something like rich people aren’t to be envied since they’re messed up. But it never really could work out what its message was and got its head all confused, poor thing. The result was an extremely convoluted storyline of extreme silliness, involving bed-hopping, Catholic priests with illegitimate sons living in Brazil, politicians with transgender mistresses and murder.

Over the break, though, the writers have sat down, meditated, and decided they know what’s wrong. Screw intelligent TV, screw messages: let’s just have fun. And even more convoluted silly storylines.

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Friday’s German-touching news

3 October 2008 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Doctor Who

Film

Commercials

Theatre

German TV

British TV

US TV

Canadian TV

Review: The Border 2×1

2 October 2008 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

The Border

In Canada: Mondays, 9pm, CBC

Not so long ago, there was a writers’ strike in the US. Faced with the unthinkable prospect of watching British television, I decided to have a look at some of the programmes available from other countries – in particular, Canada. CBC’s The Border was one such programme and to my incredible surprise, it turned out not just to be a good programme “by Canadian standards”* but a good programme, full stop.

Seemingly intended not just to demonstrate that Canadians easily have what it takes to make good TV but to show that they’re not all the liberals stereotypes would have us believe, The Border is a cross between Spooks and 24, right down to the shaky cam, with Canada’s heroic Immigration and Customs Service (ICS) defending the country against all kinds of threats – all of which seem to be American or Muslim.

Although by no means the best action-thriller series ever made, it was reasonably clever, albeit a touch low budget, and didn’t dumb itself down like Flashpoint did to attract an international audience. The inter-departmental conflict with Canada’s CSIS – the country’s equivalent of MI6 and the CIA – was interesting, even if it was cast in strictly black and white terms, with CSIS boss John Bennett (Forever Knight) almost twirling a moustache during every appearance. And the usual conclusions to stories were a touch, ahem, Canadian, with the villains either misunderstood or American.

But now it’s back after just six month’s absence – it was that popular – and changes are afoot.

Continue reading “Review: The Border 2×1”