Tellyspotting

In what could have been a scene right out of a Blackadder V pitch to the head of BBC Light Entertainment, the seventh century village of Oxfordshire came close to exhibiting their best imitation of the Dibley Town Council recently. Over the last several months, plans by the actor and star of British comedy classics such as Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line surfaced which detailed his desire to demolish his current 1930’s mansion called Handsmooth House with an architecturally futuristic “petrol station” as described by several Oxfordshire neighbors. One of the top U.S. architects, Richard Meier, has designed the structure, which received backing from a number of the world’s leading architects.

While plans were objected to by the Ipsden Parish Council and several local planning officers, the approval was also not welcomed by neighbors who felt that “…money and fame have been used to bulldoze their way through the planning process. The decision on this monstrosity is outrageous and sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Upon receiving approval for his proposed project, Atkinson responded by saying to his fellow Oxfordhire and Ipsden neighbors: “I fully understand the concern of members of the community about change and the introduction of a contemporary design into sensitive countryside. I can promise them that they need have no fear.”

“It would be a terrible shame if people felt that there was no place in the countryside for modern design when what there should be no place for in the countryside is bad design. My belief is that this house could be part of a long English tradition of contemporary architecture in the countryside, examples of which have caused some concern when built but which are now highly protected listed buildings. I have lived in South Oxfordshire for 28 years and wish to continue to live here while grasping a unique opportunity to create something of real and lasting value.”

Works for me. Let’s hope the Ipsden Parish Council and South Oxfordshire District Council ultimately feel the same way.

Leave it to the great Richard Briers to be able to brilliantly put in to words what I have thought for a long time. With a resume that includes the British comedy classic, The Good Life, along with other notable series in both the British comedy and drama worlds such as Ever Decreasing Circles and Monarch of the Glen, he knows of what he speaks.

According to Briers, there is a danger that quality television drama is over given the meteoric rise of cheap television clogging the airwaves. Briers goes on to say that “…TV is full of cookery, gardening and reality shows that are suffocating new talent“.

While this is a very valid opinion, where or when does it end? Who’s to blame for this? The program commissioners at the network level, the program producers or the audience, whose appetite for these programs never ceases to amaze me? Is it the commissioners / producers / funders saying that they are providing television that has been demonstrated as being the type viewers want to see or are viewers watching more and more of the reality-based, unscripted programs because that’s all there is to watch.

Unfortunately, personal opinion is that the bottom-line is to blame. The reality-based, unscripted programs are cheaper to produce making for a better ROI than really good quality drama or any other genre for that matter. I can somewhat disagree with Briers on a very, very small point. While there may be a great number of the how-to genre for our own good, reality shows are the ones that people need to take aim at. Cooking and gardening can be entertaining, educational and intelligent. When you have shows such as Deal or No Deal, The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser, Shedding for the Wedding, Wife Swap or The Nanny, that’s where I see the divide between good and worthless television.

Agree? Disagree?

“Official” rumors from the BBC of a second series of the brilliant Steven Moffat / Mark Gatiss Sherlock series have been confirmed. This is really great news for people on both sides of the pond. For those in the UK, you know what’s coming with series one transmitting recently to both critical acclaim and strong audience numbers. For those in the U.S., when series one premieres on the 40th season of PBS’ Masterpiece series, you will relish the thought as soon as the three episodes are done (Oct 24, 31, Nov 7) that there will be more to come.

Benedict Cumberbatch returns in the title role as does Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson. In very cryptic ‘Sherlock’ fashion, comes this from co-creators, Moffat and Gatiss…“There’ll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two, or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?”

Not knowing the date, day or time for series two, I’m just setting the DVR now for Sherlock to be sure I don’t miss it. I can’t wait.  Don’t forget, Sherlock (series one) premieres on PBS beginning Sunday, October 24, 2010.

Temps are hitting mid-90’s so Summer’s at an end soon. Time for your last Summer/Fall Book Club assignment from a favorite in the British comedy world. First up was The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie, followed by The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry.

This week another great read by someone you may or may not know by name, but you definitely know his writing. All I really need to say is The Young Ones and Blackadder. But, add to that his writing for West End stage plays, a collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the stage and, then, the wildly successful musical, We Will Rock You featuring music by the rock band Queen. Then there’s the matter of 13 books over the years. But our recommendation for the end of summer is….

Popcorn by Ben Elton

Set in Hollywood, this is an exceptional crime drama that centers around the motion picture and television industry. A must read. Not only is it a book about the movies, but it is also an indictment of the movie industry. What I love is that it’s a great read, has a lot of tension throughout, but at the end of the book, you really want to be part of a book club so you can talk about it as it makes you think. Much more to the book than just the premise.

Full disclosure time: I resisted the temptation to list the all-time classic book by a English writer because I made a snap judgment that most of you had read this. If so, I’d suggest a re-read. If not, it’s the #1 book for your Fall Reading Club from Tellyspotting. I’m talking High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Great movie with John Cusack, but a brilliant book.

Anyone else have a book to add to the list?

Ever wonder what your favorite Britcom stars of yesteryear are doing these days? Well, you’re in luck if you’ve always wondered what the shorter Ronnie of The Two Ronnies is doing since the ‘good old days’ of classic British comedy. You may or may not remember Ronnie Corbett as the master of those priceless monologues delivered straight to camera each week. If not, you need to check some out. They are classic. If you know of Ronnie Corbett and are a fan, you no doubt know of his lifelong love of being in the kitchen.

Fast forward to the 21st century where if you love food AND British comedy, we’ve got something of a perfect storm for your television viewing pleasure. For those with access to the UK digital channel, Good Food, you can see the premiere of Ronnie Corbett’s Supper Club with special guest, Rob Brydon (Supernova, Gavin and Stacey, Rob Brydon Show). Billed as ‘part chat, part cookery, but a lot of fun’, the show plays upon Corbett’s fond memories and love of food and the kitchen. You might think his fondest memories center around his early days on The Frost Report where he spent time with the likes of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman or his years of working in tandem with the great Ronnie Barker. Corbett, himself, will say some of his favorite memories, especially of food, come from his childhood and “Mum’s Sunday pot roast lunches“.

To this day, I think one of his personal highlight achievements must have been when he was a guest on Gordon Ramsay’s F Word where he challenged Chef Ramsay to a cook-off. No spoiler alert here, you’ll have to watch to see who wins. Insert a “strong language word of warning” here, the show is titled Gordon Ramsay’s F Word, after all.

Forget SAT scores. His admission application reads like no other that has entered the hallowed halls of MIT. He’s regenerated 10 times, which means he’s been near death that many times. He travels through time and space in a time machine, the Time And Relative Dimension (s) in Space (TARDIS). He has two hearts, otherwise known as a “binary vascular system” and, should he get shot, can go into a self-induced coma by virtue of a small nerve cluster in his left shoulder that controls motor functions.

However, what really attracted MIT admissions to this individual known as “The Doctor”, was his extra-curricular activities where he explores the universe at random, using his extensive knowledge of science, technology and history (from his perspective) to avert whatever crisis he encounters unless it is a fixed point in time and space. Beats a 1600 on the SAT’s any day.

Doctor Who, the new incoming freshman this Fall at MIT or just the annual prank of the hackers atop Building 10 at 77 Mass. Avenue.

The late, great Douglas Adams, whose best known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was brilliantly transformed into a short run British comedy television series, will have another classic adapted for the small screen. According to our friends at the British Comedy Guide, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, written by Adams in 1987, has been commissioned by BBC Four for broadcast. How can you go wrong with something described on the book cover as a “thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic“?

If you get a chance, hunt down the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Adams’ first two Dirk Gently novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, that were done in 2007-2008. The great Harry Enfield starred as Gently along with a very familiar name to the British comedy world, Andrew Sachs. This behind-the-scenes clip of the making of the radio series says it all.

Unfortunately, for all of us, Adams passed away at the way too early age of 49 before he was able to finish his third Dirk Gently novel, The Salmon of Doubt.

If the television version is anything close to the greatness of Hitchhiker’s Guide, it will be well worth the wait.

PBS’ brilliant Masterpiece series enters its 40th season in a few weeks with a stellar line-up of both familiar faces and newcomers. Sunday, October 3, on PBS stations nationwide will see the return of Kenneth Branagh in the role of police inspector, Kurt Wallander. Based on the novels of Swedish novelist, Henning Mankell, Branagh’s portrayal garnered not only critical acclaim, but was recognized with both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Branagh’s description of the Wallander begins with his describing the character os “an existentialist who is questioning what life is about and why he does what he does every day, and for whom acts of violence never become normal. There’s a level of empathy with the victims of crime that’s almost impossible to contain, and one of the prices he pays for that sort of empathy is a personal life that’s a kind of wasteland.”

Broadcast in the UK at the beginning of 2010, American viewers will get their opportunity beginning in October on PBS stations nationwide. For those on both sides of the pond, there is speculation that a third season has already been commissioned, although not confirmed.

Branagh, who is primarily known for his acclaimed work in numerous adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, has a long history of working on both sides of the camera with extensive director, writer and narrator credits to his resume. His brilliantly calculated portrayal of Wallander fits right in alongside the likes of Henry V, Hamlet, Ernest Shackleton, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, FDR and Victor Frankenstein. October 3, 10 and 17 on PBS. Put it on your calendar.

Whether you’ve been watching your favorite British comedy for years or you’re new to the game, it’s a genre that makes you laugh, makes you forget about both the week past or the week ahead and you appreciate the intelligence with which the writers, actors and production personnel go about their business to be the best. There’s no price tag that can be put on that laughter or smile.

British comedy, and Last of the Summer Wine, in particular, can fill another role in the television landscape and has filled it admirably for years. As the BBC’s Yasmeen Khan puts it, “…British comedy shows us that elderly people can still have fun“. According to Andrew Vine, journalist and author of a new book just out on the back story of the longest running sitcom in television history, LOTSW was a bit different from the likes of One Foot in the Grave, Dad’s Army, Royle Family or Only Fools and Horses in the overall characterization of the older generation.

“Suddenly it presented a positive image about older people; the characters refuse to accept that their age should be a limitation and that’s why the storylines can focus, for example, on the men attempting to use some ridiculous new invention with inevitable comedic consequences“, says Vine.

“Bill Owen maintained that the programme had helped to change attitudes towards older people, while director Alan JW Bell said they had many letters from older people saying how much the show had inspired them to get out and enjoy themselves.”

For my money, I’ll put Waiting for God in the same boat. Diana and Tom may have been two of the crankiest individuals to ever grace the entrance of Bayview Retirement Home, but their constant sense of enjoyment in finding ways to make life difficult for Harvey showed me that same quality present in Summer Wine.

There are those that could lay claim that The Stig, the name given to the ultimate racing car driver on BBC’s mega hit, Top Gear, the most illegally download program on the Internet, is actually the model for the television commercial world’s Most Interesting Man in the World. The fact that I’ve never seen them in the same place together at the same time, there could be some validity to that claim.

How much longer the mystery of The Stig remains is, well, a mystery. The combination of recent financial documents showing a link between Ben Collins, racing driver and James Bond stunt driver, and a recent legal battle between Collins and the BBC over his plans to reveal his identity in an upcoming autobiography have turned both the racing and television world on it’s end with the possibility of the seven-year mystery identity coming to an close. The BBC argues that secrecy is an essential element to the Stig’s role on the series.

Both the BBC and Collins, in true James Bond fashion, have disavowed any acknowledgment that the documents prove the identity of The Stig. For those that follow the series, this isn’t the first time that questions have surrounded the unmasking of his identity. Last year, F1 driver, Michael Schumacher was “outed” as The Stig, but it was later regarded as a hoax.

At this point, who knows. All I can say is, to me, he is the “Most Interesting Man in the World.” Who can argue with the following facts about The Stig:

• The Stig is convinced that clouds follow him
• If you knew what The Stig knows, you’d wake up screaming
• Only seven people have every looked The Stig straight in the eyes. No one knows where they are at this time.
• Every time someone in the world uses the word ‘mincemeat’, The Stig gets 25p
• Both his hearts have variable valve timing
• When he blinks, you can hear a noise like a camera shutter