Lucy Lets Loose

Readers of this blog, and there are some, will know of this writer’s affection for Dr Lucy Worsley, History and the BBC’s Lord Peter Wimsey jolly super girl. She’s back again on BBC Four presenting the intriguingly entitled ‘Harlots, Housewives and Heroines’ and a spiffing programme it is too. From salons in France to barrows in London, we surveyed the 1660s and the Restoration. Dr Lucy, for ‘thetvreviewguy’ shall be calling her that from hereon in, looked at the lot of women in Charles II’s time – and if, gentle womenfolk, you were one of his Mistresses, then your lot in life was pretty good. Charlie 2 had 13 illegitimate children and stationed his lovers close to Home or in various royal palaces. Dr Lucy positively revelled in dressing up as both courtesan and puritan. The viewer was left wondering where Charles got the time for his amorousness; his activities fuelled avid gossip at Court and among the hoi polloi too. We learnt of how Pepys, whom Dr Lucy called a ‘perv’, had a collection of lithographs of the King’s Mistresses. Being a royal doxy meant living a ‘codefied relationship’; there were rules about how to be treated and it was usually with more respect than most other women. Long may Dr Lucy reign over us with her distinctive breathlessness, grace and cheeky smile. Definitely one for your consideration, fops and fopesses.

The Dream

The documentary maker has a simple goal; to tell a story. But this central function is complicated by a myriad of factors: who to interview, what footage to use, choice of music, balance of the programme etc. So, by any criterion, 'Martin Luther King and the March on Washington' (BBC2) had a high bar to reach. And it cleared this bar by a mile. Narrated by Denzel Washington, this was a tale from the not to distant past of how Martin Luther King's Dream speech came to be given and the events on that extraordinary day in 1963. The American South was blighted by vile post-Civil War racist segregation. The mobilisation of tens of thousands of Blacks and Whites to protest the 'urgency of now', the soaring rhetoric of Dr King, the eventual persuasion of the Kennedy Administration to act - all combined to make this event one of the most empowering in American history. JFK's team feared endorsing the event because of the prospect of violence - this was a very real concern for Kennedy's advisors; contingency plans were made for the possibility of rioting on the Mall. But there was no violent protest, just the attendance of thousands rapt in awe, crying, riveted by Dr King's peroration. The 'Dream' lives on - and the courage of those who used passive resistance and civil disobedience eventually led to Barack Obama in the White House. Dr King's speech still as the power to reduce the listener to tears: 'Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty, we are free at Last!'

Flying Dinosaurs in Montana?

Dinosaurs and TV go hand-in-hand - 'thetvreviewguy' blames Steven Spielberg for most of the Hoop-lah. Before 'Jurassic Park', dinosaur-mania wasn't quite as fevered. ‘Horizon - Dinosaurs: the Hunt for Life’ (BBC2) looked at our wiped out ancestors (again), through the eyes of Dr Mary Schweitzer, a smart, and to this dinosaur of a reviewer, hottie of a scientist who says she is this close to extracting DNA from a dinosaur fossil. She does a lot of her field-work in Montana, and the viewer was spared none of that State's beauty and wildness – but was spared from the crazy part of the population that lives there. Dr Shweitzer has pioneered work looking at the biology of dinosaurs rather than focusing purely on the palaeontology. We followed her on her trip to the Gobi dessert and heard why she believes dinos and birds have more in common than you might think. These sort of programmes can make 'thetvreviewguy' feel quite inadequate about his career, which doesn't involve looking for T Rex Fossils or work-travel to Mongolia. This 'Horizon' was a lot more hit than miss but perhaps in looking to centre the narrative exclusively on the doubtless excellent work of Dr Schweitzer, the programme makers missed an opportunity to give a more rounded presentation of all the latest research in the dinosaur world. Chewy though.

Tears of a Clown - Miller on Hancock

Poor Tony Hancock. A giant of 1950s and 1960s British television comedy, he died at his own hand and is one of the great comic heroes for a generation of comedians. In an affectionate and moving portrait, 'Ben Miller - My Hero Tony Hancock' (BBC1), Miller interviewed friends and writers who knew and worked with the legend of the small screen. What came across was a man who, crippled by anxiety, peaked to too quickly and couldn't cope with his 'fame' which never compensated for his depressive tendencies. Ben Miller never judged, and the tone was mixed - respectful of Hancock's achievements - a prime time BBC comedy slot at 32, married to a model - and, to 'thetvreviewguy', amazement that Hancock ever looked less than middle-aged. But there was sadness around the man - he drank excessively, was unable to sustain his success and ultimately succumbed to taking his own life. As a TH enthusiast, Miller was careful not to slip into hagiography; this was a full picture of a remarkable and in many ways admirable human being. The sad clown is a cliché but perhaps never so true as in Hancock's case. His suicide was all the more tragic for him not being able to see the joy and laughter he gave to millions. Poor Tony, he didn't realise that he had made a difference.

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.