It brings tears to my eyes every time. She makes the piano sing.
Category: Television
-
The Coronation Concert
I’m in the study pottering behind the computer while Martin is in the living room watching the Coronation Concert for King Charles III on the Beeb. I can hear the sound – and so far it seems to consist of interminable voiceovers telling us how memorable the whole thing is going to be. It sounds as though it’s going to be absolutely dreadful…
Dear god – we’re 20 minutes in and it hasn’t even got under way. Where the f*ck are Charlie and Camilla?
By way of contrast, we watched the Liberation day concert a few days ago which is held each year in the presence of Willem-Alexander and Maxima on a stage by an Amsterdam canal, and many of the audience are in boats. It went like clockwork and was brilliant. Take that, you Brits!
Martin’s given up watching it. Thumbs-down from him. Oh well, it’s Eurovision this week – something to look forward to…
And I’m glancing at the Guardian’s liveblog about the concert, which proves to be much more entertaining than the real thing…
There’s a little slider on the Guardian’s liveblog page marked “Show key events only”. I fear that if I activate it, the whole page will disappear into electronic oblivion…
-
It’s A Sin
And following on from the It’s A Sin TV drama, Olly Alexander teams up with Elton to perform a big production number of The Pet Shop Boy’s classic:
-
It’s A Sin
That’s the title of a five-part TV series written by Russell T. Davies. Spanning the years 1981 to 1991, and set in London, it charts the impact of the AIDS crisis on a group of friends.
It is, quite simply, a stunning piece of work, a masterpiece. A strong cast, inspired directing, and RTD’s writing combine to give explosions of joy, horror, and homophobia.
Watching it together with Martin brought all those times back to us. The friendships we made, the friends we lost, the callousness of Thatcher’s government, and the homophobia in British society, fanned by the tabloid press.
RTD’s writing draws upon all of this – there are references to the infamous Section 28 legislation, and he puts the word “cesspit” into the mouth of a policeman in one scene that directly references the utterance by the then Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, James Anderton, who said that homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes who had HIV/AIDS were “swirling in a human cesspit of their own making”.
As well as the wider references, RTD has drawn upon his own memories of the friends he knew to create his central characters. The character of Jill Baxter is modelled on his actress friend Jill Nalder, who herself plays the role of Jill Baxter’s mother in the series.
As I say, watching the events unfold brought all the best and the worst of those times flooding back. These days, while HIV/AIDS is not the automatic death sentence that it once was, it is still not something that should be treated casually. I hope that the series will be watched by the younger gay generations to learn something of what we went through and the awakening of our political action.
It struck me that RTD and his team have produced a work that completely fulfils Lord Reith’s directive to the BBC that its programming should “inform, educate and entertain”. The irony is that it ended up, not on the BBC, but on its commercial rival, Channel 4…
-
RIP Diana
Saddened to hear that Dame Diana Rigg has died. Even though she reached the respectable age of 82, I’m sure she would have carried on giving delight to audiences if cancer hadn’t got its claws into her.
I suppose that for most people she will be best known for her performance as Lady Olena Tyrell in Game of Thrones, but for many of us she remains etched in our memories as Emma Peel – the best partner that John Steed ever had. The House That Jack Built remains my favourite episode of The Avengers, right from when I first saw it in 1966.
Her range as an actress was wide – from Shakespeare to musicals (we were fortunate enough to see her in the London production of Follies in 1988), and she starred in productions in the theatre, film and TV. I still remember, with a shudder, her brilliant performance as Helena in Mother Love, and with a wry smile, her performance as Mrs. Gillyflower in The Crimson Horror episode of Doctor Who.
She lives on in our memories, and in the recordings of those productions to which she gave her talent.
-
Enigmatic, Elegaic, Extraordinary
It’s called “Tales From The Loop”. It has taken several forms: an art book, a role-playing game, and now a TV miniseries of eight episodes available on Amazon Prime Video.
It’s a world that has emerged from the imagination of Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag. A world that merges a rural landscape with elements of small-town Swedish life in the 1980s and the detritus of yet-to-be invented technology.
You can get some idea of the shape of the landscape and the artist’s inspirations for it from this short film that was made in 2015 for the Kickstarter project to produce the English versions of his books.
While waiting for my copy of the book to arrive at the local bookshop, I thought I would take a look at the TV miniseries. The trailer certainly looked intriguing – and it had the added bonus of having Jonathan Pryce in one of the roles.
I saw the first episode and was instantly hooked. This is my kind of Science Fiction – the miniseries is really eight interlinked tales that explore different facets of the human condition. They reminded me of the writings of Ray Bradbury; in particular those of growing up in a small town, where the fantastical is glimpsed out of the corner of the eye: Dandelion Wine, and of the tale of growing old: I Sing The Body Electric.
Highly recommended.
-
Last Night of the Proms 2019
So, it’s over for another year – we will have to wait until the 17th July 2020 for the next season of the BBC Proms to start.
Meanwhile, I’ll remember the Last Night of the Proms for 2019 (last night…) with joy and affection. Some stunning music: the world premiere of a new piece, Woke, by Daniel Kidane, an arrangement of Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon, Elisabeth Maconchy’s Proud Thames, and all the old favourites.
And we all fell instantly in love with the mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton. What a woman, what a voice! And when she produced the Rainbow flag during the second chorus of Rule Britannia and waved it proudly for all the world to see, we were overjoyed…
Of course, the elephant in the room was Brexit, but we all managed to avoid mentioning it, and instead we simply enjoyed the music, waving Union Jacks and European flags together.
-
RIP Magenta
Sad to hear that Magenta Devine has died at what, to me, is the young age of 61. She co-presented an impressive series of Rough Guide travelogues on BBC television in the late 1980s. The woman had style and wit. She was also the neighbour of my best friend who was living in a London Mews at the the time. I’m sorry I never had the opportunity to meet her in real life, but I’d probably have been too tongue-tied and star-struck anyway.
Addendum: a nice tribute to Magenta, written by an ex-partner of hers is here.
-
Is There Life on Mars?
Simply extraordinary…
-
Cries From Casement and Penda’s Fen
A long time ago, back in 1973, I heard a play on BBC Radio: Cries from Casement as His Bone are Brought to Dublin. It was an extraordinary experience, and a brilliant realisation of the script.
This week I bought the BFI’s Blu-ray transcription of Penda’s Fen, one of the plays in the BBC’s “Play for Today” series, that was first broadcast on television in 1974. I’ve just sat down and watched it, and it was equally extraordinary.
Something nagged at my memory, and I realised that both works were written by David Rudkin. Whilst I doubt that you will be able to hear the radio play again, the BFI/BBC release of Penda’s Fen is available. It’s well worth seeking out.
-
Jaron Lanier and Social Media
An interview of Jaron Lanier, and why he thinks that Facebook and its ilk are bad for us both as individuals and as society.
He’s absolutely right, of course, but the damage has probably already been done. The one false note in this interview comes right at the end with a truly insulting observation from the interviewer, Krisnan Guru Murphy. Fortunately, Lanier is too much of a gentleman to rise to the bait.
-
Amsterdam Weeps
Here’s one of the tributes to van der Laan, performed in one of the nightly talkshows on Dutch TV, “The World Keeps on Turning”. I’ve done a (shaky) translation of the text that’s on the page:
The original song is from 1964, written by Kees Manders and sung by Rika Jansen. It was rewritten for us by F. Starik and is sung by Glennis Grace, born in the Jordaan (a district in the centre of Amsterdam), together with a mixed choir consisting of The Swans Choir, The Army of Salvation Amsterdam Staff Songsters, and The Choir of the National Opera.
Text: Amsterdam cries text F. Starik.
As a father you stood for the city of Amsterdam
for whomever was rich or poor, every woman, every man
from the Bijlmermeer to me at the corner.As a father, you stood up for us all
for the homeless guy, come but outside
then we get up – I have fire in my headAs a mayor with a heart for the city,
for everyone a clap on the shoulder, a hand on the heart
and sometimes there was a late hour
when you turned the tables on a jokerAmsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, now it feels the pain
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, because the fun has goneas a father you stood for the city of Amsterdam
for Nouri, Ajax, for kutmarokkanen and Surinamese and
the angry white man –As the friend that you were, Eberhard van der Laan,
for city council, for the junks and the whores
and that it will all go wellthanks man, for everything, though you go too early
and awkward as it sounds from many pubs, you were there for us
you carried us, you were like a father,
how we will miss you, you who bore usAmsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, now it feels the pain
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, because the fun is gone. -
HyperNormalisation
As I’ve written before, Adam Curtis makes amazing documentaries. Tomorrow sees the release of his latest work: HyperNormalisation. Unfortunately, it only seems to be available on the BBC iPlayer – which is geofenced to viewers in the UK. I hope that it will become more widely available…
-
The Prisoner
I can’t believe it has been fifty years since I was first glued to the TV whilst following the adventures of Number 6.
-
Oh, Bugger…
Victoria Wood has died. The news probably won’t mean much to most of you, but to me she was the laugh-out-loud, singing version of Alan Bennett. A brilliant writer and comedy performer. Beat me on the bottom with a Woman’s Weekly…
-
Wolf Hall
The BBC’s six-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels (Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies) drew to a close last night. What a wonderful six hours that was! Mesmeric, with acting of the highest order from all concerned.
If I have one small carp (a tiny goldfish, really), it was that the director’s insistence on shooting night scenes lit only by torchlight and candles, whilst artistically correct, was not well served by the lenses that they used. It’s a pity that they couldn’t have got hold of the lenses used by Kubrick for Barry Lyndon, that might have helped a bit with the gloom.
-
Listen
A wonderful episode on Doctor Who last night: Listen. Right up there with Blink in terms of plot dovetailing and hide-behind-the-sofa factor. Clara is developing into a nicely-rounded character, and the restaurant scenes between her and Danny Pink were very good in their toe-curling embarrassments, and reminiscent of Moffat’s earlier work in Coupling.
I thought it was interesting that the central idea in Blink was that you must not look away from a Weeping Angel, but that in Listen, you must never look at a Listener; polar opposites, but both equally capable of racheting up the fear factor. And the reveals of the boy in the barn and the barn itself at the end – well, I gasped at the audacity of it.
I liked the way that the central idea of there being listeners hiding under every bed was never entirely resolved one way or the other. Is it all in our imaginations or not?
Classic Doctor Who.
-
A Romp With Robin
Just finished watching the Doctor Who episode: Robot of Sherwood. My, that was fun! Mark Gatiss writing at the top of his form, with lots of jokes and a serious question of what it means to be a hero. Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman. Tom Riley, et al, delivered in spades. A terrific episode, despite the hasty re-editing to remove a beheading.
Loved it, from beginning to end. Capaldi is going to be one of the great Doctors, mark my words.
-
Rise Like a Phoenix…
Well, of course, as soon as I read of the controversy surrounding Conchita Wurst, I couldn’t help but cheer her on in the Eurovision Song Festival. A drag queen, with a beard? It brings back fond memories of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence…
And then when I saw her in the second semi-final, I was even more pleased to realise that not only had she a damn good belter of a song with strong lyrics – Rise Like a Phoenix – but she could deliver it with style and panache.
And now she’s won Eurovision 2014. Well done her!
Martin and I watched the final last Saturday – Eurovision is a guilty pleasure. It is so over-the-top and almost the definition of camp. Every year it has more than its fair share of cringeworthy moments. This year, the French entry scored highly, and I’m still trying to get the image of the butter-churning Polish lady out of my mind.
But there were some good songs. The Dutch entry, although I didn’t much care for it, did far better than we all hoped, coming second. If it hadn’t have been for the phenomenon of Conchita, it would have swept the board.
I see that the UK public displayed their usual good taste by awarding the Polish girls the full douze points. It was only the UK jury voting them down that balanced it out. We Dutch were almost as bad – the public put them in 2nd place, while the jury put them in 25th place.
At least we redeemed ourselves over Conchita – both public and jury placed her in 1st place.
Also, while the Russian jury followed the party line and put Austria in 11th place, the Russian public actually ranked Conchita in 3rd place… We live in interesting times.
-
Out With A Bang
The third series of Sherlock closed with a thundering good episode last night. Lucy Mangan’s review says it much better than I ever could, so go and read that. I’ll wait until you get back.
The cliffhanger this time around is the revelation in the closing seconds that apparently suggests that Moriarty faked his own death, and is back to take his revenge. Personally, I rather doubt it. I’m more inclined to go along with the theory that because Sherlock knew that being sent undercover would result in his own death within six months, he has engineered the apparent resurrection of Moriarty in order to bring himself back to London and out of the undercover mission.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 