samkydd

Jericho is the oldest town in the world, dating back more than 10,000 years. It lies 260 meters below sea level, making it also the lowest town on earth. Known as the 'City of Palms', Jericho contains some of the world's most important historic sites and is frequently mentioned in the Bible. Jericho's contribution to civilization is unique. The domestication of plants and animals and the invention of pottery took place in ancient Jericho 1000 years before Mesopotamia and Egypt, while the walls and towers of Jericho preceded the pyramids of Egypt by 4000 years. Jericho's moderate climate makes it a favorite winter resort. It is an important agricultural area, producing fresh fruits, and vegetables year round. Jericho dates, bananas and citrus fruits are especially famous. Located 36 km east of Jerusalem, Jericho is on the road to Amman and at the junction of the highway to Galilee. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

As for the TV series which started last night, I can't really say anything because I was so tired I fell asleep after about half an hour! I must stress that this wasn't the fault of the programme, which looked pretty good with a cast of Nicholas Jones and David Troughton (both were in Wings by the way, the 1970s TV series rather than Paul McCartney's band) and Francesca Annis supporting a very convincing Robert Lindsay. The only thing that went a bit too far in the authenticity stakes was that everyone smoked all the time, in fact just about every minute someone somewhere on screen was lighting a fag up and, just like Ms Annis, I felt quite chesty after about ten minutes! Luckily I recorded it so I'll watch it later.

Did anyone see it all the way through? Was it any good?

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

samkydd

I finally watched it all last night! Unfortunately I knew who the murderer was very early on though. When you have a posh bint it's obvious because they pretend to know little about their husband's affairs, business or otherwise, but like most wives they know everything that's been going on. Also when they are difficult with the police and come on strong with the snobbery and upper class arrogance, a la Morse, it's a sure sign that they're involved in the murder.

The police brutality and racism was a little too obvious because it assumed that all policemen in Scotland Yard in the 1950s, apart from chain smoking themselves to death, were also partial to brutal prisoner bashing as part of the daily routine, which I know for a fact wasn't the case at all. It only became accepted Met policy during the late 60s through to the present day! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Jackdaw

I've just got round to it.
A missed opportunity I feel.They must have spent a few quid in order to evoke the period,but instead of producing a gritty,adult piece about late fifties London,they have just turned out yet another ITV two-hour, Sundays at nine, post- Fartbeat filler.
There were the usual idiomatic solecisms and police story cliches,or were they homages?The maverick DI,the stood-up fiancee waiting alone at the restaurant,the equable DS,the gauche DC;it's endless.
There was also a knowing reference-a murder at 10 Ruston Place-which they located in the wrong part of the road.
Worst of all was the complete lack of character development.The main guest characters were just cyphers,and the residents are not much more.
Despite its publicity,this is no different in approach or content to its predecessors in this slot,that is,Midsomer Murders,Inspector Frost and more tellingly,Foyles War,which potboiler the middle classes refer to in hushed tones.
Job done then ITV!

Cheers

Jacky

samkydd

I know exactly what you mean. If I wrote a thriller/detective play I'd want to use my imagination to come up with something original ie. not pinched from another telly programme, and also include a few crime related sub-plots to make it more interesting. I mean the master of the house's son getting the maid up the duff, oh that's original! The only thing missing was a couple of charlies coming in through the French windows saying "I say, anyone for tennis?".

The restaurant meetings of the young copper and his fiancee when he didn't turn up is very old hat indeed, and has been done over and over again and all they're trying to say is that policemen work funny hours! Well we already know all this so why put it in?. But this was a sub-plot and it was an afterthought to say the least, as was Sgt Toulan's hospitalization as the only sub-plot in the last Frost episode.

In the real world detectives don't just have the one case on the go, or even two that are always conveniently and co-incidently linked to each other and everything eventually slots into place like in The Bill.

The characters don't really grab you at all because the writer was so busy trying to make Jericho a character (as much as guest dartists were "characters" on Bullseye) that everyone else became also-rans! Unfortunately I still know nothing about Jericho apart from the fact that he was in the war, he tolerates raciscm and police brutality, he lives at a seedy address (which would not have been allowed in the real police), he smokes a lot, and he suddenly changes from being a sullen morose dour misery guts and becomes the life and soul of the party whenever he's at David Troughton's house, coming on like a cheeky Del Boy to the bloke's wife!

But like with Barney Rubble's series Vincent, perhaps the next one will be better.

I caught an old Sweeney last night on Men & Motors, and that was enjoyable. It always seems to flow effortlessly like a clean stream, but these new police dramas are so far up there own arses they can't see where they're going! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

A great line off The Sweeney:

CARTER "The doc says he was seriously ill!"

REGAN "I don't need a brass plate to know that!"

I wonder if Aitch worked on a few Sweeneys. This one was the episode where Dudley Sutton blackmailed his former borstal cell mate into helping him ship a load of stolen bullion out of the country disguised as weights for his weight lifting equipment.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

samkydd

I watched some of episode 2 but found it quite tedious with more catchphrases dropped in than in Van Morrison lyrics, and as often as possible in the context of the period "Reds under the beds" etc.

A rather outspoken athlete at the Sportsman of the Year awards ceremony talking like he was some failed laddish Big Brother contestant, and as a working class amateur athlete he seemed to earn an awful lot of money from the sport when this was virtually unheard of!

The policemen being puzzled by the American woman's reference to aliens, was baffling. They assumed she was talking about men from Mars, but she had to explain that she meant foreign men, Russians to be precise. During WW2 when most of the characters were adults, many "aliens" were rounded up and interned or deported from the UK and referred to continuouasly in the press as "aliens".

Apart from that it was boring so I switched it off!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Marky B

I haven't seen it - and judging by these reports I'm glad - but is it supposed to be a sort of tribute,or remake of Fabian Of The Yard?
Please advise!
Ta Ta
Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

samkydd

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marky B @ Oct 26 2005, 11:52 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
I haven't seen it - and judging by these reports I'm glad - but is it supposed to be a sort of tribute,or remake of Fabian Of The Yard?
Please advise!
Ta Ta
Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]
[/quote]
It's more Foyle's War meets an inexhaustable supply of cigarettes and period cliches! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] The writer is probably some producer's rent boy or a close relative, it wouldn't have got on the box on merit! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbdown.gif[/img]
I like Robert Lindsay and David Troughton, and without them in it would be even worse!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Marky B

I have always said the definition of a film buff is someone who sees a photograph of General Patton and then comments "He looks nothing like George C Scott" (or any other subject of biopics). I recently saw a picture of Tony Blair [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bash.gif[/img] and I thought he looked like Robert Lindsay [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img] ,of course who played him in A Very Social Secretary.
Going back to what you said,I think any production would be the poorer without Robert Lindsay.
Ta Ta
Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

Fellwanderer

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]-->Robert Lindsay - top man [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img] He was excellent in GBH.

Now on earth he and Zoe Whatshername got involved in My Family is beyond me - apart from dosh, of course [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img]

FELL
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/innocent.gif[/img]

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

samkydd

It has got to be the worst sitcom since The Upper Hand. but we've explored all this in the Worst Sitcoms topic! It's about as funny as an incontinent cat locked inside a new car! What is frightening is that they made more than one series! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbdown.gif[/img]

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

theuofc

Whatever the perceived flaws of "Jericho," I have to say that I can't take my eyes off Robert Lindsay when he is on camera. He's not just Lindsay playing a role. He _is_ Jericho, the inspector with psychic wounds that he covers by locking up his emotions. I find the character fascinating. I also like the film noir feel of the series, hope there will be more episodes than the two two-part ones shown so far, and do recognize its limitations. But with Robert Lindsay in the role, I'll tune in again.

Coming up Fall 2007, Lindsay will be playing Archie Rice in The Entertainer, and in so doing living out a wish of Olivier who wanted to see him carry on that torch. I can see Lindsay's face in that grotesque stage makeup. Perfect. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Barbara

The Independent
10 May 2006

Laurence Olivier's wish is finally granted as Robert Lindsay takes
lead in 'The Entertainer'
By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent

Laurence Olivier's performance as the struggling comedian Archie
Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer was acclaimed as one of his
greatest.

Now half a century after Olivier first brought Osborne's music-hall
star to life, the actor Robert Lindsay is to step into his shoes -
just as the famous thespian told him he should.

A 50th anniversary production of the play next year will be a
highlight of the 2006/2007 season at the Old Vic in London, its
artistic director Kevin Spacey announced yesterday.

The American has owned the rights to do the play for several years
but dismissed speculation that he might have taken the role
himself. "The truth is I can't take all the good parts. It's just
not fair," he said.

However, Lindsay, 56, whose last stage run was at the National five
years ago, admitted that he had been desperate to do it. He
became "seriously hooked" on playing Archie Rice after doing a
reading of the play earlier this year as part of the Royal Court
theatre's own golden jubilee celebrations.

Olivier himself had already told Lindsay - with whom he had
performed in King Lear in 1983 - that the younger actor should play
the part. "He came to see Me and My Girl [in which Lindsay starred
with Emma Thompson] three times. He was quite ill, but on one of the
occasions we had dinner afterwards and he did say, 'You must do The
Entertainer'. I've kept one of his letters that actually states
that," Lindsay said.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to be back on stage, which is
where my heart is, after so many years on telly. I get tingles."

To be performing at the Old Vic, where Olivier ran the National
Theatre until it secured its permanent South Bank home, was
particularly special, he added. "This building changed my life. I
was at Rada [drama school] and I would come down here. It was the
most exciting space - and gradually Kevin is beginning to get that
back."

The Entertainer, which will co-star Pam Ferris, will run in the
autumn of next year. The season begins this September, with Spacey
himself starring in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten
which may transfer to New York.

That will be followed by two Shakespeare comedies, Twelfth Night and
The Taming of the Shrew, performed by the all-male company directed
by Edward Hall, son of Sir Peter.

Stephen Fry is writing a new version of Cinderella for the Christmas
of 2007. And future work also includes the first production of Alan
Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests trilogy in London since its 1974
premiere starring Tom Courtenay. The plays will be directed by
Matthew Warchus.

Warchus, Hall and the veteran director Anthony Page were yesterday
named Old Vic associates "to help us learn and grow," Spacey said.
The actor-director who has faced much flak for the choice of plays
in his first two seasons said: "We seek as much advice as we can
from those we have great confidence in." The Old Vic's last play,
Resurrection Blues by Arthur Miller, directed by Robert Altman,
closed a week early after dreadful reviews and the theatre will be
closed for the next few months after plans for a production fell
through. Spacey said this was "not ideal" and would not happen
again, but they had never planned to be open all-year round.