Just the Ticket

Buses...they get us from routes A-Z, we love them, we hate them, but,if you're stuck with public transport, we can't do without them. 'The Route Masters...Running London's Roads' (BBC2) looked at the Bus network in London. Similar to a to a slew of transport fly-on-the-wall documentaries, this was a nostalgic, informative and, at times, moving look at the lives of the drivers, controllers, managers and some of the passengers that try to get from Home to Work and Back Again on a daily basis. It worked as a documentary as it allowed the subjects and participants to speak for themselves; the portraits rang true instead of seeming patronising or staged. So whether it's the retired merchant banker that now drives a bus., the daughter continuing in her father's footsteps as a driver or the retirees, talking of the glory days of conductors and being able to nip of the back of the bus for some shopping, all the tales added to a warm fuzzy of a joint enterprise (not the reality though of being stuck on the top floor with a sod-casting violent yob). There wasn't really a golden age, however, as forty years ago, a huge amount of the Routemasters ran late - now, computerisation makes control of traffic flow a lot easier, but certainly not easy. These are enjoyable little social histories of Britain, and this is ethnographic television that will be looked on with the same nostalgic glow sixty years from now as we look on some 60s and 70s period pieces now. Worth waiting for.

What Did The Greeks Ever Do For Us?

The Greeks, just like the Romans, have given us an awful lot. But so have television programmes about them and 'Who Were The Greeks? (BBC2) presented by Dr Michael Scott discoursed on ground so covered that its threadbare. So how do you make this stuff new? You can't. But you can
let the material speak for itself and Scott did a great job of re-hashing the facts about Athens, classical architecture, drama and philosophy in only an hour. Surely anyone who watches BBC2 knows about Socrates by now? How, (in a pre-Christian) reality as allegory, he was put to death for standing up for his beliefs? Maybe some don't - so we got another telling of the tale. The film-pieces in Athens were of particular interest to 'thetvreviewguy' having been on the Acropolis less than two years ago and having been suitably impressed. Greece might be going through the wringer now, but the history and literature of Classical Athens is still breath-taking. We even got a re-cap on the original Olympic Games which were anything but 'sporting' as we could understand the concept today. Dr Scott did a more than competent, highlighting, again, how Greek sculptures were not the monochrome marble art works we see then as now but were coloured and this made a huge difference to the aesthetics of the pieces. A good History about Greeks, for all, not just geeks.

Out for the Count

'Count Arthur Strong' (BBC2) is one of the funnier comedies this Summer. Co-written by Fr Ted author Graham Linehan, its an adaptation from that bastion of quality, BBC Radio 4 (where it was originally authored by Steve Delaney, who plays the epponymous 'Count'). As laugh out loud family comedies go, this is really up there (yes, this may not be a category festooned with original offerings but give this show a chance and you will have a laugh). The 'Count' is a retired 1970s TV half of a double act who forgets things. Not only does he forget things, he...eh..uhm...where was I? Ah yes...Arthur Strong...the setting has moved from Doncaster to London...and Roy, sorry, RORY Kinnear is the amiable Sancho Panza. This week's episode, where Arthur tries to learn the Internet and ends up as a 'troll' within ten minutes had this reviewer really enjoying the craft on display from the actors and writers. This is gentle, affectionate, yet clever character-based comedy - just been commissioned for a second series - is full of, er, uhm, great, eh, diversions and whimsy - an Ice Cream Van that doesn't sell Ice Cream but is to hook peple into Jack the Ripper Tours, who Arthur thinks did all the killings in Balham. There's an art to adaptations and this one has 'thetvreviewguy' rushing back to listen to as many of the radio shows as he can. This is a silly programme, sometimes extremely silly, and all the better for it. Arthur is a brilliant comedic creation and this show is well worth a look.