Double Indemnity (James M. Cain, 1936)

I've just finished Double Indemnity by James M. Cain - I wanted something quick and easy, and at just 136 pages this slice of classic crime fiction fit the bill. I read The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain's previous novel, some time ago and liked it. Double Indemnity is in the same style, featuring a glamorous heroine and a hard-boiled hero plotting murder, yet I preferred this one. There's not a lot to write about it really, other than the story of a murder that is planned, carried out, and then covered up, is intricately plotted, and there are many twists, turns and double-crosses as the book heads towards it's conclusion. The language is snappy and stylish, and while there's little space taken up in descriptions of characters and moods, everyone is well sketched. Although the conclusion was a bit exposition-heavy, that's a fault of crime fiction generally and doesn't detract from the atmospheric, rollicking good read that Cain produced.

Medium: Season 4 (2008)

After a break for Xmas, BBC2 has finally got round to finishing their repeat showing of Medium's 4th season. And as far as I know, that's it's last appearance on free-to-air TV as the rights have gone off to a satellite channel somewhere. Thank goodness for DVD box sets!

Following the waves that were made at the end of Season 3, when Alison was 'outed', Season 4 rearranges the show so that both Allison and Joe are out of work, Devalos is no longer District Attorney, and Scanlon is wary of Allison's assistance for fear of her reputation rubbing off on him. Allison initially works for the curmudgeonly Cynthia Keener, portrayed by Anjelica Huston over a number of episodes during the first half of the (short, strike-hit) season. 

Unfortunately, as good as Huston is in the role, she's not Devalos! And due to the re-jigging of the format, Manuel is often no where to be seen, appearing in only a handful of episodes, despite Miguel Sandoval's name in the opening credits each week. Thankfully, Lee Scanlon, after initial hesitancy, begins to seek out Allison's help more often. The conclusion of Cynthia Keener's story was powerful and unexpected, and then made me miss her! While Allison is often quite grumpy (usually with Joe) it was nice to have a character who was even more irritable to make Allison seem a bit happier. 

There was a new guest star this series too, in the form of a coffee shop where everyone now gets together, despite never having gone there before. I do like it when that happens - the same thing occurred in Kyle XY's second season. Elsewhere in the show, Joe had a brilliant idea for an invention (through his own inspired dream that took place in an animated world), and eventually got taken for a ride by his beautiful financier; Marie got glasses; and... Allison had a lot of dreams! I've been able to work out a few of the cases before Allison this season, which either means I've watched too much detective TV, or the cases are getting easier - yet every time she dreams she has to convince Scanlon (and often Joe) to listen to her. You'd think they'd learn to trust her more! And it would also save a lot of time each episode if she had the full dream at the start, rather than having bits of it over different nights. Though I guess that would make for a boring show. 

By season's end, Devalos was DA again, and Scanlon and Allison are there to help come season 5, and Joe has a well-paid new job, so the money-worries that plagued the DuBois' this season are no more. Despite feeling a little cheated by this series 'reset', it's good to have the gang back together. Now, when's season 5 out on DVD? (And actually I need season 4 as the snooker made me miss 2 episodes!)

Up in the Air (2009)

This Orange Wednesday we took a trip to the cinema to see Up in the Air, a comedy-drama starring George Clooney about a man who chooses to be alone and enjoys his job flying around the US, as part of a firm hired to fire employees of other companies. Beginning as a more of a drama, as we follow Clooney's encounter with Vera Farmiga's fellow high-flyer and his battle with Anna Kendrick's young company upstart who wants to replace face-to-face firings with a web cam alternative, the movie brings the comedy in spades, yet never forgets the emotional pull of Clooney and his co-stars. 

I'm a fan of Clooney's off-beat manner, in films like Ocean's Eleven/Thirteen, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Burn After Reading, and he's just perfect in the role of Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air. There's been a lot of discussion of how Bingham *is* Clooney, and it's easy to see the parallels. It makes the story feel more personal and adds an edge to some of the more downbeat moments in particular. 

I've never seen Farmiga or Kendrick in a film before, but I hope to again! They are both so fantastic - Kendrick is the comedic heart of the film, and Farmiga the sexy emotional soul, although she can sure do comedy well too! The cast is uniformly superb - including Jason Bateman, and a surprisingly touching turn from J.K. Simmons - and the film looks beautiful. The opening titles alone were gorgeous, featuring aerial views around America, and the rest of the movie followed in this vein. I also enjoyed the music, both incidental and director Jason Reitman's choice of songs. 

In fact, there was nothing about this film I didn't love. Alright, the very end was kinda downbeat, but it felt right. There's no Hollywood happy ending, but I came away from the movie distinctly satisfied and pleased with everything I'd just seen. I cannot wait to see Up in the Air again.

The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham, 1951)

 'Everyone starts by knowing nothing about anything, but God gives him - and even her - brains to find out with. Failure to use them is not a virtue to be praised: even in women it is a gap to be deplored' - p. 148

At Christmas I watched the decidedly boring BBC big-budget adaptation of The Day of the Triffids. Distinctly under whelmed, I picked the original novel off the shelf last Friday, and from the first page I was hooked. I can’t remember the last time a book drew me in so quickly, and then kept me going until I finished it on Wednesday, less than a week later.

The first few chapters were very closely adhered to in the BBC version, and there were certain story elements that survived in one way or another, but the book was much more satisfying and a really pleasurable read. There was no superfluous Nun character, no Eddie Izzard pantomime villain, and no bloody Dougray Scott!

The strangest thing about The Day of the Triffids is how little the book contains the titular killer plant life. They’re always lurking in the background, but the core of the story is made up of the after effects of a catastrophic (man-made?) celestial event that leaves all but a few people around the world blind. Bill Masen is our sighted narrator, guiding us through his experiences from the morning he wakes up from an eye operation sighted, while everywhere around him lies chaos as everyone fails to adjust to their blindness. Wyndham spends more time exploring how such a blighted society can possibly function without electricity, medicine or wide-scale food production. He explores themes of anarchy, dictators, and free-loving through interesting characters, particularly the compelling Masen.

The Triffids merely add an extra science-fiction layer to the problems the blind world faces. It is suggested that the Triffids were engineered in Soviet Russia and then stolen by the West for their oil production, and Bill theorises that the celestial event was not a comet shower, but a man-made toxin released in space. These extra layers add a great deal of intrigue to the plot, and reflect the Cold War era in which the action takes place. Also indicative of the era is the occasionally sexist views taken by the characters (and Wyndham?) towards women, and what roles they could (and should) have in the coming rebuilding of society. Should they just be having babies, or should they work with the men? Having said that, Josella, Bill’s companion through much of the book is a strong female character who knows her own mind, and who has faced prejudice as she gained infamy by writing a sexy novel.  

A lesser book would not have been able to handle such great themes as society’s destruction and rebirth, let alone with the added science fiction element, but The Day of the Triffids works wonderfully, and I would recommend it to any fiction lover. There’s also a distinct vein of humour running throughout that adds another edge.

Farscape: Season 1 (1999-2000)

We’ve just finished the first season of Farscape, the Jim Henson sci-fi series that features, human, puppets and CGI all working together. This was a new achievement in TV back in 1999, and as far as I know, there still aren’t (m)any adult TV shows using puppets to tell their stories today.

I first watched Farscape when it showed on BBC2 at 6pm on a week night, back when Buffy, Due South, The Simpsons and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air made that a must see hour, right after Neighbours finished on BBC1. But then the BBC decided cult shows such as these were for graveyard slots or the digital realms, so I think I only actually saw a couple of seasons of Farscape – though I’ve definitely seen all of season 1 before.

Watching season 1 again, I found more to enjoy in the series than I’d seen previously. I appreciated how well drawn the characters are, and how subtle some of their interactions are. The concept of Farscape – John Crichton, a human, ends up on a prison ship with a collection of fugitives and tries to find his way back to Earth – has always intrigued me. These characters were (mostly) prisoners, although prisoners of the nefarious and falsely named Peacekeepers, so their crimes are not as cut and dried as they first appear. This show has no basic ‘explore the galaxy’ remit, rather the ship and it’s inhabitants are on the run from the Peacekeepers they escaped from, and each is trying to get to their home planet, although they are currently, inconveniently, in the Uncharted Territories. Each character is distinct and has their own priorities, and each is selfish in different ways. As the season evolves so too do the characters’ relationships with each other, as they develop respect and learn how to interact with others.

Crichton (Ben Browder) is the hunky, pop-culture-referencing Earthling stranded on Moya, a living ship (although as hard as they try, she doesn’t really ‘look’ like a living being, but it’s a very interesting concept, especially when she gives birth at the season’s end), and he is the audience’s way in to this world. Very occasionally, Browder’s performance edges on annoying, but mostly he’s both fun and funny. Claudia Black plays Aeryn Sun, one of favourite characters for she grows immensely from her role as a simple Peacekeeper grunt into a compassionate member of the crew, and her relationship with Crichton is so playful they’ve just go to get it on any minute!

The non-human looking members of the crew are: Ka D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), a Luxan warrior who is initially very head strong, but like Aeryn learns to use his head before his Qualta Blade; Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan (Virginia Hey), a blue woman who’s actually a plant, and the slightly hippy one with a knack for medicine; Dominar Rygel XVI, a hilarious puppet creation who resembles a toad or a large slug, but in a nice way!; and Pilot, the massive animatronic at the heart of Moya. Gigi Edgley joined the regular cast for the last few episodes, playing Chiana, and she created some excellent new dynamics with the rest of the cast.

I love the humour in Farscape, and not just Crichton’s pop culture references. The fact that Rygel farts helium is brilliant in itself, and when he’s stuck in a pod with Chiana and can’t help but break wind it lightens a very tense episode. Initially made up of monster of the week style episodes featuring either a new planet or a new visitor to Moya, the latter half of season 1 really ups the stakes with story arcs and recurring villains Crais and Scorpius (re)introduced into the mix, creating more jeopardy and a chance for the actors to really show their acting chops. That is not to say that the first episodes are poor, far from it, although sometimes the ideas on display are better than their execution, it is that the later episodes are noticeably more exciting and tighter scripted. Any new series needs time to find it’s feet, just look at The X-Files and Buffy’s first seasons.

One of the other distinctive features of Farscape that set it apart from other sci-fi series (other than the imaginative puppet and costume work that Jim Henson’s workshop creates every episode) is that it was filmed in Australia, and thus most of the cast and guest cast are Australian. Although our hero, John Crichton, is as American as they come, everyone else in this part of the world usually speaks with an Aussie twang. It’s refreshing to hear that Crichton’s translator microbes work with an Australian accent!

Baby Mama (2008)

Being a fan of Tina Fey from Mean Girls and 30 Rock, I was interested to see how she copes with material she hasn’t written in the movie Baby Mama. In the film Fey plays Kate, a career woman with no partner who desperately wants a child, which leads her to a surrogate agency and Amy Poehler’s white trash Angie, who Kate ends up paying to carry her child.

It’s quite a slight movie and some of the twists are turns are fairly obvious, yet it works well due to the great cast and the often hilarious script. Fey plays it pretty straight, and most of the laughs come from Poehler, someone I wasn’t familiar with before this film. There’s some excellent support from Greg Kinnear as the smoothie-store owner Fey eventually falls for, and great comic work from Sigourney Weaver as the owner of the surrogacy agency – I wish she would do more comedy, like the brilliant Galaxy Quest.

One of the film’s highlights is an uncredited turn from Steve Martin as Kate’s pony-tailed hippyesque boss. He steals every scene he’s in and had me in stitches. At one point he rewards Kate with 5 minutes of direct eye contact. Priceless. It’s the cast that lifts this comedy above average and the strong female characters are refreshing.

Face/Off (1997)

How ridiculous is Face/Off?! I saw this for the first time on Friday night, and I think it has one of the most ludicrous plots I've ever seen, but I enjoyed it in spite of this. John Woo's action is always pretty spectacular (I need to watch Broken Arrow again!) and having Nicholas Cage in any action movie usually promises something bonkers. 

So John Travolta plays CIA/FBI(?) agent Sean Archer out to catch the murderer of his young son, namely Nic Cage's stupidly monikered villain Castor Troy (who has a brother named Pollux Troy, a name which is impossible to take seriously). After a manic gun battle in the first 15 minutes, Castor is incapacitated. It then turns out that in order to get Pollux to confess the location of a bomb, the best course of action is for Archer to have his face removed and replaced with Castor's... I'll run that by you again - John Travolta's face is to be lasered off, and Nic Cage's is to be put back on, and then after a bit of lipo and such like, voilá, Sean Archer now looks like Castor Troy. 

The biggest conceit of the movie, the face/off, is also the hardest piece of plotting to swallow. I've seen photos of the woman who recently had the world's first face transplant, and to put it nicely, she wasn't pretty. And this was after numerous operations and many months work. Face/Off asks you to believe that pudgy John Travolta can be operated on to become slim Nic Cage over night. And then it asks you to believe that Nic Cage's faceless bad guy awakes from his coma, then gets Travolta's face put on, again over night, with no scarring at all (other than the face itching a bit!). So far so ridiculous. The face thing is about doable, but the fact that Cage and Travolta have such different body shapes is harder to get around - Troy in Archer's body sleeps with Archer's wife... Surely she might have noticed some intimate details that were different? Or did the doctors match the pair cock for cock?! 

The ludicrousness of these plot points doesn't seem to be lost on the script or actors who occasionally can't believe what they're explaining or witnessing. HOWEVER... As a fun, funny, and balls-out enjoyable action caper, this film works. And it works on the strengths of Nic Cage and John Travolta playing John Travolta and Nic Cage respectively. Travolta's character is much more interesting when he's playing the out-of-his-mind villain, and Nic Cage tones everything down wonderfully to play Sean Archer's frustrated obsessive agent. 

Face/Off fits in a genre of film that seemed prevalent in the 80's and 90's that isn't around much anymore - that of the mindless shoot 'em up. I can't remember a film of recent years (other than the hilarious Shoot 'Em Up itself, and Hot Fuzz, both quasi-parodies of the genre) that has such a high body count, a love of guns, and sense of beserk action madness. These days there's too much emphasis on gore or guns are seen as a bit passé. Now you get Jason Bourne attacked people with magazines, or comic book violence of either the toned down Spider-Man kind or the blood-spattered Watchmen kind.  

I should say though, that one of the main plot points I found hard to stomach was the fact that Castor Troy had murdered a small child in the opening moments of the movie - this was a bit hardcore for a film of this type, and then at the movie's conclusion it was so obvious that Troy's orphaned son would be taken in by the Archer family. I felt that this denouément was terrible, it too easily wrapped up the infanticide plot line, and in a manner that was pretty insulting to both the characters of the Archers and the audience.

That gripe aside, I enjoyed the sheer fun on display in Face/Off. And who cares if the premise is laughable - I'm sure I've processed other bizarre elements in less enjoyable movies. And who cares if some of the stunt men's wires were clearly visible in too many scenes. Travolta and Cage were having fun, and so was I. Plus the inimitable CCH Pounder had a small role! Hooray! 

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon (Tom Spanbauer, 1991)

This book has to be one of the weirdest works of fiction I've ever encountered. In it, Shed, a half-native American teenager, who works as a prostitute at a brothel out in the shed (hence his name), tries to work out who he is. Along the way he meets and falls in love with Dellwood Barker, a man he believes to be his father - not that this stops Shed from having sex with him. There are madams, native Americans, a mentally handicapped man named Damn Dave and his Damn Dog, a lot of mormons, a group of black minstrels, and a whole lot of sex - between men and women, men and men, women and women, anyone really - and being related is no barrier.

Shed narrates his story in a very arresting, innocent, almost child-like prose that takes a little getting used to. The first chapter is a little confusing as Shed plays fast and loose with his recollections of events, mixing timelines and revealing nuggets about how the story turns out, which I didn't realise were as such until I got towards the end of the book. 

The beauty of this book lies in Spanbauer's language, and how he completely transports you to turn of the twentieth century Idaho, and the world that Shed and his mismatched family inhabits. Family is key to the tale too. At one point Shed is living with the man he believes is his father (still fucking him too - the father isn't aware of his paternity), his adopted mother Ida Richilieu (the brothel madam), and her lover and fellow prostitute Alma Hatch. Such a random group of people are believably connected throughout Spanbauer's story (the term 'story' is important in this book) and I cared for each and every character - yes the incest may be distasteful and the language incredibly visceral, but Shed's innocence and love really brings you along with him. A scene where a woman's legs are sawn off was much harder to read than any of the sex scenes.

After finding this book on an Amazon.co.uk recommendation and giving it a shot, I was shocked by the content, but moved and pleased by the story I discovered between the unassuming, cartoonish front cover. I think this book will stay with me for a while.

Call Me Claus (2001)

It’s almost a month since Xmas and yet it’s taken us until now to get round to watching the one Xmas movie we recorded over the festive period. The main draw for Call Me Claus was the knowledge that Whoopi Goldberg starred in it, and the Radio Times gave it a good review.

The film was a TV movie, and it showed. Whoopi plays quite a grumpy character, who is inexplicably chosen by Nigel Hawthorne’s Santa Claus to take on the red suit when his 200 year tenure expires. Hawthorne is lovely as the elderly Claus, and it’s a sad irony this was his last role before he died, just days after the movie premiered in America. Santa is a much more sympathetic character than Whoopi’s TV shopping channel producer. The best of the movie is in the last third when Whoopi is allowed a bit more free rein, and thus injects more humour into the pretty predictable plot.

It was a good holiday movie – I probably would have enjoyed it more when I was in the festive spirit though.

Avatar (2009)

It was the film we’ve all been waiting for, apparently. If Empire was to be believed anyway. I’d not heard much about Avatar outside the pages of my favourite magazine, other than a few bits of a trailer that made the film look very much like a computer game. I figured there must be something special about it since it’s doing MASSIVE businesses worldwide (but then considering that most Harry Potter films and the poor Pirates of the Caribbean sequels appear in the top 20 highest-grossing movies doesn’t say a lot for the quality of the rest of the list!). So this Orange Wednesday we popped along to Vue to see Avatar in 3D.

For the first hour or so of Avatar’s 2.5 I was shifting in my seat and thinking that this film was going to be loooong. But by the last hour I was emotionally involved with the characters, loving Pandora, and wanting to spend more time with the blue Na’vi race that populate this far off planet. That is not to say that I found the opening of Avatar boring. I think my main problem with it was the switching between the world of the Na’vi and the humans a bit jarring – I understand that James Cameron wanted to explain much of the Na’vi’s behaviour and lore, but cutting it together with the plot developing with the Americans kept interrupting my education. Of course it would be poor film-making to just have an of American plot, then an hour of Na’vi ‘exposition’ – though exposition rendered through some beautiful, sumptuous, 3-dimensional CGI vistas, creatures and nature. The 3D made the switching between ‘worlds’ more difficult for me. The CGI-packed Na’vi scenes were easier to watch in 3D than the non-CG scenes featuring human characters. I found that in these latter scenes I had to refocus on what was at the ‘front’ of the screen each time the angle changed, leaving anything happening in the background a little blurred and indistinct. 3D doesn’t seem to allow for any peripheral viewing, except in CGI constructed scenes that have been specifically generated to cope with the 3D effects. My other problem with the 3D is that I don’t wear glasses, and after 2.5 hours, they were irritating my nose! But that’s my own problem, not Avatar’s.

Avatar’s story has been knocked for being derivative and nothing new, and I can see that too, although I admit to being so caught up in it all by the end that certain events took my pleasantly by surprise. I also suspecting that certain characters would die at the climax, and happily they didn’t. The dialogue was a bit ‘shit’ heavy, by which I mean that you could tell this was a 12A rated film by the preponderance of the milder expletive. It jarred a bit sometimes, with a script that didn’t really through up any memorable lines.

The cast were all uniformly great – although I have to feel a bit sorry for the actors who portrayed the Na’vi only – we never even get to see their faces properly. And it was only as the credits rolled that I realised that the fantastic CCH Pounder was in it! (I’m currently enjoying her in The Shield TV series on DVD). Sam Worthington, the relatively unknown actor playing Jake Sully, our guide through the world of Pandora, is a man to watch, and not just because he’s oh-so-hunky (even as a 7 foot blue Smurf/Delvian/Dr Manhattan!). Sometimes I was a bit confused as to where exactly Sully was from – he sounded Australian on the narration, yet I didn’t really notice his accent when he was on screen. Sigourney Weaver was great, and had the film’s too-few comic moments – when the humour did surface the laughter it provoked was almost a relief, and made you realise how straight and serious the rest of the movie was.

Hopefully the director’s cut will include a bit more humour, and maybe flesh out a couple of the supporting characters, such as the 3^rd guy with an avatar (who’s name I forget, despite his being a human name and infinitely more memorable than any of the Na’vi’s!), and Michelle Rodriguez’s marine who joins the Na’vi resistance. I did enjoy Avatar, although I don’t think it’s a more significant or exciting a movie than any that have gone before it – CGI drenched live action movies are nothing new, especially since the Star Wars prequels, and the plot is no great addition to the sci-fi genre – but it last third of the movie at least was a thrilling, emotional journey that I would gladly go through again, even in 2D.

Octopussy (1983)

From the sublime to the ridiculous... After the more serious For Your Eyes Only, we popped Octopussy in the DVD player tonight. It feels so different to FYEO, but in a good way. It's very funny, without being awful á la Moonraker, and it's never boring. 

Bond only manages to jet between two countries this time round (with the briefest of stops in London to say hello to Moneypenny), namely India and (East & West) Germany. The Indian scenes look beautiful, and feel like something new for the Bond series, after the Mediterranean feel of FYEO, and, um, space... I have to confess to confusing scenes from Octopussy with Indiana Jones' adventures - there's the fight in the market place, the circus-train fight, the distasteful meal, and the general 'Indianness' of it all remind me of Temple of Doom particularly. 

As with some of Bond's earlier adventures, sometimes the plot becomes a bit of a head scratcher - I'm still not a hundred percent sure I know what the fake Fabergé eggs had to do with some people in India and a rogue Soviet general, but I enjoyed it all the same! Naturally, Roger Moore hasn't got any younger since FYEO, and it shows here and there, although perhaps not as obviously as in the previous movie for some reason - I guess wearing clown make up can hide the years well! It was nice to see many strong female characters here, however much Bond (and the camera) ogles their breasts.

One of the delights of Octopussy is that Q (Desmond Llewelyn) is given much more to do than previously, and he's rewarded with a wonderful comic moment when he saves a gaggle of women from attack with his hot air balloon, and then succumbs to their charms. Maud Adams (previously seen in a different role in The Man With the Golden Gun) makes a wonderful Bond girl - well, woman really - it's good to see 007 being with a woman nearer his own age, particularly as that age is early 50's. 

The new M, Robert Brown, has become a more curmudgeonly type, and I like the recurring character of General Gogol, and the fact that the enemies here weren't the Soviets themselves, just a rogue General. Overall I think this is a very enjoyable entry into the series, with a good theme tune (All Time High, sung by Rita Coolidge), and a lot of amusing one-liners. 

Nine (2009)

Nine has a fantastic cast - Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, and, erm, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas - and so I looked forward to it with high expectations. It's also directed by Chicago's Rob Marshall, which certainly shows in the manner in which the movie's musical numbers are staged. 

I'm happy to say that the performances from the Oscars-bothering cast (and Fergie, who has a Grammy at least) are first class, and the songs are inventively filmed and delivered with gusto, so it's a shame to report that the film as a whole isn't quite the sum of its parts. Although Day-Lewis is impeccable as an Italian movie director suffering a breakdown, I didn't really care about his predicament. Well, actually not caring is being too strong. I liked the character of Guido, it's just that the plot is really so slight, and the narrative feels too interrupted by the songs that by the time the end credits rolled I felt neither elated nor let down. It's a solid film, but not the all singing and dancing successor to Chicago that I was expecting or hoped for. 

Each actress delivered great vocal performances, and mostly greatly sexy physical routines to go with them, yes, even Dame Judi who's never looked so glam. Penélope Cruz's song had such an erotic routine I didn't know where to look - she was forever spreading her legs! Kidman was very good, although she's not in the film a great deal. Sophia Loren looked as if someone has dug her up recently, which is apt as her character is Guido's dead mother. I'm being unkind, but then so was much of Loren's lighting...

The best performances, and most memorable songs, came from Kate Hudson (who knew she could sing so well?) and a tour-de-force rendition of Be Italian from Fergie from the B.E.P. herself. Much of the humour in the movie came from Cruz's mistress, and the heart was supplied by Cotillard as Guido's neglected wife. 

While the movie was enjoyable enough, it didn't leave me tapping my feet often enough, or wanting to get to my feet and applaud at the end as Chicago and Hairspray did before it.

By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2008)

Ever since I first saw The West Wing I've been interested in US politics (in the UK it's all so dull). I ultimately went on to study American Studies (and English) at university and enjoyed every minute of it. There's so much about US politics that is fascinating, and none more so than presidential elections. So I followed the 2008 election closely and was pleased when Barack Obama ultimately triumphed over the Republicans. Last night BBC2 showed the HBO documentary By the People, which followed Obama's campaign from 2007 (I can't believe how early it all starts!), right through through primaries where he faced down Hillary Clinton, and to the national election when John McCain and Sarah Palin (WTF?) were sent packing.

Although the result of the election is obviously known, that didn't detract from the power of the documentary. It showed how Obama electrified the electorate and got them excited about him and the possibility of his presidency. The people around him, his campaign team, where a mix of old hands and new blood, and you could sense the thrill that drove them. I can't believe how young (and, yes, hot) Obama chief speechwriter is (Jon Favreau)! The whole thing looked like The West Wing come to life (the 2008 campaign mirrored the final 2 seasons of that great drama in many ways, not least in the battle between a non-white Democrat and an aged Republican), although because the cameras only followed Obama's team there was not the chance to see both parties' machines at work as the West Wing was able to show. 

Obama comes out of the documentary with integrity and some of the private moments shown illustrated how good-humoured and grounded he and his family are. It was good that the makers didn't shy away from showing Obama's critics, and the scandals that were cooked up to throw at his campaign - the vox pops from the 'great' American public often showed the ignorance and prejudice of some voters. But of course, America is a democracy, and these people have the right to their views, and the wonderful thing shown by this documentary is how passionate Obama made people about the election. Sometimes this passion was displayed as support for an African-American candidate and sometimes it went the other way, but at least Obama was and is a figure that people care about. Compared to the apathetic party leaders we have here in the UK, the American election was a hundred times more interesting - and I couldn't even vote in it!

The real power of the film came towards the end, when Obama was campaigning for the final time before the election. His grandmother, who had raised him, died on the eve of the election. The footage of Obama was not exploitative as it only shown his reaction at a televised conference, but what it did show was a strong man, who was not using his grandmother as a campaign tool, but who wanted to talk about his loss in terms of how powerful ordinary Americans can be in their day to day lives. It was rather a humbling speech to watch, and the raw emotion as Obama wiped away a tear was palpable. It showed the humanity of the man, and it showed that America made the right choice in electing him as their 44th President. 

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)

I got Andrew a load of Muppets/Sesame Street themed gifts for Christmas, including CDs, a book, a belt, cuddly toys, a Swedish Chef mug, and DVDs. One of the DVDs was A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, a new Muppets movie! Well, a new TV movie, or special. As Xmas is now over, we thought we'd better watch it now or wait another 11 months. 

Following of the heels of the excellent Muppet Christmas Carol, and the great It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Letters to Santa is shorter than the others at just 45 mins (plus 10 mins of hilaious 'outtakes') but no less funny and was infused with marvellous Muppet magic. Everyone is present and correct, including Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Rizzo and the relatively new Pepe the Prawn, and there are some wonderful celebrity cameos from the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane and a dazzling Uma Thurman. Also cameoing for the most part are Sam Eagle, Beaker and the Swedish Chef, in 3 particularly memorable and funny scenes. 

Beaker is particularly great - Doctor Honeydew invents a hat that creates whatever gift you think of while wearing it. Beaker is the usual guinea pig and he conjures up a beautiful (human) woman, who also speaks like Beaker! Genius.

There are some great modern gags about email, and computers (Pepe has to give up electrical equipment to go through an airport scanner, so deposits a Blackberry, a raspberry, a strawberry, and a photo of Halle Berry) which show that the Muppets can still be current, and their humour is not dated. This is proven by those wonderful YouTube creations from Muppet Labs - Beaker 'singing' Ode To Joy is a favourite. 

I'd say the only slight downside to this movie is the inclusion of several forgettable songs that seem a bit out of place. Andrew also thought the story was a bit Disneyfied, what with the message about Christmas being a time for family, but I thought it was a nice enough moral that wasn't too cloying. 

More Muppets please!

Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Palin, 1989)

I wanted a nice, quick read to take with my to the in-laws over New Year, so I grabbed of one of the books from a recent Book People purchase, Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days. As hoped, it was it easy to read and dip into, broken up into 80 'chapters' over 230 pages, so good to pick up between games of Wii or while watching someone else on the XBox. 

I've not seen any of Michael Palin's travel documentaries, and I've not read his books before. I did buy my Dad a set of the larger format, photo-packed editions for his birthday a year or two back, but I think I prefer the set I've got, that collects 5 standard-sized paperbacks together, and which have photo inserts. 

I've tended to read massive tomes about Churchill and the History of Europe lately, which take some getting in to, and usually take me months to finish. Around the World is a lot lighter in many ways - in tone, style and heft - and a different prospect altogether as it's really a diary containing snapshots of the world. Palin's brief was to copy Jules Verne's hero, Phileas Fogg, and travel around the world within 80 days, without recourse to flight. What this means is that Palin travels on the whole by boat, with the occassional train ride across America or drive across Saudi Arabia. 

Palin peppers the text with the add fact about each point on his journey, but the book is mostly focussed on the people he meets along the way who help or hinder his progress. You wouldn't read this book to learn a lot about the world, Palin merely gives a flavour of the cultures he brushes up against, and often there's a lot that can be learnt through comparisons of his experiences with customs and immigration of each country. The book is not just a snapshot of various countries (well, cities and ports mainly), such as France, Italy, Dubai, Singapore, Japan, Aspen, etc. It's also a snapshot of 1988, specifically September-December, when Palin's trip took place. So Palin faces foreigners who shout 'Thatcher' at him, or he bumps up against incidents that occur moments before or after his arrival/departures in some lands, such as the Clapham rail disaster that happened just 1 day before Palin's arrival back in London. 

I enjoyed the breezy yet intelligent and witty style of Palin's writing, and often it was as interesting or amusing to learn how his Passepartout (as his fellow travelling crew members are affectionately known) are managing to sleep or with local cuisine as it is to learn about the history of Jeddah or Madras. It is the human stories that Palin is interested in, and this is what I enjoyed most about the book. I will look forward to the other 4 books in the Palin box set after this, and will look out for the shows on TV/DVD.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Another night, another Bond movie. This time, For Your Eyes Only, a major improvement on the last one, this film was everything Moonraker wasn't, and all the better for it. There were no OTT baddies with dreams of world domination, no over-sized villain's lairs, no space suits, and no bloody pigeons, double-taking or otherwise!

FYEO plays more like a drama than the previous science fiction attempt, and there's not too much humour - and certainly no slapstick as found in other Moore movies. I didn't remember much about this Bond going in to watch it for the first time as an 'adult', but when watching I did recall various action sequences - such as 'Blofeld's' curious pre-credits death - although I'd have been hard pressed to say that they came from FYEO. That's not because the film lacks action, drama or memorable moments, but because the plot is a little more low key it's not as easy to call to mind. 

There are a few things to cringe at about this one, mostly how 70's a lot of things are (I know it was released in 1981 but it takes a while for a decade's defining features to disappear, or appear), for example the 70's sounding music (a bit Starsky & Hutch in places), Roger Moore's often terrible wardrobe (when did ski suits ever look classy?), and the fact that Moore looks to be in about his 70's! Seriously, how did he age so much since Moonraker, he was only in his early 50's! At one point, 007 runs up a huge set of steps to catch a villain - I was concerned for the health of poor Moore, he looked like he'd pass out half way up. Having said that, Moore still has the voice and the charm to pull of 007 in his 50's. It's sensible that he turns down young Bibi's advances though, he did look old enough to be her (grand)dad. 

I liked the moment at the very start of the film when Bond visits his wife's grave, showing continuity right back to OHMSS. It was sad that Bernard Lee passed away before this movie, and so it's nice that M is written out of FYEO. Interestingly, Miss Moneypenny is ageing along with Bond, but then that makes sense as she's been the same actress since Dr. No. It's good to have Q on location, even if only for brief seconds in a confessional booth.

For Your Eyes Only could be the Mediterannean Bond as the action takes place in Italy and Greece for the most part. The locations are beautiful and the direction shows off each wonderfully. Bringing Bond back down to Earth works wonders after the overblown finale of Moonraker, and the double-crossing storyline is nicely played. I think that when I've seen FYEO previously I would've been too young to appreciate the subtlties here as Bond is played off between two old friends, one of whom is the villain, and one a friend. It's just not clear which is which until halfway through the movie. Also, it's nice to see Bond exercising some restrain when it comes to the women in this instalment - he turns down 1, beds another, and then has to wait until the end of the mission before he can bed Melina Havelock, who is not just eye candy, she's also a capable and integral cog in the story. In fact, Bond is involved in quite a bit of 'group activity' and doesn't always come across as an impervious solo action hero. He does get some great action scenes though, as he's chased down a snowy mountain on skis by men on motorbikes (in stunts that recall OHMSS' ski sequences) or when he's scaling a huge cliff face at the climax. 

A more realistic Bond, with a believable villain and exciting action adds up to an excellent installment in the franchise. In fact I reckon that the tone and style of For Your Eyes Only (if you forgive some of the 70's trappings and the hugely dated Identigraph machine...) could sit nicely alongside Daniel Craig's latest offerings. 

Moonraker (1979)

It's almost two months to the day since we last watched a Bond movie. The reason? The next one on our list was Moonraker, which I've just had the misfortune of sitting through again. 

Why is Moonraker so bad? Let me count the ways:

1. Jaws comes back. Not just as a deadly foe, no, as 'comic' relief. He becomes a pantomime villain (a bad one) and then eventually, through reasons too vague to mention, turns to the good side and helps James Bond to escape. He's the worst comic relief since Sheriff J.W. Pepper was brought back for a second movie.
   
2. Jaws gets a girlfriend. With blonde pig tails. And when they embrace, cheesy romantic music plays. 
3. James Bond goes into space. While in space, he is dressed in a yellow tracksuit and Converse trainers.
4. I'll say it again: James Bond. Goes. Into. Space. Seriously. Just because Star Wars was doing the same thing around that time, Bond jumped on the bandwagon, and the result is a dated display of inconceivable laser fights between man in space suits, and between space shuttles.
5. Bond not only has a gondola that converts into a hovercraft for dry land, he must drive it through a piaza full of 'comedy' drunks and (oh Christ) a double-taking pigeon. It is at this point that Moonraker (and perhaps the entire Bond franchise!) jumped the shark. 
6. Bond spends the first hour + of the film looking for a stolen shuttle... to find that Drax, the lame villain, stole his own shuttle because... one of his other shuttles was broken and he wanted the other back. 
7. Dr Holly Goodhead has a bad name and no personality. 
8. Hugo Drax just has no personality. 
9. General Gogol cameos in the movie for... what reason exactly? A cheap, sexist gag?
10. The sexism on display from 007 is quite breath-taking, even for him, bedding 3 different women and being completely astounded that Holly Goodhead is a female scientist (just wait until Bond meets Dr. Christmas Jones...)
11. Drax attempts to kill Bond in more ludicrous ways than ever before - via snake attack; Jaws' attack on a moving ski lift; at a pheasant shoot (Bond calmly shoots his would-be assassin out of a tree in front of Drax and neither bats an eyelid); through an elaborate funeral-gondola, with a coffin-bound killer, who is killed by Bond in the blink of an eye; and my favourite: by spinning Bond really, really fast.
12. Drax's evil plan involves releasing a gas that is only poisonous to humans, and not plants or animals. How the hell does that work? Humans *are* animals.
    
13. The revolving space station, owned by Drax, includes an 'Emergency Stop' button. Not only that, but when this button is pressed again, it miraculously becomes an 'Emergency Go' button as everything returns to normal!
    
14. Did I mention the double-taking pigeon?
    

So what is there to like about Moonraker? It's a brief list:

1. Shirley Bassey's opening song.
2. Shirley Bassey's closing song.
3. Q's line: 'I think he's attempting re-entry, sir.'
   

Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts, 2003)

After 3 months (a few shorter books inbetween) I've finally finished the epic Shantaram. I picked it up cheap in Borders (may they rest in peace) last year and had no idea what to expect - often a good way to approach a book I think. I especially don't like to read the blurb right before I dive in - so many give so much away!

Shantaram is based on the real life experiences of the author, Gregory David Roberts, in India in the 1980's. It follows his escape from prison in Australia as he falls in love with Bombay. The protagonist, 'Lin', becomes caught up in and part of the city through his interactions with the massive cast of characters he meets along the way. From living in a slum, running a free clinic, to 4 months in an Indian prison, and on to his time in Afghanistan fighting the Russians, Lin's story is never boring. 

The story is packed so full of incident and characters that sometimes it was difficult to remember who was who, and what they'd done in the last chapter, but the strength of the writing was the big draw. Lin exists in a morally and ethically grey area - he does the wrong things for the right reasons. He's not evil - he never kills anybody, but there are some graphic scenes of eye-gouging that had me groaning out loud - yet he knows what he's doing is wrong, for example when he's running a fake passport operation. The slums and mafia bosses are all humanised - as are the Afghan Mujahedeen - the latter is particularly interesting in light of the current situation in that country. Written in 2003, before the Afghan War became such a failure, the author is not being anti-war, but he does make reference to the Americans arming the Afghans against the Russians, something that obviously came back to bite the US later. 

The book is not about politics though, it's about relationships. The (sometimes a bit groan-worthy) passages at the end of most chapters consist of Lin's trying to come to terms with aspects of his life and I think are veiled advertisements for the author's philosophy. Such moralising doesn't detract from the book's strengths. There are also moments in the story that made me smile, or even chuckle to myself, such as a language/culture clash that occurs when Lin is sent a performing bear to hug, when he mentions to Abdullah that he misses bear hugs. 

Most of the heart comes not from the ongoing love story between Lin and the emotionally unreachable Karla, but from his relationship with his slum-dwelling Indian friend, Prabaker. The way Roberts writes Prabaker's dialogue comes across slightly comic at times, as the broken English of many of the Indian characters is written as it would really be spoken. This adds to the authenticity of the tale, but never does Lin (or Roberts) use the characters' language to poke fun at these decent people. 

I've now read a little about Roberts online, and learnt that there may be a movie coming out in a year or two (there have been several delays), and more interestingly, further instalments of Lin's tale. I was a little saddened to learn that the novel is most non-autobiographical, although the main events of the book did actually happen to the author. I would like to believe that there really was a Prabaker though, one of the only morally just characters in the book, and the heart of the thing. When he is written out towards the end there is a gaping hole left in the heart of the book. I look forward to the further 'adventures' of Lin.

Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part 2 (2010)

I'm pleased to say that the second part of the festive Doctor Who, in which David Tennant said goodbye to the TARDIS, was head and shoulders above the muddled first part. I confess that this piece of TV actually caused tears to roll down my cheeks - I can't even remember I time when that has happened before. That's the power of the Russell T. Davies' script, and the impressive performances from Tennant and the revelation that is Bernard Cribbins's Wilf. 

The plot of The End of Time was pretty unimportant since this episode was really all about David Tennant's Doctor and his final time as the 10th incarnation of the time and space traveller. As it was, The Master's plan and the return of the Timelords was all a bit inconsequential, since it was obvious that the Doctor could never allow either party to succeed, but it wasn't obvious how exactly the Doctor would bow out. Timothy Dalton was impressive as the President of the Timelords - he really suits the villainous role, he has the perfect voice and gravitas for it (see Hot Fuzz for more!), and John Simm's Master was manically devious. It was a shame that the Timelords were so easily defeated by a bullet to some mechanical macguffin. The drama leading up this was electric though - the Doctor's moral dilemma as he moved his gun between the Master and the President, deciding who to murder, was very well played. 

There were a few laughs to be had scattered throughout - and I enjoyed the green, spiky-headed aliens who helped the Doctor and Wilf to save the planet! Bernard Cribbins was so funny, but he was also excellent at teasing out both an affecting performance from Tennant and tears from the audience. It goes to show that Doctor Who's companions need not be young women to contribute emotional conflict to the series, and I'd love to see Wilf as a permanent assistant, or at least see him return again with Matt Smith's Doctor. The brief glimpse of Smith at the end of the episode was tantilising, and already did much to clear my reservations of the actor.

The final 20 minutes of the episode, after the Doctor saved Wilf's life by sacrificing his own and get loaded up on atomic energy (or something, I wasn't really clear about that), was an emotional rollercoaster, as the Doctor was allowed the time to visit his previous companions and say goodbye. It's odd that no other Doctor was awarded this indulgence, but I don't begrudge Russell T. Davies' decision to let David Tennant go out on a high, as he has been a fantastic creation. There were nice bits of in-jokery for the fans during the Doctors' quick wander round the galaxy, and it was great to see familiar faces again (and a few questions were answered about where everyone else was when the Earth was once again under attack - after all of the companions, Torchwood and Sarah Jane crew came together at the end of the last series it always begs the question, why don't they all come together more often?).

So the Doctor saved Martha (who I miss!) and new husband Mickey from death at the hands of Sontaran; prevented Sarah Jane's son being run over; introduced Captain Jack (alone in a bar full of the series' previous alien creations) to Russell Tovey's character from the Xmas episode with Kylie; says hello to Jessica Hynes at a book signing (I had to look up why on Wikipedia); gives Donna a winning lottery ticket at her wedding; and finally visits Rose (and her mum!) in the shadows, the year she meets his 9th incarnation. I'm not sure at which point the tears fell, though I definitely laughed out loud at Captain Jack's seen. The Doctor's final words - 'I don't want to go' - were heartbreaking, but there wasn't long to grieve as the 11th Doctor immediately set about trying to prevent the TARDIS crashing into the Earth!! 

The David Tennant years have breathed new life into Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston was OK, a bit odd though) and Tennant has done wonders with the role. Russell T. Davies has done great work too, although he's like The X-Files' Chris Carter, in that his genius can come and go, sometimes within the same episode. I look forward to the new Doctor, under the guidance of Steven Moffat, who has written some of The best episodes in recent memory. Allons-y!

Gavin & Stacey: Series 3 (2009-2010)

On New Year's Day, the third and final series of Gavin & Stacey came to an end with one of this patchy run's better episodes as Nessa prepared to marry Dave Coachs. I've not felt that this series had as much going on, or as much humour as the first two, but there have been brilliant moments, and the supporting cast continue to provide the best laughs.

My problem with Gavin & Stacey is the same as my issue with Will & Grace - the title characters just aren't as interesting or funny as the cast surrounding them. It dawned on my part way through this series that the reason I didn't warm to the show as much as I did previously is because, if I knew any of these characters in real life, I'd run a mile. They're all so chavvy and low brow that they irritate the heck out of me. Stacey is the worst offender, primarily because she's so stupid - not even humourously witless, but out and out ignorant, and, it turns out, manipulating poor Gavin into having a baby. I say 'poor' Gavin, yet he's almost as hopeless. Smithy's ok, but James Corden is getting right on my wick lately. 

Ruth Jones' Nessa is the best of the main four - the character has some mystique about her, and is generally just flat out hilarious, whatever comes out of Jones' mouth. A similar candidate for best character is Rob Bydron's Uncle Bryn, who's ever so slightly creepy, and shows how to do 'simple' well, without turning his character into an unlikable idiot. Alison Steadman does sterling work as Gavin's out-of-touch mother, and Larry Lamb is a good straight man. Melanie Walters, who plays Stacey's omlette-obsessed mother, is quietly brilliant too, although as she's not a household name I think she's often overlooked. 

By far my favourite character of the series is the under-used Doris, Gwen's next-door neighbour, played with foul-mouthed perfection by Margaret John. Her dialogue is the funniest, and delivered to perfection - the juxtaposition of the rude and sarcastic language that comes out of such a (seemingly) harmless old lady works even better than for Catherine Tate's Nan, as here the old lady is real. The best moment she had was when Doris was due to make a salad for one of the events the writers create to bring the cast together. She couldn't be bothered to make the salad, and when asked where it is, she pats herself down, muttering, 'where's your salad? Where's your salad? There's your salad!' and proceeds to flick two fingers up at! Priceless.

It's a shame Doris didn't get a speaking part in the final episode, but she did manage to take Noel from Hear'say to the wedding! An even better piece of stunt-casting was John Prescott, playing himself as a wedding guest - a wonderfully incongrous moment, that made sense when you remember that Nessa once referenced an affair with the former Deputy PM. It felt right that the series should end with the uniting of Nessa and Smithy as theirs was consistently the most intriguing and believable relationship in the whole show. They make for much for interesting characters than those whose names share the title of the programme. My hope is that Gavin & Stacey will continue as hour long specials, as the Xmas special last year worked well, giving the story space to breathe - and the format works well for The Royle Family too, a similar type of sitcom.

More Christmas / New Year TV (2009-10)

Well now that Xmas and New Year all done and dusted for another few hundred days it's time for a second wrap up of what I've been watching over the festive period (and I've still got a couple of things stacked up on the DVD recorder for another time too - I'm not ready for 3 hours of Hamlet just yet).

The Outnumbered Christmas special was a corker, as I've come to expect. I stumbled across the second series last year almost by accident and was very pleased with what I found. The 3 child actors are terrific, and well supported(!) by Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, and I find the humour and the dialogue is often particularly fresh and interesting. Of course, the precocious children would be absolutely hideous if I knew them in real life, but as they're safely tucked up in tellyville I can laugh along at and with them. 

On New Year's Eve I managed to see both The Graham Norton Show and Alan Carr: Chatty Man. I watched all of Graham Norton's recent series and am constantly impressed with how funny he continues to be, and at the level of guest he gets on his sofas - 50 Cent, Catherine Tate and Jimmy Carr together at last?? The line up for the New Year's show was just as eclectic - with Sarah Jessica Parker conversing with Jedward and Joan Rivers, before being replaced by Dominic West. It wasn't the most interesting line up for me personally, although I do love Joan Rivers, but Graham (as usual) made everything watchable. Alan Carr's special was the first I've seen of his current series as it keeps clashing with other shows I'm watching/recording. I wasn't that taken with the first series, however I enjoyed this one. And what a rarity to see David Tennant on TV over Xmas!

Another seasonal highlight, and a one off, was 2009 Unwrapped with Miranda Hart starring my new favourite comic actress. This was a sort-of review of the year's events complete with talking heads (including Duncan Bannatyne!), but the twist was that the footage was manipulated or CGI-augmented for comic effect, and the vox pops were in on the joke. The best bits of the show were the speeches by Nick Clegg, David Cameron and Gordon Brown, taken from their respective party conferences, and edited to have them saying what they would never dare - Clegg confessing that no one votes Lib Dem so there's no point trying, Cameron confirming that he's a cut-rate Tony Blair, and Brown looking ahead to the next Tory government. Miranda's links, where she pretended to be a Nigella-type, cooking Xmas dinner in her house, were amusing in the same way that her sitcom is, complete with knowing winks and asides to camera, and on the whole a very enjoyable way to spend an hour's TV viewing.

I half-watched Channel 4's Greatest Songs of the Noughties poll, which ran down 20 tracks that the public had voted for, and as such made for depressing viewing. Too much indie, too much dross, too much Coldplay. There were only a handful of songs that I liked - by Will Young, Beyoncé and Take That - and the winning song, Snow Patrols' Chasing Cars... well I couldn't even hum it never mind sing it. Who on earth did they poll for this thing? One of the talking heads referred to Coldplay as 'music for accountants', and that could sum up nearly the whole list.

One of the shows I was most eagerly awaiting this December was the return of the period drama Cranford for 2 feature length episodes. I'm not normally one for costume dramas - they're all a bit samey - but the first series was in a different league. The cast was stellar for starters, and most of them returned here, along with some new faces. Tim Curry, Jonathan Pryce and Leslie Sharp were among the new residents, and they were all marvellous. They'll never best the quartet of ladies at the heart of Cranford though - Julia McKenzie (Mrs Forrester), Deborah Findley (Miss Tomkinson), the sublime Imelda Staunton (Miss Pole), and the god-like Dame Judi Dench as oh-so-adorable Miss Matty Jenkins. Staunton has me in stitches one minute, and Dench has me welling with tears the next, they're such accomplished actresses, and thankfully the material they have to work with on Cranford serves them wonderfully. The stories themselves are multi-faceted, taking in a multitude of characters, and are never boring, if somewhat depressing at times - too many regulars seemed to die off in the first episode! I do hope everyone returns to Cranford again soon.