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Dates refer to when review was written
W1A (6/14)
A sequel series to Twenty Twelve
with Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), after successfully "delivering"
the Olympics, now in a new post at the BBC as "Head of Values." The
same satirical eye is turned towards the BBC with its no-office open
plan "hot seat" desks, bureaucracy, cock-ups, and middle-management yes
men (and women). The title refers to the postal code in central London
where the BBC now has its headquarters after abandoning Television
Centre. Also along for the ride is Jessica Hynes returning as dimwitted
brand manager Siobhan. Fletcher is ritually humiliated by the press
(and we get a resolution to his romance with his former assistant
played by Olivia Colman) but by the end he gets the upper hand as he
finally figures out how to beat the system and get what he wants.
Waiting (1/96)
Another ITV comedy pilot, this one about the reception area of a
"wacky"
medical office. Rather obvious jokes, one can only imagine a generous
dose
of laughing gas was distributed to the studio audience prior to taping.
Waiting For
God (11/90)
A comedy set in a retirement home. It could be "Moonlighting
Goes Geriatic," with Graham Crowden as a wild-at-heart retiree who
refuses
to be put out to pasture quietly, and his relationship with the uptight
woman who lives next door to him. When they aren't fighting, they try
to
pull something over on the operators of the retirement home.
The Waiting Time (9/00)
John Thaw (Inspector Morse) stars in this ITV
mini-series as
a retired spook who is now a solicitor who gets involved in post Cold
War
politics when a female Army officer attempts to get revenge on a former
East German Stasi officer who killed her boyfriend. The
Americans
need the officer because he's buddies with the possible new President
of
Russia, and so the mighty forces of the British Secret Service (run by
former Doctor Who - and now Orson Welles lookalike - Colin Baker) to
thwart
Thaw's efforts to get to the truth.
Wake Up...With Libby and Jonathan (11/94)
Nigel Planer stars in this sitcom send-up of those perky morning talk
shows with always-smiling hosts. Here, Jonathan and Libby are married
to
each other...but hate each other's guts. But they have to stick to the
pretense of a happy relationship in order to keep the show going. A
nice
send-up of television and the personalities that drive it.
Walking & Talking
(10/12)
Based on the Little Crackers short a few years ago, this
autobiographical comedy series on Sky is written by and based on the
real life exploits of Kathy Burke when she was a music fanatic teenager
growing up in Islington (she describes herself as, "a punk, new wave,
suedehead, skinhead sort of thing.") The title comes from the
fact a lot of the action takes place as Kath and her best mate walk
home from school discussing their lives. It also cuts to the
seemingly unconnected lives of two nuns (Kathy Burke and Sean
Gallagher) on fag breaks at their parochial school. The look
of the series is great, it appears to have been shot in 1979 with faded
colors like a film print from that era.
Walking On The Moon (5/00)
Grim ITV TV movie about school bullying that is harrowing to watch.
An intelligent, but sensitive boy moves into a new school and makes
friends
at first, but then ends up on allying himself with a frequently-bullied
boy and finds himself equally ostracized. The title refers to the
imaginary
flights he takes as an astronaut, but the vicious treatment he receives
from his peers cause him to withdrawal and eventually attempt suicide.
Wall of Fame (6/11)
This
Sky1 celebrity panel show is hosted by David Walliams (get the title?).
It's no Have I Got News For You, but I had a smile on my face most of
the way through, as each week's celebrity antics are talked about by
other slightly less-famous, although funny, celebrities.
War Game (1/04)
The annual Christmas cartoon takes a dark turn with this tale about
a soccer team that volunteer for duty in World War I and discover the
horror
of the trenches. But it also includes the famous event on
Christmas
Day when the Germans and allies came out of their trenches for a
friendly
game of soccer together and discovered they weren't so different after
all. But, as we sadly know, the Powers That Be on both sides
kept
the pressure on to attack attack attack regardless of the loss of
manpower
in an awful war of attrition.
War Stories (11/09)
Two hour
BBC documentary about the films produced in Britain about the Second
World War. During the war many were propaganda or to support the war
effort, but afterwards they were able to give some historical
perspective on specific battles or incidents, sometimes with meticulous
reenactments such as in "The Dam Busters." Eventually Americans got
into the act and virtually hijacked the WWII genre with popular big
budget films like "The Longest Day" and "The Great Escape" reducing the
involvement of the British in the war to bit players. Most of the
purely British productions (many featuring John Mills--he was to
British war films what John Wayne was to American ones) are rarely shown
in the USA. A real shame as some of them, like "Ice Cold In Alex"
(1958), are considered classics in Britain but remain undiscovered in
America.
Was It Something I Said? (2/14)
David Mitchell hosts this Channel 4 celebrity panel show that tests participant's knowledge of famous quotations.
Watching (1/02)
Thomas Sutcliffe presents this documentary series that looks at
different
aspects of movies including how they first suck you in, the use of the
punch, and how stills are incorporated in a moving medium.
Great
stuff for cinephiles like me.
Waterloo Road (4/07)
BBC drama set at a grim inner-city school where a new headmaster (Jason
Merrells, Cutting It)
tries to modernize despite the efforts of most of the lazy staff to
sabotage him. Subplots revolve around the relationships of
the staff
and students, some of whom were involved in a fatal car
accident.
Watership Down (7/00)
Ambitious animated ITV series serializing the original Richard Adams'
book (also filmed in 1978, with John Hurt doing a voice in both) about
rabbits trying to live in freedom against an evil fascist rabbit and
his
warren. Er, I guess it's supposed to be an allegory about
Nazis and
WWII, but the story is compelling with plenty of suspense.
Watson & Oliver (2/12)
Sketch comedy on the BBC with Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver as a
traditional double act, not terribly removed from what French &
Saunders used to do, which is a compliment. In their first
episode they are joined by guest John Barrowman who sings the finale
about his favorite subject, namely himself of course. I don’t
quite know why sketch comedy went out of fashion (Armstrong &
Miller seem to be the last gasp of this genre currently) but when
it’s funny, and Watson & Oliver are so far, it’s great
to watch.
Way To Go (3/13)
I love telling people this is BBC sitcom about three idiots who start a
euthanasia business. Scott (Blake Harrison) works at a vet hospital and
is hired by an elderly neighbor to assist him in a suicide. Using
stolen drugs and a machine whipped up by his buddy Cozzo (Marc
Wootton), Scott performs the deed in order to pay some bills and help
his deadbeat gambler half-brother Joey (Ben Heathcote). Yes, this
could seem tasteless, but running on BBC-3, their client base is
unlikely to have ever even seen the channel. Scott's love life is
a mess, and it's made more complicated when he begins seeing the
daughter of his first client (the deaths appear like natural causes so
nobody knows about the assisted suicides). Cozzo's ditzy pregnant
police officer wife also remains blissfully unaware of her husband's
sudden source of income, although she has her suspicions.
We Are History (11/01)
Series of shorts that parody Time
Team
with ridiculous archeology that gets everything wrong.
Hopefully
no school children are taking notes!
Wedding Belles
(7/08)
TV
movie based on Irving Welsh's novel with a startling beginning
featuring four women in wedding garb kidnapping four men and executing
them. The rest is flashbacks showing the run up to Amanda's (Michelle
Gomez) wedding while various dramas swirl around her girlfriends
(including Shirley Henderson). Alas, the great opening proves to be a
dream sequence (what a gyp!) but the rest of the drama is
heartfelt.
We’ll Take Manhattan (2/12)
In
1962 young rebel Vogue photographer David Bailey revolutionized fashion
when he took a young model named Jean Shrimpton (Karen Gillan) to New
York for three days for a photo shoot. Helen McCrory plays Bailey’s
ambitious boss along for the ride who isn’t about to let this insolent
photographer derail her plans. But Bailey simply refuses to play
along. He uses a small 35mm camera rather than the large format
standard in Vogue layouts, and he shoots Shrimpton in ways that were
completely contrary to the practices at the time. It’s about how a
young British generation usurped the post-war establishment that was
stuck with 1950s attitudes. For her part, Gillan acquits herself well,
Jean is terribly shy at first, although she accepts being thrown out of
her father’s house for being in a relationship with the married Bailey.
This production for BBC4 can’t afford to completely recreate New York
of 50 years ago, so sticks to location shooting in south Manhattan near
the UN Building or Rockefeller Center which have remained mostly
unchanged.
The Whale (2/14)
This
BBC/Discovery co-production movie dramatizes the saga of the 19th
Century true-life whaling disaster of The Essex that later became the
basis for Melville's "Moby Dick." Told from the point of view of Thomas
Nickerson (Martin Sheen as an older version telling the tale), a
crewman aboard the Essex which goes down after a whale hunt goes bad,
and who survived months at sea on the Pacific in a small rowboat. Tensions
between the Captain, whom the men don't trust, and the first mate,
don't help things, particularly when they find an island that can't
support them.
What A Performance! (11/97)
In England there is an entire class of comedians doing what is called
there "camp." No, not like in the old Batman
series, but the sort
of limp-wristed, mincing gay character like Mr. Humphries on Are
You
Being Served? This documentary hosted by Bob Monkhouse
explores the
entire history of the genre and looks at the various actors who built
careers
as gay actors doing arch stereotypes that were filled with double
entendres
guaranteed to be missed by their mostly straight audiences.
Whatever Happened To Harry Hill?
(10/12)
A great spoof documentary (written by the actor and presenter) about
his great 1990s Channel 4 Harry Hill Show that purports to reveal the
scandals and secrets behind that classic series. Of course it's just an
excuse to reunite the cast and show a lot of great clips, Hill
evidently not wanting to toot his own horn without simultaneously
sending it up.
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
(9/96)
Even the BBC repeats ancient series, allowing a glimpse back to their
early 70s comedies. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
was a
follow-up to the 60s The Likely Lads, with the same
stars (James
Bolan and Rodney Bewes, who reportedly hated each other) but with the
characters
no longer "lads." What's amazing about this series is how very 70s it
is,
from the BBC-patented video-on-the-inside, film-on-the-outside
production
techniques, to the clothes, but very much the tone of the comedy which
dates this instantly.
What Remains (11/13)
Tony
Basgallop wrote this complicated BBC suspense mini-series set in a
residential building with different tenants on each floor. It begins
with the surprise discovery of the body of the woman from the top floor
who had been dead in the attic for months without anyone having noticed
she was missing. This intrigues the about-to-retire detective Len
Harper (David Threlfall) who begins to investigate the neighbors and
ferret out their stories. This includes the lesbian couple with a
secret, the newspaper man with a creepy son, the young married couple
about to have their first baby, and the fastidious school teacher in
the basement flat who supposedly lives alone. Over the course of the
four episodes, we find out how they were all connected with the dead
woman (seen in flashbacks), and Harper continues the investigation even
after he leaves the force without mentioning it to anyone. You can try
to guess whodunit, but you'll probably be wrong; it's the twists and
turns that are entertaining here.
What's Your Story? (3/89)
A true weirdy. Sylvester McCoy hosts this BBC children's show where
each day the drama was scripted based on suggestions that kids would
ring
in the day before. Indeed, every day they made it up as they went
along,
hiring actors, building sets, and creating costumes. A fascinating look
into live television, and an interesting stunt from a production
standpoint.
Where the Buffalo Roam (1/96)
In this comedy pilot, working class Jimmy decides the road to success
lies with buying a van and doing short hauls. Unfortunately he ends up
with an ice cream van doing dodgy deals for unscrupulous characters.
Where's Elvis This Week? (3/97)
Former late-night talk show host Jon Stewart hosts this BBC series
(shot in New York) that plays like a transatlantic Politically
Incorrect.
Each week two guests each from the US and England rehash the week's
issues,
with Stewart providing commentary for British viewers on the more
obscure
points of American culture. It's obviously the best gig he could get,
but
it's fairly lively and the guests aren't afraid to bite the hand that
feeds
them. As an American Anglophile watching a program made in America
specifically
for British consumption, I find it a bit strange but compelling. And
Elvis
is spotted in a different part of the world each week in a brief
segment.
When I Was 12 (3/02)
Grim BBC TV movie about 12 year old girl who runs away from her
irresponsible
mother to Hastings and quickly runs afoul of friendly drug dealers who
are not looking out for her best interests. It's amazing she
survives
(at the least the narration at the end tells us she made it to 13) but
in order to look forward to what?
An hour-long adaptation by Neil Cross (Luther)
for the BBC of the M.R. James ghostly story. John Hurt is the only
reason to watch this, he carries the entire production on his back as
an astronomer whose Alzheimer's afflicted wife is in a care home. He
takes a trip to the seaside on the advice of the nurse at the care home
played by Leslie Sharp. Spooky things start occurring at night at the
lonely hotel he is staying at, with someone or someTHING trying to get
into his room. It takes too long to get scary and actors like Sharp
and Sophie Thompson are wasted in tiny roles. Hurt is fantastic as
always, he's the actor who loves to suffer, but I didn't think the
chills developed in Whistle and I'll Come to You overcame the dull parts.
Whitechapel (12/10)
An ITV police drama starring Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks) as a police detective
trying to solve a series of murders. Even the presence of comedy
actors like Steve Pemberton and Peter Serafinowicz weren't enough to
stop me crying out, "Enough of these police procedurals!" There's
just too much murder on TV (Thorne, Luther),
far more than is justified by real life, and it's lazy TV making them
just because they are popular and easily marketed. I think TV
would be much improved with all of them put into Room 101 along with
all the glossy-floor reality shows like Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor.
White Heat (6/12)
A
semi-remake of Our Friends In The North following a group of
housemates from their days living together during university in the
1960s to the present day. In 2012 Charlotte (Juliet Stevenson) returns
to their old house where everyone is reuniting after a death. But
things are tense, and we flash back to their younger selves (where
Charlotte is played by Claire Foy), and how the characters navigated
their way through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and mixed-and-matched their
relationships. The younger cast (including Lee Ingleby and Julian
Barratt) are just the right age to be able pulling off playing both
teenagers and characters who age into their forties. Of course there
are plenty of secrets and revelations to carry us through the six
episodes of this BBC mini-series which lovingly recreates the period
details of each era as you would expect.
White Teeth (1/04)
In a story spanning four decades and illustrating the melting pot that
is modern Britain, two friends from the war find their lives and
families
intertwined, as ultimately the sins of their past come to haunt their
children.
Things take a decidedly odd detour in the final part revolving around a
genetically-engineered mouse that many forces, all personified by the
various
characters, converge on. Excellent, ambitious Channel 4 drama
based
on Zadie Smith's novel, it was shown on "Masterpiece Theater" in May
2003.
Whites (10/10)
Life inside
the kitchen of a high-end country restaurant is the setting of this
half hour BBC2 comedy drama. Alan Davies stars as Roland White, a
talented but somewhat lazy executive chef who leaves a lot of the heavy
lifting to his long-suffering sous chef, Bib. Katherine Parkinson
plays his main nemesis, the restaurant's manager, but it's not as if
Roland doesn't deserve a kick up the arse once in a while. This
tries hard to be a 21st Century comedy, shot single-camera film style
and a liberal use of a steadicam to create the atmosphere of a chaotic
kitchen. Nevertheless, there are some past Century sitcom cliches
still haunting the premises, like the fickle restaurant owner, the
scatterbrained waitress, and the clumsy ethnic line cook. Because Whites doesn't rely on gag after gag, its audience appeal will live
or die solely on how well we connect with the characters. Do we
believe they are real and do we care what happens to them? I'm not
entirely certain based on only one episode if I understand all the
relationships between the characters yet, but Davies is a wise casting
choice as the ring leader of this particular circus.
White Van Man (6/12)
Low-key
BBC3 comedy about a handy man (Will Mellor), his girlfriends (including
one played by Georgia Moffat (aka Mrs David Tennant)), retired father
(Clive Mantle), and his lazy sidekick (Joel Fry). Despite the working
class nature of the series and situational humor, in 2012 ABC shot a
pilot for an American remake.
The Wipers Times (11/13)
Ben
Chaplin and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in this fact-based WWI drama about a
subversive satirical newspaper that was published in the trenches by
soldiers who found a printing press in a destroyed French village (the
title comes from way many British tommies pronounced Ypres as
"wipers"). It's done anonymously but their old-school commanding
officer is not amused, but fortunately a sympathetic general (Michael
Palin) provides cover and lets them get on with it. The man most
responsible for the paper was Captain Fred Roberts who despite the
paper's success with fellow soldiers is unable to parlay it into an
actual journalism job after the war and went back into mining in North
America for the rest of his life.
Who Do You Think
You Are? (4/07)
Celebrity
genealogy program with Sheila Hancock and Stephen Fry among others,
getting a peek at their ancestors via the resources of the
BBC.
Superfascinating, particularly when (as is usual) the star must tell
the rest of the family about whatever skeletons they've managed to
unearth.
Who Gets The Dog? (1/09)
Kevin
Whately and Alison Steadman play a married couple heading for divorce
because of his infidelity in this ITV comedy movie. He hires rapacious
Stephan Mangan as his solicitor, the wife hires an equally ambitious
attorney, and the two lawyers decide to battle to the death in their
own strange rivalry using the couple as pawns. The couple's daughter
refuses to have anything to do with her parents and obstinately demands
they get back together, meanwhile their dog just hangs around waiting
to see how it's all resolved.
Who Killed Saturday Night TV? (2/06)
Fascinating TV documentary about how Saturday night went from the
most-watched
night of the week to the least (a phenomenon which also occurred in the
USA). The BBC had a lock on audiences in the 1970s with The
Generation
Game and popular comedy double acts. But poaching
by ITV and
the eventual rise of competition from satellite channels disrupted this
dominance which the BBC is only beginning to remount in the form of the
Doctor Who revival.
Widows
(11/89)
Six hour ITV mini-series about four women who decide to do the bank
job their husbands died while attempting. Longish but with great acting
and directing. Script by Linda LaPlante (Prime Suspect,
The
Governor). David Calder (Star Cops)
has a supporting role.
Wild West
(1/04)
Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly)
writes
this oddball "Twin Peaks"-like BBC comedy with Dawn French as
shopkeeper
Mary Trewednack in a small Cornish fishing village. Everyone
in town
is a bit eccentric and so are the plots but it's all good
fun. Mary
and her best mate Angela live, work and sleep in the same bed together,
yet both seem to be straight (displaying a healthy interest in men).
What's
up with THAT?
Wilderness (1/97)
Adapted by writer Andrew Davies (To
Play The
King, A
Very Peculiar Practice),
this three part ITV drama is about a young woman who thinks she is a
werewolf.
Her new boyfriend is infatuated with her, but her cold psychologist is
the real nutter as he becomes more and more obsessed with her case.
Plenty
of nudity (my friend Allen told me he distilled "the best parts" of the
series down to fourteen-and-a-half minutes) and some nice morphing
effects
as Alice's true nature is revealed.
William
& Mary (3/04)
Two single parents try a dating service and sparks fly as soon as they
meet in this ITV drama series. William (Martin
Clunes) is a serious undertaker, while Scottish Mary (Julie
Graham
from At Home With the
Braithwaites)
is a midwife. Complications ensue, needless to say, including
the
death of William's mum, and the return of Mary's estranged black
husband.
But the cycle of birth and death is nicely highlighted and it seems
like
the universe owes these two a break.
The Willows
In Winter (7/99)
Animated sequel to last year’s The Wind And
The Willows, with the same celebrity voices
including Rik
Mayall, Michael Palin, and Michael Gambon. This time, Toad of
Toad
Hall (Mayall) discovers airplanes during a winter freeze, much to the
horror
of his neighbors.
The Wimbledon
Poisoner (7/95)
British television's favorite nutter, Robert
Lindsay, gets another chance to show his particular brand of
lunacy,
this time as a suburban husband and father who wishes to do away with
his
wife. But his efforts meet with mixed results as inhabitants of
Wimbledon
keep dropping like flies. Will he ever get it right, or will the
all-too
friendly local constable come round for a visit first? Quite charming.
As always, Lindsay delivers the goods.
The Wind in the
Willows (7/96)
A number of big names (Rik
Mayall, Michael
Gambon, Michael Palin) lend their voices to this animated adaption of
the
popular children's tale. As usual, the emphasis is on the character of
Toad (of Toad Hall), a living embodiment of his id and his quest to
have
the fastest motor car possible, whatever the consequences.
Without You (3/04)
Short movie about middle class man whose car is stolen by a young
punk.
He is desperate to get his car back and teams up with the punk's
working
class girlfriend, a single mother. A clash of cultures and
values
with a final plot twist that reveals the man's mission.
Without You (2/12)
Anna
Friel (“Pushing Daisies”) uses her natural British accent in this
three-part ITV1 drama as Ellie Manning, a woman whose husband Greg
(Marc Warren) dies in a car accident with a strange woman sitting next
to him. Ellie can’t believe her husband was having an affair and the
coroner’s inquest rules it an accident. She becomes obsessed with
trying to find the truth and even infiltrate the unknown woman’s
business in order to dig up more information about her and her
connection to Greg. Even though he’s killed off early in the story,
Warren continues to make appearances throughout the mini-series as
Ellie has imagined conversations with him trying to piece everything
together. Friel is effective as a woman who remains in shock for
weeks, appears to her friends to have lost her mind, but doggedly is
determined to get to the bottom of things.
Wish Me Luck (3/91)
This ITV drama shows the feminist side of World War II and the British
women sent into occupied France to spy on the Nazis. Under-rated but
involving
drama gets soapy at times, but the tension is real and sustained when
the
women are "in country." With Julian Glover.
Wizards vs Aliens (12/12)
Russell T. Davies co-created this children's fantasy series as a replacement for The Sarah Jane Adventures
which as the title might suggest, involves an alien race that has come
to Earth to drain all the magic from the few who still have the
power. This includes a teenage boy, who teamed up with the class
brain, manage to hold off an entire race ruled by large puppet voiced
by Brian Blessed in a series of two-part adventures. One has to account
for this CBBC series being aimed at kids, but it has enough suspense
and a driving score to make it entertaining with reservations.
Wodehouse in Exile (6/13)
Tim
Pigott-Smith stars in this BBC-4 TV movie as PG Wodehouse, who spent
the war interned by the Germans when France was occupied, and becomes
their dupe. He allows himself to appear on Germany propaganda
broadcasts to America and explain how things aren't so bad from his
perspective without realizing the impact it's having on the home
front. Needless to say, this put his reputation in disrepute in
Britain for many years as a result. An interesting character study.
Wokenwell (9/97)
Lame ITV drama series that attempts to capitalize on shows like Ballykissangel
and other small town series, but lacks any of their humor or wit.
Lesley
Dunlop stars as the wife of one of the policemen who are the focus of
the
series.
Wonderful You (11/99)
Richard Lumsden (Is It
Legal?) stars
and co-wrote this ITV comedy/drama series about a lonely bike
messenger/singer
who gets one last chance to get his dream girl on the cusp of his 30th
birthday. The road to love is rocky indeed, as it is for the people
around
him, including his sister who gets caught having an affair.
The World of Lee Evans (11/95)
We've had The Baldy Man,
a sort of Scottish
Mr
Bean. This month we have "Mr Bean Jr." Lee Evans, a likable
young comic,
stars in short misadventures such as "The Late Shift" as a convenience
store clerk who can't quite master the intricacies of the electric
doors,
and "Meet the Folks" as a prospective suitor who gets off on the wrong
foot to parents Prunella Scales and Tony Selby.
World of Pub
(3/02)
Kevin Eldon (Fist of Fun)
and Phil
Cornwall (Stella Street)
star in this
BBC comedy revolving around an East End pub that each week attempts to
reinvent itself into whatever "theme" seems trendy with typically
disastrous
results. One week (in a parody of "Notting Hill") it's a book
shop
appealing to a famous Hollywood actress who moves to the neighborhood,
then a women's pub, a music venue, and even a Michael Caine-themed pub
(until he protests). There are some great cut-away visual
gags featuring
the regular cast, and the inventiveness of the series keeps it very
entertaining.
Wolf Hall (9/16)
The life
and times of Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) who was advisor to the
mercurial Henry VIII (Damian Lewis). Everyone is jealous of Cromwell's
chameleon-like ability to survive the changing winds of politics and
remain on top. But finding a suitable wife for the hard-to-please
Henry (who desperately needs an heir) is his biggest problem. Rylance
is the master of the deadpan look, particular when someone asks him to
do the impossible. His hangdog eyes and bushy eyebrows speak volumes
about what he's thinking in this lavish BBC costume drama.
The Worst Jobs in History (2/06)
Tony Robinson presents this informative Channel 4 series that as the
title promises shows the worst possible occupations in each era in
history.
And then Tony proceeds to reenact them! History was
disgusting and
this series doesn't downplay that, in fact, it's probably part of its
appeal.
The Worst Week of My Life (10/05)
Ben Miller is about to get married in a week to his posh sweetheart
(Sarah Alexander) but first he has to meet her disapproving parents and
survive a week's worth of disasters, bad luck, and a psychotic former
girlfriend
who wants him at all costs in this BBC comedy.
Would I Lie To
You (10/08)
Amusing
celebrity quiz show hosted by Angus Deayton that features two teams who
try to bluff each other by telling possible lies about themselves or
certain facts. In one episode John Barrowman (Torchwood)
provides much energy and laughter, although my favorite "lie" has to be
Dom Joly (Trigger Happy TV)
who claims to have gone to school with Osama Bin Laden. Turns
out he did, in Lebanon!
WPC 56 (6/13)
Daytime BBC
drama series set in the mid-1950s when women were first beginning to
join police departments around the country. We've all seen Life on
Mars (and that was set 20 years later) enough to know that it wasn't
easy to break into that all-male environment. Our plucky heroine Gina
Dawson (Jennie Jacques) frequently is ignored in favor of any other
male opinion, but someone has to be in the advance guard of any
movement.
Wrappers
(5/99)
BBC documentary series of short films about the history of packaging
in Britain. Cereal and soap didn't always come in attractive boxes
filling
the supermarket shelves, and this series graphically demonstrates how
the
consumer world we take for granted today developed, particularly after
the War.
The Wright Way (6/13)
David
Haig has made a career playing annoying busybody characters, and he
gets the spotlight here as Gerald Wright, the head of health and safety
for the fictional borough of Baselricky, in this BBC sitcom by Ben
Elton. It's a bit of a throwback to 90s-style series, with a reliance
on Gerald being endlessly caught in seemingly compromising situations
by the cleaner, coming up with unintentionally rude acronyms for all
his schemes, and failure to ever learn from his mistakes. Yet, it's
modern enough to give Gerald a gay daughter with a live-in girlfriend,
and an estranged wife who has taken up with an annoying Australian, but
who isn't all bad. Gerald is of course his own worse enemy, but the
character allows Elton to be his mouthpiece for all sorts of First
World Problems that must vex him. It's amusing to see a face put on
bureaucracy in a way that's rarely done in the US.
The Writing Game (11/96)
A filmed stageplay starring George Segal as an American novelist who
is invited to a weekend writing workshop in rural England. Very stagy,
both in dialog and delivery, but Segal is pretty good as his character
learns as much as he teaches.
The Wrong Mans (11/13)
Mathew
Baynton and James Corden wrote and star in this BBC comedy/drama as two
doofuses working for the county council who get wrapped up in an
elaborate web of deception involving assassination, kidnapping, Chinese
gangsters, Russian spies, and a femme fetale. Baynton plays the
reluctant Cary Grant-like character who would prefer that it just all
go away so he can return to his boring life, but Corden dials it up to
11 as is his wont, overeagerly jumping in even when it might be life
threatening. The closing titles are actually more interesting than the
opening ones, rare for a BBC series (co-produced by Hulu and available
to watch now on Hulu Plus).
Wyrd Sisters
(9/97)
Channel 4 animated series based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld
novels, unfortunately falls flat with the humor not translating well to
another medium. The best thing about the show is probably the computer
animation during the credits showing the discworld traveling through
space
on four elephants on top of a giant tortoise.
The Wyven Mystery (3/01)
Two part BBC historical mystery drama with Derek Jacobi as a landlord
who takes care of an orphaned woman who is rescued from his clutches by
one of his sons and then whisked off and married.
But it isn't
happily ever after, with secret marriages, a creepy manor house,
chained
madwomen, missing babies, and a too-helpful brother (Ultraviolet's
Jack Davenport) threatening the woman at every turn.
Everything is
not as it seems.
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