Every so often, TMINE flags up what new TV events the Royal Television Society is holding around the UK
Do you know, I think the RTS is now doing more events than it was pre-COVID? How fascinating. Here’s the latest Zoom webinar.
TV’s Global Game
Date: Thursday 2 July Timings: 2pm-3pm
Ever wonder what makes the TV industry global?
How do our favourite gameshows and dramas make their way on to screens all around the world? Well, behind every TV mega-hit there’s a distribution team who have orchestrated the success and turned them into worldwide brands. And at every broadcaster, a team of acquisitions experts select the best shows to buy or invest in.
In this webinar, leading figures in the UK lift the lid on how TV’s global game is played and how you can find your way in.
An occasional look at what classic TV shows Talking Pictures (Sky 328 | Freeview 81 | Freesat 306 | Virgin 445) is going to be airing soon
Two interesting TV shows are lurking in the (very thick) Talking Pictures schedules in July. And on Tuesday 21 July, Overseas Press Club will be joining them at 5.30am
Bognor
An obvious highlight that starts on Tuesday 21st July at 5am is Bognor, a 1981 ITV series starring David Horovitch.
Based on the cult mystery novels by author, journalist and royal biographer Tim Heald, the light-hearted whodunits star David Horovitch as a bungling but diligent Department of Trade investigator. Featuring guest performances from Patrick Troughton, John Le Mesurier, Glynis Barber, Peter Jeffrey and Elizabeth Spriggs, it only ran to four stories: Unbecoming Habits, Deadline, Let Sleeping Dogs Die and Just Desserts. However, each of those stories ran over six half-hour episodes.
It’s not the first time it’s been on Talking Pictures, but returning on Sunday 12 July at 8.10pm is The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, a 1971-1973 ITV show. The anthology show consisted of 26 adaptations of often-forgotten detective stories written at the same time as Conan Doyle was writing the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Detectives featured included Dr John Thorndyke (played by John Neville and Barrie Ingham), Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados (Robert Stephens), Baroness Orczy’s Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (Elvi Hale) and Polly Burton (Judy Geeson), and Thomas Carnacki, William Hope Hodgson’s occult detective, played by none other than Donald Pleasence.
Crikey, as I always say, shortly after posting an image that was considered high resolution in 2005 – how did that happen?
Time has flown again. The Medium Is Not Enough emerged blinking into the world on 21 June 2005, which is now a stupefying one and a half decades ago – 15 whole Earth years – primed to make sarcastic comments about UK and foreign TV, mainly from the US, mainly in languages I can speak, with reviews of Prison Break, Supernatural, and Global Frequency.
Jesus. I might actually have been moderately young then. Although the fact I consider that young probably suggests I’m quite old now.
This year in review
This year has been odd, I think it’s fair to say. This isn’t TMINE’s fault. There’s just been this worldwide pandemic. That means that TMINE’s 15th anniversary hasn’t been as glorious as I’d have liked.
It’s fair to say that for the average person, furloughed at home and with nowt to do but watch Netflix and the newly launched Disney+, this time has brought a boom in TV viewing. But for those of us still working but without an hour-long commute in the morning, an hour-long solo lunchbreak and an hour-long commute in the evening – as well as less ironing to do – it’s severely affected our ability to watch TV.
COVID-19 has also affected people’s ability to make TV. That’s meant there’s been less and less TV for TMINE review, with even less in the near future.
Oddly, though, it seems largely to have affected those currently making TV; those who used to make TV but have stopped have ended up making TV again. We’ve had all manner of charity read-throughs from long-dead shows such as Chuck, Community and even The Nanny, as well as new episodes of old shows including 30 Rock (coming soon, folks) and Parks and Recreation.
Still, necessity has been the mother of invention, and many organisations have started the move to online working and events, with the BFI, RTS and BAFTA all shifting to webinars. And TMINE has launched both a new Viral Video category as well as a replacement movie review service – Covideodrome – to cater for the fact the cinemas are all shut, too.
Hopefully, you all still find it useful and entertaining, both new and old features alike.
All the same despite these adjustments, I don’t know about you but I can’t wait until everything’s back to normal.
Thank you!
As always, a great big thank you to all the hardcore regular TMINE commenters: Mark Carroll, JustStark, Adam Bowie and Craig Grannell. Bless your hearts for sticking with me all this time! Thank yous as well to the commenters on the TMINE Facebook page.
But thank yous as well to anyone who’s left even one comment this year, either here or on Facebook – it’s been great to hear from you!
Same time next year everyone? I say that every year, don’t I? Anyway, there’ll be cake, albeit the same photo of a cake as last year, so bring your friends.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Previously on TMINE
The lack of new (and watchable) TV, as well as continuing lockdown, means it’s been a slow week for TMINE.
I did shoot through a mighty list of Disney movies for Covideodrome on Wednesday, but that was it. Sorry! I’ll do better this week.
A Greek Odyssey with Bettany Hughes
What TMINE has been watching
I’ve got one episode further into season 3 of Baron Noir; I also started on season 2 of Das Boot. But that was it for scripted. I will finish them at some point. Although I said that about the third season of Babylon Berlin and look what happened there; Das Boot wasn’t too inspiring, either, and didn’t make me think, “Ooh, I must watch the rest of this immediately.”
I’ve been watching a tad more in the unscripted realm. A Greek Odyssey with Bettany Hughes (which confusingly is also called Greek Island Odyssey) is on Fridays on 5 and is about 50% travelog, as our Bettany goes from island to island and samples local food and customs, 50% historical piece as she visits museums and archaeological sites, tying them into Odysseus’ return home from the Trojan War.
It is, of course, fine and engaging, but the level of artifice is slightly annoying. Bettany’s faux pretence to be surprised at everything, even the basics, grates after a while, particularly when she forgets and says things like “I’m so pleased it’s a kylix.” Similarly, her level of Greek (for someone who regularly spends time in Athens, has been visiting since the 80s, etc) is oddly basic, even on things that she’s been good at in other episodes. Until she forgets and is good again.
The editing is also a little strange. In the latest episode, as she supposedly retraces Odysseus’ journey home from Turkey to Ithaca, she first hits Delos, then heads to Ikaria, then heads for Mykonos – even though the only real way to get to Delos is on a boat from Mykonos. Yep, it’s all been reordered.
Sure. You’d go to Delos, then Ikaria, then Mykonos, wouldn’t you?
That said, it’s great to watch and there’s some good archaeology, if you can overlook the dumbing down for 5. It’s also several hundred miles better than Joanna Lumley’s similar effort.
Matthew Rhys in Perry Mason
Next on TMINE
Movies-wise, we tucked into Bad Boys For Life (2019) over the weekend, so that’ll be this week’s Covideodrome. Airing last night was Perry Mason (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic). But that’s about it for new shows.
Fortunately, returning this week are old regulars Doom Patrol (US: HBO Max; UK: StarzPlay), Dark (Netflix) and The Twilight Zone (US: CBS All Access; UK: Syfy), so at least there’ll be something to watch.
After the jump…
After the jump, the latest episode of Stargirl gets a review. Is that it? No, because Condor (US: Audience; UK: Universal) came back with three whole episodes for me to talk about.
