New show and bits and bobs
Nov. 18th, 2017 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessGave the first episode of ‘Love, Lies and Records’ a whirl – sorry, it’s not those kinds of records. The setting of the registrar’s office, where people register births, marriages and deaths is a rich one for drama and feels, although the show is as much about its main character’s personal life and office politics as what the registrars do. It’s not quite the sort of thing I normally watch (remember how I got tired of Last Tango in Halifax?) but the big draw is the cast.
Ashley Jensen plays Kate, and does a beautiful of job of making her sympathetic. She’s empathetic with staff and colleagues, but from this first episode, which is all one (sunny, so there was a sense of warmth to everything from that) day, has a lot on her plate. And she’s not perfect, willing to bend some rules, some of which probably shouldn’t be messed with. Meanwhile Judy is gutted to be passed over for a promotion (something the rest of the staff were clearly relieved by) and has blackmail material from one of the times Kate did break a rule. And this blackmailer is played by Rebecca Front, so that’s magnificent, although I suspect her characters isn’t going to get many more layers.
Kate has a husband who is actually a partner (Brian from Teachers!) and a blended family of grousy teenagers and young people. I liked his character from the second he said that she should have said the coffee was running low and he’d have brought some. Although the point is, dude, if you can’t abide instant, you look ahead about your precious coffee instead of depending on the woman on the house to do that. But he wasn’t as bad as I first thought and was shown to be increasingly lovely, as we learned that Kate had been unfaithful with her good-looking male colleague. (See blackmail.)
The whole thing with the baby whose mother gave birth to him in the hospice and the hasty wedding there was the crux of the episode. I was a bit more sarky about the colleague who came out as transitioning into being a woman (even if he wasn’t that explicit) because it just feels like jumping on the bandwagon late, as the bandwagon has been going for 18 months or more. And the timing of when this was written and filmed is interesting, because one of the plot points that looks as if it will run is an EU national (Slovenian) who looks like she’s being forced into a sham marriage by a dodgy gang. Brexit colours that, rather. (I felt vindicated when it turned out the interpreter was in on it, because she was so unprofessional.)
May stick with it, don’t know how long, because I do find the contrast between Jenny cooing over babies and being taken for granted by her teenagers mildly amusing, so I’m probably more of a cold fish than the kind of person who would love this show. [Edited because I got character names wrong.]
Dear Justice League,
I will get around to seeing you, honest. But there’s so much counter-programming to keep up with!
Dear World,
Try not to spoil me (I know the most important thing: that there will be a Wonder Woman 2, but still).
shallowness
And I dipped out of Children in Need, but I did get to see the Strictly bit (not sure about the juxtaposition of a charity for paraplegics with Strictly does Children in Need, myself). Outfits-wise, Tess was in a metallic jumpsuit that was less good than what she’d worn on her CiN slot. Also she’s going to be hoarse tonight. Claudia was in a black dress, of course, and we never saw Darcey and Shirley’s full outfits, but they were in colours. I thought Diane-Louise Jordan had the best kicks and flicks, myself, but most other people had lifts, (in a jive, but it was Blue Peter does Strictly does Children in Need) and Tim Vincent was easily the worse dancer on stage. But as I was left really wanting Mark Curry to be on next year’s Strictly, so much more so than the inevitable Eamonn Holmes, I was quite pleased that he won.
And then Poldark did Children in Need – the idea of which had boggled my mind, but it turned out that the show invited four superfans who work with children for a day on set, where the actors showed them around. Aiden Turner put up with being lusted after for charity and they were dressed up as extras. Eventually the one with anachronistic glasses took them off and we saw Pudsey in a tricorn.
Ashley Jensen plays Kate, and does a beautiful of job of making her sympathetic. She’s empathetic with staff and colleagues, but from this first episode, which is all one (sunny, so there was a sense of warmth to everything from that) day, has a lot on her plate. And she’s not perfect, willing to bend some rules, some of which probably shouldn’t be messed with. Meanwhile Judy is gutted to be passed over for a promotion (something the rest of the staff were clearly relieved by) and has blackmail material from one of the times Kate did break a rule. And this blackmailer is played by Rebecca Front, so that’s magnificent, although I suspect her characters isn’t going to get many more layers.
Kate has a husband who is actually a partner (Brian from Teachers!) and a blended family of grousy teenagers and young people. I liked his character from the second he said that she should have said the coffee was running low and he’d have brought some. Although the point is, dude, if you can’t abide instant, you look ahead about your precious coffee instead of depending on the woman on the house to do that. But he wasn’t as bad as I first thought and was shown to be increasingly lovely, as we learned that Kate had been unfaithful with her good-looking male colleague. (See blackmail.)
The whole thing with the baby whose mother gave birth to him in the hospice and the hasty wedding there was the crux of the episode. I was a bit more sarky about the colleague who came out as transitioning into being a woman (even if he wasn’t that explicit) because it just feels like jumping on the bandwagon late, as the bandwagon has been going for 18 months or more. And the timing of when this was written and filmed is interesting, because one of the plot points that looks as if it will run is an EU national (Slovenian) who looks like she’s being forced into a sham marriage by a dodgy gang. Brexit colours that, rather. (I felt vindicated when it turned out the interpreter was in on it, because she was so unprofessional.)
May stick with it, don’t know how long, because I do find the contrast between Jenny cooing over babies and being taken for granted by her teenagers mildly amusing, so I’m probably more of a cold fish than the kind of person who would love this show. [Edited because I got character names wrong.]
Dear Justice League,
I will get around to seeing you, honest. But there’s so much counter-programming to keep up with!
Dear World,
Try not to spoil me (I know the most important thing: that there will be a Wonder Woman 2, but still).
shallowness
And I dipped out of Children in Need, but I did get to see the Strictly bit (not sure about the juxtaposition of a charity for paraplegics with Strictly does Children in Need, myself). Outfits-wise, Tess was in a metallic jumpsuit that was less good than what she’d worn on her CiN slot. Also she’s going to be hoarse tonight. Claudia was in a black dress, of course, and we never saw Darcey and Shirley’s full outfits, but they were in colours. I thought Diane-Louise Jordan had the best kicks and flicks, myself, but most other people had lifts, (in a jive, but it was Blue Peter does Strictly does Children in Need) and Tim Vincent was easily the worse dancer on stage. But as I was left really wanting Mark Curry to be on next year’s Strictly, so much more so than the inevitable Eamonn Holmes, I was quite pleased that he won.
And then Poldark did Children in Need – the idea of which had boggled my mind, but it turned out that the show invited four superfans who work with children for a day on set, where the actors showed them around. Aiden Turner put up with being lusted after for charity and they were dressed up as extras. Eventually the one with anachronistic glasses took them off and we saw Pudsey in a tricorn.
