Television just got interesting
When Birdsong debuts on BBC One tomorrow, you might just be able to hear the sigh of relief of Sebastian Faulks, the author of the original novel. He’s been as frustrated as anyone by the false starts and numerous attempts to get his magnificent creation onto the screen. On the evidence of the first half of the two-part series, perhaps it was worth the wait. Abi Morgan (The Hour, Iron Lady) has done a fine job bringing together the two main strands of the tale — a passionate romance between a British man and a French woman, and the horrors of the First World War trenches. It makes for gorgeous, poignant viewing that’s held together by a great performance from the relative newcomer Eddie Redmayne.
God bless HBO. The network that just keeps giving has viewers salivating in anticipation at this new drama series set among a bunch of gamblers and trainers at a horse-racing track in the US. A creation of David Milch, the man behind the sadly-neglected Deadwood, an impressive cast includes the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. If it’s to do with horse-racing there must be an Irish connection, and a plot involving a horse bought from d’oul sod is complemented by the presence of Michael Gambon and Thurles actress Kerry Condon. The dream team is completed for the pilot when Michael Mann takes the helm on directorial duties.
Another high-powered collaboration on the way from the US involves former 24 star Kiefer Sutherland and Tim Kring, the creator of Heroes. With an obvious move to get far, far away from his Jack Bauer character, Sutherland has become Martin Bohm, the single father or a mute 11-year-old boy. Not surprisingly, given Kring’s involvement, this lad has a mysterious gift that allows him to predict the future by spotting patterns in seemingly unrelated events.
The fact that Lost creator JJ Abrams is one of the people behind this mystery thriller should arouse plenty of interest. That is if people can find their way to the rarely-seen Watch channel on the Sky network. Perhaps it’ll be picked up later by a terrestrial, but in the meantime, those who do catch the eerie mystery emanating from the past of San Francisco’s infamous prison will see the likes of Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost), Parminder Nagra (Neela in ER) and Tyrone-born Antipodean actor Sam Neill.
April will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and ITV has promised that its four-part mini-series about the disaster is the “TV event of the year”. Big call indeed. But their case is helped by the fact that Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes is the man behind it all. A huge cast gradually gets distilled down to four main characters, all of whose stories become inter-twined by the ship’s tragic ending. There can never be a happy ending to this particular tale, but indications are that some of the lead characters will survive. As the Titanic was built in Belfast and had Queenstown (Cobh) as its final port of call, there are no shortage of Irish angles to exploit and familiar faces include Maria Doyle Kennedy and Ruth Bradley (Darren’s sister Mary in Love/Hate).
The HBO adaptation of George RR Martin’s fantasy novels came with a lot of hype last year, and largely lived up to it. Martin himself was happy that the first series was quite faithful to his characters and plotlines, and season two looks set to continue in a similar vein. Unfortunately, this adherence to the books meant that the new run will be bereft of one of the best characters in the series, Ned Stark played by Sean Bean, beheaded last year. At least the man responsible for the biggest performance of the entire show, Golden Globe winning dwarf Peter Dinklage, lives to ride again. Irish actor Liam Cunningham also joins the hefty Irish contingent in the cast, popping up as Davos Seaworth, a former smuggler. Overall, the series has been great news for the industry on this island, as a fair slice of its massive budget of about $55 million (€42.8m) has been spent on filming in Belfast and other locations in the North. Ulster as the home of a series about different tribes fighting over land and ancient loyalties — who’d have believed it?
For sports fans, the weather is going to be less relevant than usual this summer as they’ll be spending so much time indoors watching the TV. First up is the European Championship, running from June 8 to July 1. Will it be Italia ’90 all over again, or the biggest let-down since Sonia was floored by a stomach bug in Atlanta? Either way, we’ll barely have recovered before our boxers, walkers and other Olympians head to London for the opening ceremony on July 27.
Perhaps it’s unfair to judge all Irish drama series against the yardstick of Pure Mule, but many of us have been waiting since 2006 for something that good to come around again. Love/Hate is not it, but you can understand why a third season has been commissioned by the national broadcaster. It’s a rare case of a show that actually improved for the second run, and an increased audience voted with their remote controls for a programme that became a Sunday night essential. Aidan Gillen’s character John Boy is no more, but Tom Vaughan-Lawlor’s Nidge has stepped up to the plate as gang leader, and also does a neat line in comic relief in those scenes with his wife. All they need to do now is sort Robert Sheehan’s eye make-up and his Dublin accent and we’ll start to get really excited.
Of course it’ll probably turn out to be as appealing as the revamped version of Hawaii-Five-0 but the updated take on the Ewing clan is sure to be a massive event when it gets relaunched in the US this summer. People who weren’t around in the 1980s would find it hard to understand what a big deal this show was in Ireland. This new series even has original cast members such as Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Charlene “Poison Dwarf” Tilton.
It’s one of the great mysteries of the TV import industry that Breaking Bad has never got a proper run on this side of the Atlantic. Over the past four years, a hardcore of box-set buyers and pirate downloaders have revelled in the transformation of Walter White (Bryan Cranston, the dad from Malcolm In The Middle) from straight chemistry teacher to ruthless methamphetamine dealer. He’s had an excuse — cancer, and wanted to provide for his family after he’d passed away. And now the show is about to get a fifth and final season, so it’s highly unlikely that any Irish or British networks will jump aboard at this late stage. But they should.
If you missed series two of the BBC’s enjoyable 21st century reworking of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective, the three episodes will be released on DVD next week.
Great new show based on the memoirs of a midwife in 1950s London. Combines medical and social history with some decent drama that, given the subject matter, is just about soft-focus enough for its Sunday slot.
RTÉ is just two episodes into this FBI thriller, so either catch up on the network’s online player, or wait for it to begin on Channel 4 next month.
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