#22 Summer’s Lease
22/07/20 09:51
In the last week, the evenings have shortened in various ways. Firstly, since the solstice, we’re sliding away from the light, a couple of minutes shaved off each night, inching us towards Christmas. Yes, Christmas. I said it; get over it. I’m happy looking ahead, because it’s the ‘school’ ‘holidays’, and frankly, the quicker time’s rollercoaster nudges us up this crest, and over into the Autumn term, the better. That’s the other reason the evenings are shorter – now ‘school’ has finished, the kids are pushing the boundaries of bedtime, often carousing in their bunks well after nine. Since I generally cease to function after 10pm, this doesn’t leave much time for TV viewing, so I’ve been squeezing it in where I can. I watched the last episode of I May Destroy You, a mind-bendingly fine finale which reinforced my view that Michaela Coel is a genius. You know that little huff she did in the opening episode, when she had the first flashback? There’s another one right at the end, when she’s banished her demons, and it pretty much blew me away.
Another TV nugget I’ve been nibbling away at is Staged. This is the BBC’s lockdown comedy, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, or Michael Sheen and David Tennant, depending on which billing they’re given. They play themselves, and the idea is that while the theatrical production they were supposed to be performing in has been put on hold, due to Covid, their director persuades them to carry on rehearsing online. So, we see them zooming each other, ribbing each other, and being ever-so-slightly upstaged by their young, blonde, beautiful and witty wives.
In theory, watching two middle-aged white men have a self-indulgent riff in their nice houses might have been off-putting, but they’re both so likeable, and their relationship so spikily affectionate, that I simply found it heartwarming. Some have compared the series to The Trip, but while they share similarities, David and Michael’s banter has an undercurrent of amiability which isn’t so evident in Steve and Rob’s barbed exchanges. More, their duologues reminded me of Alas Smith and Jones’ head to heads, which I always recall as cheery, underpinned by a thread of fondness between them.
Staged is just six episodes, fifteen minutes each, a kind of televisual amuse-bouche before you crack on with a meaty murder series, or indeed forget the small screen and fall thankfully into bed by nine-thirty. It’s not even dark by then, but will be soon, as the evenings shorten. It’ll be Christmas before you know it.
I May Destroy You, Staged, The Trip, Alas Smith and Jones… BBC shows, through the years, knocking it out the park. I’d happily pay my license fee this year for the pleasure of the first two alone. There’s a lot of fuss at the moment, since Auntie is set to end free TV licenses for over-75s in August, having delayed the plan due to the coronavirus crisis. Many are up in arms about the move, as if programme-makers are personally raiding the dwindling pension pots of poor old folk who fought for us in the war. But the responsibility lies with the government, who stopped the revenue top-up which was necessary to fund the perk in the first place. As with so many things, if you want to blame someone, blame the Tories, who could use Michaela Coel’s title as one of their manifesto pledges. Don’t blame the BBC, which, while it has its faults, gives us such glorious, diverse and generous opportunities for entertainment and enrichment in these dark times.
Sorry for the rant; it’s the ‘school’ ‘holidays’, and my fuse is shortening, along with the days.
Another TV nugget I’ve been nibbling away at is Staged. This is the BBC’s lockdown comedy, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, or Michael Sheen and David Tennant, depending on which billing they’re given. They play themselves, and the idea is that while the theatrical production they were supposed to be performing in has been put on hold, due to Covid, their director persuades them to carry on rehearsing online. So, we see them zooming each other, ribbing each other, and being ever-so-slightly upstaged by their young, blonde, beautiful and witty wives.
In theory, watching two middle-aged white men have a self-indulgent riff in their nice houses might have been off-putting, but they’re both so likeable, and their relationship so spikily affectionate, that I simply found it heartwarming. Some have compared the series to The Trip, but while they share similarities, David and Michael’s banter has an undercurrent of amiability which isn’t so evident in Steve and Rob’s barbed exchanges. More, their duologues reminded me of Alas Smith and Jones’ head to heads, which I always recall as cheery, underpinned by a thread of fondness between them.
Staged is just six episodes, fifteen minutes each, a kind of televisual amuse-bouche before you crack on with a meaty murder series, or indeed forget the small screen and fall thankfully into bed by nine-thirty. It’s not even dark by then, but will be soon, as the evenings shorten. It’ll be Christmas before you know it.
I May Destroy You, Staged, The Trip, Alas Smith and Jones… BBC shows, through the years, knocking it out the park. I’d happily pay my license fee this year for the pleasure of the first two alone. There’s a lot of fuss at the moment, since Auntie is set to end free TV licenses for over-75s in August, having delayed the plan due to the coronavirus crisis. Many are up in arms about the move, as if programme-makers are personally raiding the dwindling pension pots of poor old folk who fought for us in the war. But the responsibility lies with the government, who stopped the revenue top-up which was necessary to fund the perk in the first place. As with so many things, if you want to blame someone, blame the Tories, who could use Michaela Coel’s title as one of their manifesto pledges. Don’t blame the BBC, which, while it has its faults, gives us such glorious, diverse and generous opportunities for entertainment and enrichment in these dark times.
Sorry for the rant; it’s the ‘school’ ‘holidays’, and my fuse is shortening, along with the days.
- I May Destroy You – 12 episodes, BBC One
- Staged – 6 episodes, BBC One
- The Trip – first two series, BBC Two
- Alas Smith and Jones – four series, BBC Two
