vaguely academic musings on television
(Note to readers: I have currently watched episodes 1-6 of The Crown's final season) It's hard to know how to respond to The Crown now. What was once an incisive study of monarchy, nationhood and identity in the modern age has now fully transformed into a narrow, voyeuristic narrative of ultra-privileged and broadly unsympathetic individuals.... Continue Reading →
If there's one thing the 2023 iteration of Great Expectations can't do, it's prove that it needs to exist. This is the sixth BBC adaptation of Dickens' seminal novel, the eighth for television overall, and that's without even considering the iconic David Lean film and a weird modernisation with Gwyneth Paltrow. The last BBC version... Continue Reading →
There's a lot to be said about the fifth season of The Crown, but it's best to start with the headline: it's the worst season of the show, and it's not even a close-run thing. It rarely, if ever, approaches the power and intensity of earlier seasons. It almost entirely abandons the bigger picture of... Continue Reading →
Maybe, slowly, The Crown is finding its form again. After "Annus Horribilis" casually changed everything about a speech on public record, "The Way Ahead" does the opposite, and is much better for it. The 'tampongate' phone call between Charles and Camilla, when it is shown in full towards the end of the episode, is also... Continue Reading →
I'll start with the good news: this is easily the best episode of The Crown's fifth season so far. In a lot of ways it writes itself, with a clear historical narrative and focal point of a well-known public speech, but this allows the show to return to its strengths, put the Queen at its... Continue Reading →
To say I was not impressed by the second episode of this season of The Crown is putting it lightly. A meandering narrative and the absence of most of the main cast created a frustratingly pointless hour, that I was ready to quickly forget about. So imagine my surprise when the very next episode not... Continue Reading →
Remember in 2020, when The Crown went down to five seasons, and then back to six after all? Because, so we were told, there was enough rich story potential to redouble the order of 90s episodes? I can only assume that after making this decision, Peter Morgan sat down at his desk and wrote "The... Continue Reading →
It seemed natural that the marketing around The Crown's fifth season would decentre Elizabeth II, given the death of the real Queen. Which inevitably means a lot of Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki as Charles and Diana, neatly playing in to the media's general desire to focus on them too. Surprisingly, and somewhat disappointingly, though,... Continue Reading →
What a week. No, actually: what a single episode. And then, some other stuff happened that I'm far less sure about. Not to mention Ned being extremely enthusiastic about his own relationship: https://vimeo.com/690115132 I'm writing about the last Friday-Thursday cycle of UK episodes. Which is fortunate, because sod all happened after Friday. Last week, River... Continue Reading →
I didn't want to believe it, but it's happening. Neighbours is coming to an end, after 37 years and 8,000+ episodes of self-proclaimed unmissable drama. Blame Channel 5. So how best to deal with this tragic turn of events? There's only one thing for it: weekly blogs to chronicle the end of an institution. The... Continue Reading →
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