More British TV discussion

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Happy Valley season 3 is happening 😀!

This guy was one of the expectant fathers tonight on Midwife (in the states). He was fuckin' fine!

R3 She has really had one of the most surprising post-soap careers of almost anyone.

Someone had a theory about the new pupil midwife on CTM and while I didn't look ahead for spoilers it appears after last night's American episode they may be right.

(I love Midwife but let's face it, the anvils are rarely subtle.)

Norton plays trash exceptionally well.

"Grantchester" poor Leonard has been sentenced to prison for six months due to "gross indecency with a man." He has been stripped of his collar. He was one character I really enjoyed. "Call the Mid Wife" I would rather call on some of those expectant fathers. Always enjoyed Judy Parfitt (Sister Monica Joan) quoting verses from the Bible, quite a role reversal if you saw her in "The Jewel and the Crown" as an absolute bitch. The new widower calling Trixie about hiring a nanny is interesting.

I missed part of this week’s CTM episode. Why did Dr Turner’s secretary tell the young girl she was going to a mother & baby home with the baby for 4-6 weeks and then take the baby away from her later that day? Why was that other woman whining about how she didn’t diagnose her daughter & made her worse?

Fuck that rich guy, calling Trixie all the time and flirting with her within months of his wife dying.

If I decorate, it’s after December 1

R9 Miss Higgins was trying to give the young girl a chance to get to know her baby, in case she wanted to raise the baby herself. But the cunt mother overruled her and took it from her arms.

The mom thought it was her fault that her limp as a dishrag daughter had PKU, but Sister Julienne Potatoes said there's no way she would have known.

I am Team Hot Rich Guy / Discount Younger Hugh Grant and either he pokes Trixie in the cooter or I'll take him next!

Recap of last ep

OOPS, wrong thread.

Poor Leonard. That was a very sad episode He’s lost everything.

I love Grantchester, it’s so earnest yet so far-fetched and ridiculous. I mean, that little 1950s village must have a crime rate to rival London and Manchester. Not to mention that Father Will’s liberal views would probably have gotten him defrocked in the present day, let alone 65 years ago. I also love Mrs. C giant old Lon Chaney-esque boyfriend or husband or whatever he is.

I was hoping Fran Fine or Mary Poppins would show up during the parade of nannies montage.

I want to fellate Matthew Aylward.

I hate Baptiste. I wish it was a decent show because I really like the change of scenery. Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary. Would be nice to watch a good show in those settings. But I can’t sit through it

Ok, I’m done with CTM. It’s too stupid. A nun is smilingly putting in a good word with the mother superior for a midwife who lives and works at a convent so the midwife can go on BBC & advocate for legalized abortion, but same nun is pissed that a student midwife didn’t tell anyone she had an illegitimate baby.

Not to mention there is no way in hell nuns in Ireland could spirit away a baby to London to be kept in an orphanage instead of adopted. Even if they wanted to, which they wouldn’t want to. They’d have been super-pissed that their “model” orphan got pregnant and would’ve seen it as a sin, not to mention a betrayal of the orphanage. The nuns were…you know…..Irish Catholic. The orphanages in Ireland were horrid, the nuns in the orphanages and in the Magdalene laundries were Stockholm syndrome, abused females. They’d been brainwashed into believing that women were inferior to men, that men couldn’t be blamed for wanting sex and that women who got pregnant out of wedlock were to blame for tempting the men.

Most of them never wanted to be nuns. They were forced into it because there were too many females in Irish families. The males were the important family members. Females were trouble because females could get pregnant as soon as they started to menstruate. There weren’t enough males to the marry females. As with blacks in America, the British used the prison system to keep Irish males from gaining any kind of wealth or strength. Transport to the colonies was also used to keep down the male Irish population. The ugliest and smartest Irish girls were told by their families they would be nuns. They lived in convents that isolated them from their families for the rest of their lives, and they were in charge of basically imprisoning orphan children and young women who couldn’t become nuns or married mothers because they didn’t get along with their families or because they broke societal rules. It was a sick society and there was no way a pregnant orphan would have “a few sisters on my side” (as the character in the show says) to send a baby to an orphanage in London.

This show is too stupid to live.

I'm skipping your post until I watch tonight's ep R19

Norton looks so much better since he had his inverted nipple sucked out so the perk the right way.

R20 = Frau.

No one cares what posts you read, Madam.

Sister Julianne has been very odd to me all season long. And I found her reactions to both Nancy and Trixie to be weird.

I cannot imagine she would have supported Trixie, and Trixie's passion about it seemed to come out of the blue.

This was an episode where I wondered again if somehow PBS had edited too much out and it no longer made as much sense.

Just two weeks ago Trixie was incensed that a doctor was performing a D&C at a private clinic.

Something she could’ve mentioned on the BBC show, that wealthy women could get a safe abortion at any time and poor women were stuck with Val’s grandmother.

They need to speed up the rich widower marries Trixie storyline. I’m bored with her character.

R24 Right. All the pieces of the story are there but they seem to be pacing it really weirdly in the telling.

Your comment is a mixture of truth and bollocks R19. What you’ve missed is that nuns did not come from the same class as the overwhelming majority of the illegitimate children and their mothers. Nuns were from more affluent families: the daughters of farmers, businessmen, teachers and the like. Women from very poor families usually went to be domestic or farm servants, often for little more than their keep. And there were always ways and means of accommodating illegitimate children and their mothers who were more affluent. They rarely ended up in the terrible institutions. I don’t watch CTM but I don’t see that the scenario described is impossible.

I absolutely love Grantchester...I have already finished this season and I think it's the best so far.

I like the new frau-ish crime show The Madame Blanc Mysteries. It takes place in a small French village, but features mainly British actors and characters for some reason. Sue Holderness is hilarious as the "Lady of the Manor" type of character.

It is on Channel 5 and also available on the streaming platform Acorn TV.

[QUOTE] R5 She has really had one of the most surprising post-soap careers of almost anyone.

Sarah Lancashire's career is less surprising if you know that her husband Peter Salmon is a very highly placed TV executive, he's a former controller of BBC1 and currently the director of BBC England.

Dagliesh. Acorn TV.

Adapting three of P.D. James’ international best-selling and much-loved Inspector Dalgliesh Mysteries, the new series will star Bertie Carvel as Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. Starting in the mid 1970's England, the exciting new crime series is told from the perspective of P.D. James’ uniquely enigmatic detective and follows Dalgliesh’s career to present day as he solves unusual murders and reveals buried secrets.

It also stars Jeremy Irvine as cocky sidekick DS Charles Masterson.

R28 I'm a gay man not a frau but that show looks so ridiculous, I want to watch it.

[quote]Sarah Lancashire's career is less surprising if you know that her husband Peter Salmon is a very highly placed TV executive, he's a former controller of BBC1 and currently the director of BBC England.

Sarah Lancashire gets work because she's a great actress, fuck all to do with who she's married to.

Sally Wainwright wrote two characters for her to play. Jack Thorne wrote two series with characters for her to play.

I’ll check out Madame Blanc, it looks silly but I hope it’s not as silly as Shakespeare and Hathaway.

[quote] And there were always ways and means of accommodating illegitimate children and their mothers who were more affluent. They rarely ended up in the terrible institutions.

In Ireland? How?

How many “more affluent” Irish women were there prior to 1970?

What religion were they?

What did they do when they got pregnant?

Where in Ireland did they go for abortion?

A Catholic woman could not get an abortion in Ireland, period. “Affluent” Irishwomen were Protestant and they would have to go outside the country for an abortion. Even that was difficult. So tell us what the6 did with 5hose babies, besides giving them up for adoption — mostly to America — or keeping them in an orphanage until they aged out. What was the means of accommodating Irish Catholic women & their illegitimate children?

Oh look. Here’s a typical story and it doesn’t involve educating orphanage girls to be midwives then sending them off to London for specialized training & certification where they could secretly see their baby once a month.

NY times paywalls all articles now. Try Irish Central to learn the true story of Irish women and their illegitimate children that Call the Midwife whitewashed with a ridiculous story of plucky nuns lying and scheming to help a plucky orphan visit the plucky baby those plucky nuns somehow smuggled out of Ireland without their orphanage or parish priest’s knowledge into a plucky English orphanage that allows orphans to be visited by their sisters. (Everyone knew of a Catholic orphanage that allowed the orphans be visited by their sisters in the 1960s, right?)

Call the Midwife whitewashed the stories of places like Tuam just as they’ve whitewashed the prejudice that Caribbeans , Indians, Pakistanis, homosexuals, Catholics, Jews, Africans and everyone else came up against until very recently by portraying harsh reality as a mere scratch to be covered with a smiley Nonnatus bandaid.

“Of course homosexuality is normal …. and being a prostitute is simply choosing sex work as an alternative lifestyle…it’s that silly government who’s to blame! Only a few prejudiced people stand in the way of the milk of human kindness that the heterosexual lower class white people wish to show everyone else’s all colors, genders, sexualities, nationalities & religions. People just need to be taught that it’s ok to be themselves and then everyone else will accept them. That’s how the world is. It’s why we rejected Brexit in favor of inclusion. It’s why sister Julienne supports Trixie’s right to express her outspoken abortion beliefs on national radio despite being employed by an Anglican convent… yet Sister is angry because a student and a few nuns fibbed about an out of wedlock baby. Everything’s fine. Just ask Dr Turner & his wife to explain it all to you in their extremely liberal-for-those-days beliefs (even though Mrs Turner doesn’t believe it’s natural for a woman to give up her own baby, yet happens to be in possession of 2 children born to other women. It’s just how Call the Midwife rolls).”

[quote]A Catholic woman could not get an abortion in Ireland, period. “Affluent” Irishwomen were Protestant and they would have to go outside the country for an abortion.

There were protestants in Ireland in the 60s?

Any word if there will be a 4th (or more) series for Ghosts? I just finished watching all episodes on HBOMax and loved it.

ITV showed The Long Call last week, something about an openly gay detective returning to the Amish like community that cast him out for being a bumbandit. Anal Sex guy from Fleabag who is gay in real life played the gay detective.

And this week there's something with the lesbian from Game Of Thrones who was also Shannon Matthews' mum as an openly woman detective going to a tower block after an incident and doing some investigating.

And is anyone watching Angela Black? The storyline is ok but it could have fitted into 2 hour movie not a 6 hour drama.

I really enjoyed the first season of new All Creatures Great and Small. Haven't started the second season yet but very much looking forward to. Love the stories and the acting. It's nicely done, a bit over-sweetened at times. But these days that's exactly what I need.

I don't know if James has the gravitas to be Bond, but I'd do him in a second.

Thank you for the article, R35. Absolutely horrifying.

[quote] just as they’ve whitewashed

Oh honey, it's a fictional show not a fucking documentary. CHANGE YOUR BLOODY TAMPON

I, too, would like more seasons of Ghosts, a charming, sneakily funny show. I hope it doesn’t go the Fawlty Towers/The Office UK route and disappear after two (excellent) seasons (although Ghosts has had three seasons to date).

[QUOTE] R32 Sarah Lancashire gets work because she's a great actress, fuck all to do with who she's married to. Sally Wainwright wrote two characters for her to play. Jack Thorne wrote two series with characters for her to play.

Maybe some roles are written for her because of her influential Husband?

Have you ever seen her in 'The Paradise' ? It's not an intentional comedy and she performs it like a 'Pantomime Dame'.

Joan Collins would be Oscar worthy compared to it.

The Paradise was unwatchable.

Yeah, Sarah was awful in that one. I think there's something just very contemporary about her, not suited to period drama.

That said, you all might be interested to know she starring as Julia Child in a new miniseries about the chef with David Hyde Pierce as her husband. The series was filmed in Canada a few months ago.

What is Nicola Walker up to? Does she have a new series in the works since she'll no longer be on Unforgotten?

And will we soon see her in another season of The Split (which is a perfect case of an ordinary series that's totally uplifted by a brilliant British cast)?

[quote] Maybe some roles are written for her because of her influential Husband?

No. Sally Wainwright wants Lancashire in her tv shoes because she’s a great actress. Wainwright’s characters have won Lancashire 2 BAFTAs out of 4 nominations.

Try and give women credit for their own success. Please try.

[quote] What is Nicola Walker up to? Does she have a new series in the works since she'll no longer be on Unforgotten?

She was in a 6 part series called Anneka, a biopic of Anneka Rice, the singer who sung Japanese Boy and jumped out of helicopters to build orphanages.

Walker's co-star from The Split, Annabel Scholey, is currently on Doctor Who (well, for two episodes according to IMDB). Loved the first episode of the new Doctor Who season, but found the second one for the most part meh.

Annabel Scholey was good in The Salisbury Poisonings as Rafe Spall's wife. It's only 3 hours and the BBC at its best.

She was also in Walking On Sunshine, the hilariously awful 80s jukebox movie with Leona Lewis, Katy Brand and Emma Thompson's husband off of Strictly. There's also a ridiculously good looking Italian in it.

I love Annabel Scholey. She reminds me a lot of Mary-Louise Parker.

I do hope The Split comes back.

Any other fans of Portrait Artist of the Year?

I became aware of the competition series deep into the pandemic and it was so wonderfully engaging and soothing. It's been hard to find episodes sometimes. I originally found some years on youtube and then more recently some have been offered on Prime. It's so different from American competitions which are all about the craziness of the contestants. This series actually has wonderfully talented artists and charming Stephen Mangan (of The Split) as a host, as well as interesting Brit celebs as models posing for their portraits.

I’ve watched a few episodes on YouTube. It is soothing. So many talented people, it’s amazing.

[quote]If you are looking for new PBS shows to watch "Unforgotten" is terrific. Three seasons, only 4 episodes a season.

Great series, unfortunately the female lead, Nicola Walker wanted to leave the series. The other main performer, Sanjeev Bhaskar, will remain, not sure who will replace Walker.

Sanjeev was mostly known for his comedy series, Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42.

I've loved UNFORGOTTEN more than any other British series. Unbelievable how they take what is a rather ordinary cold case murder and spin it into high emotional drama with outstanding ensemble casts beyond even Nicola and Sanjeev.

I really hope the quality continues without Nicola. Seems odd that she would have wanted to leave such a great series and character that probably only took a month or two of her time each year....but I respect her for making the right choice for herself. Is there any word on who is replacing her?

Btw, I've had a little crush on cast regular Lewis Reeves who plays the hot young blonde ass't detective. He has a fun Insta account even if it's mostly photos and videos of his wife and baby.

I was lucky enough to see Lewis Reeves starkers in My Night With Reg at the Donmar a few years ago, with the equally luscious and nude Julian Ovenden.

Sarah Lancashire is playing Julia Child in an upcoming HBO mini-series. David Hyde Pierce as her husband, Bebe Neuwirth as one of her chef cohorts.

r58, please read my scoop at r46.

TIA!

Suranne Jones is the new Sarah Lancashire, another of Sally Wainwright's favourites.

They made Unforgiven in 2009 and it's been remade with none other than Sandra Bollocks as Suranne, and Viola Davis as someone else.

(R18) I know exactly how your feel. I watch "Baptiste" but am not really interested in the plot line. I hate the time juxtapositions i.e. current date/14 months earlier. You see the Prime Minister (earlier) standing, then current date she's in a wheelchair. And the endless "I lost my sons" and Baptiste looks like a smelly, homeless man.

Good news is always worth repeating, r59!

Hard to believe Tchéky Karyo, who plays Baptiste, is only 65 years old, he looks much older. He must be a smoker.

Tchéky Karyo used to be hot.

R34, good god of course there were affluent women in Ireland, not just the immensely rich like the Guinness family but the daughters of doctors, dentists, big farmers, lawyers, senior civil servants, bank managers etc etc etc. Dublin has whole areas of the city full of Georgian townhouses and substantial Victorian villas as well as big 20th century houses. Who do you think lived in them? And of course they weren’t all Protestants. There were always doctors willing to do a ‘D & C’ for a nice middle class girl and it was easy to have a long weekend in London. No passport needed between Ireland and the U.K. Sorted. Otherwise, no problem in a private adoption. The illegitimate offspring of well off women rarely if ever ended up in the likes of Tuam. And btw, I knew a working class woman in rural County Kerry who had two illegitimate children around 80 years ago. As an old lady she still lived in the community with one of her daughters without either of them being in any way shunned. Unusual but not unknown. Thankfully Ireland has transformed and has to come to terms with horrors like Tuam. But in terms of class and socio economic status it was a lot more nuanced than you seem to think.

Tried watching that series THE PARADISE discussed upthread cause I'm a big Sarah Lancashire fan, and even bigger Emun Elliott fan, but the first episode was so insipid I didn't get through it. Any encouragement here from fans who enjoyed it to continue?

"THE PARADISE" was not renewed because "MR. SELFRIDGE' did basically the same show and basically the same story line only better.

I couldn't watch MR SELFRIDGE because of my severe dislike of Jeremy Piven and his awful wigs.

Of course the Midwife season ended on an up note. I'm surprised at the resolution for Nancy.

I didn't see the twist w/Matthew coming but I guess Trixie's story needed a bit of a twist.

Miss Higgins is forever the DL icon of all icons.

[quote]I didn't see the twist w/Matthew coming but I guess Trixie's story needed a bit of a twist.

Having been surprised that Valerie's nan Dolly Rawlings was the back street abortionist I guessed immediately that Matthew was the slum landlord when they started talking about companies and Matthew donated the money to Nonnatus House.

It was as subtle as Olivia Colman telling Pauline Quirke in Broadchurch "how could you not have known your husband was committing all those crimes?".

All I know is that I need to see Matthew in bed, erect. I need to see his O face.

I don't watch any of these shows. There are some rare exceptions, but I actually think the US does television so much better than the UK, I don't tend to waste my time with much British TV. Plus they are usually either super bleak or super twee (like Call the Midwife) which isn't my cup of tea at all.

So you're in a UK TV thread to say you don't watch UK tv?

Angela Black finally finished last night. The plot would make a good 2 hour Netflix movie but it was so stretched to 6 episodes it nearly broke.

[quote] good god of course there were affluent women in Ireland, not just the immensely rich like the Guinness family but the daughters of doctors, dentists, big farmers, lawyers, senior civil servants, bank managers etc etc etc

And their pregnant daughters went off to London and had abortions

“Well of course Irish lass, you’re welcome back here to Nonnatus house after you snatched your child out of an orphanage, didn’t have any money, didn’t tell anyone where you were going, didn’t call your job/school, had no plan and put yourself and your child in mortal danger. That sounds like the kind of person we want becoming a midwife with our stamp of approval. Just behave now.”

No surprise the Christmas special will be the wedding of Lucille and Cyril.

Apparently there’s a 10th anniversary special around Thanksgiving with a look back at all the departed cast members.

Grantchester: Looks like Leonard has found his niche in prison, becoming the chaplain.

[quote]Apparently there’s a 10th anniversary special around Thanksgiving with a look back at all the departed cast members.

We'll never see it in the US.

Lucille & Cyril are 2 of the most cardboard cutouts on television. And what’s with Jamaicans going all in on US Southern gospel type religion? Most were catholic or Anglican. It’s not like they emigrated from Jamaica to Alabama.

Cyril is from British Guiana, not Jamaica.

[quote] We'll never see it in the US.

My PBS station has it on their schedule for next Sunday.

As I understood it, this was to replace the usual 8th episode in the season. They cut the number of episodes because they started so late with COVID.

Again in last night's episode you could tell so much of the blocking was influenced by COVID. The way they had Tim stepping up to Miss Higgins' desk, and the pauses between lines, almost made me think they did their lines separately and it was edited together. Same with the sister who gave up the baby handing the mug to the sister who birthed the baby. Trixie and Not Hugh Grant on different levels when speaking.

I will say I didn't find Lucille that grating before, but they are DEFINITELY having the character lean into some of the stereotypical type things - and the accent is terrible, to be honest, for her and Cyril.

Even more reason why he wouldn’t be a Southern US gospel type. He’d maybe be more influenced by Hindus

Here's the 10th anniversary video, "Special Delivery."

[quote] Looks like Leonard has found his niche in prison, becoming the chaplain.

How can he be a prison chaplain when he’s been imprisoned for homosexuality in 1950s-1960s Britain? He wouldn’t be allowed to be a priest or a prison employee. Maybe he becomes a social worker after his sentence is up and he helps former prisoners return to society and cope with their PTSD (which didn’t have a name yet).

They’re overdoing it with the Geordie PTSD. Enough.

I fucking hate Baptiste and hurl it off my tv as soon as I see that guy’s face. I don’t care if he was hot 40 years ago. That show is disgustingly prurient and pointlessly violent. I don’t want “attempted gritty” on Sunday nights.

I love Baptiste.

"I love Baptiste."

R86 - I love Baptiste too especially this season with Fiona Shaw!!!!!!

Aw, Sister Evangelista at R84.

Miss that old dyke.

r88 Not enough to get her name right.

R89 = Miss Higgins.

I don’t find Miss Higgins as charming as the writers/directors do.

How did Fred the janitor manage to buy a building?

[quote] Aw, Sister Evangelista

That’s what they called her after the disfiguring plastic surgery.

The season of Baptiste now airing on PBS is rather dull. I enjoyed previous seasons

The Showtime series ,about a vacationing family whose child went missing in France, The Missing, was excellent. Isn't that the series where Tchéky Karyo originated the Baptiste character?

The first The Missing starred James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor, second series starred David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes.

"The Missing, was excellent. Isn't that the series where Tchéky Karyo originated the Baptiste character?"

R94 - YES it is!

Anyone here have a fondness for that series that was on PBS last year, set in Amsterdam but cast mostly with Brit actors....can't remember the title but the lead guy had white blond hair and lived on a houseboat and his female assistant was a very hot brunette (who later showed up on the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small)? I think there were only about 4 episodes in the first season but I really liked it and wonder if it'll return.

Maybe the poors should just raid the piggy bank for that massive $1.99 contribution so we don’t have two concurrent discussions about the same topic?

There are two episodes of the new season of "Shetland" up on Acorn.

[quote]Anyone here have a fondness for that series that was on PBS last year, set in Amsterdam but cast mostly with Brit actors....can't remember the title but the lead guy had white blond hair and lived on a houseboat and his female assistant was a very hot brunette (who later showed up on the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small)? I think there were only about 4 episodes in the first season but I really liked it and wonder if it'll return.

Yes, I remember that series, it was called "Van Der Valk", the blond actor is Marc Warren. I first saw Marc on a British cop series, which aired on BBC America, "The Vice'" which also starred Ken Stott and Caroline Catz.

Ken Stott also played a pedo in The Missing.

Not sure what's going on with BBC America, when it first came on the air, it was great, there were tons of British cop shows.

HEX and PRIMEVIL, were fun, there was another supernatural show about weird goings-on at a former mental hospital which was turned into a luxury apartments, I don't remember the name of that series. Now all they seem to air is endless repeats of Star Trek. I tried to get into "Killing Eve", but I just couldn't.

What was the name of the Doctor Who spin-off, with the American actor who lives and works in the UK? That series was good too. It was similar to PRIMEVIL.

[quote]What was the name of the Doctor Who spin-off, with the American actor who lives and works in the UK? That series was good too. It was similar to PRIMEVIL.

Torchwood, an anagram of Doctor Who. It was a very uneven show but it had its moments.

There was a British series about a very unconventional detective that was thrown off the police force because he used a psychic(s) to locate missing bodies. Anyway, his old boss calls him up (back???) to help with a case the department cannot crack and all leads are dead ends. Does anyone know the name of this show as I can never remember it?

That sounds like Abi Morgan’s River with Dame Lesley Manville, Dame NIcola Walker and the guy from Mamma Mia.

The detective in River (Stellan Skarsgard) was schizophrenic or something. No psychics involved.

Dr T, a Belgian series, remade by the Brits, is a professor of Criminology or Criminal Psychology with severe OCD who helps the police solve crimes.

Yay, more Shetland. It’s such a soothing show despite the murders.

When do the new episodes of Vera come out for streaming?

I think there are only two new episodes of "Vera" from the current season available and the remainder won't be released until next year.

R105 - THANKS!

I've not yet watched The Gay Thing from the Vera writer also starring the openly gay Anal Sex Guy from Fleabag and anti vaxxer Juliet Stevenson from Truly Madly Deeply

Baptiste finished. Brutal ending. It was odd. How was it going to be blamed on the immigrants? Even if he managed to get the body back inside the camp, it would be obvious from lack of blood, spray patterns that he wasn’t killed there. Not really sure how Baptiste and the son made it out alive unless she had her phone in her pocket and it wasn’t smashed from crawling. And 911 could find an obscure cabin in the woods.

Cooking class? Spatchcocking a chicken, “you do that so well”? At least he reunited with his wife. So it kind of sounds that this series is finished.

I can't stand the plummy BBC shows nor the faux cockney chav ones. It seems British shows are one or the other. We are not amused - or might be if they spoke an English we can understand.

[quote]I can't stand the plummy BBC shows nor the faux cockney chav ones. It seems British shows are one or the other. We are not amused - or might be if they spoke an English we can understand.

Examples?

Juliet Stevenson is anti-vaxx? Ugh.

[quote]Juliet Stevenson is anti-vaxx? Ugh.

She was a huge Andrew Wakefield supporter in the 90s when he was claiming MMR vaccine caused autism.

[quote]He also criticised the drama's star, Juliet Stevenson, for what he described as "irresponsible" remarks in media interviews in which she has called into question the safety of the vaccine. But a spokesman for Five said the actress had every right to make her views known. She added: "Juliet Stevenson has never claimed to be a medical expert. She is expressing her views as a mother."

A lot of actors are self important nutters.

Can we discuss relentless Representation Merchant, the British actor Riz Ahmed.

Is he well-liked in the UK? Is he popular there? In the US, he's been hyped non-stop since his turn in the HBO series The Night Of. He won an Emmy for this series.

While he's an extremely good actor and his really roles were diverse, his current constant blabbing about being Muslim and needing to see "Muslims presented in a positive light in showbiz" is extremely off-putting. Ahmed doesn't seem to comprehend, representation is about taking a role which can be portrayed by any race and ethnicity, that is the way to break stereotypes and barriers.

Then there are the sexual assault allegations which have been buried by Ahmed's powerful team. They go back as far as 2010. The 'tea' is, this man is extremely sketchy, very manipulative and that most of his representation stance is total bullshit. Riz Ahmed might be Muslim, but he sure doesn't adhere to most of the tenets of his religion.

His quickie marriage last year to an American born South Asian writer was an attempt to bury the whispers about his sexual assault allegations. They have little in common.

A UK TV series he claimed to have written, Englistan, about 30-40 years in the life of a SA British family, was totally ripped-off from a SA student's thesis! That's the real reason for the delay, not that he wanted the series to be "perfect, I'm such a perfectionist." Another lie.

I gather this actor is yet another fake and poseur? I'm curious what European film and TV fans think of this man.

R113 thinks representation is bad but probably bitches about lack of representation for gays

And accuses someone of assault with no evidence. There is a weird group of people (or is it just one troll?) who are obsessed with Riz Ahmed. They attack him based on nothing

Riz Ahmed has almost no profile in the UK.

The Night Of wasn't shown on main TV, whereas the original Criminal Justice was shown by the BBC in primetime slot and Ben Whishaw was nominated for a BAFTA for it.

His comments on representation are fair enough - how many Black or Asian British actors get high profile roles playing British characters?

Riz Ahmed doesn't really do any British TV shows and he generally doesn't play English characters in his movies.

His UK profile is so high that as a Brit I had to Google him.

R116 - I am a Yank and I had to Google him too.

I don't watch much television, so I only know Riz Ahmed from film -- my first exposure was in Nightcrawler, where I assumed he was playing a Hispanic character (though looking at IMDb, only the character's first name, "Rick," is listed, which isn't confirmation of anything); he was excellent in Sound of Metal, fully deserving of his Oscar nomination, and again, his character's racial/ethnic background is never specified (the character's name is "Ruben Stone") -- isn't this what we should be aiming for in "color-blind" casting?

So the only roles Muslims should be able to play are colorblind ones? There shouldn't be any characters who are specifically Muslim?

No, r119.

[quote]So the only roles Muslims should be able to play are colorblind ones? There shouldn't be any characters who are specifically Muslim?

His point was roles where the character was explicitly Muslim were always negative.

Other racial groups have spoken out about representation as well. British Chinese actors have complained about being cast as either The Doctor or The Prostitute. They're never The Best Friend or The Neighbour or The Partner.

[quote][R113] thinks representation is bad but probably bitches about lack of representation for gays And accuses someone of assault with no evidence. There is a weird group of people (or is it just one troll?) who are obsessed with Riz Ahmed. They attack him based on nothing

And you know all this HOW? You know for an absolute fact he never assaulted any woman? How do you know this? Most rumors are based on facts, especially when you have many people who don't know each other repeating the same stories, those stories are usually true.

Are really this dense? Where did I post "representation is bad"? It's not bad, yet, that's the platform Ahmed goes on and on about. Riz has made 'representation' his main calling in life. By doing so he will surely limit the types of roles he's offered, he cannot play a put-upon Muslim forever. Are you really this stupid?

I agree with R118, the goal for any actor or actress is colorblind casting, unless, of course, the characters portrayed are real people, then, the casting should be specific to the character.

I assumed Rick in Nightcrawler was supposed to be Hispanic. In fact, Riz mentioned to Stephen Colbert, while in NYC working on TNO for nearly a year, people were speaking to him Spanish while he was going about his life, many assumed he was Spanish. Riz's Queens NY accent in TNO was spot on. I know an Indian guy raised in New York, who sounds just like the Naz Khan TNO character.

Riz also lies about hs 'humble' Wembley beginnings, his family are not poor, let alone working class.

R114, no evidence re the sexual assaults, huh?

Several Twitter accounts had the names of his victims printed, until the South Asian Muslim women he assaulted got scared and thought they'd be shunned by their SA community , especially if their names got out there, which was ridiculous, as they were the victims. But SA society is still a patriarchy. The assault victims asked the Twitter account owners, one a SA female writer, to please delete their names from the Twitter accounts, which she and the other account owners did.

Screen caps of the names of Riz's victims are out there, of course, I will NOT post them here.

You don't know a damn thing about any of this, you obviously want to argue and or defend an actor you know little about. Are you working for his team? I'm sure his publicists and management team send their minions everywhere to make sure the truth never gets out there. It took years, but Weinstein was outed for all his crimes.

During Riz Ahmed's last two bizarre relationships, Riz sent his team all over the internet to delete any photos showing him with his last two secret GFs. When it came to hiding his partners, this man was worse than Jake G. Riz is now parading his Indian/American wife around like she's some sort of trophy. He neurotically hid his last two biracial GFs. If these women attended any events with him, they were walked in through a back door with his publicist. Why such espionage? He wasn't a married man hiding a mistress. He's one very odd bird. His public image versus his private life is very weird and extreme.

Now what's that about 'representation'?? Was he hiding these women because they were of mixed race? Give me a break.

Peep Show and Spaced are two brilliant British comedies that have held up well over the years. The first two or three seasons of Lovejoy with Ian Mcshane are also a good laugh.

I recently watched The Pursuit of Love miniseries w Lily James and liked it. Not brilliant, but it’s something to watch on a Sunday whilst folding laundry etc.

The 90’s version of Rebecca with Charles Dance is also good.

R122, using your own logic, there is no evidence that you're not a rapist. So I'll keep calling you a rapist. Are you really that dense?

Not all depictions of Muslims are negative, actor/comedian Aasif Mandvi is currently on the CBS now Paramount+ series called EVIL, he plays a Muslim investigator who works with a priest and a female detective to research cases of the paranormal and Satanic possession.

The series is excellent, Aasif 's character being Muslim is not drummed into anyone's head.

R126, you talk about Muslims the way homophobic people talk about gay characters. "I don't care if they're gay, I just don't want it shoved in my face!"

[quote][R122], using your own logic, there is no evidence that you're not a rapist. So I'll keep calling you a rapist. Are you really that dense?

Did you really just post this AFTER I posted that the names of the sexual assault victims were posted at several Twitter accounts?

The victims were interviewed for an expose in The NY Times, by several high profile journalists. 'Somehow' Riz's team got the expose buried.

R128, cool, I can invent some random Twitter pages and accuse you of rape on those pages. Pretty easy to make shit up on a social media where your claims can't be verified by legit journalists

[quote][R126], you talk about Muslims the way homophobic people talk about gay characters. "I don't care if they're gay, I just don't want it shoved in my face!"

Don't twist my words to fit your absurd narrative. When you watch a film, or TV series, is it important that you know what religion a character is? Unless it's an important plot device for the story, most people don't care. Why should people care if a character is Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Mormon, Evangelical etc?

Being Muslim is about religion, it has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. I know a Korean Jew, an Italian Jew, an African-American Baptist, an African Catholic and an African Muslim.

It's ridiculous when someone says, "Oh that actor is Jewish.", as if being Jewish is their nationality, it's not.

R130, there are Christian films that revolve around a character's Christianity. You aren't bitching about that. And if you do a DNA test you can get results for "Ashkenazi Jew" which is a pretty good sign that being Jewish is a specific ethnicity. Yes, there are converts but they are a small minority. And the vast majority of Muslims are not of European descent, which is part of the reason they face so much prejudice in the West

[quote][R128], cool, I can invent some random Twitter pages and accuse you of rape on those pages. Pretty easy to make shit up on a social media where your claims can't be verified by legit journalists

Wow, you are such a bloody moron. I just posted that several NY Time journalists had been interviewing the victims. Can you read and comprehend?

The Twitter accounts were run by important well-known South Asian journalists and writers, their accounts are still up. They deleted the assault victims names upon request from the victims. Its quite doubtful those women would fuck up their reputations, and writing careers, over some then unknown Z-List actor!

You know you cannot win this argument.

[quote][R130], there are Christian films that revolve around a character's Christianity. You aren't bitching about that. And if you do a DNA test you can get results for "Ashkenazi Jew" which is a pretty good sign that being Jewish is a specific ethnicity. Yes, there are converts but they are a small minority. And the vast majority of Muslims are not of European descent, which is part of the reason they face so much prejudice in the West

Who cares about Christian films, you think I watch that crap? Yell at the 'religious' Magats and their hypocritical stance, ask them "What would Jesus say?"

I just posted I could give a shit what religion a character is, are you really this dense? Being Jewish is mainly about a person's religion and you KNOW it, stop arguing.

Oh the irony, I'm biracial, of many different ethnicities and religions, but I did not grown up religious, just the opposite. I grew up in a creative progressive Liberal household. It's quite difficult to grow up racist and xenophobic when pretty much everyone in my extended family is of different nationalities, races and religions. One of my aunts is an Ashkenazi Jew, yet she isn't always carping about it!

Give it a rest.

I simply DO NOT CARE what religion a character is, unless it's an important plot point, it's irrelevant to the script.

You're biracial? Sure Jan. I bet you're a woke black woman who loves Donald Trump, just like all the other bots. You can always recognize them, they claim to be non-white while spewing the same racist talking points as white redneck Republicans

Man, the cray-cray has managed to crawl out from under their rocks in this thread which is supposed to be about British TV... I clicked in order to comment that the last episode of Grantchester was very good. The season was so effing ridiculous earlier, but managed to make Geordie's storyline believable. Leonard being out of prison is ridiculous, of course, so is his relationship with Daniel, but it's 2021, so a Cotswolds village would of course have a gay male couple who stroll along the town's lake, discussing tea and cinammon buns. I wonder if cinammon buns was code for getting rimmed?

The 10th anniversary Midwife thing was, well, sufficient enough to pass time. Probably a good third of it was in previous little promos made for either BBC or PBS.

Jenny Agutter did add new commentary and even mentioned COVID, though she was strangely in a nun's habit the whole time.

Apparently Jessica Raine burned all her bridges with the show, because they showed next to nothing of her in this recap/anniversary thing. If she got more than a minute of screen time I'd be shocked. And I can't remember her name being flashed on screen. The others who have left - Bryony Hannah, Miranda Hart and Pam Ferris among them - did get a credit and more recent departees like Vanessa Kirby talked a bit.

Emerald Fennell and Charlotte Ritchie have had much more post Midwife success than Jessica Raine.

Thank goodness "Baptiste" had the season finale and he retired, taking cooking lessons. The finale had him out in the woods, stabbed several times, no cellphone, next scene he's out on a building balcony saying goodbye to the ex Prime Minister who was also out in the woods, out of her wheelchair, crawling toward her son. Amazing.

R137 an understatement especially re Emerald who, you know, won A FUCKING OSCAR!!!!!

New episode of "Agatha Raisin" available 12/20 on Acorn.

I never got into Agatha Raisin.

Line Of Duty (on Acorn, also BritBox) is pretty phenomenal on the whole. Have only just started into the most recent season, but the ones leading up to this one have been excellent for a crime/police drama. Definitely a cut above your standard procedural.

Women really covet that ginger DNA, don't they? I bet it's the #1 choice at sperm banks: "Redheaded, tall and genius IQ, please".

Is this why there are so many Millennial gingers on the Autism spectrum?

Line Of Duty also aired on AMC. Last year I watched two seasons.

There were so many twists and turns. Great series.

R140 & R141 - I love Agatha Raisin. Best country house-country village porn on British television.

Waiting on Jeremy Clarkson (Clarkson's Farm & The Grand Tour) to make a cameo. He can play the drunk in the village pub.

[quote]saying goodbye to the ex Prime Minister who was also out in the woods, out of her wheelchair, crawling toward her son. Amazing.

R138 - what's amazing is that she was the ex British ambassador to Hungary.

I watched the first season of "Baptiste" and then went back and watched "The Missing" on streaming (both seasons are on Amazon Prime), but it appears the only way to watch season 2 of "Baptiste" is with the PBS Passport service. I already pay for Amazon, Britbox, Acorn, etc. -- do you think it will ever become available there or elsewhere?

I've discovered Dawn French's [italic]Murder Most Horrid[/italic] on Prime Video. Hilarious!

R147 - Eventually Season 2 of Baptiste will be on BritBox just like Morse & Lewis.

Season 2 of BAPTISTE? Aren't we already on the 3rd-4th season on PBS?

You do realize most of these streamed series listed in this thread can be seen for free online? A friend in the UK sent me the links for several sites.

Roku is offering a Black Friday deal this week to add Britbox for 99 cents per month for the next two months! (Other channels are being offered too as part of the deal, including Acorn).

What are the best detective shows on Britbox? I have enjoyed Shetland, Vera and Line of Duty. Is it worth getting Acorn too?

You kind of need both BritBox and Acorn sometimes. They have a nasty game of switching shows back and forth between them so if you want to watch every season, you need both.

"Season 2 of BAPTISTE? Aren't we already on the 3rd-4th season on PBS?"

R150 - The first three seasons of the show starring Baptiste as the detective character are titled 'The Missing". "The Missing" is an international co-production between the BBC and Starz

The "Baptiste" titled seasons of the show are are joint financial venture with WGBH Masterpiece, produced by the British Two Brothers Pictures and distributed worldwide by All3Media.

R151 - You need to get ACORN TV if you want to view all episodes of Vera as all episodes are not available on BritBox.

I have ACORN TV and watch it all the time for Midsomer, Murdoch Mysteries, Agatha Raisin, Miss Fisher, The Brokenwood Mysteries and Frankie Drake. ACORN TV has more TV from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. However, the ACORN TV catalog is not as great as BritBox.

[quote][R150] - The first three seasons of the show starring Baptiste as the detective character are titled 'The Missing". "The Missing" is an international co-production between the BBC and Starz

There are only two seasons of "The Missing."

R155 - Sorry! I miscounted as I tried to remember story lines.

I think Baptiste will be back for at least one more encore. He is not the type of dude to enjoy complete retirement. Something will come up and the French government will ask for his help.

(R148) I totally agree, in fact when they first aired "Murder Most Horrid" I taped some of the episodes, yes on VHS (pre-cd's). We had two PBS stations, the second carried most of the British tv shows, where I got hooked on "East Enders." Sadly, the second station was sold but I have to check Pluto or You Tube to see if "Murder" is listed. On You Tube the hilarious "Carry On" movies are listed and they are a must for laughs.

Norton has a very nice frame. Perfectly muscled. Not too much or too little of anything.

[quote][R150] - The first three seasons of the show starring Baptiste as the detective character are titled 'The Missing". "The Missing" is an international co-production between the BBC and Starz, The "Baptiste" titled seasons of the show are are joint financial venture with WGBH Masterpiece, produced by the British Two Brothers Pictures and distributed worldwide by All3Media.

Yes, I'm aware where the Baptiste character first showed up, I posted about The Missing upthread. I saw two of The Missing seasons on STARZ.

I was asking about the Baptiste series, not where he first appeared. IIRC, the last Baptiste season shown on PBS was actually the second or third Bapstiste series.

I don't think Baptiste is completely retired. They'll likely be a new season.

Though it's not a fictional series -- "Grand Designs" with that cantankerous Kevin McCloud is one of the most calming, delightful shows around. The Australian and NZ editions of the show are equally excellent (and in some ways, have even more extraordinary builds). I believe 3 seasons are on BritBox, but it's also shown up on Tubi, Netflix and Prime as well.

[quote]The 'tea' is, this man is extremely sketchy

Hold my beer.

[quote]Emerald Fennell and Charlotte Ritchie have had much more post Midwife success than Jessica Raine.

Jessica Raine has done fairly well for herself. She was a bitch in Wolf Hall and a drunk slut in The Last Post.

I can understand the producers of Call the Midwife being pissed at her because her departure changed how the show was presented. It was supposed to be narrated by Older Jenny looking back on her experience and then they had to scramble around when Raine left the show. However, if I were Raine, I would have left too because she was too "goody two shoes." They never gave her anything to play. Watch her in The Last Post. She's really great.

AND, she snagged hot ginger Tom Goodman-Hill for a husband. So she's doing just fine.

I can't believe all this talk of mystery shows and no one's talking about UNFORGOTTEN! Or was it thoroughly discussed up thread (there are so many similar threads to this one, I can't keep track).

In any case, if you've never watched it, it really is the smartest and most emotionally engaging.

I'm hoping for a Season 2 for the Hugh Laurie political thriller series ROAD KILL. Any other fans? Not a lot of talk on that one and that's a shame. I watched it on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery this past year.

Though sadly, another season cannot include Helen McCrory.

[quote]I can't believe all this talk of mystery shows and no one's talking about UNFORGOTTEN! Or was it thoroughly discussed up thread (there are so many similar threads to this one, I can't keep track). In any case, if you've never watched it, it really is the smartest and most emotionally engaging.

It's an excellent series, great acting. The season with Sting's ex-wife, the Irish actress Frances Tomelty, was very good. The series is also quite depressing.

Now that Nicola Walker has left the series, I wonder who Sanjeev Bhaskar's character's new partner with be.

WILL be....

When is "Line of Duty" returning? How about "Father Brown?"

[quote]ROAD KILL.

They made a show about a deplorable Thanksgiving?

R158 yes indeed. Perfection.

[quote] AND, she snagged hot ginger Tom Goodman-Hill for a husband. So she's doing just fine.

She was a little homewrecker, was she not?

Jessica Raine has resting bitch face.

She does, poor girl. It’s like she’s smelling something bad. I didn’t start watching until her time was nearly done but from the forum I was reading (can’t remember), viewers really didn’t like her. “She thinks she’s better than them”, that sort of thing. I didn’t notice that in the writing but I didn’t see all her episodes. I will say, all the succeeding midwives have been very open and caring, maybe unrealistically so.

r158=Leonard Finch

Why do Brits not have top sheets on their beds? On tv, all Brits just use a comforter.

R174 Because the 'comforters' (Duvets) have removable covers on them that get washed just as often as sheets, they usually come with matching pillow cases.

You can even get themed cover sets.

No top sheet but foreskin intact.

[quote]Because the 'comforters' (Duvets) have removable covers

But why??? If it gets hot in the night, Americans can peel back a blanket and just use the top sheet. What do the Brits do, either freeze or sweat?

Well, generally its gets neither as hot or as cold in the UK as it does in the US. Also, plenty of Brits use a sheet between them and the duvet, so the latter can be pushed back in summer if necessary

R177 We use different 'weight' duvets for summer and winter, they vary between 2.5 tog and 15 tog.

Wrong link, buying a duvet is a science.

I've caught up with all of the regular shows I watch so I started looking for a new one to binge. I started "The Last Detective" but gave up after about 15 minutes because the closed-captioning was so wonky. It would skip several sentences at a time.

Then I moved on to "The Bay," which stars Morven Christie, formerly of "Grantchester." Finished episode 1 and will continue to see what happens.

You lost me at Morven Christie.

I can't see Morven Christie's name without thinking of The Replacement where she played the Bridget Fonda Single White Female role with Vicky McClure as Jennifer Jason Leigh.

It was one of the most ridiculous pieces of TV I've ever seen. Vicky McClure at least had Kate Fleming to help people forget her role in it.

I hated Morven Christie in that. I was actually rooting for the psycho.

She was annoying in “Grantchester “ and “The A Word” too.

[quote] A lot of actors are self important nutters

Yes, the ghastly Emma Thompson

Any comments/thoughts about a series called FIVE DAYS?

Recommended now on Hulu. I think it's about 10 years old and seems to be a police procedural about missing persons, not sure how many seasons, and has every fave Brit actor in it, from Rory Kinnear to Anne Reid, to Hugh Bonneville to Suranne Jones, et.al.

Why are there so many "missing child" dramas coming out of the UK?

R57 They had an "extended nude" scene together.

Just saw a trailer for Jed Mercurio's Trigger Point, a series about bomb disposal officers with Vicky McClure and Adrian Lester, coming to ITV in 2022.

Vicky McClure always comes across as a lady licker.

Why does that island in the Caribbean need a white man from the UK to solve all their crimes for them?

Has anyone seen Ragdoll, a new Brit crime show that’s running in the states on AMC+? It’s a weird hybrid, a creepy serial killer-police procedural with a lot of pitch-black humor.

[quote]Has anyone seen Ragdoll, a new Brit crime show that’s running in the states on AMC+? It’s a weird hybrid, a creepy serial killer-police procedural with a lot of pitch-black humor.

Had never heard of it but the cast includes Natasha Little and Amita Dhiri, responsible for one of the most iconic tv moments of the 90s, so I might give it a go.

[quote]Why does that island in the Caribbean need a white man from the UK to solve all their crimes for them?

I don't know, but Ralf Little is the current white man. I've always thought he was sexy in a nerdy way.

I just binged season 6 of Shetland and, two words: CAKE. FRIDGE.

!!!!!

Never understood why we needed the mustached Belgian (Poirot) to solve crimes in Britain?

I assume, r196, that Christie wanted Poirot to be seen as an outsider, someone who might not initially be taken seriously and even somewhat repellant. Shows you what she thought of Belgians.

Wasn’t it another Christie character who “wrote mysteries “ and she frequently professed to HATE her detective character?

OK, I'm now caught up on everything available on:

Grantchester

Line of Duty

The Bay

Death in Paradise

Agatha Raisin

Father Brown

Vera

McDonald & Dodds

Shakespeare & Hathaway

Endeavour

Inspector Morse

Midsomer Murders

Inspector Lewis

Shetland

Foyle's War

The Missing

New Tricks

The Coroner

A Touch of Frost

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

DCI Banks

... and of course everything Agatha Christie-related.

Where to next?

[quote] Wasn’t it another Christie character who “wrote mysteries “ and she frequently professed to HATE her detective character?

That is Ariadne Oliver played by Zoe Wannamaker in the Poirot series starring David Suchet as Poirot.

Unforgotten, r199.

r201 Thanks. I've added to my list, although as of right now only seasons 1-3 are available for free on Amazon Prime video.

Christie came up with the character of Poirot just after WW1, when there were a lot of Belgian refugees in Britain

Seasons 2 and 3 are especially great, r199/r202.

How about “Scott & Bailey” and “Happy Valley”?

Cracker? I think it was made in the 1990s so it will look a bit dated but... I rented the first dvd and then went back to the video store (LOL) the next day and grabbed all the other seasons. Absolutely riveting.

The new season of "Shetland" is on Britbox. Only a couple of episodes in (they release them weekly) and it's good.

There are three episodes of "Shetland" Season 6 on Britbox. New ones usually come out on Monday, so episode 4 should be available tomorrow.

r204 Thanks. I added "Scott & Bailey," but the other one requires a subscription to AMC+. As I already have Acorn, Britbox, Disney+, HBOMax, Amazon Prime, Netflix, as well as cable, I'm not up for subscribing to yet another premium service.

CB Strike on HBOMax, r208.

Season 4 of UNFORGOTTEN is not quite up to the brilliance of the first 3 seasons, anyway, r199.

Does anyone know when the second season of "Gentleman Jack" will be shown?

R199 - all those shows and no recommendations? Which ones did you enjoy? Any duds?

I'm not going to spoil S4 of "Unforgotten" but I'm not sure that future seasons (I think it's been confirmed that the show will continue) will live up to first three series. But, who knows, maybe they have a good plan in place for going forward.

"I'm hoping for a Season 2 for the Hugh Laurie political thriller series ROAD KILL. Any other fans? Not a lot of talk on that one and that's a shame. I watched it on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery this past year."

R164 - I was hoping for a second season of "Road Kill" too. I also wanted a second season of "Press" another BBC-PBS or ITV-PBS show that I found very good.

Yes, PRESS! That was the one with Ben Chaplin, right? I'm also surprised it hasn't had a second season.

I liked Press as well.

R199 - Try Bergerac (1981-1991) starring a young John Nettles on BritBox. I would also suggest the Canadian Murdoch Mysteries on ACORN TV for light hearted murder mystery entertainment like Shakespeare & Hathaway. Also recommend The Long Call (2021) a British crime drama television on BritBox based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Ann Cleeves. This show is in it first season and is also pretty good. It co-stars Peral Mackie (Bill Potts from Dr. Who) and she is good.

R199 - I LOVED Whitstable Pearl. It stars Howard Charles of The Musketeers.

In my dotage, the only TV shows I want to invest my time are those that are historical and/or feature gay male characters (note: not L, not T, not Q, not +) -- any recommendations?

R199

You've hit most of the highlights but you must add "Last Tango in Halifax", with both Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker (a true excess of riches watching two brilliant actors play against each other), as well as Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, and a wonderful turn by the hunky (and so talented) Rupert Graves.

Written by the great and prolific Sally Wainwright.

Don't miss it. Five seasons.

R220 - I read somewhere that Sally Wainwright might still have one more season of Last Tango in Halifax up her sleeve. The problem is the availability of the principle cast members. Gentleman Jack is suppose to have one more season but was delayed due to COVID-19

I'd rather Sally Wainwright focus on another season of HAPPY VALLEY.

R199 Here. Thanks for all the suggestions. I started "The Unforgotten" last night and have watched the first three episodes. While I'm enjoying it, it seems like there are a LOT of characters to keep track of - especially for a show that comes out in 50-minute increments.

I have watched a few episodes of "Murdoch Mysteries" and while it's fine, it never really grabs me. I'll watch it once in a while if I can't find anything else.

I tried to watch "Bergerac" but some of the older shows are just not that enjoyable to watch due to their old-school production values. Same with "Pie in the Sky." It just looks cheap and very "80s." I had the same issue with "The Sweeney," which starred a much younger John Thaw (Morse).

R222

As R3 said, it is official...there will be a third (and final) season of 'Happy Valley.' Great and exciting news. I'm most surprised that James Norton agreed to come back, which enabled another season.

I wonder what Sally Wainwright will do next? She is the best writer for women today.

I wouldn't mind another season of 'Scott and Baily", but that's not likely, with Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp (and Lesley's hunky real-life husband Nicholas Gleaves). Amelia Bullmore, who also stars, wrote a few episodes and she is also a very good writer as well as actor.

For some reason I've yet to watch 'Gentlemen Jack' with Suranne Jones, so I'm going to start that. With Rosie Cavaliero, who can do no wrong.

So many riches!

Has anyone seen the complete series of Jeeves & Wooster? Is it that good?

A third series of Happy Valley has been confirmed and will start filming within the next couple of months.

R224, I liked Gentleman Jack a lot

I have a subscription on Acorn TV, but much to my surprise, plenty of British shows on Tubi, FilmRise, Fawesome and Pluto. such a huge selection will keep me viewing for over a year.

There are lots on Hoopla as well -- free, no commercials. Through your local library. But you are limited to 8 per month.

For those who have cable and the Ovation channel, Murdoch Mysteries as well as Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries are on this channel, not to mention on free streaming platforms.

Ovation also airs Riviera, Midsomer Murders, Vexed, Death in Paradise, King, Frankie Drake Mysteries (a Canadian series) and Crossing Lines, to name a few some here might be interested in.

Why are so many of you paying for streaming services, especially when these series are available on PBS and cable channels? In fact, in the US, Murdoch Mysteries was shown late nights on ABC

PBS Passport doesn't have 1/2 the programs they list for viewing.

Would highly recommend "Kingdom" with Stephen Fry. I believe it is on ACORN TV. Has lots of "familiar" British actors throughout the series

Second "Kingdom". It's a bit of fluff but kind and funny and sweet. With DL Favorite Celia Imrie, Karl Davies, who plays Daniel Cawood (Sarah Lancashire's estranged son on 'Happy Valley'), the lovely Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson's mother), and lots more.

Stick with it, though in later seasons it gets silly.

R233- Sometimes I enjoy silly and lighted hearted. I think that is why I like Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders so much. I really enjoyed Kingdom in the same way I enjoy Doc Martin & Agatha Raisin. I am a sucker for a good British village nutter and British Country House porn.

R234

Absolutely. They are all perfect for lowering one's blood pressure. In a crazy world, those shows make me feel happy.

When I am on the edge for any reason, I put on a Doc Martin. Even though I've probably seen each one at least four or five times, and can often recite the dialogue, it's like video Xanax.

If you haven't seen it yet, try 'The Durrells in Corfu'.

And for another video Xanax show, though it isn't a series as such, see if you can find "The Repair Shop" - "Each episode follows professional craftsmen from around the country who restore family heirlooms that have sentimental value for their owners." Particularly wonderful to wind down with at the end of a day.

Anyone remember "Band of Gold" from the mid 90's? It was the story of a bunch of hookers, including one played by Samantha Morton (I think this was the series that put her on the map). It was pretty dark but good stuff.

[quote]Anyone remember "Band of Gold" from the mid 90's? It was the story of a bunch of hookers, including one played by Samantha Morton (I think this was the series that put her on the map). It was pretty dark but good stuff.

Poor Cathy Tyson, once a hooker always a hooker, working down 't lanes with 't man from 't chicken factory who wore rubber gloves and was mistaken for a serial killer.

The Hoopla Digital app has a lot of BBC shows for free, just link your library card to the app. (It’s mostly books but they have a lot of British shows.)

R237 I wanted her with the cop character SO BAD....sadly it was an english so so no happily ever after.

Also the show was good but jumped the shark in the end making Tracy the killer. All because daddy diddled with her. Dumb and cliche.2

Just saw a trailer for The Girl Before and thought it was a remake of Sharon Stone's Sliver initially.

It's a BBC/HBO coproduction with Gugu-Mbatha Raw, her doubler Jessica Plummer from Eastenders, Ben Hardy from Eastenders and David Oyelowo.

[quote] Gugu-Mbatha Raw

A name to conjure with.

"One Foot in The Grave" was hilarious. I am currently watching (again) "The Forysthe Saga" on You Tube. This is the original, black and white from the late 60's with Eric Porter as Soames.

No R241.

It's Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw.

Who knows which are personal names and family names? I need to consult Google when I watch the BBC.

Gugu is wonderful in Belle opposite DL fave Sam Reid.

Maybe you should consult The Guide to Being Racist

Maybe you should consult The Guide to Living Your Own Life and Not Being Forced to Cater for Everyone Else Living On the Planet.

Maybe you should consult the Guide to Right-wing Twats

I didn't realize there's overlap between BBC and Newsmax/OANN viewers, you know, those angry with "Goddess Kamala."

[quote] Twats

No vaginas here, please!

[quote]"The Forysthe Saga"

FORSYTE. It's not about "Dynasty."

WHET Sam Reid?

R251, Sam Reid is playing Lestat in a new series based on Interview with the Vampire.

^ But does he get nude?

One can hope!

Anyone watching VEXED? It's on Ovation. I can't get into seeing Toby Stephens in a comedy. Vexed is basically a cop show, but there are a lot of funny moments.

I enjoyed it R255. I used to enjoy Midsommer Murders just to see what actors I'd recognize from other BBC stuff. It's funny to see an actor and think "oh, that's Mr. Collins" or "Mr. Wickham".

I liked the first season of Vexed with Lucy Punch. Her replacement was so bland.

Is "Discovery of Witches" streaming any place in the US? I cannot seem to find it on any streaming service.

R258

You can get it from Amazon Prime Video. SundanceNow has it as well, but it is subscription.

A new series of Two Doors Down started today.

It's not the most accomplished tv in the world but I've laughed more than I should do watching it.

Kieran Hodgson is amusing in it but he really deserves a show of his own.

R259 - Thanks! I have Amazon Prime and will check it out!

Season 6, episode 5 of "Shetland" popped up last night on Britbox.

R262 - I am am still on Season 4 of Shetland. Hopefully, by the time I get to season six all episodes will be available for binging.

r263 Episode 6 should show up late Monday night next week.

In place of the cancelled EASTENDERS on PBS, they've been airing a series called The Coroner.

Is it "The Coroner" (a British show) or just "Coroner" (a Canadian show)? I've seen all of "The Coroner" on streaming. I think there are only two seasons. The guy who plays the cop/ex-boyfriend used to be hot. He played a young cop who got killed on "A Touch of Frost."

I thought “The Long Call” was very underwhelming, especially as a fan of “Shetland” and “Vera” (also from Ann Cleeves).

I was reading the user reviews on IMDB, and they are brutal. Especially regarding Ben Aldridge who many mentioned as being totally free of charisma. Unfortunately I cannot say I completely disagree with that assessment. It’s great that an out actor is playing the central role, but he just didn’t bring much to it. It didn’t help that the material was weak. If this manages a second season, I hope they are able to write better material for him and the actor playing his husband.

Pearl Mackie and the actress playing Grace were the best parts of the show. And the gorgeous scenery!

The Long Call has a very good cast for being such mediocre writing.

One thing I didn’t understand, and maybe I was too busy pointless bitching on Datalounge:

The first time the mother comes to the son’s house and sees the boyfriend. Later the son says to the boyfriend: “I think I just came out to my mother.” She didn’t know? I thought that was why he was kicked out of the church.

I thought Whitstable Pearl was better than The Long Call.

I hope someone will post here when there are new episodes of:

Midsomer

Father Brown

Vera

... available. I hate checking all the time. I know the new "Agatha Raisin comes out in a couple of weeks.

Right now I'm starting in on "Rose and Maloney." I kind of want to slap the lead female.

[quote] "Rose and Maloney." I kind of want to slap the lead female.

I definitely was itching to slap that awful woman in that ugly pseudo-gay show called "Bob & Rose"

[quote] pseudo-gay show called "Bob & Rose"

Yes, that was a really bad show. Super stupid. Fag hag becomes lover!

R270

The character changes after the first episode, if you want to keep going and trying it.

Of course, I admit that Sarah Lancashire can do no wrong in my eyes.

How did I miss this thread?? I love British tv.!

We've just finished up this season's "Grantchester" here stateside. I didn't care much for Will at first, but he's growing on me. And who doesn't love Leonard?: "Sidney was a drunk, Will rides a motor bike, and I've been in prison!" We're going to see a new and improved ex-con Leonard going forward.

Glad to read I'm not the only one unimpressed with "Baptiste."

Anyone watching "Seaside Hotel?" The stock market crash is approaching ... and WWII.

What streaming service carries "Seaside Hotel"?

What streaming service carries "Rose and Maloney"?

"Rose and Maloney" is on Amazon Prime.

I watch "Seaside Hotel" on our local PBS station, R275.

Suuuuper late to the party, I know, but I am so enjoying the first season of Unforgotten. It's riveting watching the layers get peeled back. Glad there are three more seasons!

So pleased for you, r278! You're in for a treat with the entire series.

I think I've watched the first 3 seasons 3 times over the years and I might be ready for yet another viewing.

And if you're a fan of Nicola Walker might I recommend you watch her in The Split? Entirely different form Unforgotten, about a family firm of women divorce lawyers, but the actors, especially her, make it well worthwhile.

I watched the first episode of Anika with her in it but I fell asleep. Didn’t really grab me.

Bummer, but thanks R278, "Unforgotten" isn't offered by my carrier, but I can take your suggestion, R279, because "The Split" is listed.

Thanks

In this year's Midwife Christmas Special:

Phyllis will call someone "Lass."

Shelagh will cure cancer.

Lucille and Cyril will put millions to sleep.

And Tim Turner will create a scandal when nude photos of his enormous uncut cock are found in a manila folder titled "Twink4Daddy."

Judy Parfitt will chew on scenery AND a piece of cake.

Miriam Margolyes will rip a giant fart on screen.

I thought the first series of Whitstable Pearl was pretty good. It started off with the twee knob cranked to 11, but it really improved as it went along, and turned out to have this streak of melancholy I was NOT expecting.

I just started "London Kills" which is definitely sub-par. Lots of plot holes and implausible stuff. Stars Hugo Speer from "The Full Monty" and the early seasons of "Father Brown."

Yeah, London Kills is subpar. The only reason to watch is for the London scenery.

Isn’t London Kills semi-improvised? I read somewhere that they just give them the framework of a case and the plot points and the actors flesh out the dialogue and situations, or something to that effect.

R286, you are thinking of Suspects. That is the one that is improvised.

R279: Thanks for the heads-up on The Split. Alas, like R281 and Unforgotten, I don't have any of the streamers to watch The Split. (Can we all just go back to cable, please?!) However, I've enjoyed Nicola W in Last Tango in Halifax (and probably some other shows I've forgotten she's been in). Greatly looking forward to Unforgotten S2. Also: My theory with murder mysteries is that the killer is (almost) always the person you suspect the least. I thought that wouldn't hold for Unforgotten S1, given the cold-case procedural aspect of it, but I was wrong!

Just wait, r288! You're in for some surprises, UNFORGOTTEN doesn't follow any formulas.

Nicola Walker was a continuing character one season of Scott & Bailey. Binged that season in one night, until 4 am, it was so good.

[quote]Nicola Walker was a continuing character one season of Scott & Bailey. Binged that season in one night, until 4 am, it was so good.

Wasn't she a crazy killer is that show or was that on VERA? I know she held a woman detective at gunpoint in a car. The character was a total psycho!

Nicola Walker is great in Unforgotten, but the real strength of the series comes from the supporting characters.

Series 4 was by far the weakest, partly because of the plot but the cast wasn't top notch quality in the way the previous 3 were.

Tom Courtney won a BAFTA and Alex Jennings was nominated for one - it's incredibly rare for a crime drama to be acknowledged by BAFTA.

R291

That was 'Scott and Bailey', Series 3.

Amelia Bullmore was great in the final episode. (She's always good, but it's a particularly subtle and fine performance. Can't give too much away.)

Does anyone know where I can find the 1980s tv series Day of the Triffids? For free?

I was surprised when scanning Pluto (which is a free app), there were three BritBox features including the Mystery series. Unfortunately, one cannot rewind on Pluto to the beginning of the show. I have the paid Acorn TV feature and they list Vera at 28 episodes, but only have 7 available for viewing.

R295 - Half of Vera episodes are on on Acorn TV and half of the episodes are on BritBox.

For fans of Frau-ish mystery shows: Acorn released the second season of Queens of Mystery.

R297 - THANKS! I have been waiting for this and will watch tonight.

(R296) Thanks for that info. I was pleasantly surprised scanning Pluto and one of the free channels BritBox Mysteries and there was a Vera episode. Unfortunately I cannot scroll back to the beginning. Within the Comcast bill was the usual notice of a rate increase.

I just finished “The Victim” on Britbox (4 episode miniseries). If you enjoyed all of the adaptations of Harland Coban’s stuff on Netflix, you may enjoy this one.

Shetland’s Season 6 finale ended with an interesting cliffhanger! I read that they should be wrapping up the filming of Season 7 this month so hopefully it won’t be too long of a wait.

That’s good news r301.

I just watched the first season of Bancroft on Tubi. Worth watching, it’s very dark. Also interesting because it has Linus Roache from Law and Order with his original accent.

^ I meant to saw I watched it on Pluto, not Tubi.

I think the Brits are better at choosing background music than Americans. I’ve been introduced to several nice songs by watching Brit shows.

A gay dude really gays up Harewood House (Yorkshire) for Mary Berry's delight, Christmas 2018. He shrouds a giant Christmas tree in a wedding gown! Oohs and aahs ensue.

"Mary Berry's Country House Secrets" (Britbox via Amazon Prime

[quote]"Mary Berry's Country House Secrets"

Thanks, R305, and it's on Acorn TV as well.

I started “In My Skin” on Hulu tonight. So far it’s great!

[quote] I started “In My Skin” on Hulu tonight. So far it’s great!

The actress who plays the mother is excellent.

Call The Midwife Christmas special. It was quite good, if a little long.

Feels like they might have a new fresh writer on staff or something.

Call The Midwife was lovely. As soon as Sister Frances turned up at the Chu house I knew it was going to be a breach delivery.

And how lovely that the Chus were cockerkneees and not doing some Herro accent

I loved that Sister Hilda spiked the punch.

Matthew just needs to show Trixie his sizemeat already.

It appears that Derry Girls has wrapped its third and final season 🥲.

The Mezzotint was half an hour of creepy goodness with Rory Kinnear and Dame Frances Barber on top form.

From The Guardian's review:

[quote]This time, they are brought to him by Frances Barber as Mrs Ambrigail, garrulous amateur paleontologist, wife of an indisposed vicar and soon-interested party. Barber (who is a national treasure and should be in everything) takes things right up to the ham line and no further – you couldn’t get a rasher between her and it – and provides the perfect shot of energy needed to carry the whole thing through to an ending even more pleasing than a bacon bap.

Did I miss the Call the Midwife Xmas Special on PBS? It’s not on the schedule tonight.

Call The Midwife was shown on the BBC on Christmas Day evening.

A new series starts 2nd January.

R314 Yes, it's always on Christmas evening.

If you're in the UK the new season starts next Sunday. When it plays in the US is TBD. I hope the delay from 2021 doesn't mean we always have to wait until October now.

I am almost finished with Season 2 of “Hidden” a Welsh police detective drama on Acorn. It’s quite dark but enjoyable nonetheless.

[quote] Then I moved on to "The Bay," which stars Morven Christie, formerly of "Grantchester." Finished episode 1 and will continue to see what happens.

Season one of The Bay was just okay; however Season two was quite good and a vast improvement, IMO.

Morven Christie has opted not to continue on the show, so Season three which premieres in January will have a new lead detective (not a spoiler as each season is pretty much self contained).

I saw Call the Midwife on my PBS station at 9pm Christmas night.

Did you notice Sister Monica Joan shut up Dr Turner when he was about to explain the chemical the leech excretes? That’s a nod to UK fans of the show who are always grousing about Dr Turner explaining everything in every episode as if he’s a children’s encyclopedia. “Let me explain why leprosy was so feared in biblical times…but things have moved on since then….and the NHS makes sure everyone with leprosy is treated, free of charge.”

“Let me explain why your daughter died. She was born unable to rid her body of a chemical in her diet called phenylalanine. This chemical built up in her bloodstream and has had a harmful effect on her brain. We call this PKU…..But the we’ve moved on since then. NHS now tests babies for PKU and, with free treatment from NHS, all children with PKU should be able to lead fairly normal lives.”

The plodding encyclopedic explanations of Dr Turner is a bit of a running joke with some online fans.

Why did Cyril & Valerie get married by a priest in the Anglican Church? They’re not Anglicans. They’re some kind of evangelicals and Cyril is a self-proclaimed minister in some DIY religion. Why didn’t they get married in their own church by another DIY minister?

And churches did not have Christmas trees in them in 1966. Christmas in Anglican & Catholic Churches were all about the Nativity. The Christmas decoration they had was a crèche. And it was usually outside the church.

Has anyone in the UK seen the new Around The World In 80 Days with David Tennant yet, and is it any good? I think here in the States it starts airing on PBS in a couple of weeks.

[quote]Did you notice Sister Monica Joan shut up Dr Turner when he was about to explain the chemical the leech excretes? That’s a nod to UK fans of the show who are always grousing about Dr Turner explaining everything in every episode as if he’s a children’s encyclopedia.

I did notice that yes and loved Judy Parfitt's look of exasperation.

[quote]Why did Cyril & Valerie get married by a priest in the Anglican Church? They’re not Anglicans. They’re some kind of evangelicals and Cyril is a self-proclaimed minister in some DIY religion. Why didn’t they get married in their own church by another DIY minister?

The wedding did seem odd but I put that down more to Covid restrictions hampering filming than a culturally insensitive issue.

[quote]Has anyone in the UK seen the new Around The World In 80 Days with David Tennant yet, and is it any good? I think here in the States it starts airing on PBS in a couple of weeks.

I've got the first two episodes. The problem with this time on year is that there's so much good stuff on tv and it takes time to catch up with it all.

I watched the first episode of the curiously titled A Very British Scandal, which was nicely shot and acted and Claire Foy did her best to make a horrible person sympathetic.

And I say curiously titled as it's part of an "anthology" series that started with Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw's A Very English Scandal. It dawned on the producers at some point that the subjects of series 2 are not very English.

The newest AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS has a, gasp!, Black actor playing Passepartout. Which is much more woke than the 1956 version, which cast a Latinx actor.

There was a version where Jackie Chan played the lead ... as the butler! Yes, Passpartout was the action hero lead and Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) was the comic relief sidekick in need of being rescued from his own stupidity.

What has one of my fave English actors, Nathaniel Parker, been up to?

Years ago, on PBS, he was in so many series. He was in that weird film, "Wide Sargasso Sea", his co-star was that terrible actress from "The L Word", Karina Lombard. She's attractive but not much of an actress.

The last time I saw Parker on TV was in his detective series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, he looked like bloated mess. Guess he's a heavy drinker?

So A Very British Scandal is really not very good. I watched all 3 hours and it's just a well acted story about two unpleasant rich people.

The point about women not having equal rights to men was hammered home but everyone is just so unlikeable I couldn't bring myself to care.

Sarah Phelps has done a great job adapting Agatha Christie for the BBC but this was a disappointment.

Sarah Phelps' Christie adaptations got worse and worse each year from the first great one, And Then There Were None. Ordeal by Innocence was a particular abomination.

Kevin Elyot's Christie adaptations, on the other hand, are just great. He did 10 of them before he died.

I especially love his reworking of "A Pocketful of Rye" with DL Faves Rupert Graves and Matthew MacFadyen (2009).

Another recommendation for "Hidden." Another really good Welsh show is "Bang" (two series so far.)

I also enjoyed "The Loch", a Scottish 6-episode thriller with Laura Fraser and Siobhan Finneran.

Nicola Walker was great as the colleague of the luscious young Robson Green in Touching Evil, one of the best written British crime series ever. She plays the D.I. trying to keep his somewhat volatile character from going off the rails.

I've also seen her as the sick villainess on one of the episodes of Law and Order UK, season 1 or 2.

Death In Paradise released a Christmas Special this year. It features guest stars like Juliet Stevenson and Mathew Baynton. Also, a former colleague of the police team makes a guest appearance to help out during, what else, a murder investigation.

Midwife back on PBS 3/20 this year. The late season in 2021 solely because of delayed pandemic filming for S10.

R324 does Fogg marry a woman he saves from her previous husband’s funeral pyre, as in the novel? That would be probably seen as non-PC these days.

quote] And churches did not have Christmas trees in them in 1966

At least one of the Christmas trees on the show had LED lights on it. Not very 1960s. That was strange. Most trees on the show had incandescent lights which is more realistic for the time period, though I thought there were too many mini light strings on trees for 1966. I think most people still had C7s, bubble lights, snowball (“ice”) lights in 1966.

I remember when GE snowball lights came out, they were supposed to be cooler-burning than C7s. They still got pretty hot. I think the first mini lights I saw had plastic “flowers” around them that were supposed to be both safer and reflective of light. I miss the blinker lights we still had back then, when one or two lights on the tree could blink on and off while the rest of the lights on a string stayed solid. My mother hated blinker lights. “It looks like a cheap bar in here!”

Some of the lights that were hanging in the outdoor scenes were C7 or C9 multi LEDs. You can tell because C7/9 incandescent in 1960s only came in multicolor, and the incandescent multicolor strings back then had white bulbs in the string along with green, red blue and yellow. It was when minilights came along that white was banished from the multicolor line up. When LEDs came along, they copied the no-whites policy of the minilights. So if you see C7/9 multi lights without any white bulbs mixed with color, you know they’re LED.

R326 - No, he's just past it. The Lynley series was his apex, and after that he kind of sank. He's about sixty now. He's kept working but not too starrily. I think he's one of the few on a very long-term happy marriage with a couple of kids. Never heard anything about him being a drinker. He was really handsome in the first few Lynleys, although I began to find the character a pain in the arse. I didn't blame Helen for leaving.

Just finished Unforgotten S2. Still riveting, despite the ultimately grim subject matter. On to S3!

[quote]Just saw a trailer for The Girl Before and thought it was a remake of Sharon Stone's Sliver initially. It's a BBC/HBO coproduction with Gugu-Mbatha Raw, her doubler Jessica Plummer from Eastenders, Ben Hardy from Eastenders and David Oyelowo.

I'm on episode 3 of 4 of this and it's very involving, despite the bizarre premise which is unbelievable to begin with. There are a total of 4 Eastenders veterans in it, and so far they've not seen fit to get Ben Hardy naked, which is surely the main point of casting him. David Oyelowo does have a nice pair of tits on him though, very impressive for a 45 year old god botherer.

With some tweaks it would make a good Hollywood movie - Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard would have been perfect for it 10 years ago, or Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley.

I hope the final episode is a satisfying denouement.

[quote][R326] - No, he's just past it. The Lynley series was his apex, and after that he kind of sank. He's about sixty now. He's kept working but not too starrily. I think he's one of the few on a very long-term happy marriage with a couple of kids. Never heard anything about him being a drinker. He was really handsome in the first few Lynleys, although I began to find the character a pain in the arse. I didn't blame Helen for leaving.

Nathaniel was super hot, very attractive, in all his early series, most of which were shown on PBS and on A&E, while it was still an arts & entertainment network. Have you caught any of them? “Piece of Cake” and so many other series were shown in the US on PBS and A&E.

Based on his looks alone, I honestly thought he'd be a much bigger star, especially in the superficial US, where actors and actresses aren't allowed to age.

Nat was in the Derek Jarmen film, “War Requiem”. I was aware of Nat way before the Lynley series. He was mostly in period and historical series, at least that's where I first saw him in the US.

Nat was also quite attractive in Mel Gibson’s version of “Hamlet”, he portrayed Laertes. He was also in a film version of “Othello” as Cassio. I recall there was a third Shakespeare film role he played.

In NYC, I saw him onstage in “The Merchant of Venice”. He was so gorgeous. Dustin Hoffman and Twiggy’s husband, forgot his name, were also in the play. Years down the line, Nat was nominated for a Tony for his portrayal of Henry VIII for ‘Wolf Hall”. Not sure if he appeared in the TV version. I’ve always tried to see every film and TV series appeared in, I’m not sure he if he appeared in the TV version of ‘Wolf Hall”.

Nat did full frontal nudity in “Wide Sargasso Sea”. Pics are online.

I assumed the weight gain over the past few years was from drinking. He’s not that old to look so bad. In the most recent photos I saw of him, his face was chubby and he had a double chin. He still has his hair, but it’s mostly grey.

His physical decline doesn’t take away from his acting ability, I wonder why he’s not being hired. Many other older British actors who look worse than Nat are still working. I'm wondered if he might be ill.

it's amazing that a man who is nearly 60 doesn't look like he did in his early 30s when he played his most memorable role.

R340, face facts, the Brits hit the wall much faster than others, most drink like a fish and smoke. The lack of sun sure doesn't help.

r341. I do not think that in this modern age it has anything to do with the country or region somebody is living. If you want to hold on to your youth, even in England, you can go to a plastic surgeon (or make travel arrangements to go to one in a different country) or buy beauty products in the local supermarket or drugstore.

Nathaniel Parker is the same age as Ralph Fiennes, Cary Elwes, John Hannah, Phillip Scofield and Eddie Izzard.

Parker, Fiennes and Hannah all look their age, Elwes looks well preserved but waxy, Scofield looks like he has a painting in the attic and poor Izzard looks hideous.

Damian Lewis played Henry VIII in the TV version of "Wolf Hall." Anyone know if "The MIrror and the Light" is being developed -- or better, filmed? Mark Rylance, indeed, the whole cast, was fantastic, as were the production values, direction, etc.

If Parker keeps gaining weight, he will have a steady career portraying Henry VIII, how many times has he played Henry?

[quote][R341]. I do not think that in this modern age it has anything to do with the country or region somebody is living. If you want to hold on to your youth, even in England, you can go to a plastic surgeon (or make travel arrangements to go to one in a different country) or buy beauty products in the local supermarket or drugstore.

Even if it has nothing to do with the country or region, you must admit, British actors and actresses, who remain working mostly in the UK, don't put all that much emphasis on their looks. They are allowed to age, that doesn't fly in the US. Older US performers are always tweaking their looks.

British actress Beatie Edney, who was quite attractive has aged terribly. I first saw her in "Lost Empires" with Coli Firth, she's now obese. I was shocked when I saw her in the "Poldark" re-boot, she's a regular on "The Coroner".

Helen Mirren, after her US success, definitely had some facial work done. Caring about ones looks seems to depend where the performer earns most of their money. If Nat Parker had become a big international actor, he definitely would have cared more about his looks. He's still a good looking man, he simply needs to lose some weight.

r346, because older generations of British actors have plenty of opportunities to work in the UK. Before the pandemic, stage theater was still considered popular entertainment. And there's always a demand for Midsomer Murders type of guest spots on TV.

People may mock and whine about the BBC, but it fairly represents a diverse range of actors, including older ones. Something the US severely lacks, even with PBS in place. In the US, the best older non- A to B list actors can hope for is either the occasional senior citizen movie or getting a guest gig on some Hallmark or Lifetime (Christmas) movie which are filmed in Canada.

Beatie looks like she's swallowed her mother, Sylvia Syms.

[quote]British actress Beatie Edney, who was quite attractive has aged terribly. I first saw her in "Lost Empires" with Coli Firth, she's now obese. I was shocked when I saw her in the "Poldark" re-boot, she's a regular on "The Coroner".

Beatie Edney just turned into her mother. Some people put on weight - Brendan Fraser, Val Kilmer, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley all did the same.

Her character in Poldark is a buxom wench so they don't give her a flattering look. But when she puts on a bit of make up and makes an effort, she looks like a perfectly attractive woman who is nearly 60.

The same people who bitch about SJP looking too thin and starving herself complain when someone the same age puts on a bit of extra weight. WOMEN CAN'T WIN.

[quote]Her character in Poldark is a buxom wench so they don't give her a flattering look. But when she puts on a bit of make up and makes an effort, she looks like a perfectly attractive woman who is nearly 60. The same people who bitch about SJP looking too thin and starving herself complain when someone the same age puts on a bit of extra weight. WOMEN CAN'T WIN.

This is more than just "extra weight", her body has changed in the extreme and that's not a normal part of aging.

You seem to know little about women's bodies, not all women automatically gain a ton of weight as they age, that's another silly myth. Most of the older women I've worked with over the years, some of my female relatives and friends actually lost weight as they aged. A old college friend who always battled her weight became a runner and looks amazing. She joked about transforming her "barrel-shaped body", this woman looked like a fire plug, now she looks like an athlete. I barely recognized her at my school reunion.

Perhaps Beatie has some auto immune disorder or other health issue which caused her to get obese.

This is TMI, but it is a fact: a hysterectomy, at a younger age, especially pre-menopause, can actually cause a woman to blow up and end up looking like Beatie. A close female friend had cancer, she needed a complete hysterectomy before 40. This woman was always naturally slim, ate a healthy diet, yet she gained 50 pounds in less than a year. In order to get back down to her regular weight, she now eats less food (she never over-ate to begin with!) and exercises more than she did before. My friend loves to walk, so that helps.

Yes most women gain weight after menopause. Your whole system is changing. Metabolism changes and it's hard to adjust eating habits.

Wow, I didn’t know her by name. She played Prudie on Poldark. Years ago she played the wife of Christopher Lambert in Highlander. “Who wants to live forever?” Is one of my favorite scenes.

[quote]Yes most women gain weight after menopause. Your whole system is changing. Metabolism changes and it's hard to adjust eating habits.

I explained earlier, massive weight gain due to menopause definitely does NOT happen to ALL women, yet, you want to argue that FACT and that reality? How absurd and juvenile.

Not every woman's body changes to such an extreme that they become obese and end up looking like Beatie Edney. There's also genetics at play. Her mom Sylvia Sims also drastically changed physically, she also became quite fat. IIRC, re Sylvia, there's a health component to her weight gain.

Name some other actresses who were curvaceous, yet slim, like Beatie was years ago, and who have blown up and now have a body which resembles Roseanne Barr's former obese figure? Very few.

Beatie and Colin Firth in "Lost Empires".

[quote] I explained earlier, massive weight gain due to menopause definitely does NOT happen to ALL women, yet, you want to argue that FACT and that reality? How absurd and juvenile

Nobody has said ALL women gain weight after menopause, Thread Derailer.

But keep huffing & puffing to derail the thread. We’ll watch you, if you like.

Now….GO!

Start a new derail!

Back to actual TV, the BBC is finally allowed to show Four Lives, based on the "Grindr" killer Stephen Port.

The inquest into the murders was only recently held so they had to hold back the screening until after.

It's on 3 consecutive nights starting Monday 3rd January.

It's going to be difficult to watch - I wonder how many of the men were desperate to leave when they met Port in person, without the wig and filters, but had a drink out of courtesy.

[quote]Nobody has said ALL women gain weight after menopause, Thread Derailer. But keep huffing & puffing to derail the thread. We’ll watch you, if you like. Now….GO! Start a new derail!

The SCREECHING level of control freakery at DL is absolutely hilarious.

Someone posted this: "Yes MOST women gain weight after menopause. Your whole system is changing. Metabolism changes and it's hard to adjust eating habits." This statement is pretty close to assuming ALL women gain weight after menopause.

As for derailing a thread, you must be new around here, pretty much ALL DL threads veer off topic.

I’ve been binge watching “No Offence” on Acorn (3 seasons). It’s very entertaining and Joanna Scanlan is a hoot!

R356, do shut up. You're simply tiresome.

[quote] I’ve been binge watching “No Offence” on Acorn (3 seasons). It’s very entertaining and Joanna Scanlan is a hoot!

Except the episode where she appears nude. Ewwwww, nobody needed to see that.

^^Haha I am watching that episode right now! Should have come with a warning ⛔️ 😄

ITV/Britbox "The Long Call" is, in a word, glum, with some hammy performances in Mummerset accents (although Ben Aldridge is OK and good to look at).

It's bizarre that Attitude Magazine gave Ben Aldridge a TV award before The Long Call was even aired. The response to it has been very muted and there's been no announcement on whether the follow up book will be adapted for TV.

The Long Call just didn’t come together. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s not engaging.

Well I don't want to spoil the new series of Call The Midwife for anyone BUT

BUT

BUT

BUT

There are some new additions to the names featured on the opening credits which is an OMEN!

R364 I would very sweetly and politely ask you and anyone else that might be posting from the UK to please please please give us a heading of SPOILER ALERT or the like and a chance to scroll away - those of us watching in the US don't get Ep1 of the new series until March 30th.

You don't HAVE to, of course, but we sure would appreciate it.

And your news is very intriguing! At this point I'd be happy if something shook shit up a little.

I noticed Judy Parfitt has started using a cane. I don’t want to see her retire, she’s a brilliant actress.

I'm the nerd that commented upthread on COVID staging/blocking re Midwife but I did notice with the Christmas special things seemed to be a bit more back to normal.

Through S10 there were so many weird shots that you could tell were meant to distance actors from each other - weird angles for the babies, etc. And Judy Parfitt seemed to be distanced from everyone in those episodes. Not so much in the Xmas one.

Oh good lord I was watching Downton Abby the Movie on PBS and it is so bad I had to turn put it on mute shortly after it started. These snark remarks and trite cliches - is that all he knows how to write as dialogue? This was done strictly for money, right?

Money and “fan service,” R368. I hate fan service. It’s just coasting on one’s laurels. There’s a second Downton movie coming out soon, so well done, producers, I guess? At least the new one is set partly in the south of France, so that’ll make a change. Expect lots of tennis whites, I guess.

Oh my lord! deux. Now the understairs crew are plotting to stage a musical to get back . . . no wait not a musical but a coup of the chef and his staff.

Now the poor born ex-chauffeur son in law of the lord, Mr Branson is making small talk - really deep talk and of course life changing talk - with Princess Mary who he claims not to know. Well I know her. She runs her dead father's detective agency on the side. Those royals are amazing multi taskers. .

[quote] Now the understairs crew are plotting to stage a musical to get back . . . no wait not a musical but a coup of the chef and his staff.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was that it was an unused plot from I Love Lucy. If this was all they could think of for the servants to do, then they are desperate.

Oh my lord! Part Trois

The coppers have just raided a gay club where Thomas was dancing with his pick up from the bar. And that gorgeous Max Brown is peeking around a corner. Max Brown should have better roles. He is beautiful.

Oh oh now Max has sprung Thomas from the pokey.

Oh my lord. Max Brown just kissed Thomas. That was good. Is he going to be in the new Downton Abbey XIV.

Oh my lord. Part Cinq. That was utterly cringeworthy. I was actually embarrassed at times. I am still happy to see Lady Edith doing so well.

I am thrilled that my local PBS UK channel starts showing The Fall next Saturday. I didn't realize that the writer was inspired by the BTK killer's life as a seemingly normal family man while serial killing on the side.

Max Brown should have poked Thomas in the bum.

[quote][R364] I would very sweetly and politely ask you and anyone else that might be posting from the UK to please please please give us a heading of SPOILER ALERT or the like and a chance to scroll away - those of us watching in the US don't get Ep1 of the new series until March 30th. You don't HAVE to, of course, but we sure would appreciate it. And your news is very intriguing! At this point I'd be happy if something shook shit up a little.

That was a very polite request and I shall adhere to it in the spirit of Sister Monica Joan.

I won't post any spoilers about Call The Midwife other than vague comments, such as the promotion of certain cast members to appearing in the opening credits, and the preview for episode two which shows a favourite minor character is going to get a BIG STORYLINE.

And that isn't a hint that Chris Noth victimised him or her.

My PBS station is rerunning All Creatures Great and Small for the third time this (well, last) year. I didn’t see any promos for the Call the Midwife Christmas Special or the Downton movie.

I caught the last :30 of the Downton movie on PBS last night, killing time waiting for another show to begin (on HGTV, lol).

Seeing it on TV just reminded me how truly pedestrian it is at this point. The movie was not horrible, but there was nothing memorable about it, not a thing that couldn't have been done on TV.

It also reminded me that Mary and Henry have less than no chemistry. Edith got the title and the finer piece of ass, IMHO.

R378, I hope you are recovering well from your covid induced feverish stupor because DA: THE MOVIE, was horrible. Sheer dreck.

I guess Julian thinks having couples engage in terrible dialogue as they move about in evening gowns and tuxes is the perfect clever ending. I forgot he worked on The Tourist script.

Get better soon.

Another victim here of the DOWNTON ABBEY film showing last night! It was so much worse than I remembered but I guess it initially really benefitted from the long anticipation and watching it in a big audience-filled theatre (remember those?).

It does amaze me how none of the younger actors of the original cast have had any real luck in their careers in the last several years. I never found Michelle Dockery or Laura Carmichael remotely convincing or talented but I would have expected more from Rob James-Collier and Allen Leech. You'd think that both of those handsome sexy guys could at least be heading other TV series by now. Also surprised by the lack of continued success of Joanna Frogatt and Sophie McShera.

Oh FFS, are you comparing Downton Abbey actors to Jennifer Lawrence levels of success? Since the last movie

Michelle Dockery was the female lead in Guy Ritchie's crime ensemble The Gentleman, had an Emmy nominated lead role in Godless, a lead role in Apple's Defending Jacob and is filming a new David E. Kelley drama with Sienna Miller.

Laura Carmichael appeared in The Spanish Princess over 2 years, and was the lead in BBC drama The Secret She Keeps.

Joanne Froggatt has been the lead in 4 primetime ITV dramas, with parts written directly for her by Harry & Jack Williams, two of the most high profile British tv writers.

Admittedly Sophie McShera hasn't done much other than a brief appearance in the first episode of The Queen's Gambit, but her role in Downton relied on her playing a lot younger than she is.

Rob James Collier was only known for Coronation Street before Downton. He's handsome but he was never going to have a big career. He's filming his 3rd or 4th series of Ackley Bridge.

Allen Leech was in The Imitation Game and Bohemian Rhapsody and done some odd tv.

None of them in Hollywood movies, but they're not doing Hollyoaks either. The idea that Michelle Dockery and Joanne Froggatt aren't enjoying tremendous success as actors is laughable. They're marquee names.

My name is JoannA, bitch at r381!

Americans have never heard of any of most of those credits, r381. And Michelle Dockery was so unmemorable in them, I forgot she did them.

[quote]Americans have never heard of any of most of those credits, R381.

We are not as deprived (or obtuse) as you imagine, R383; all the listed titles are or have been released Stateside and devoured by those of us who love the British small and large screen offerings. Keep them coming!

[quote] My name is JoannA, bitch at [R381]!

No, it’s JoannE and has always been Joanne, like Rowling, Woodward, Whalley and that Lady Gaga album. Oh and ghat Chocolat woman who has turned into a MRA.

Michelle Dockery starred in the US TNT TV show "Good Behavior" for two seasons with Juan Diego Botto.

Juan Diego Botto is hot.

Juan Diego Hotto#

LOL

"No Offence" is one of the best in recent years.

And if we can extend from Britain to nearby Ireland, "Jack Taylor" was a favourite in recent years, also.

"Waking the Dead" was very good, and it was the first time I was ever partial to Trevor Eve, an actor I haven't liked much (he's actress Alice Eve's Dad, by the way). But he was perfect for this, because he has an obnoxious quality.

But you'll go far to beat "Touching Evil" and "Wire in the Blood", in my view. At least, in the crime/mystery department.

I go back much further, I suspect, than most of you lot, and two series' featuring Roy Marsden were amongst my favourites, "The Sandbaggers" and the Dalgiliesh series on PD James' detective.

I really enjoyed Waking the Dead. It lasted 10 years. Eve was also very good on the mini-series about a detective that got transferred to African cause he shoots dead a pedo who had some kind of immunity from prosecution. IIRC Under the Sun or some name like that. I liked that series.

Also Touching Evil was one of the best crime series. Both Robson Green (at his best) and Nicola Walker were great as was that first horrible villain.

I said this upthread but I am really excited that my local PBS-UK station starts showing The Fall this Saturday.

R388 - Just started watching the Dalgiliesh series on US AcornTV.

Loved Jack Taylor as I am a big Ian Glen fan.

Mrs. Wilson on PBS was also very good mostly due to Ian Glen.

R369 - I really enjoyed The Fall. The complete cast is excellent.

The Jack Taylor series was excellent, and as a reader of the books, Iain Glen was perfect. I wish they’d make more. There is plenty of source material, I think Ken Bruen has written about 16 Jack Taylor novels and counting.

Joanne Froggatt needs to do a comedy. She's played one too many battered wives.

If you're into the private dick* genre, C.B. Strike is very good. Season 4 will drop this year.

*get your smutty mind out of the gutter or I'll tell your mother!

[quote]Joanne Froggatt needs to do a comedy. She's played one too many battered wives.

When the Angela Black trailer was released it was literally NOT ANOTHER ABUSED WOMAN? It was from the same writers as Liar as well.

CB Strike is great. It’s currently streaming on HBO Max.

[quote]It was from the same writers as Liar as well.

I was surprised Liar got a second season. It was crap.

Sheridan Smith is also lately in the running for those "hard done by woman" roles. But at least she has comedy and musicals under her belt.

Sheridan Smith is an actor from the same mould as Judi Dench, Julie Walters, Olivia Colman etc - they can move effortlessly from sitcoms to dramas where they cry a lot to musicals and classic plays. Sheridan obviously isn't in the same league as the others, but has 2 Oliviers, a Bafta, 2 Emmy nominations.

Her mental health and weight problems have been well documented. Her appearance on the Jonathan Ross show before Christmas was quite uncomfortable to watch.

I couldn't face the Four Lives thing about the Grindr serial killer. Too gloomy.

Or the horrible Maxine Peake in the Hillsborough thing.

This time of year I want light frothy comedy.

[quote]Or the horrible Maxine Peake in the Hillsborough thing.

Maxine Peake isn't horrible. She's been able to show a variety of characterizations. Check her out in "Shameless" and "Silk", both well done.

Maxine Peake is a deeply unpleasant human being. Good actress but horrible person.

Big Corbyn supporter, defender, enabler, typical left wing anti semite, however her comments on Israel being in part responsible for the murder of George Floyd (it's always the Jews isn't it?) allowed Keir Starmer to sack the hideous Rebecca Long Bailey from his shadow cabinet after Long Bailey refused to delete a tweet praising Peake's interview in which the comments were made. Peake tried to blame Amnesty for making the claim about Israel forces teaching US police to kneel on suspects' necks but Amnesty weren't having any of it.

[quote] Maxine Peake is a deeply unpleasant human being. Good actress but horrible person.

[quote]typical left wing anti semite

And the worst part is that it's been done before.

[quote] Her mental health and weight problems have been well documented. Her appearance on the Jonathan Ross show before Christmas was quite uncomfortable to watch.

What the hell happened?

Thanks, R397, that's a new one to me.

Ouch r403! That article calls SS “the Gavin and Stacey star.” She was a third tier character on that show only appearing in seven episodes. Yet by the time she was in G&S, she already starred in seven seasons of the sitcom “Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.”

[quote] What the hell happened?

Poor Sheridan. She was in the plastic surgeon’s office when Adele was getting all her fat sucked out. Some nurse, obviously from the NHS, picked up Adele’s fat syringe thinking it was Botox and shot it into Sheridan.

Sheridan's had well documented alcohol issues, and her weight problem was made worse by pregnancy and lockdown.

She's fluctuated before and typical of the media she's been congratulated for losing 2 stone and looking amazing.

She really is an amazing actress. I've saw her in Flare Path (opposite James Purejoy no less) and (Mary!) she's a joy to watch. She's captivating on screen. I wish I'd got to see her in Funny Girl.

What is Flare Path and where can I watch it? I love James Purefoy.

Flare Path is a play by Terrance Rattigan, originally written in 1941 to keep the spirits up during the war.

It was revived in 2011 as part of the centenary of Rattigan's birth. Sienna Miller was the lead female role and really very good but Sheridan Smith was so good in a smaller supporting role that she got all the attention and praise.

I'm still holding out for a full series of WI.

I'm sorry to hear that about Sheridan Smith. She was on top of the world for a while there. I was impressed with her in a number of things.

I wish they'd do a third season (sorry, series) of W1A.

W1A = best ensemble cast ever in a British sitcom

Omg r410, what is that? I’m dying.

WA1 = hilarious.

For those with Britbox: "The Long Call", based on a novel by Ann Cleeves, and only 4 episodes long, might be of interest. The main character is a gay detective who investigates a murder in a secretive, tightly knit evangelical community he grew up in. As a crime drama, it's simply OK, but as a character study, it's pretty good.

[quote]Omg [R410], what is that? I’m dying.

It's from Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings, her prediction from 2000 on what multi channel streaming services would look like.

There's also costume drama Plots And Proposals with Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton, Richard E Grant, Pete Postlethwaite, Geraldine McEwan and Honeysuckle Weeks.

I think Line of Duty is the best series, British or American, that I've ever seen. And I'm not a fan of the cop/crime drama genre.

^ It is but the end of the last season was underwhelming

Thanks for the tip about C B Strike. I’d never heard of it and the first 3 episodes were pretty good. The lead actor played a very convincing autistic man in an episode of an old legal series, The Brief that I watched and liked earlier this week.

[quote]The lead actor played a very convincing autistic man in an episode of an old legal series, The Brief that I watched and liked earlier this week.

He was also in an episode of The Crown. He played Princess Margaret’s friend Dazzle Jennings. And also Orson Wells in Mank.

Lesley Manville can do no wrong. Even though "Let Him Go" is an American film, she brings her A game! The film goes off the rails about 3/4 of the way through, but she is fierce through the entire film.

Thanks to whoever recommended "In My Skin." The first episode was beyond depressing and I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it got better and better and ended up being one of the best shows I've ever seen.

^ glad you enjoyed “In My Skin”! I found it on Hulu because of the Welsh actor playing the dad. He stars in Season One of “Hidden” - a crime drama airing on Acorn. Bit odd looking but really good actor. He was in the gay themed movie “Pride” also.

Oh hell, I’m watching PBS and they just ran a promotion for a second season of Sanditon and yes, another young man thinks the lead actress is the most amazing unusual young woman and she still walks around outside with her scraggly hair down.

I thought this show had been laughed out of existence.

Sanditon also appears to have run out of hot young men this season.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Sanditon" and look forward to Season 2; however, should Theo James go missing from the show my interest may wane accordingly.

The second season of "All Creatures Great and Small" premiered last night and did not disappoint. I love that show.

If Theo James were still in Sanditon I'm sure he would have been shown in the trailer.

Yes, All Creatures was lovely last night! Such a sweet show and Nicholas Ralph and Callum Woodhouse make me very happy. But is anyone else a little sick of Timothy West's constant grumpiness? I don't blame the actor as much as the writing for the character which seems excessively one dimensional.

Theo James is NOT returning to Season/Series 2 of Sanditon.

Ok, so because there has to be a minimum of two men attracted to the main character, is the builder guy from last season still around? The new beau is apparently a tortured artiste. IMDb only has two actors listed at the moment.

I liked Sanditon but Theo James did them dirty by not returning at the last minute. This show revived his career and brought him back to the attention of the public - at least the swooning fangurls - quite frankly it's about the best work he's done - though the director needed to rein him in a bit more.

I sensed he felt this was beneath him a bit during his interviews. He also didn't participate in the promos that much. He reminded people he hadn't done TV in a long time - as if that wasn't as good as his, well, his shitty filmography. This is one of those handsome Brit actors who can get more work outside the UK and thus make more money.

It's too bad because it had a really compelling romantic storyline with real chemistry that could have proven iconic. That character had a promising redemptive arc with a backstory of shame to overcome and atone for.

Finally got to see The Fall and had to hide my eyes a lot. When I saw it again at 11:30 pm I was able to see more of it with my eyes uncovered by protective pillow. Yes I am a baby. I like Gillian Anderson's character and Jamie Dornan is fine. I mean really fine. How have I never noticed him before? He's in Branaugh's Belfast.

Plus Around the World in 80 Days was enjoyable but nothing to rave about. The Season 2 premier of All Creatures was okay, but just okay. Hope it gets better. I like those characters and the story.

I, too, am a fan of All Creatures, although I do find it twee-adjacent, which I suppose is part of its charm. Watching the season premiere last night I thought, This is like a filmed version of a YA novel written in the '40s. (If there was such a category as young-adult novel then.) Give or take the possibility of a dead animal or two, you know exactly how it's going to end 10 minutes in. It's Comfort Food TV, I get it, I appreciate it. As this season looks to be about James and Helen's courtship, I doubt Matthew Lewis will be back as the landowner Helen left at the altar. Too bad, because he brought the tiniest bit of vinegar to the show.

Nice to see they got James down to a tight Henley shirt early on; last season I believe they found a reason for him to be shirtless or nearly so in the first three episodes. And wasn't Tristan blond(er) last season? (Callum Woodhouse was pretty blond in The Durrells in Corfu.) And every time they have Samuel West banging around in head to toe tweed (bucket cap, jacket, pants), pipe clenched between his teeth I just laugh -- Generic English Country Squire.

Also: does Mrs. Hall have superpowers? Apparently, she has no help (kitchen/house maid) and yet manages to put three, often large, square meals on the table, shops for and prepares said food, does the laundry for three men in a dirty profession, keeps their house *immaculate* and helps out in their office, and yet her hair is always perfectly rolled and her apron spotless. (I can't remember if she lives in their house, but if she doesn't that means she has her OWN house/life to take care of as well.)

Finally, where are the Gays? Maybe Mrs. H's unseen reprobate son is.

[quote]And every time they have Samuel West banging around in head to toe tweed (bucket cap, jacket, pants), pipe clenched between his teeth I just laugh -- Generic English Country Squire.

I feel quite sorry for Sam West. Obviously he's grown up in the shadow of both of his parents and had a promising start with Howards End but his career has flatlined with the dullest roles imaginable. I wonder if he's bitter about Toby Stephens' career?

I loved Sam West in Mr. Selfridge.

I remembered that Sam West and Toby Stephens appeared alongside fellow actor born to famous actors Rupert Penry Jones in Cambridge Spies.

Sadly no room in the cast for Finty WIlliams.

No matter how many times they remake Howards End, Samuel West will ALWAYS be Mr. Bast to me. (And WHET Rupert Penry Jones? SO pretty.)

Coincidentally, I just re-watched Match Point and was surprised to see Rupert Penry-Jones in the small role of friend to lead Jonathan Rhys Meyers. God, they were both so hot! What a great film.....Woody's last good one.

Theo James was about to make his musical West End debut in CITY OF ANGELS opposite Vanessa Williams when Covid hit. I wonder if he actually has any musical talent? I never found him very appealing as DA's Mr. Pahmook but he looked sizzling in Sanditon.

[quote] Sadly no room in the cast for Finty WIlliams.

Now, there's an actress who had two successful parents and no career. Her greatest achievement was accidentally burning down her parents' 18th Century Hampstead house.

ALL CREATURES....may be the most formulaic series ever on Public TV but it is delightfully comforting. All those pretty handknit sweaters the men wear.

But Rachel Shenton (as Helen) must have the patience of a saint to let them dress her like that in those horrid anoraks and bib-overalls. Even her younger sister gets a better wardrobe.

Is Timothy West wearing a wig?

The last thing Penry Jones was in was a Channel 5 drama with Jill Halfpenny that was disrupted by Covid.

He still looks lovely.

Apparently Samuel West and Paul Rhys were the final two choices for Leonard Bast in Howards End. James Ivory felt West looked more likely to die after being hit by falling books. Plus his mother had already been cast in the movie.

Paul Rhys didn't have the career that many had hoped for. but he's worked consistently without much attention. He had a curious look, like a cross between Rupert Everett and Nick Berry. And he was a nice Welsh working class boy without any family connections to fall back on.

[quote]And WHET Rupert Penry Jones

Sadly doing crap tv shows. He did a tv series with Joanne "battered wife" Froggatt which probably ended his career.

I meant Samuel West....is he wigged in All Creatures?

[quote]ALL CREATURES....may be the most formulaic series ever on Public TV but it is delightfully comforting.

Obviously, you've never seen "Call The Midwife".

Helen's bib overalls had big buttons placed *almost* exactly where the actress's nipples would be. Once I noticed that I couldn't see anything else.

[quote] I doubt Matthew Lewis will be back as the landowner Helen left at the altar.

The PBS site lists a synopsis of future episodes. He does come back for a visit. I assume it's just a visit. Oooo suspense.

Theo James used to have a garage band. He has a deep voice so he can sing somewhat. It's about the same level as Jamie Dornan singing at the Premiere of Belfast. Serviceable and manly. LOL!

My local PBS-UK channel still shows the original All Creatures and it is also still enjoyable. I only discovered it in the past 2 years. It went from his first days as the vet up to the early or mid 1950s.

You know what show I ended up really liking to my surprise? Pie in the Sky. I didn't think I'd like the detective/restauranter, but I really liked him and the stories. Another comfort detective show.

I have been binge watching "Scott & Bailey" starring Suranne Jones on BritBox and am loving it.

I highly recommend "Gentleman Jack" on HBO which also stars Suranne Jones.

Scott & Bailey was a really good show. Suranne Jones was in the original Unforgiven. She was very good.

If you like Suranne Jones, you might like Doctor Foster. However I recommend the first season only. Season 2 was way over the top IMO.

I've just started watching an old favorite, PARADISE POSTPONED based on John Mortimer's beautiful novel. Originally shown in the US in the 1980s on Masterpiece Theatre, I thought it was impossible to find online, but a friend told me it was on youtube (duh!) in 11 parts. Not the greatest quality copy but I've been searching for it for ages so I'm very happy!

Fantastic huge cast of actors: Michael Hordern, Annette Crosbie, Jill Bennett, Colin Blakely, David Threlfall and Zoe Wanamaker. And young Peter Egan, who I didn't recognize at first but recently played Nicola Walker's father on UNFORGOTTEN. Paul Shelley and Eleanor David play the young romantic leads....not quite up to the roles as written IMHO.

Worth a look but only for strict Anglophiles!

If anyone is a fan of property type shows then former child star Charlotte Church has launched her new reality show where she has bought the decaying mansion Rhydoldog House (google it) where Laura Ashley used to live and is going to turn in into a healing centre and wedding venue where guests have to share toilets.

She seems to think she'll be able to do it in a year with just over a million quid that she's borrowed and she is worried that she'll "lose everything" if it doesn't meet the deadline. Her husband features in it along with the children she had with the funny looking rugby player.

The first episode is quite dull and really needs a Sarah Beeny or Mary Portas type to give "what the fuck?" looks to the camera as Charlotte discusses her plans for the building.

SPOILER ALERT: The series started filming on the summer and the local authorities have refused to approve some of her plans. And last month Charlotte was busking singing Christmas songs to raise money to buy a tent for her other house where she is home schooling her kids and other special kids too special to attend a normal school with normal non special people.

Feel free to Mary! me but my god there was a moment in tonight's Call The Midwife where I gasped and clapped my hand over my mouth it was so shocking.

And it wasn't the appearance of Nanny Margaret from Brookside.

Is anyone else hate-watching the new Around the World in 80 Days?

The wokeness has ruined the needed fast pacing of the story, not a jot on the Mike Todd original spectacular film.

Lovely episode of ALL CREATURES.... last night. I Have such a crush on Nicholas Ralph.

There are two new trailers I keep seeing for Britbox series.

Hotel Portefino, or Breakfast with Mussolini, has Natasha McElhone, Anna Chancellor and the lovely Mark Umbers in a pre Mussolini ex pat Brits in Downtown Italy type thing.

And The Magpie Murders has the prestige of an Academy Award nominated actress and director. Lesley Manville stars with Daniel Mays and Pippa Haywood in an art deco style mystery thing.

Looking forward to MAGPIE MURDERS! I read the book when it first appeared but don't remember much about it. But I trust Anthony Horowitz to come through.

Looking forward to ALL CREATURES.... tonight!

Do we think Samuel West will scowl at Callum Woodhouse much?

Will Anna Madeley roll her eyes as she serves a full English breakfast?

Will Rachel Shenton wear another most unflattering outfit?

Will we finally meet the new Diana Rigg?

Will Nicholas Ralph doff his shirt before he fists a steer?