Watching Bodyguard and writing
Aug. 27th, 2018 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessBodyguard episode 1
Excellent, tense opening, introducing us to David Budd, police officer, ex-serviceman, coming across a terrorist incident when he was off-duty on a train with his kids. He seemed like the good guy, doing the right thing – talking down the wife of the coward who wanted her to blow herself up, and not letting her be shot dead as procedure would dictate.
One of the striking things about this sequence was that all the officers with lines were women – the team leader who came up to them, the sniper and the explosives officer. Oh, and the train guard was female. I’m curious as to whether this was to boost diversity (the woman in authority was black), to act as contrast to Budd, or whether another intent lay behind the decision. It was certainly different.
For his heroism, David was given the job of being bodyguard to Home Secretary Julia Montague (REALLY? That’s the name you give a character in a show like this?)
By this point, we knew that David the hero was troubled (PTSD from his time in service) and not living with the mother of his children because he was self-medicating with booze. Richard Madden was very good, and when he was conveying David feeling tension it really came through in his physicality.
The ever-excellent Keeley Hawes played Montague, a bit of a self-admitted cow, ambitious, busy, put out by her protection officer’s requests, and with a pro-action in Iraq and Afghanistan voting record. Unapologetic about it, and so we have a bodyguard who may be the greatest danger to the person he’s meant to be protecting…DUN DUN DUN.
I snorted at the threat level being moderate – since when? And, as I’ve been muttering since the trailer aired, the chances of David living in the Home Sec’s constituency and thus being able to vote for her were slim. They used BBC reporters’ voices to add authenticity, although Andrew Marr overacted as himself in the TV interview.
I did wonder how long the series is meant to last, because I don’t know how long the story can sustain itself without major twists – the only subplot seemed to involve the sacked aide meeting with the unimpressed reporter - but I’ll watch the next ep tonight.
As for the Beeb's other autumn dramas, quickly trailed, I think I'll need to know more about them.
Yesterday, I posted Audition Managed. Harry Potter. Universal. Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter. 700 words. Non-magical AU.
Summary: Hermione approaches auditioning for a film role very differently to how Ron and Harry do.
I saw the prompt on Thursday, got the idea of how very different Hermione’s approach would be to the other two’s and wrote a draft. You were supposed to write your fill in multiples of 100, which was always a consideration with the editing. I came back to it on Sunday. There’s inevitably some meta because of the nature of the AU - kids filming an adapation of a beloved children's book! But I really tried to focus on Hermione (and the ‘what if it had been HARRIET Potter’ idea) and not, say, what I think of certain people’s acting.
I am also working on Gotham fic and a project that was started years ago.
Excellent, tense opening, introducing us to David Budd, police officer, ex-serviceman, coming across a terrorist incident when he was off-duty on a train with his kids. He seemed like the good guy, doing the right thing – talking down the wife of the coward who wanted her to blow herself up, and not letting her be shot dead as procedure would dictate.
One of the striking things about this sequence was that all the officers with lines were women – the team leader who came up to them, the sniper and the explosives officer. Oh, and the train guard was female. I’m curious as to whether this was to boost diversity (the woman in authority was black), to act as contrast to Budd, or whether another intent lay behind the decision. It was certainly different.
For his heroism, David was given the job of being bodyguard to Home Secretary Julia Montague (REALLY? That’s the name you give a character in a show like this?)
By this point, we knew that David the hero was troubled (PTSD from his time in service) and not living with the mother of his children because he was self-medicating with booze. Richard Madden was very good, and when he was conveying David feeling tension it really came through in his physicality.
The ever-excellent Keeley Hawes played Montague, a bit of a self-admitted cow, ambitious, busy, put out by her protection officer’s requests, and with a pro-action in Iraq and Afghanistan voting record. Unapologetic about it, and so we have a bodyguard who may be the greatest danger to the person he’s meant to be protecting…DUN DUN DUN.
I snorted at the threat level being moderate – since when? And, as I’ve been muttering since the trailer aired, the chances of David living in the Home Sec’s constituency and thus being able to vote for her were slim. They used BBC reporters’ voices to add authenticity, although Andrew Marr overacted as himself in the TV interview.
I did wonder how long the series is meant to last, because I don’t know how long the story can sustain itself without major twists – the only subplot seemed to involve the sacked aide meeting with the unimpressed reporter - but I’ll watch the next ep tonight.
As for the Beeb's other autumn dramas, quickly trailed, I think I'll need to know more about them.
Yesterday, I posted Audition Managed. Harry Potter. Universal. Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter. 700 words. Non-magical AU.
Summary: Hermione approaches auditioning for a film role very differently to how Ron and Harry do.
I saw the prompt on Thursday, got the idea of how very different Hermione’s approach would be to the other two’s and wrote a draft. You were supposed to write your fill in multiples of 100, which was always a consideration with the editing. I came back to it on Sunday. There’s inevitably some meta because of the nature of the AU - kids filming an adapation of a beloved children's book! But I really tried to focus on Hermione (and the ‘what if it had been HARRIET Potter’ idea) and not, say, what I think of certain people’s acting.
I am also working on Gotham fic and a project that was started years ago.
