*WARNING SPOILERS*
Writer and Director of 'In the Club', Kay Mellor manages to hit the note just right, how on earth does she manage to create a comedy, yet also a serious drama about 6 women giving birth? It must also be taken into consideration that this is shown on prime time BBC, and must appeal to all audiences, again about 6 pregnant women?! Yet it does, people of all ages can watch this show, regardless of whether they have experience with babies or not! The 6 principal characters are from all walks of life to which most viewers can relate to, we're 4 episodes in at this point and the drama and comedy pace hasn't slowed down a bit and with 6 people's lives to fit in to a 1 hour episode, lines have to be quick and snappy, the comedy delivered and the drama real, to which 'In the Club' definitely achieves.
So, what about this episode, episode 4 of the current series? Well, it certainly can't be accused of lacking in drama. Jude is the father of Rosie's baby Kim and Neil kiss at the birth of her child with girlfriend Susie watching hospital Doctor turns out the be the father of midwife Vicky's child Roanna suffering from the baby blues a punch up in Dev's restaurant with couldhebethefather Jack Dianne and Rick's baby girl Hope fighting for her life in hospital. Phew, all that in just a 1 hour episode. There were certainly moments of gasping in shock at what just happened, but also the laugh-out-loud moments - "How's Jaz?" "She's bored!"
This is what makes the perfect BBC 1 drama, the shocks and the laughs all in one series. 'In the Club' has never faltered in the past 4 episodes, and I honestly don't think it will let us down in the next 2 episodes. This keeps us looking forward to the BBC every Tuesday night, and if they keep producing shows like this and if Kay Mellor keeps writing them, then we are certainly very lucky indeed.
Sunday 31 August 2014
Sunday 24 August 2014
Doctor Who - Series 8 Episode 1 - Deep Breath - BBC One - 23/8/14
*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
So how do you manage to write a Doctor Who episode that is both big and grand enough for a series opener and to introduce a new Doctor? Well, by writing 'Deep Breath' it seems. This seemed a hugely difficult task for head writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, but in his 4th year as 'boss' he seems to have hit his stride. 'Deep Breath' in its outset looked like a simplistic episode in its plot, which in its 80 minute running time sounds totally mad, but with a plot that can easily be described as a half man/half robot taking human body parts for its own gain. But thankfully, this episode wasn't about what was happening, it was about The Doctor, or rather, the 'new' Doctor in the form of the fabulous Peter Capaldi. In a change to previous episodes, where it has been action-non -stop for 45 minutes, 'Deep Breath' brought about a calmness with longer dialogue scenes between characters, mainly between The Doctor and still companion Clara. This allowed the audience, both old and new to re-connect with The Doctor again, learning more about this new personality and in turn, more about companion Clara Oswald, exceptionally played by Jenna Coleman. I believe that her acting has excelled in this episode alone, just from one shot of her eyes, it displayed such emotion and story that I'm sure will continue in the coming series. However, in the past series, many viewers and fans have complained about Clara's lack of personality and character development and that something was missing in comparison to the development of previous companions, Amy Pond and even Rose Tyler to an extent. In all honestly, I believe we learned more about Clara in that one 80 minute opening episode than we did in the entirety of Series 7. This is no fault of Jenna Coleman or even the writers, it is maybe now that this series brings extended scenes in which principal characters can actually sit down and talk, instead of running with the only occasional reference to her personality. I hope that this theme continues throughout Series 8 and that we learn even more about Clara and we reach that desired character development.
But the real star of the show was Peter Capaldi, for me he cast away any doubt that may have been there as The Doctor, he really made the role his own. This was helped by the brilliant script and direction by Steven Moffat and Ben Wheately respectively, the lines were funny - "These are attack eyebrows, you could take bottle tops off with these!". Also, while this episode may have been for new viewers and fans to which the Twelfth Doctor will by "their" Doctor, it also played to the dedicated fans with many quips to previous episodes. For example, mentioning SS Madame de Pompadour from the Series 2, Moffat penned episode "The Girl in the Fireplace", "I'm sure I've seen this before" says the Twelfth Doctor. Also references to Tom Baker's scarf among others for the truly dedicated fandom.
In many of the pre-episode build up interviews, Capaldi promised a 'darker' Doctor, yet, this wasn't really seen in 'Deep Breath', instead to me, he seemed a more funny, confused, almost sarcastic Doctor. Perhaps we'll see this more 'mysterious' Doctor in the coming weeks and episodes, but for this opening episode this wasn't shown. But that's not to say that was shown in this Doctor's personality wasn't good, because it was, and will certainly make people love this Doctor. 'Deep Breath' wasn't just made up of Clara and The Doctor though, it also featured the fan-favourite, the Paternoster gang, made up of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax, many fans have called for a spin off show featuring these 3 characters, and in my opinion it certainly would be supported. These characters have the ability to bring a comedic element to the show - Strax hitting Clara in the face with a newspaper anyone? - and the chance to save the day is always welcomed.
Although this episode may be called 'simplistic' in its plot line which could be seen to have been stretched thin across the 80 minutes, this does not mean that the classic Doctor Who cliffhangers were not present, when we thought the baddie was dead, in Doctor Who style, alas he was not, and with this brought a new character, seemingly the Doctor's 'girlfriend'. This has brought mixed reactions from fans to who and what this could mean, but time will surely tell. Also, a mystery from the opener to Series 7 part 2 was brought up again, who was the woman in the shop and who placed the ad in the newspaper? I suppose this was put in to keep fans watching week after week to find out.
But what of Matt Smith I hear you cry, the man who introduced more people to Doctor Who when he became the youngest ever actor to play the Doctor (incidentally, Peter Capladi becomes the joint oldest actor to play the role) in 2010. We thought we'd said goodbye to him in the Christmas 2013 episode 'The Time of the Doctor', but for fans we got to say a final goodbye, to where the 11th Doctor made an emotional final phone call to companion Clara, allowing her to say goodbye to the face she once knew and allow this new man into her life.
This series opener also brought a new introduction, this was apparently inspired by a fan, the original fanmade intro, which you can see here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXOBHnWiinY. 'Deep Breath''s' 80 minute running time seemed to fly by, and i'm sure when we get back to the original 45 minute slot, it will seem to go by very fast. But, if the rest of the series can be judged by this series opener, we are in for a very special treat indeed.
So how do you manage to write a Doctor Who episode that is both big and grand enough for a series opener and to introduce a new Doctor? Well, by writing 'Deep Breath' it seems. This seemed a hugely difficult task for head writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, but in his 4th year as 'boss' he seems to have hit his stride. 'Deep Breath' in its outset looked like a simplistic episode in its plot, which in its 80 minute running time sounds totally mad, but with a plot that can easily be described as a half man/half robot taking human body parts for its own gain. But thankfully, this episode wasn't about what was happening, it was about The Doctor, or rather, the 'new' Doctor in the form of the fabulous Peter Capaldi. In a change to previous episodes, where it has been action-non -stop for 45 minutes, 'Deep Breath' brought about a calmness with longer dialogue scenes between characters, mainly between The Doctor and still companion Clara. This allowed the audience, both old and new to re-connect with The Doctor again, learning more about this new personality and in turn, more about companion Clara Oswald, exceptionally played by Jenna Coleman. I believe that her acting has excelled in this episode alone, just from one shot of her eyes, it displayed such emotion and story that I'm sure will continue in the coming series. However, in the past series, many viewers and fans have complained about Clara's lack of personality and character development and that something was missing in comparison to the development of previous companions, Amy Pond and even Rose Tyler to an extent. In all honestly, I believe we learned more about Clara in that one 80 minute opening episode than we did in the entirety of Series 7. This is no fault of Jenna Coleman or even the writers, it is maybe now that this series brings extended scenes in which principal characters can actually sit down and talk, instead of running with the only occasional reference to her personality. I hope that this theme continues throughout Series 8 and that we learn even more about Clara and we reach that desired character development.
But the real star of the show was Peter Capaldi, for me he cast away any doubt that may have been there as The Doctor, he really made the role his own. This was helped by the brilliant script and direction by Steven Moffat and Ben Wheately respectively, the lines were funny - "These are attack eyebrows, you could take bottle tops off with these!". Also, while this episode may have been for new viewers and fans to which the Twelfth Doctor will by "their" Doctor, it also played to the dedicated fans with many quips to previous episodes. For example, mentioning SS Madame de Pompadour from the Series 2, Moffat penned episode "The Girl in the Fireplace", "I'm sure I've seen this before" says the Twelfth Doctor. Also references to Tom Baker's scarf among others for the truly dedicated fandom.
In many of the pre-episode build up interviews, Capaldi promised a 'darker' Doctor, yet, this wasn't really seen in 'Deep Breath', instead to me, he seemed a more funny, confused, almost sarcastic Doctor. Perhaps we'll see this more 'mysterious' Doctor in the coming weeks and episodes, but for this opening episode this wasn't shown. But that's not to say that was shown in this Doctor's personality wasn't good, because it was, and will certainly make people love this Doctor. 'Deep Breath' wasn't just made up of Clara and The Doctor though, it also featured the fan-favourite, the Paternoster gang, made up of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax, many fans have called for a spin off show featuring these 3 characters, and in my opinion it certainly would be supported. These characters have the ability to bring a comedic element to the show - Strax hitting Clara in the face with a newspaper anyone? - and the chance to save the day is always welcomed.
Although this episode may be called 'simplistic' in its plot line which could be seen to have been stretched thin across the 80 minutes, this does not mean that the classic Doctor Who cliffhangers were not present, when we thought the baddie was dead, in Doctor Who style, alas he was not, and with this brought a new character, seemingly the Doctor's 'girlfriend'. This has brought mixed reactions from fans to who and what this could mean, but time will surely tell. Also, a mystery from the opener to Series 7 part 2 was brought up again, who was the woman in the shop and who placed the ad in the newspaper? I suppose this was put in to keep fans watching week after week to find out.
But what of Matt Smith I hear you cry, the man who introduced more people to Doctor Who when he became the youngest ever actor to play the Doctor (incidentally, Peter Capladi becomes the joint oldest actor to play the role) in 2010. We thought we'd said goodbye to him in the Christmas 2013 episode 'The Time of the Doctor', but for fans we got to say a final goodbye, to where the 11th Doctor made an emotional final phone call to companion Clara, allowing her to say goodbye to the face she once knew and allow this new man into her life.
This series opener also brought a new introduction, this was apparently inspired by a fan, the original fanmade intro, which you can see here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXOBHnWiinY. 'Deep Breath''s' 80 minute running time seemed to fly by, and i'm sure when we get back to the original 45 minute slot, it will seem to go by very fast. But, if the rest of the series can be judged by this series opener, we are in for a very special treat indeed.
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