Cilla 2/3

[shallowness]

Another episode luxuriating in the period detail, still not doing much that’s very surprising, but bringing out the emotions. I was glad we saw Cilla’s mother singing and not merely bleating on about her daughter being good enough to get an office job. The patriarch got more, but his white slavery fears were funny. This biopic is what it is, you knew you were meant to roll with laughter at Bobby’s impatience at the religious sectarianism and being willing to pretend to be Protestant, but then Cilla’s father asks him, established to be a Liverpool FC man, to say he supports Everton and that is when he gulps. Har, har.

Take the last scene. As we followed Bobby when ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’ was being recorded, I was sitting there, sure that Cilla did have a hit with the song. While I wouldn’t ever try to go on Popmaster, I was sure of that. We moved on in time with the characters, then tiny little Cilla learned via the phonebox (yes kids, this strange lack of connectivity will chime with some viewers) that she was No. 1. And though I knew what followed was intentionally meant to give goosebumps, goosebumps is what I felt with the big voice, perfectly cued up, came out to perform the Big Ballad.

After all, much of the episode had been about Bobby rebuilding Cilla’s confidence after the disastrous stage meltdown of last episode – plenty for fans of lingering handholding, i.e. me, to enjoy – and though she still needed him in the studio for the first single, he wasn’t there this time because he didn’t like the idea of her singing a ballad, although the posh(er?) Southerners won that one. So, it was all her - her talent and her heart.

And even though I knew we were going to get the shot of Epstein and Martin exchanging a ‘By Jove, listen to her, we’ve got a hit on our hands’ look, and all the rest of it, it was an undeniable Moment. So, we ended, with the song still playing, returning to Bobby literally taking Cilla in his arms (in a ‘do you see how the actions fit the lyrics’ way) and them celebrating a No. 1 single in the days when it meant something, with 60s Liverpool in the background, a glorious ending.

Following Brian Epstein one night in London as he went to a gay club to pick up an intense one in the days when homosexuality was illegal compared and contrasted with Cilla’s innocence (clearly not having a clue that Bobby was talking in coded language about homosexuality), and in fact the innocence of her blossoming relationship with Bobby. He tried it on once, in terms of asking to come over to her room, got slapped down, probably knew he would and being okay with it. There’s a lovely tenderness to the playing, and I liked that Cilla realised she was miserable about seeing Bobby with someone else and fought for him to come along when bargaining for her contract with Epstein, so that it wasn’t lopsided, with Bobby always pining for Cilla.

I wonder what actual Liverpudlians make of the accents, and the depiction of their city. Well, I also wonder if actual Cilla has thoughts, but it's probably too weird for her to watch personally.