New Lockdown Restrictions???

 (Tuesday) Not actually sure which day of the week it was. Just goes to show the effect being in lockdown has.

There's the possibility of the measures the government has put in place to slow the virus's transmission might be strengthened. Matt Hancock,  Secretary of State for Health has said it may be necessary for face covering to be required by law when we're outside. But this is crazy, because, surely, viruses are dispersed in the open air. Obviously you need to wear one in enclosed spaces, in supermarkets, for example, but not outside. I don't see the point. I'm not really convinced that they make a lot of difference. As for me, breathing in my own hot breath is unpleasant over a long period. I was in Aldi the other day and I had to wait in a queue at the checkout and I was feeling quite uncomfortable. I think I was liable to pass out, not something I want to do in public. It's just not pleasant. Also, because I wear glasses, they steam up. Also, they make speaking really difficult.

I have been into Sainsbury's to collect the Bisoprolol which was ready for collection from Lloyd's Pharmacy. It's a good time to go grocery shopping because there were very few other shoppers in there. I got a few items which were running out, but I shall do a full shop tomorrow after I get paid.

I'm watching something rather special on the BBC iPlayer (it's also broadcast on BBC1.) It's called 'Staged' and has David Tennant and Michael Sheen in it. They are stuck in lockdown (very current.) and attempting to rehearse a play 'Six Characters In Search of an Author,' by Pirendello. It's what you might call 'meta' meaning it is self referential. These brilliant actors play versions of themselves and at times appear as if they're chatting via something like Zoom. It's very funny (but I warn you because the language can be quite strong. Quite a lot of swear words used, but having worked myself with actors, I know some of them can be a bit raw with their language.) But it's very good and well worth watching. I'm watching the first run of episodes and will eventually get to the second run soon. It's such a simple idea and I only wish I'd had the idea. I have mentioned 'Car Share' on my blog and that's a simple idea and something else I enjoy. It just goes to show that you can create a piece of drama in the most basic of manners and still be quite dramatic or funny.

(Wednesday) I've been back to Sainsbury's to do a proper shop. Enough food for several weeks so I shouldn't have to go out again shopping for a while, except probably to get milk.

It's quite mild this morning, although there was a fog over the city centre as we approached Oldbrook Green.

Later. I'm watching, via YouTube, the American Senate debating the Impeachment of Donald Trump. Last Wednesday there was an assault on the Capitol by a mob of  Trump supporters, attempting to disrupt the legislative process to allow the transition of Donald Trumps presidency to Joe Biden. Absolutely horrifying shots of rioters breaking into the building, the  home of U.S. democracy. Trump  did nothing to condemn the rioters. In fact, he seemed to positively encourage the disruption. He will be the only U.S President to be impeached twice. He will be leaving the White House on 20th January, when Biden is inaugurated as President. The motion of the House is that Trump attempted to an 'Incitement of Insurrection.' As a result of all this, Trump has had his Twitter and Facebook accounts suspended and possibly banned for goodness know how long, possibly permanently. The concern now is that, as America awaits the 20th January Inauguration Day, there is likely to be far more riots and disruption caused by Trump supporters. All this because Trump kept on saying that there was 'election fraud,'and that the Election was 'stolen.'when clearly there was no such thing. More than ever it's clear that the man is delusional and positively dangerous.

So, now Donald Trump is the first U.S. President to be impeached twice. Not a particularly brilliant legacy as he leaves the White House, but he has been whipping up unrest and deserves to be dealt with in this way. 

Television Comedy: Watching 'The Good Life'

I've just been watching the first episode of 'The Good Life.' One of the great advantages of having Sky for me is the fact that there is so much classic television available to watch on catch-up or download (will someone explain what the difference is? Surely they are one and the same.) This has to be one of the finest television sitcoms produced in this country. I know when polls are held to come up with a list of the top ten or even a hundred television comedies this one often comes close to the top of the list, alongside Blackadder, Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army. From my viewing today this particular one stands up particularly well. It has hardly dated, except perhaps for fashions in clothes and the car Gerry drives (a large yellow Volvo which must have been heavy on petrol consumption.)  I know very well how the show develops, I'm fully aware that Barbara and Tom Good set up their own smallholding in their garden in Surbiton, and all the problems they encounter, in least the fact that it's in suburbia and not in rural Sussex or somewhere else in the countryside. It's the fact that they're going against the grain that makes this comedy work so well. We can all identify with Tom, wanting to escape the rat race. He starts out at the beginning of the episode working as a draughtsman in a company which makes plastic toys which are put into breakfast cereal packets. When his boss tells him the next project is to design and create a giraffe Tom can hardly keep a straight face. And who can blame him. The style of production would be typical of the way sitcoms were made for television in the 1970's, with the bulk of the action recorded on multi-camera in a studio with a 'live' audience and the exteriors shot (in advance) on location with film cameras. One imagines if it was produced today (most unlikely) they would make it on video and all on location and the audience would watch a sort of 'playback' to give the laughter track. But, let's be honest, isn't television comedy of this sort best done when there isn't a studio audience? By comparison, I'm thinking of the Peter Kay's series 'Car Share' which has no studio audience. Also, it couldn't have been made 40 years ago, as 'The Good Life' was made, basically because there wouldn't have been the technical ability to shoot it within a moving car because there weren't the small-scale cameras available as there are today. My only complaint about that show is, why were so episodes made? Why only around 4 per series, and just two series? Again, it it because the commissioners didn't have the faith in this show to allow more episodes to be made? It surely can't be the cost because it can't have been particularly expensive to make as there are only two actors in it.

What I want to know is, why were there so many excellent sitcoms produced when this was first transmitted, in 1975? Dad's Army had been running since around 1967 and by the time this came out we also had Fawlty Towers. Perhaps it was the fact that there were only three television channels in the mid 1970's. Channel 4 didn't open until 1982 and multi-channel television didn't make an appearance until at least the mid 1980's or early '90's. Television companies were presumably more likely to take a risk on a new show such as this. A series would only have been around 6-8, so if it didn't succeed in the ratings it wasn't such a disaster. It starred to consummate professionals, Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal. I think I saw Richard Briars in one of Alan Ayckbourn's plays, possibly 'The Norman Conquests' or 'Absurd Person Singular.' 'The Good Life' does rather have the feel of an Ayckbourn play. It has similar middle class characters, it pokes a finger at life in a suburban setting and has a deeper message under the comedy exterior. Even the fact that there's a sitting room with French windows and a sofa makes it similar. I think today's television commissioners are far too concerned with ratings. Also, they don't allow a show enough time to build an audience. It takes at least two seasons (series in Britain) to allow the actors a chance to develop their characters and allow the writers time to develop not just the situations but their characters. ITV had a wealth of sitcoms of it's on. They've never quite had the success with this form of television as the BBC. Perhaps because with a commercial broadcaster you have to factor in the commercial break. For a thirty-minute slot you'll have to have a running time of no more than 23-25 minutes, to allow for the commercial break and then have a sort of 'act break' in the middle to take the commercials, so your writers will have to build up the situation to then have a sort of 'curtain' as you'd have in a stage play and the, after the break, keep the situation going and just hope the audience had remained and not changed channels. Although, it has to be said, having a commercial break can have it's advantages, for example, allowing viewers to go to the toilet or go for a snack or make a cup of tea. Of course, with modern technology you can always skip the adverts when you record the programme. ITV had such shows as 'Rising Damp' which starred Leonard Rossiter and ran for a couple of series. Based on a stage play called 'The Banana Box' and originally produced at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester and starring Wilfred Brambell in the Rigsby role as played by Rossiter in the television sitcom. (this character was originally called Rooksby in the play. I have no idea why they changed his name to Rigsby for the television sitcom.) Rossiter was to go on to play the central character in another sitcom of this period 'The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin' written by David Hobbs and adapted from his novels. It was revived more recently with Martin Clunes in the title role, but for me it didn't quite have the same impact as the original. Not always a good idea to revive old sitcoms, although when ITV revived 'Birds of A Feather' it was a ratings success and has gone on to have several more series.

How many comedies have neighbours who add to the 'mix' of comedy situations? I remember 'Sykes' which starred the amazing Eric Sykes along with Hatty Jacques (as unlikely twins. How did they get away with it?) They had a neighbour, played by Richard Watts, who kept popping in and out and he represented the sort of interfering busy-body type, voice of the minority. Then, in 'The Good Life' we have Margo Leadbetter, middle-class, classic snob, married to Gerry, long-suffering husband who brings in enough money from his executive post to be able to allow Margo to have the sort of life she dreams of, plenty of gadgetry in the kitchen, decent car every couple of years and so on. This counter-points the life the Goods have created for themselves, digging up their garden to grow fruit and veg, even importing a goat and some pigs, much to Margo and Gerry's disgust. 

In 'Birds of A Feather' we also come across a neighbour who pops in and out in the shape of Dorien, played with absolute conviction by Lesley Josephs.

Motorised Television Comedy

We currently have three comedies on television which use the basic format of a journey as it's set-up. The first one I enjoy is "The Trip To Spain," which is on Sky Atlantic. It has Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden as two friends who are on a trip to Spain (well, that's original, considering the thing is called 'The Trip To Spain.") Coogan is a food writer for a paper. In the first series (Incidentally, shown on BBC2) they journey around the north of England, mostly in the Lake District, and the second, they go to Italy, (also on BBC2)It intrigues me as to why the BBC didn't go with this third series. Surely it can't be due to cost. It can't be a particularly big-budget series. I was under the impression that they had some sort of production deal with Coogan's company, Baby Cow. What I love about this is the free-wheeling style (not surprising, considering it's set mainly within a car on the road.) and the way it's hard to decide whether it's 'real' or 'fiction.' What I mean is, Coogan and Bryden play themselves. Coogan has spent many years as another character, Alan Partridge, but in this he is himself. Where does the line end? It's difficult to tell. I'm interested to know how much is actually scripted and how much is improvised.

The second series is on BBC Four, although, with BBC iPlayer and 'catch-up' television, it really makes no difference which channel it's on. The show is called 'Bucket' which isn't much of a name and wouldn't draw me to it if I was unaware of it's theme, the actors in it and so on. It stars Miriam Margolyes as a 70-something woman, who goes on a journey with her daughter with who she has a strange sort of relationship. The 'bucket' refers to the bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies. She reveals as the first episode progresses that she has cancer and the daughter (played by Frog Stone, who also wrote the series. Is that a genuine name or is it a pseudonym? Just odd. Who'd call a child Frog?) It's certainly off-the-wall and worth a look, even if it's just to see the great Margolyes who is a fine character actor who doesn't seem to fit any particular mould, thankfully. Great to have something which allows an older character to be presented in a non-stereotypical way. There are only four episodes, which is a shame. I suspect the good old BBC got cold feet. They didn't want to commit to more, for whatever reason. Cost. Hardly. Not particularly big budget drama, this. No C.G.I. or expensive locations or sets. Not sure it wouldn't find an audience. If it's on BBC Four, surely it would appeal to a different sort of demographic to the one you'd have if it was shown on BBC1 or BBC2. It's certainly different and original. I'll be watching the remaining three episodes. It seems that none of the 'traditional' television channels (referring to 'live' broadcast, such as BBC, ITV etc.) don't want to take too many risks. The other platforms, i.e.. Sky, Netflix, Amazon etc etc., seem more likely to take risks with more episodes and more what I'd call contentious or dangerous material. The BBC  and ITV seem far too concerned with things being either 'non politically correct or just steering clear of anything that might be considered offensive in any way. I don't agree with upsetting anyone, either racial, religious or whatever, but if you're just going to produce things that are easy, non-demanding, you just end up with bland, flat material that has no purpose, other than being ratings fodder, which is a shame, because, in the past, the BBC, in particular, has produced shows which have been sharp, funny and extremely clever, think, 'Fawlty Towers,' Blackadder,' 'Not The Nine O'Clock News and so on. Or ITV with things such as 'Spitting Image.' 

The third series I want to mention is 'Car Share.' This is now in it's second series. It's written, as well as stars and directed, by Peter Kay. It has a very simple format, a manager of a North of England supermarket 'car-shares' with a co-worker, played by Sian Gibson, who co-writes the show. It's set almost completely within the confines of a car, driven by Kay. It must have made production of such a show extremely difficult. Having been a huge success when the first series was aired, it's great to have this second season. It was originally first only available on iPlayer but then all episodes were broadcast weekly on BBC1 and proved one of the most downloaded shows ever, apparently. This second season seems to be doing equally well. The one advantage of being able to download via catch-up and other services, is that you can have all current episodes or entire 'box-sets' of series available and you can watch when you want without having to wait for the next episode.