Some highlights from my recent watching for you…
The Death of Bunny Munro
I’ve not read Nick Cave’s novel, but he was involved in its adaptation (on NOW/Sky Atlantic), and he turns up in the last episode of this absolutely superb short series.
Matt Smith plays the titular Bunny, a philandering travelling cosmetics salesman, who ignores his wife for having it off with his customers. He returns home from a trip to find she’s committed suicide, leaving him with Bunny Jr, their 9-year-old son. Raphael Mathé is simply heartbreaking as the encyclopedia-loving, blepharitis-suffering youngster, and as for Matt Smith… Well what can I say? – having watched it, I wouldn’t want anyone else to play Bunny – he is a revelation. When Jr’s maternal grandmother won’t take him at her daughter’s funeral, and with social services on their trail, Bunny and son take to the road – with inevitable consequences. This is gritty, heart-breaking, and still has a sense of humour. Telly of the highest quality indeed.
Amadeus
Also on NOW/Sky Atlantic, was this lavish British adaptation of Shaffer’s play with Will Sharpe as Mozart, Paul Bettany as Salieri and Gabrielle Creevy as Constanze. Although lacking the pace of the play and Milos Forman’s wonderful 1984 film, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Bettany was made to play Salieri and Will Sharpe was suitably frenetic as the young maestro.
Steal
This new 6-parter on Amazon Prime is a heist movie. Sophie Turner is Zara, Archie Madekwe is Luke – transaction facilitors (or something like that) at a pension fund HQ. One day armed raiders break in – and with just enough violence to prove they’re not to be fooled with, get Zara and Luke to place their deals to steal £4 billion! Jacob Fortune-Lloyd is too charming as DCI Kovac, I felt he belonged in an Agatha Christie mystery, but Turner as the mess that is Zara holds it all together. It was good, but forgettable.
Traitors Ireland
Now that was fun! Not as much fun as the UK civilian Traitors, but I loved Siobhan McSweeney as the host. Like Claudia in the UK, the stylists had a great time dressing her. Most of the missions were less challenging than the UK ones, but the Round Tables fair sizzled with accusations flying all over the place and one evening all the women ganged up on one of the others, who declared before revealing she was a faithful that they were such ‘mean girls’, which left some very sad faces. Having its home on BBC3, the language was fruity at times, and Slane Castle had been done up in similar style to Ardross Castle in Scotland.
Lord of the Flies
Jack Thorne’s adapation of Golding’s novel for the BBC was fabulous. Mostly filmed in Malaysia, the child actors were simply amazing, especially David McKenna who was Piggy. Lox Pratt who was Jack, (will play Draco Malfoy in the forthcoming TV Harry Potter series), was a tall blond angel who soon turns bad. Winston Sawyer as Ralph was given a backstory that wasn’t in the novel, I loved that in the first two episodes, the soundtrack built in bits from Benjamin Britten’s Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know how it ends, but i won’t say more, save that I really enjoyed it.
Other viewing: I was totally glued to much of the Winter Olympics, well, maybe not the speed skating, but if my knees were youthful, I would fancy taking up Curling – it’s so strategic. I also rewatched series 1 of The Night Manager in preparation for the second, which was brilliant, but couldn’t quite live up to Le Carré. Only the latest series of Silent Witness has disappointed. But the real highlight of recent viewing is…
Small Prophets
What a treat this was on BBC2. Pearce Quigley as lovelorn Michael was just brilliant and naturally Michael Palin as his father Brian was superb. But every single character in Mackenzie Crook’s latest work shone and the attention to detail in the sets was second to none.
A gentle comedy with its heart on its sleeve. If you loved Crook’s Detectorists, you’ll know what to expect, but with an added phantasmic element which I will not reveal. It was perfect TV.
