What I've Been Watching

[poliphilo]

I've enjoyed Digging For Britain- which ended last night. Alice Roberts- though she does rather talk in cliches- has concentrated on what I take to be the point of archaeology- that it tells us things about the past we couldn't learn in any other way. Last night she was surveying Tudor digs, including the one that's going on in Shakespeare's back garden. There's a feature there that appears to be a well- and the diggers are salivating over what might have been preserved in the mud at the bottom. Here's hoping that Shakespeare was sitting on the edge of his well in the spring of 1613, correcting the proofs of Cardenio, when something distracted his attention and....
 
I've also enjoyed Roger and Val Have Just Got In. The BBC did it a disservice by billing it as a comedy, because people have been expecting the Vicar of Dibley and that's just what it ain't.  There's the occasional laugh-out loud moment- but nothing that doesn't arise naturally out of the lovingly observed banter and bickering- and collaborative flights of fancy- of the two leads (who are the only characters who appear).  It's beautifully written by Emma and Beth Kilcoyne- and Dawn French and Alfred Molina are lovely.

Comments

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

I have always had a soft spot for Alfred Molina - he's got a complicated, interesting look.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's nice that he came home to do this. He was Dawn French's first choice for the role, but they never thought he'd sign up- what with being a big Hollywood name and all.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

But he falls into the 'character actor' slot, which means Hollywood will deploy him to add weight to a vehicle for one of its own, rather than give him the lead role (the near-exception being Spider-Man 2, which - at a reported $3m - was no doubt his biggest pay packet, too). Peter Postlethwaite and Jim Broadbent fall into the same category.

Did you catch Molina in last year's An Education? It was a subtle, beautifully-judged performance, and I considered him rather unlucky to lose the BAFTA to John Henshaw.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No, I missed that.

Success of the kind he has enjoyed often means that the roles get less interesting.