The Road to Nowhere

The brief spat between the LSE and the BBC over ethics should not detract from John Sweeney's secret-camera footage of North Korea on 'Panorama' (BBC1). Sweeney was accompanied limpet-style by his official North Korean guides - North Korea is a nightmare of a failed political entity, where famine is endemic and forced labour camps punish dissidents and non-dissident alike. It is also a country where electricity is a luxury, a fucked up, Star Trek anti-utopia of a polity, where the Kims rule like Gods and their people are fed an Orwellian diet of News Speak. It is, in short, Hell on Earth. While those with even a passing familiarity with the nature of the regime will have learnt nothing new, the footage will have been a welcome addition to the knowledge of those not au fait with what goes on in this closed state. Sweeney was brought to Hospital where there were no patients and some of us were hoping for a 'Scientology' type explosion from him, but the circumstances were just too pathetic for that. His trip to a Library allowed him to ask the immortal question as to whether they had '1984' in stock, and of course, they didn't. It would also be funny if it just weren't so tragic. 'Panorama' is hitting the mark again; it could do with being 45 minutes or an hour long but still can be a must-see.

Royally Unwell

Television loves many things, among which are looks, smarts and eccentricities. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, has all three in spades and her brief series, 'Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History' was both entertaining and informative, and looked at how malady and monarchy have coincided over the years. While examining more celebrated instances such as the madness of King George, Worsley was particularly good at focusing those figures forgotten or over-looked. Poor Queen Anne (1665 to 1714). Such was the expectation of bearing an heir and a spare, Anne endured 17 pregnancies, with only one son being born, William, and he lived to be only eleven years of age. While 'thetvreviewguy' would be a Republican at heart but at the same time, found the programme fascinating, principally for the reminder of just how far we have come on in medicine and life expectancy over the last four centuries. Lucy Worsley is a charming host, bringing the viewer on a quasi-guided tour of royal illness and this was good, solid television, probably more BBC 4 oriented, but well-suited to a BBC2 slot also. While some more shallow viewers (like 'thetvreviewguy'?) may have been partially drawn into watching for Ms Worsley's 'Posh Totty' status, she is an accomplished Historian and confident Presenter, a welcome addition to the telly game...a Princess among Women.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Can we survive a mega-tsunami? Such was the question asked on BBC2 in an eponymous programme. The territory is not new: a gigantic rock slide in the Canaries - think half of an island collapsing post earth-quake, leading to a calamitous series of tidal waves travelling up to Britain and Ireland and across the Atlantic. The diagnosis wasn't good; while not the 'Global Killer' scenario beloved by Disaster Movies, it would lead to tens of thousands of deaths and huge displacement of social and economic activity, i.e. everyday life. Most of the Caribbean would be devastated by 10-30 metre waves, there would be, in Disaster Movie Lingo, no hiding place. Sharp use of graphics and actual tsunami footage mad for a powerful, if grim, look at the Sum of All Fears (done it again there 'tvreviewguy'). The thought of having no-where to run is indeed a chilling one. The various featured Boffins posited that much of the US Eastern Seaboard would be swept away with very little warning time for evacuation (maybe as little as 2-4 hours). In some ways, you can't plan for such an event and just have to accept it as a risk and try not to think about it. We are due such an event in the next few hundred to thousands of years, or tomorrow - who knows, humans may be living on Mars or still stuck on our vulnerable planet. Either way, it won't be fun to be around for.

Breaking Good

'Breaking Bad' shouldn't have been that successful. Who really wants to watch a programme about a middle aged Chemistry Teacher and a former stoner student of his 'cooking' crystal meth? Yet it  works. The series has us constantly coming back to moral dilemmas, brilliant writing and the bad luck of the key characters which seems to be forever 'breaking bad'. Bryan Cranston plays Walter White as a tortured soul, trying to fund his cancer treatment and keep his family on the road by going into the drugs trade. You already have a classic writing archetype right there; 'fish out of water'. Aaron Paul is superb as his dipshit but usually likeable accomplice, Jesse Pinkman. Anna Gunn, as White's wife Skyler, is a strong female character, doing her best in recessionary America, coping with her Husband's cancer and here son's cerebal palsy. New Mexico is an uncredited star in the series; the scenery is stunning, and the frontier wilderness symbolises the unchartered territory White now has to walk down. There is humour, violence, tenderness, great characterisation and some excellent dialogue. If the extended TV Series Arc is the new 'Movie', 'Breaking Bad' can righteously be said to take its place in this canon. But the real find for 'thetvreviewguy' so far is Bob Odenkirk as the seedy, corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman (again, great use of surnames by the writers); worth watching 'Breaking Bad' just for him alone.