Cumberbatching

Benedict Cumberbatch.


Go on, just say that out loud a couple of times. It is, without question, one of the greatest combination of letters ever to grace a birth certificate. What? A great actor? Damn sexy? Who? Stop it. You’re getting ahead of yourself. At the moment I’m just fan-girling about his name.

The last two weeks “Sunday night drama on the ABC” has been something called Small Island. I wasn’t all that interested (only as interested as I am by default) until I noticed it has Mr Cumberbath in it, and he was playing a character called Bernard.

I have a few favourite names, Bernard being a long standing choice while Benedict is a recent addition (others include Davy and Marmaduke, pity my children). You might be wondering how anyone can make television choices for such fickle reasons. I can. Deal with it.

I did kind of enjoy Small Island. I didn’t turn it off or change the channel. As far as Sunday Night Drama goes I’ve seen worse (does anyone remember Line of Beauty?) But on a scale of one to Moffat, this script would be lucky to scrape a three. I’ve been doing writing workshops in primary schools lately and if a twelve year old can understand the basic premise of “show don’t tell” so can someone capable of getting a two part mini-series made by the BBC. Some of that voiceover made me want to stick pencils in my ears.

The acting however, was rather good. Which brings me around to the actual point (yes, that’s right there is one). Mr Cumberbatch is, I think you will all agree, totally amazing in Sherlock. There aren’t enough superfluous adjectives to describe his performance. I’ve been reading the original stories lately and he is that role. He fits every single description of what Holmes should be. I can picture other Johns but Benedict Cumberbatch is more or less Sherlock Holmes incarnate.

Which means that every other character he plays is going to seem slightly off. He’s played the role he was quite possibly born to play, so I can't help but feel its pretty much downhill from here. Which is a shame because he stands to play a lot of roles in the future. Is that type casting? Its not really is it? Its something else entirely. Maybe there isn’t even a word for it.

I nominate Cumberbatching. Just because that should be a word.

Hair

My hair and I don’t have a lot of positive role models. Especially not on television. As much as I love TV, I have a fairly strong hatred for its negative representation of hair styles. I mean seriously, I know full well that it took a stylist at least an hour to achieve that look so why, prey tell, do you feel the need to pretend you leapt out of bed and shoved a scrunchie in your maliciously tousled hair?

(Ok so I’ve watched my annual episode of Home and Away this week and I'm feeling bitter).

Having said that, I’m a sucker for good hair done right. So here are my favourites.

Lynda Day- On the auto commentary for series 2 of Press Gang, Steven Moffat comments that a lot of girls had their hair cut to look like Lynda. There was a time when the frizzy side part was fashionable. I’ve never gone into the hairdresser with a picture. I can’t help but think that’s a little bit weird and pathetic. Or I did. Until Lynda Day inspired me to get my hair cut off. It never really looked anything like her’s (I’ve got a fringe for a start) but I still side part it when I’m going through a particularly strong phrase of “wishing I was more like Lynda.”

Alex Drake- While totally failing to hit Lynda my hairdresser accidentally managed to make me look something like Alex in series 2. While I have yet to see any actual episodes from series 3, I’ve seen pictures. And I’m not particularly happy. Alex Drake is undoubtedly a positive role model for people with vaguely uncontrollable curls. Why go and ruin the magic?

Amy Pond- There’s something to be said about red headed heroines. Its quite obvious that TV-Land contains more natural gingers than real life can currently account for. But there’s something about the blasé way which Amy carries hers that’s quite special. I think the red actually fits and enhances her personality, rather than just being thrown in there for good measure. Ten points. Also how does she do that thing where she makes it look like she's wearing a headband when she isn't?

The 11th Doctor- Once upon a time this particular hairstyle made me weak at the knees. It stood above all others as my favourite type of hair. That was well before Mr Smith slipped into the role of The Doctor and a lot’s happened in my hair style preferences since then. But he does do it rather magnificently. And I have to say, he’s doing a pretty good job of bringing me back ‘round to the floppy haired side.

Horatio Hornblower- the reason Mr Hornblower gets an honourable mention is his ability to maintain that hair despite all obstacles. Seriously. There was an episode when he was locked in a French drain for six months and it came out totally spotless. Let me tell you, I’ve been aboard a tall ship and all that wind and salt air plays havoc with your locks. When it comes to hair spotting on television, this is a mop worth watching.

Bernard Black- My friends and I draw this comic thing which features Bernard as a regular character. He actually travells in the Tardis with Manny as the 11th Doctor (yes, in our universe there are two 11th Doctors). But the point is when we draw his hair its this violent scribble. The violence is what makes it.  

David Tennant- Nope, he doesn’t even get a character name. Because I’d basically have to list everyone he’s every played. How one man can achieve follicle orientated greatness in so many different ways is totally beyond me. I’m pretty sure it’s a miracle of some kind. From the floppy light brown of Campbell Bain to that miraculous spiky Doctor hair, Tennant is the raining king of hair. Here are some pictures for you to marvel over. You’re welcome.

So to my two readers Sian and Lauretta (and anyone else who chances upon this)- how am I doing? What do you think I should do with this blog? Or are you happy for me to just keep aimlessly rambling whenever something catches my fancy? Did you even read this far down the page?

Ashes to Ashes

I love Ashes to Ashes.


I’ll admit, when I first heard about it, I was sceptical. I liked Life on Mars. I liked it a lot in fact. So a remake should have been a good thing right?
“They’re making a sequel to Life on Mars.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Except without Sam.”
“Ok.”
“Instead there’s this chick who gets shot and goes back in time.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Except instead of the 70’s she ends up in the 80’s”
There is absolutely no way that could have gone wrong.

Remarkably though it didn’t. Apparently Mars was such a success that the BBC begged Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham to make a follow up. John Simm said he wouldn’t do it. Problem.

I think there are two things which mark a great script writer. The first is being able to surprise. One of the most satisfying things, as a viewer, is to go into an episode or a series with that intense nagging doubt, and to be proven wrong.

The second is unpredictability. When the bad guy is pointing a gun at our protagonist’s temple, there are five words I do not want to cross my mind.
“But they wouldn’t do that.”
I want, in every moment, to believe that the writer would pull that trigger.
So its just occured to me that my two things are really just one thing. We'll ignore that.

Ashes worked on both these levels. It surprised me at every turn for pulling off story lines and character arcs that should have been impossible. Like Gene and Alex. Ashes to Ashes- the best sexual tension on television, and some of the best hair.

Its been observed that the main problem with Sam Tyler was that he was a man. According to Ashley Pharoah, Mars was essentially a love story. A platonic love story between Sam and Gene. Which is all well and good, but it’s so much more electric when you throw a woman in instead. The usual problem with maintaining sexual tension is it involves asking the viewer to suspend disbelief.
“Well can we just pretend that them almost but not kissing for the seventh time this series is plausible? Thanks.”
The things which kept Alex and Gene apart are always, always flawlessly believable.

And Alex has so much more lust for life than Sam showed. She really has more reason to want to go home than he did. She has Molly, her daughter. But while you’re stuck in the 80’s and there’s pretty much nothing you can do about it, you may as well wear outrageous skirts and play the music loudly right? Hear hear Alex. Hear hear.

I suppose you’re wondering why I’m having this rant aren’t you? Almost exactly a year ago I flew to Rome, and in doing so missed the final two episodes of series two. They’re being repeated at the moment and so I have finally, finally seen the complete series. The ending of series two will blow your mind. It has unpredictable and surprising in spades.

I’m now kind of desperate to see series three. Like really desperate. Thing is I want to do it right. I love Ashes too much to watch in a grainy Youtube window. I want to sit down religiously every week. I want to have to wait between cliff hangers. I want to draw every last minute of enjoyment from it.

So I’m going to wait.

The final of series 2 will be repeated this Saturday at 11:05PM on ABC1. I’ll email the ABC about series 3 and report back. No promises though, I think they have me on a blacklist. In the meantime, if you’d like to look more like Alex Drake, here’s a handy article from WikiHow.

Adventures in time, space and Utah

Prepare to be ranted at.

Right now, somewhere on the other side of the date line, Doctor Who is filming in Utah. Specifically in Monument Valley, which is a particularly alien looking kind of place. This is obviously quite exciting. Anything to do with my favourite Time Lord is exciting. This picture for example made me want to jump up and down and clap a little bit. Its just that, in this case, I’m also slightly bitter.

You see Australia has an enormous Doctor Who fan base, and we have since the beginning. The internet won’t give me any figures, damn it, so I’m going to have to make some wild generalisations. Australia stands with Canada and New Zealand as home to the majority of “international” Who fans. We were one of the first countries to pick the series up back in the 60’s. The ABC repeated the ENTIRE classic series starting in 2003 (and aren’t I glad they did?). The new series still receives solid ratings whenever its shown, and I mean properly solid ratings, even though its on the ABC.

And what have we got to recognise this? Tegan, that’s what.

Tegan was an airhostess from Brisbane. She travelled with the 4th and 5th Doctors way back when and she was just a teeny bit annoying. Ok, so she wasn’t really THAT bad. But the point is she the largest in only a hand full of passing references to “the colonies.” Most of the other references involved them being destroyed on a computer monitor. Oh no! The Daleks are bombing some insignificant and dispensable continents! Oh no! And then there was that shot of Sydney during The Christmas Invasion.

I think its safe to say that a not insignificant consideration when setting the new episodes in the US was the growing audience in the states. Doctor Who is starting to take off in a big way over there. So by filming an episode US audiences can “relate” to hopefully more of them with watch it. And that’s lovely and everything. But hello! Over here! Local and dedicated fan base! Hello!

Seriously does Australia not have some damn fine gravel quarries? Do we not have environments more like an alien world than pretty much anywhere else? At least anywhere else with a decent economy and a film industry? Is it not really cheap to film here? Wouldn’t it be nice to see us represented like real people on an international television program? Not just as tanned bogans wearing stupid hats with funny accents? Or at the very least, do you think that maybe someone from the show could come over some time and acknowledge the fans? No? Just me then?

Anyway. That’s my rant. Doctor Who should come to Australia. The end.