WELL the Baftas turned out to be a bit of a bore, didn’t they? Most of the prizes went to Killing Eve, with hardly anything for Bodyguard. Not even someone’s old badminton championship trophy with the winner’s name scratched out and “To Bodyguard for being dead good” substituted. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s assassin drama is a lark and a half, of course it is, but to all but ignore the most watched drama of the decade makes you wonder if Bafta voters need to stay in more.
Here’s a heads up for next year, chaps: give the best actor award to Stephen Graham. Either for Line of Duty, in which he made the phrase “bent coppers” a thing of beauty, or The Virtues (Channel 4, Wednesday, 9pm). Co-written and directed by Shane Meadows, with whom Graham worked so memorably in This is England, the drama opened with Joseph (Graham) getting home from work in Sheffield, having a wash, and setting off for dinner at the home of his ex-wife, their son, and the wife’s new partner.
Joseph walked for so long it was dark by the time he got there. A lesser writer might have had him take a bus, but Meadows is not a lesser writer. Tramping for miles was a sign that here was a character used to walking, the poor man’s therapy. It also showed that Joseph was reluctant to reach his destination. Sure enough, Joseph turned out to be a recovering alcoholic whose son was just about to emigrate to Australia with his mum. This would be his last evening with the boy. A crisis was looming, and Joseph hit it head on. Graham is such an unpredictable actor it is impossible to look away from him. He rolls into every room like a grenade with the plug pulled, emotions rippling just under the surface, ready to settle or explode. His intensity can be almost frightening, but he has funny bones, too. The scene where he tried to buy a ferry ticket to Belfast from a clerk straight out of the “computer says no” book of charm was a treat, particularly since it featured Thomas “Sinbad” Sweeney as the jobsworth. From flashbacks it was clear that Ireland, and the past, were other destinations from which Joseph would like to run a million miles, but needs must. A tough watch, but it’s Stephen Graham. Like they say in yon hair dye ads, he’s worth it.
The other tentpole drama of the week, reviewed in the daily paper, was Years and Years (BBC1, Tuesday, 9pm). At the centre of the tale is the Lyons family, three generations of them. Writer Russell T Davies began in the here and now, taking great leaps forward in plot so that by the time the first episode ended we were in 2024. Time flies by when you are having fun, and Years and Years promises lots of it. There was one worrying moment though, when a character resorted to speechifying rather than talking like a normal person, so we’ll have to watch out for that. Otherwise, a terrific cast, led by Emma Thompson playing a businesswoman turned populist politician, and Davies’ naturally warm writing bode well for the next five weeks.
It is hard to think of anyone less suited to roughing it in the great outdoors than David Walliams, author, talent show judge and fop of this parish. He looks like he would need a bobble hat and mittens just to visit the chiller section in Waitrose. Bear's Mission with David Walliams (ITV, Tuesday, 9pm), then, held the delicious prospect of the latter looking like a right pillock. True, he started off badly by declaring he was not a fan of mud, his walking boots were fresh out of the box spotless, and he panicked a lot. “Has anyone died making this show?” he asked a camera operator before taking his first nervous steps down a cliff face in Devon. How Bear laughed. I had a chuckle too, but it was laced with sympathy. Why does no-one tell Bear to bog off when he tells them to do scary things or cooks a rat - a rat! - for lunch. Walliams did tell him he wouldn’t eat the rodent, but he did, and he did all the rest of it, too, taking time out to talk candidly about his severe bouts of depression. Hidden depths that one, as we should have known given he swam the Channel for charity.
Mum (BBC2, Tuesday, 10pm) is back. Can I get an “Amen!” to that? Thought so. This beautifully gentle yet occasionally razor-sharp comedy about two middle aged bods, Cathy and Michael (Lesley Manville, Peter Mullan) falling in love and trying to have a future together has been a delight since it started three years ago. Now in its final outing, writer Stefan Golaszewski has brought his characters together for a week at a posh rented house. I’m not expecting murder before dinner, but I don’t care for the tone being used by Cathy’s son when he speaks to Michael. There could be unpleasantness ahead. Brace yourselves.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article