QI (5/04)
Quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry with regular panelist Alan Davies (Jonathan
Creek). Fry asks the general knowledge questions but you
lose points if you give the obvious (and usually wrong) answer. And
no matter how clever the panelists are, you can be sure Fry knows twice
as much about any subject, all without the aid of any cue cards.
Queer As Folk (9/99)
This controversial Channel 4 mini-series about gay life in Manchester
isn't for everybody, with much nudity and bad language. Writer Russell
T. Davies (The Grand) gives us profiles
of three characters: Stuart, a 29-year-old tramp going through life in
a series of meaningless one-night stands; Nathan, a 15-year-old just coming
out of the closet who is attracted to Stuart; and Vince, Stuart's mate,
who is a sad middle-aged Doctor Who fan who hasn't scored in months.
Some might claim Davies was resorting to stereotypes, but he knows his
stuff (even his Doctor Who references are accurate - allegedly the
BBC had hired him to do a revival of the series, although the project was
shelved when a Hollywood movie version took precedence).
The Quest (3/03)
David Jason (Only Fools And Horses)
stars in this ITV TV movie about three friends from the 1950s who meet
again in the present day, along with flashbacks to their misadventure trip
to the Lake District on dodgy motorcycles as randy young men. Jason
also came up with the idea and directed the movie, making the whole thing
a bit of a vanity project, quite inoffensive but nothing new to add to
the coming-of-age genre.
Quirke (8/14)
Gabriel
Byrne stars as a coroner who moonlights as a detective trying to
determine the cause of death of his subjects in this series of BBC TV
movies set in Ireland. Quirke is the adopted son of a judge (Michael
Gambon) and frequently butts heads with institutions of authority (the
police, the church, his employers). His favorite niece is also secretly
his daughter (she's not pleased when she finds out), and Gambon has
secrets of his own regarding Quirke (spoilers if you saw the same plot
twist on From There to Here which went out at nearly the same time).