IT’S A BIT DAFT AND COARSE, BUT BENIDORM CONTINUES TO BE A TRIUMPH! BENIDORM – A review, series 9.

Posted on March 10, 2017 by SCARFMAN

About four or five years ago there were two sit-coms that I avoided a bit like the plague.  I cringed every time I saw a trailer for Mrs Brown’s Boys and I steered well clear of ever watching ITV1’s Benidorm.

I then happen to catch Benidorm one time because nothing else better was on, and I found myself really enjoying it to my great surprise.  It was the one where the utterly brilliant Johnny Vegas playing ‘The Oracle’/Geoff Maltby, made a glorious comeback with his hilarious mother Noreen Maltby(Elsie Kelly).  The on-screen chemistry that these two comedy performers had together was a sheer delight to watch.

I have therefore now come full circle regarding this show because I get what it is.  I no longer hold any ill-founded cultural snobbery towards it because the vulgarity makes me smile, the silliness makes me laugh and the acting is first-rate.

We are now two episodes into series nine and so far it shows no signs of lessening in terms of its quality.  Given how many series there have been, then it is a great credit to creator and writer Derren Litten, that it doesn’t feel like a tired show that has seen better days.  New characters and old ones making comebacks are what breathes new life into it.

The cameo guest appearances by famous actors and actresses is probably the finest feature of this sit-com.  Last series we saw the legendary actor John Challis(Boycie), play the role of Monty, who was an old flame of Ms Joyce Temple Savage’s(Sherrie Hewson).  Already in just two episodes of this new series we have had a guest appearance by Nigel Havers who played an amusing dentist who was obsessed with getting his hands on a set of very valuable false teeth. For Brookside fans out there Billy Corkshill’s ex-wife has turned up in the shape of actress Kate Fitzgerald.  Kate is playing a character called Loretta, a man-eating cougar granny.  The guest appearances help punctuate the show and certainly give a post-modern edge to it with regards to intertextuality.

In terms of storylines, so far in this new series we have seen the return of the likeable and funny Dawson family.  Bobby Knutt as Eddie Dawson is a perpetually amusing character.  The comedy highlight so far is him being dressed like a fat Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat, due to his clothes having gone missing.  The star of the show though for me is young actress Honor Kneafsey who plays Jodie Dawson,  She is a wonderful performer who makes me chuckle in almost every scene that she appears in.

Another brilliant comedy character is the ever present Kenneth Du Beke, who is played majestically camp by actor Tony Maudsley.  So far this series we have seen him sell a set of false teeth for over a grand and in this week’s show he launched his own mini-cab business, all in the most camp and innuendo filled way of course.  Being such a larger than life character, then it is essential to the show’s continued success that he remains in it.

Benidorm is a funny, good easy watch if you accept what it is, for what it is.  It is never going to be as trendy or alternative as say the highly successful Peep Show is on Channel Four, but it doesn’t try to be either.  Furthermore, it is never going to be as funny as Only Fools and Horses is, but then again what is? It also doesn’t try too hard to be funny so the writing needs praising for this. Now I have stopped being a cultural snob then this show just makes me smile and chuckle anytime that I watch it.  This is a sit-com that deserves to be continually celebrated and one without-a-shadow-of-doubt, that deserves to be declared a big TRIUMPH! 4/5.

 

 

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PIERS MORGAN’S LIFE STORIES WITH NIGEL FARAGE : WHEN THE MARMITE OF BRITISH BROADCASTING INTERVIEWED THE MARMITE OF BRITISH POLITICS! A review.

Posted on February 27, 2017 by SCARFMAN

There can be no denying that right now Piers Morgan is the Marmite of British broadcasting, i.e. you either love him or hate him.  Likewise, there can be no denying that right now Nigel Farage is the Marmite figure of British politics.  Therefore, when Marmite interviewed Marmite as part of Pier’s Morgan’s Life Stories series, it promised to be must see television.  Was Piers going to interview Farage like say a sycophantic One Direction fan interviewing Harry Styles, or was there going to be some substance to their exchanges? I had this rather strong suspicion that we were going to get the nauseating sycophantic version!

Speaking as somebody whose politics are not remotely aligned with Farage’s and UKIP’s, then I desperately wanted to hate this programme.  However, to my great shock, not only did I not hate it but I also quite enjoyed it.  Piers was not as crawly as I thought he might have been and Farage wasn’t really that irritating.  I found this show funny in places, informative, as well as interesting.

What I liked about this programme was that I learned new information about Farage.  For instance, I never knew he had an ex-wife called Claire, and that they met as a result of him being knocked down by a car in the street(she had been his nurse in hospital).  I never knew he has a current wife called Kirsten, who is German, nor that from these two marriages he has four children.  Furthermore, I never knew that he once had testicular cancer.  Such revelations helped create a more rounded picture of this guy who is seemingly always in the national headlines.

The most moving account was the one that I could remember, namely Farage coming ever so close to death via a helicopter crash back in 2010.  On this topic his mum Barbara Stevens said,

‘How he survived I do not know…his character got him through it but he still suffers today from that plane crash.’

It was a a bit X-Factor sob story-ish I guess, however it is a very dramatic story that momentarily made for a very emotive watch.

Bearing in mind this is a mainstream entertainment show, I thought Piers Morgan got the balance just about right between the humour and the more serious stuff.  On the humorous front, he mocked Farage about a ‘kiss and tell’ story by a Latvian TV reporter in 2006, which Farage vehemently denied.  The most animated section of the show was when Piers aired what some people in the public eye had said about UKIP in the past.  For example, Piers said that,

‘In 2006, David Cameron described UKIP as a bunch of fruit cakes, loonies and closet racists’.

This led to a heated exchange between Farage and Morgan.  I was impressed by how much Piers stood up to Farage because I had feared prior to watching, that Farage might have been given a much easier ride.

Nevertheless, there was one glaring omission by Piers, which he should have quizzed Farage about.  In the run up to the last general election Farage courted a lot of controversy in the media by stating(as reported in The Guardian) how people who tested positive for HIV should be banned from migrating to Britain in terms of controlling the UK borders, because the N.H.S could not afford it.  Around the time this story hit the headlines I can remember Piers Morgan commenting on it when he appeared on the BBC One political programme Question Time.  Therefore, I found it a bit strange for him not to have included this story in this episode.  It was an old news item that should have been addressed even if Life Stories is not a political show.

My other criticisms of the show are to do with some of the things Farage said.  For example, he stated how it could be argued that UKIP is the most successful political party in history.  Granted they played a role in the ‘out'(brexit) campaign but to say that about a party who has just one current member of Parliament, well quite frankly it’s ludicrous.  I also nearly fell off my chair when he stated to Piers, that he would NOT like to become UK Prime Minister one day.  This is a guy who seems to be an egomaniac and as ITN’s Robert Peston put it,

‘He’s obviously addicted to the public eye’.

All-in-all, a worthwhile watch and one that has convinced me that a Marmite sandwich might not be quite such a bad thing after all! 3/5.

 

 

 

 

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MAFIA WOMEN WITH TREVOR McDONALD : FASCINATING AND POIGNANT! A review, episode one.

Posted on February 19, 2017 by SCARFMAN

As a follow-up to when Sir Trevor McDonald looked back at some of the lives of former members of La Cosa Nostra, here in this first part of two documentaries he now looked at some of the women in their lives.

What we got was a fascinating insight into the secretive world of The Mob.  It was a slickly put together production that did not seek to glamorise the violence or their way of life.  At times it was raw and emotional which thus gave it great poignancy.

The documentary worked because of the emotive personalised accounts that we heard from various women.  For example, we heard from a lady called Amy, who was now the girlfriend of a former Colombo family captain called Anthony Russo.  Details of his former life were tough for her to hear as she said,

‘Yeah, it’s hard for me to listen to it and hear the things cos that’s not who I know you know….you know it’s hard to hear sometimes, the stories and think like, wow he actually did that.’

The most emotive account came from a lady called Linda Scarpa, whose late father Greg Scarpa Snr, was nicknamed the ‘Grim Reaper’.  When discussing his death and how her younger brother Joey, was murdered aged just twenty-three she stated,

‘But you don’t realise the pain until it actually hits your home…until you have actually someone murdered.’

Away from Mafia life, her father she added, was just an everyday kind of guy who was a very loving father.  We saw her watch old video footage of a birthday party of hers when she was just a girl.  This video reduced her to tears such was her love for him and the huge amount of love that he had for her.

Sir Trevor McDonald was a brilliant interviewer throughout.  He was respectful without ever being too respectful not to ask hard hitting questions.  I did wonder if his old age, slight frame and polite British esque demeanour did enable him to get away with his probing questions unchallenged.  For example, he posed Anthony Russo an uncomfortable question when he asked him about his late son Michael, who had recently died of an accidental drugs overdose.  Trevor said,

‘The tragedy must be all the more terrible for you when you look back on your life and remember all the time you spent in prison away from Michael and your family.’

All the respondents acted well to Trevor, which was crucial as the documentary needed them to open up to us.

As already stated this documentary was well put together and this was achieved via a mix of present day interviews, old archive news footage and impressive camera work.  The overhead helicopter camera shots gave connotations of a police chopper following criminals or some infamous figures.  It was also a masterstroke stylistically, to see regular shots of Brooklyn’s inner city railway tracks.  They are an imposing sight, famous throughout the world and such scenes really added a sense of the spectacle to the piece.

When trying to be critical about this programme, nothing really springs to mind that was that irksome.  It was a fascinating, poignant documentary worth watching if you haven’t as of yet.  I look forward to seeing part two! 4/5.

 

 

 

 

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AN INTERESTING-ISH, ETHICAL McEWAN, BUT NOT A HIGHLY ENJOYABLE ONE! ‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan: a review.

Posted on February 12, 2017 by SCARFMAN

Having enjoyed Solar by renowned author Ian McEwan and then really enjoyed his spy thriller novel Sweet Tooth, I thought it was nailed on that The Children Act would be another high quality piece of work by him.  However, for me, it lacked something that these two other books possess.  Rather than enjoyable it was more interest at a distance.  It failed to dramatically draw me in for the most part.  Throughout, I felt like a spectator reading this book, rather than being an active participant!

It centres on the life of a leading family division High Court judge called Fiona Maye.  We find her where her marriage to Jack is in deep crisis, but where her professional self continues to go from strength to strength.  The crux of the book occurs when she is asked to rule in the case of a seventeen year old boy Adam Henry.  Adam has leukaemia but is refusing a required blood transfusion on the grounds that it goes against his Jehovah’s Witness faith.  It is thus the fallout of Fiona’s ruling as to whether treatment should be legally enforced or not, that then shapes the climax of the story at the end.

The main issue I had with the story was that before Adam entered Fiona’s world, there was too much legal jargon involving her other cases.  For example, we found out about a case where she had to give a ruling that involved the strict orthodox Chareidi Jewish community.  We were led through this case stage by stage and for a non-legal person such as myself, it all got a bit boring and the syntax too legal.  I found myself fighting to read these legal sections rather than the prose just naturally flowing as I read on.

Easier to read were the conversational bits that Fiona had with her husband, work colleagues and Adam.  These parts flowed much better and allowed for greater emotional attachment to the story.  Nevertheless, at times even these sections were a bit overly flowery to read by McEwan.  Whereas I had no trouble whatsoever in reading Solar or Sweet Tooth, this on the whole was a much more challenging read.  It was that challenging at times that I never felt able to fully relax with it.

The most positive aspect of this book unquestionably, was the big ethical issue that McEwan looked at, i.e. do the courts have a right to rule in and over medical cases that involve religion and children?  Adam was going to be eighteen in a few months time and so then the courts would have no power over his treatment.  Both sides of the argument where well presented and it was not like reading an overly biased persuasive piece of writing by the author.  As my heading suggests it was an interesting case to look at to some degree but it lacked a bit of emotional connectivity as I have already said.

A good book but not a classic from Ian McEwan…….CASE DISMISSED!  3/5.

 

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LET IS SHINE ep5 review : TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF THAT FAST-FORWARD BUTTON BECAUSE ‘TONIGHT THINGS GET SERIOUS’!

Posted on February 6, 2017 by SCARFMAN

After the first four weeks of this BBC One Saturday night singing and dancing talent show, I almost wrote a review with the heading, ‘IT ONLY SHINES WITH YOUR FINGER PRESSED ON FAST-FORWARD’.  This was because of the large amount of dross on it compared to the odd bit of good singing that we actually heard!

There were too many cringe worthy moments in the first four episodes.  Nowhere was this more apparent then when we had the contestants introduce themselves, which was reminiscent of those fools years ago that went on Cilla Black’s hit game show Blind Date,.e.g hello Cilla, I mean Gary(Barlow), I’m David and I’m from Blackpool(cue OTT audience applause).  This was then followed up by the producers of Let It Shine, trying to make the boys appear funnier than Peter Kay(none ever were)!

A second irritant were the surprise sequences that unofficial head judge Gary Barlow, did to the supposedly unsuspecting victims.  This involved him travelling to see one of them by surprise and asking them if they would audition for the show.  The first was interesting to watch but then the shock value wore off and they became boring to watch.

Nevertheless, my greatest bugbear with the show was the very corny sequences we got when some of the singers walked on to the stage.  As they walked towards the studio door which gave connotations of ITV’s Star in Their Eyes, we then got these really cringe worthy montage clips from family friends about them,e.g. ‘Jonny is the nicest guy in the whole wide world’, ‘Tony spends all day in the gym’, ‘Trevor doesn’t eat or drink because he just sings and dances instead’.  OK, hands up, I made those comments up but hopefully you get my point that this element of the show was excruciating to watch.

Therefore, this fifth episode worked a lot better because all of the annoying things that I have just listed here were no more.  This week was ‘collaboration week’ and in the words of co-host Mel Giedroyc, ‘tonight things get serious’.  The boys had been whittled down to forty and put into five groups of eight, to which three would be eliminated from each.  Their groups performed with one of five superstars(which was debatable) and then judged on their performances.  The superstars(AGAIN this was debatable) comprised of Mel C, Olly Murs, Beverley Knight, Busted, and The Kaiser Chiefs!

The show went on for a mammoth and far too long one hundred and five minutes, however I found myself actually rather enjoying it.  It would have been better to have been split up and shown over two nights but overall the singing was good.  Some of the lads were like overly excited little puppies though as you’d expect.  The only real car crash bit of telly was the medley that the band Busted had with their gang of eight.  Lead singer of Busted, Charlie, looked about as thrilled to be there as a vegetarian at a butchers.  Mel was funny as she mocked him for being sooooooooooooo posh.

In the first four episodes I wasn’t sure if the show needed both Mel and Graham Norton co-hosting together, but it seemed to work more this week.  Both of these comedy performers are funny and extremely likeable.

Nevertheless, the funniest bit of the show for me was at the start of it when Gary Barlow said, ”I want to see them working together as a team because when people truly work together as a team, great things happen.  Was I alone in then thinking to myself, hold on a minute Gary, Take That(his group) have lost two members through the years(Robbie Williams and Jason Orange), great team work that then my son!

At the end then we were left with five new boybands for the live shows that start next week.  As Saturday night TV goes this fifth instalment was not that bad an effort.  It was stuff fit for all the family and I have to admit that it slightly got me hooked towards the end.   I also have to admit that for the first time ever with this show my finger never touched the fast-forward button…NOT EVEN ONCE! 3/5.

 

 

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I THINK THEREFORE I AM….NOT A NUTTER : MENTAL HEALTH MEDICATION AND ME!

Posted on January 28, 2017 by SCARFMAN

A blog about me being able to take medication for my mental health illness, for the FIRST TIME EVER!

I can still remember the first time I tried taking a medication called clomipramine for my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.   I was aged eighteen years old, at college and in the first year of my A-levels.

You see, back then I felt dirty whenever going to the toilet(the act of urinating).  They wanted to me to take it to lessen my symptoms they said.   Here I was then, this reasonably intelligent guy but hardly anybody else knew the suffering that I was going through deep inside.  Even though my parents knew a bit as well as some of my tutors, I felt embarrassed and deeply ashamed at my suffering.  I still have this vivid memory of being in my A-level Sociology class and this aforementioned drug just knocking me out(not literally), I’d never felt drowsiness like that before.  I wasn’t even taking a large dose of it so it was decided I would have to come off it, for the sake of not wanting to ruin my studies,i.e. being tired all of the time.  I thus never experienced the benefits back then of being on OCD meds!

You ask any Psychiatrist and they will tell you that OCD is best tackled through a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(talking therapy) and medication.   The latter is trying to target the depleted serotonin levels in the brain that are said exist in people who suffer with mental health issues.

I have always felt that I have been trying to get better with my OCD with one hand tied behind my back because medication has never been an option for me.  After the intense drowsiness issues, I then got an illness called prostatitis which as a consequence inflamed all my pelvic floor muscles.  This meant then that every time I took mental health medication they then stung my abdomen area greatly, enough for me not to be able to take them anymore.

As the years went by various semi-attempts at CBT didn’t help and all the time I felt frustrated at not being able to take any OCD medication to potentially help me.  This issue arose again when I was seeing this new Psychiatrist guy a few years ago.  Think of the most patronising and unfriendliest doctor you have ever met, then times it by ten for this guy.

Unless I was willing to take the meds then this doctor was not willing to treat me or to refer me for more CBT(which I desperately needed).  He thought me being resistant to the drugs was a symptom of my OCD, refused to believe me that it was more of a physical pain issue.  Even members of my immediate family questioned me for not taking the meds.  I felt like the boy who cried wolf who nobody would believe.

OCD is an horrendous condition to suffer from because it can ruin lives.  It has made me feel like a prisoner in my own home and at times I feel enslaved to my phobias and rituals.  Therefore, if there was a chance something might alleviate my suffering in the form of tablets then why the hell would I not want to take it if I could, ANYBODY WOULD?? It felt utterly soul destroying that people did not believe me that my body could not cope taking OCD meds.

Fast forward a few years and now my physical aches and pains are not quite as bad as they once were.  With this in mind, when I saw a new Psychiatrist guy at the end of last year I agreed that I would try the OCD meds once again, even if they made me too unwell to carry on taking them.  I did not want to appear resistant to him in any shape or form.  I have seen this new doc about six or seven times now and he is the nicest, most polite and most understanding Psychiatrist that I have ever seen.  He wanted me to try a tablet called Aripiprazole and within a few days on it as I suspected, it stung my ribs and pelvic floor muscles terribly so I had to stop taking it.

When I told the new Psychiatrist that I couldn’t take the tablets, I was fearful of an ensuing argument with him but my worries were misplaced.  He came up with the great idea that why don’t I try it in medicine form.  He also suggested at the same time that I try another medication in medicine form called fluoxetine(Prozac).  Therefore, the aripiprazole would try and calm my anxieties down a bit and this latter med would be used to target the OCD specifically, i.e my serotonin levels.  I was willing to try this idea and I’m pleased to say I’ve been on both for about three months now……pain free too!

I just wanted to do a blog about mental health medication I guess seeing as this topic was in the headlines recent;y.  I reckon I am slightly better regarding my OCD and anxieties due to taking the meds I listed here.  I do feel a little bit calmer but I have had no major breakthrough with the OCD as of yet.  In fairness to myself though, a few weeks ago I touched something very contaminated that needed mending and I put this down to the meds taking the edge off my anxieties.  Nevertheless, I am still scared of the things that I have been scared of for the past six to seven years.  It is unrealistic to expect anything else without having the CBT yet I know.

It just feels soooooooooo good to be able to take the mental health medication for the first time ever in my life.  I feel like going up to those people who doubted my honesty years ago about taking the tablets and sticking two fingers up at them.  I had no moral objection in the past about taking mental health medication, they just used to make me too ill….end of!

Therefore, as the weeks go on and I increase their dose and the CBT starts again with this much nicer new mental health team, ONLY then will I know the full value in taking these mental health medications.  It is looking promising though, the light at the end of the tunnel has finally appeared for me at long last!

 

 

 

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‘HE’S A MAN, WITH A PLAN….HE’S MISSTRA KNOW-IT-ALL’! GARY NEVILLE : THE PUNDIT – A review.

Posted on January 18, 2017 by SCARFMAN

As this documentary on Sky Sports 1 about Sky Sports football pundit Gary Neville finished, I was in two minds about what I thought about it.  Part of me thought it had been an enjoyable, relatively interesting twenty-five minute journey with him.  The other part of me viewed it in more damning terms.  Had I not just viewed an elongated backslapping advert for Sky Sports football coverage?  It certainly felt like I had in places and it was thus this aspect that made this documentary a slightly irritating watch!

It was a fly-on-the-wall documentary that focused on two days last year in the life of Gary Neville’s, namely December 18th and 19th.  First, we saw him making a special guest appearance on the Sky Sports Sunday morning football journalist chat-show The Sunday Supplement.  It was interesting to see behind-the-scenes footage and hear from Gary  about how he always envisages what the worst case scenario is whenever he does something.    Highly respected football journalist Henry Winter from The Times said of Gary as a pundit,

‘I think footballers on the whole can articulate their profession, their craft and few do it better than Gary Neville…that insight is gold dust….and he does it brilliantly’.

Fellow journalist Martin Samuels from the Daily Mail commented how it was Gary’s opinionated original thinking that made him stand-out as a good pundit.  Bearing in mind Neville has had several run-ins with the print media over the years, then it was insightful to hear journalists praise him.

The highlight of this programme was the constant jokey banter that we saw exists between Neville and his work colleagues, in particular with his fellow football pundit Jamie Carragher.  Their close working relationship and shared humour is amusing because both played football for two teams who are the fiercest of arch-rivals, e.g. Gary Neville played for Manchester United and Jamie Carragher played for Liverpool FC.  Throughout there was constant mickey-taking between them which thus gave the documentary considerable humour.  For example, Carragher mocked that Neville had only signed an autograph to a fan outside the ground because he knew the camera was on him.  Another funny joke was when Carragher later on mocked the size of Neville’s man boobs.  Neville gave as good as he got and his best line was when he said Carragher used to support Everton as a kid growing up, in light of Carragher screaming with delight in the studio about Liverpool scoring a late winner against Everton in the league.

We also saw Neville joking with make-up lady Jill Shaylor and interviewer Geoff Shreeves.  Neville poking fun at Shreeves by telling him to ask him a good question was funny because it then prompted Shreeves to starting singing that well-known Stevie Wonder song, ‘he’s a man, with a plan,…..he’s Misstra know-it-all’ back at him.

The more irritating back slappy stuff came when Neville talked about Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show.  For example Neville said, ‘I can’t think of a better show to do….to me it’s the best football programme on television’.  He also went on to say how he liked to think it is the most respected football analysis programme on television.  Personally speaking, I agree with this but I’m not sure we needed to hear this being said by one of its main stars in Neville.  Rather than just being an honest assessment, it came across as being boastful and thus this documentary was great PR for Sky Sports.

This documentary would have been better if it had looked at Neville’s life as a pundit over a longer period of time than just two days.  Why not make it an hour long instead and say look at his role over a month?  As a result, more things in the football would have occured thus making the content more interesting.

It would have also been more interesting to have heard from more people in the pundit business about their views on Neville as a pundit.  For instance, hearing from former premier pundit Alan Hansen about his views on Neville and the pundit business in general would have made for great TV.  This was an opportunity missed in my view.

I also wanted to hear why Neville became a pundit in the first place but we never did.  Why did he decide to become a pundit once again after getting sacked as Head Coach of Valencia FC last season?  It would have been interesting to have heard from Sky Sports MD Barney Francis as to why they wanted to employ Neville again as a pundit.  This documentary was good but it could have been bigger and better.

All-in-all, an easy to watch funny sports documentary that was interesting up to a point.  Just do me a favour next time please Sky Sports, LESS BACK SLAPPING FROM MISSTRA KNOW-IT-ALL! 3/5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DEATH IN PARADISE : IT’S VERY FORMULAIC, BUT OH MY WHAT A GREAT CURE IT IS FOR THOSE JANUARY WINTER BLUES! A review.

Posted on January 14, 2017 by SCARFMAN

Do you like me suffer from those awful British January winter blues?  You will know what I’m talking about if you do.  It is the dull, damp freezing weather coupled with it going dark in the evenings before 5pm, so utterly depressing.  Nevertheless, one thing on the telly last winter helped lift me from my gloomy January state.  The programme in question was Death in Paradise on BBC One.  This sunny crime/crime comedy drama set in the idyllic Caribbean location of San Marie(Guadeloupe in reality), was just the ticket.  It has just returned to our screens for a sixth series and so I’ve tuned in again to help lift my soul.  Houston, we have a big problem though, I’m now getting a bit bored of it!

My burgeoning boredom comes from each episode having an identical narrative structure.  For example, first we get a bit of action, then we get the murder, then Inspector Humphrey Goodman(Kris Marshall) goes around interviewing all the suspects(usually three to five), then at the end we have this overly theatrical summing up scene and a declaration about who the guilty one is of murder.  Throw in a bit of comedy from Officers Dwayne Myers(Danny John-Jules) and JP Hooper(Tobi Bakare), together with Humphrey’s Hugh Grant amusing-ish posturing(usually around his love life of late) and that pretty much sums this show up.  I moan about this yet still like this drama, but as a consequence my enjoyment is really waning at present.  It has just got too samey for its own good,i.e. the narrative structure needs more variation.

Given all what has just been said in the above, then you could describe Death in Paradise as like a fast-food version of Miss Marple or Inspector Morse, i.e over quicker and has less substance.  However, perhaps this comparison is a tad unfair.  This is because Death in Paradise does not try to be like those two other crime shows.  Rather than striving for realism, its strength lies in its comedy and its Caribbean Island escapism.

Yet again, in the second episode Officer Dwayne Myers was the main vehicle for most of the light-hearted moments, thus he remains the best character.  An example of this was when he embarrassingly admitted to the other main characters that he did not know where the local library was(the joke being here, his lack of culture and literary knowledge).  It is the comedy moments such as this that make up for its lack of realism.

This episode was about the death of a young academic woman called Esther Monroe(Kemi-Bo Jacobs).  She had discovered that the author of a famous novel called The Flame Tree, was in fact not the real author after all and so was guilty of fraud.  This therefore led to her being murdered and the subsequent investigation into her death.  It is the ending of the show that irks me the most, the grand and highly dramatic summing up bit.

I have several issues with the summing up section in every episode, where the murderer/s are revealed to us.  Firstly, it is too dramatic that you cannot help but be reminded of the fact that this is just a bunch of actors acting. i.e. I temporarily lose my ‘suspension of disbelief’.  Secondly, all the murderers freely attend this gathering up of all the suspects, however surely if you’ve just committed murder then you’d be on the next plane out of there asap instead wouldn’t you?

I also find Inspector Humphrey Goodman’s crime solving a bit too much at times.  Yes, he uses evidence to help him but the crimes are more solved by him doing some type of mental arithmetic in his head.  It is like he has some psychic crime solving superpower.  You just have to go along with it all in order to enjoy this show, placing realism below escapism like I have said.  It is easy viewing but just don’t critically examine it whilst you watch it is my best advice.

As episode two ended I sat there thinking to myself, yep, I am definitely getting bored of this now.  Furthermore, I also found some of the dialogue a tad on the cheesy side for the first time too.  However, at the same I had quite enjoyed it and will tune in again next week for episode three.  I quite simply have to tune in next week because after all you see, Death in Paradise is MY ONLY CURE, FOR THOSE PESKY JANUARY WINTER BLUES! 3/5.

 

 

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NOT AS MUCH FUN WITHOUT BALLS! – STRICTLY COME DANCING FINAL 2016 – A review.

Posted on January 9, 2017 by SCARFMAN

The problem with Strictly Come Dancing this year was that as soon as the utterly hilarious Ed Balls got voted off in week 10, it turned into a big snoozefest.  He was the only reason why I watched it for as long as I did.  He was the only celebrity that didn’t have the charisma of a carrot!  The prospect of watching a final featuring Danny Mac, Louise Redknapp and Ore Oduba, filled me with about as much enthusiasm as seeing ten massive Brussels sprouts piled upon my Christmas dinner plate, i.e. an ordeal.  That said though, over the last few years I have become rather partial to the odd sprout or two(my face nearly turned purple once when trying one as a kid),  Therefore, I decided I was going to try and view this final with an open mind.  I just did not want to see though a nauseating, happy clappy two and a half hours plus of ballroom dancing like I feared I might!

The show got off to a full-on glitzy start as Donna Summer’s booming tune ‘When Love Takes Over’, was belted out as the three finalists were theatrically lowered on to the dance floor from the heavens high above.  It was an impressive opening which made think that perhaps my prior misgivings about this final could have been misplaced after all.

What we got however was a final that could have been entitled, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Excruciating Non-Stop Ugly Sobbing.  I bet the producers of Long Lost Family and The X-Factor looked on like proud parents.  Anyway, more about the sobathon later, lets now deal with the good stuff first!

Firstly, Strictly should be applauded because in this day and age of niche channels and programming, Strictly is a rare show that appeals to all the family.  Yes, this final was too formulaic and drawn-out , but the basic format worked.  All couples had their first dance chosen for them by the judges.  This was then followed by their showstopping show dance and then finally they performed their favourite routine that they had previously done in the series.

You cannot help but take your hat off to the dancing that the celebs did.  Ore and Joanne decided to dance their famous jive once more and it really was one of the best dances that you’re ever likely to see on Strictly(they scored a maximum forty).  There was also this lovely heartfelt moment by hyper judge Bruno Tonioli, when he said of Louise’s and Kevin’s show dance, ‘the best lift was the one that you gave to my heart’.  Most of the contrived soppy stuff was irritating beyond belief but I was genuinely moved by Bruno’s words here.

The best bit of this final was when there was an extended tribute section to the retiring head judge Len Goodman.  It gave rise to the funniest line in the show by co-presenter Claudia Winkleman(although in fairness it was her ONLY funny line in one hundred and thirty-five minutes) when she said of Len, ‘he calls himself a cup of tea in a world of skinny lattes’.  Again, the emotion conjured up in this tribute part felt genuine and not contrived.  Yes, there were tears a plenty but I didn’t mind them on this occasion.

Lets now deal with the bad and ugly stuff.  The producer/s need to be sent their P45s because on numerous occasions I felt totally exasperated watching.  Firstly, after Ore and Joanne had finished their first dance which was a tribute to Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain, there kept on being reaction shots of this unfamiliar man and woman in the studio audience.  It was the bit when the judges say something nice about the dance that they’ve just seen and we see reaction shots of say the celebrity’s Mum, Dad or spouse.  Who were this strange couple though because we had never seen them before? The lady looked a bit like the singer Annie Lennox but it was all very bizarre.  Then, when Ore’s scores were given we were told that this unknown lady was in fact Gene Kelly’s widow Patricia.  Might have been a better idea to have introduced who she was as soon as their dance had finished me thinks!

A second gripe I have is one that bugged me all series.  When Claudia talked to the couples who had just danced, she then repeatedly mentioned that their loved ones were there watching in the studio audience, cue cringe worthy reaction shots and embarrassed giggles by said loved ones.  It was just over-the-top soppy tosh in an attempt to make us all go, ‘awwww’.  For example, she said to Ore after his final dance, ‘I worship your parents…your wife was sobbing’.  Yep, I had got the point at that stage that somehow they thought a BAFTA was more likely if they could make us sob as much as possible.

The sobathon was that non-stop that it felt like the programme was drowning in its own tears.  For instance, as soon as Tess started the link about how much the celebrities wanted to win Strictly, I therefore knew what soppy guff was then heading my way very soon.  In a passionate speech Danny Mac said to us that winning, ‘would be the greatest achievement of my life’.  Am I the only one who was amazed by this statement? Really, winning Strictly beats everything else you have done in your life thus far, really mate?? At this stage I think I uttered the words, ‘what a load of absolute bilge’, for about the tenth time.

My final moan about the final is again a criticism that could be levelled at the overall series.  It is to do with the UNFUNNY cringe worthy joke/sketch that Claudia and Tess did in each show.  This one revolved around Claudia pretending to lower down with rope, a big mirror for Danny’s show dance later on, only then to smash it when giving Tess a high-five.  It was about as funny as doing the quick-step with a bad dose of piles.  The producers need to cut these lame jokes out of the next series for crying out loud.  Claudia can be naturally witty doing funny one-liners and ad-libbing, so harness this strength of hers more instead.

The final result of the final was a nice shock when underdogs Ore and Joanne beat the big favourite Danny Mac(the dancer) with his pro-partner Oti.  By that stage I didn’t think it was possible for Ore to cry anymore but somehow he managed it for us, hooray!

It was not a bad final however as you’ll have gathered by now, I think the producers spoiled it by trying to make it too much of a sobfest.  Len Goodman on his retirement said, ‘I will miss everything about the show’.  I have to disagree with this Strictly legend because the only thing that I will miss from this series is….GOODNESS, GRACIOUS, GREAT ED BALLS OF FIRE! 3/5.

 

 

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FOREVER YOUNG : The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football’s Lost Genius! A review.

Posted on January 8, 2017 by SCARFMAN

This book was interesting, moving, but at the same time it has to be said that it also had shades of blandness in places.  The latter aspect could have been easily remedied by it being about one hundred pages shorter.  Nevertheless, if you are a lifelong Manchester United fan like I am then this story about former player Adrian Doherty is a very worthwhile read.  As I finished reading this tribute to Adrian, I was glad that journalist Oliver Kay had brought his existence into my life.  It is a tale to marvel at, be saddened by and also be inspired by!

Adrian Doherty from Strabane, Northern Ireland, tragically died before his twenty-seventh birthday due to a freak accident whilst out in Holland.  Before this harrowing event unfolded what Kay gives us is an extremely warm account of this young man’s life without ever going over-the-top or being sycophantic.  Via many interviews with Adrian’s family and friends, we learned just what a great player Adrian was and how he was destined for future stardom within the game.  A brilliant anecdote shared with us on this topic came from Adrian’s brother Gareth.  Recalling a childhood memory of Adrian playing football he stated, ‘I went up to the school fields one night to call him for his dinner and Adrian was having a kickabout with a few soldiers….they had actually put down their guns to play with him.’

The sense that Adrian was not your stereotypical young, wannabe footballer came across really well.  For example, Adrian loved writing and listening to music, especially Bob Dylan we were repeatedly told throughout.  I had visions though more of a Malcolm McLaren type of character painted by Kay.  These were the connotations I got due to the vast array of slightly unusual and amusing stories about The Doc(his nickname) that we got told about.  He was not a conformist which thus made him an intriguing and interesting subject.

A funny anecdote which exemplified Adrian’s eccentricity was when Adrian had an evening meal once with the Man United first team at some hotel.  Former United physio Jim McGregor told us how unlike the rest of the players who had come down in tracksuit and trainers, Adrian came down in his SLIPPERS!  Stories like this helped to convey a vivid impression about who this very likeable Adrian Doherty really was.

Kay needs praising for highlighting and being critical of the apprenticeship digs and initiation ceremonies that young lads had to endure back in the late eighties and early nineties.  He also needs applauding for questioning the care that Adrian received after getting an injury which would force him to retire so early from the game, before he ever had the chance to play for the Manchester United first team.

When now highlighting weaknesses of this book, I made the point at the start about it being a bit boring in places.  The section I am referring to here is when Kay discussed what Adrian did after his football career had finished.  Firstly, it went on far too long. Secondly, because I had never heard of Adrian Doherty before reading this book, then it had limited interest for me.  At times I enjoyed getting to know who Adrian was, however at other times I found it hard to really care about him because I had never seen him play football or either do an interview on the television.

The only other real criticism is to do with the volume of people that Kay interviewed, i.e. too many.  On several occasions I got lost who these people were even though in fairness, Kay did introduce who they were when first mentioning them.  However, it became irritating to have to refer back a lot to see how the person/s just mentioned knew Adrian.  I thus would have interviewed less contributors yet tried to have sought more from them if possible.

Emotively speaking, the strongest and most powerful part of this story was at the end when Kay detailed Adrian’s fateful freak accident and the impact of his death.  You know something is well written when what you read brings a lump to your throat like it did with me here.  Two ex-teammates Marcus Brameld and Craig Lawton spoke of Adrian in glowing terms.  Marcus called him ‘the nicest guy in the world’ and Craig referred to him as ‘one in a million’.  The words from Adrian’s sister Ciara McAnenny were particularly moving when she said of her sons and nephews, ‘one of the saddest things is that they’ll never know Adrian.  The impact of this emotional ending needs high critical praise.

To sum up then, a well written sports book that is a must read for every Man United fan out there, whether you’ve already heard of Adrian Doherty or not.  I had not and so I thank author Oliver Kay for enriching my life about this very unique, SPECIAL HUMAN BEING! 4/5.

 

 

 

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