Rough Contrasts

The BBC have recently, as always, begun transmitting programmes which are in stark contrast of each other in terms of whether or not they're actually any good. Three of them will be examined here briefly: Faulks On Fiction, South Riding and Mrs Brown's Boys.

Faulks On Fiction and South Riding are both part of a year long celebration on the BBC of the written word, and both show that this season is full of immense promise. Though slightly rushed and selective, Faulks On Fiction was a wonderful mainstream prime time glimpse into what makes a story great, focusing on four separate characters: The Hero, The Lover, The Snob and The Villain. There were both obvious choices - Sherlock Holmes for Hero, Lady Chatterley for Lover, etc - and others that were perhaps not so obvious - James Bond as Snob. Sebastian Faulks, writer of some great works himself including the horrifying Birdsong and the utterly brilliant The Girl At The Lion D'Or, proved a winning presenter and guide through this world. The one drawback was that, though many famous literary figures were interviewed, the interviews for each were kept to two short snippets. Really, Faulks should have had either longer interviews or cut them all together. The programmes would have run slightly better that way. Nevertheless, it was still an entertaining and fascinating journey.

More satisfying still was Andrew Davis' three-part adaptation of South Riding, Winifred Hotlby's novel of a town in 1930's Northern England facing the Great Depression and great change. Davis concentrated more on the doomed potential romance between the two antagonists - the optimistic Sarah Burton, played by the excellent Anna Maxwell Martin, and the gruff land owner in debt Robert Carne, the dependable David Morrissey. Sadly, this decision to focus mainly on this storyline took the plot away from what could have been a fascinating portrayal of Northern England during this time. The final episode contained some rather obvious results after an admittedly surprising tragic twist, and the final five minutes did feel a little rushed. But the performances from all, in particular Martin and Penelope Wilton, ensured this was still an enjoyable piece of drama.

On completely the opposite side of both decency and taste is Mrs Brown's Boys, a so called sitcom which has become the latest in a long line of what this writer likes to call "Marmite TV", as it's popularity with some people is truly inexplicable. An always packed studio audience seem to enjoy it too, as Brendan O'Carroll drags up to play the title character, a filthy old Irish woman trying to interfere with her grown children's' lives. The scripts are a mess, drifting from broad humour to filthy innuendo to sudden attempts at pure drama. At one point Mrs Brown jokes with her daughter Cathy (Jennifer Gibney) about Cathy's ex-husband, then shocking reveals that she knows he used to beat her. It just doesn't work. At times, the episodes allow mistakes made by the actors to be shown, O'Carroll walking through the different sets in the studio at one point to pick up a handbag he left behind. These "mistakes" even look staged. Inexplicable.

Never mind, though, BBC - two out of three sure isn't bad. And with the return of the brilliant Waking The Dead this Sunday for it's final season, TV just gets better and better for the Beeb.