Iris you in the name of the law
Anyone else been watching The Last Enemy on BBC1, Sunday nights? (If so, we are a specialist band, as I notice its ratings have been sliding, week on week - the inglorious fate of many a quality drama series, which starts in a blaze of trailers and publicity and goes downhill from there.) I'm not clever enough to know if the recording of a programme on Sky+ or similar counts towards its cumulative audience tally - it certainly wouldn't count towards the "overnight" figure that appears in Media Guardian the next day - but being able to programme in a "series link" is a really good way of keeping up with an ongoing drama, and aids viewer loyalty. I wouldn't be without it.) Anyway, I'm really enjoying it. Written by Peter Berry, and starring the brilliantly-named Benedict Cumberbatch, who proves you don't have to have a chin to be a hero, it portrays Britain as a fully-fledged "surveillance state", with ID cards compulsory, everyone stored on a National Identity Register and terrorists, gunmen, nutters and "illegals" with fatal infectious man-made viruses running rampant nonetheless. Although Berry says he didn't want to present a politician as the pantomime villain, it's clear that "the system" is the baddie, and that The Last Enemy has a political axe to grind. Good. Why should authored drama present the same kind of "balance" (ha ha) as the news? Boys From The Black Stuff was pretty opinionated about Thatcher's Britain. Edge Of Darkness had some fairly critical things to say about Britain's nuclear policy. It's a fine tradition.
It also means that, as a drama, it will only really play to those of a like mind. If you happen to be one of those who supports the "rollout" of ID cards - or even one of that much larger lobby: people who don't exactly support ID cards but at the same time can't see the problem - you'll probably consider Peter Berry to be in the pay of al-Qaeda. But it's good when a thriller can polarise opinion, maybe even spark a debate. (I thought it was very fair-minded of Radio Times to put Berry's fevered problems with ID cards to a Home Office drone in the week the programme started. I don't know about you, but I was oddly unconvinced.) It's a bit like the invasion of Iraq - the government seem to have a new reason for doing it every week. It's about stopping terrorism. Not it isn't, it's because biometric passports are being introduced so we might as well. No, it's to stop identity theft. No, no, benefit fraud. Some weeks, it seems that only Henry Porter in the Observer gives a fuck. The rest of the nation, with the clarion call "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear!", is ready to roll over as it rolls out. What irks me the most about the whole thing is that I found myself agreeing not just with the Tory on last week's Question Time, but with the man from the UK Independence Party! Only on this particular issue, you understand, but that's still a scary dystopia to be living in.
It's not because of benefit fraud, it's because they want to own us. But I've seen what happened to Benedict Cumberbatch. No thanks, the government!
posted by Andrew Collins @ 5:10 PM
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16 Comments:
Hello Andrew. Yes - I have been watching it every week which being a fickle Producer-type is quite unusual for me. I think it is really good. It is really well written and structured. I did have a wobble last night when I thought it may all go a bit silly in the underworld dwellers bit but thankfully they just stopped short of over-egging it - just. Growing up I remember Smiley's People (with Alec Guinness) having the same sort of feel about it. Something about the portrayal of the all consuming power of the establishment reminded me of that whilst watching last night - and the London aspect of it I suppose too. The other reason why it works so well is that the parts are all played with great subtlety. It could be really over the top but somehow the writing, director and actors rein it all in. It triumphs where something like Trial and Retribution on the other side fails on so many counts. I fiond that a real trial of a different nature - appallingly lazy storylines, scant acting, promising story - rubbish delivery.
I don't over-the-top if it's, say, Messiah, or even Waking The Dead. But you're right, The Last Enemy seems almost restrained considering the sensational subject. Aside from Robert Carlyle, who's almost a cameo, it's not too star-studded either, which can sink a popular drama on telly. (That's certainly true on ITV, but the Been are just as in awe of marquee names.)
(That should have been, "I don't mind over-the-top ... ", and "Been" should have been "Been". Blimey, I'm working too hard!)
Andrew, "Been" should have been "Been" ?
You are working too hard !
My turn - I meant Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy not Smiley's People - that was the sequel wasn't it?! I must have been about 13 when Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was on - there is something about the inherent menace and darkness of the establishment in The Last Enemy that reminded me of TTSS again.
No worries - I understood what you meant perfectly. And yes - I know what you mean about Robert Carlyle but he is just right. Thankfully. I like the way he has shunned Hollywood - it keeps it fresh I guess..
Hi Andrew,
I hope you don't mind me talking about a different subject here (if you do, no probs if you delete it of course, but)...
It's a while since 6music popped up here. I was wondering what you thought of the George Lamb debate?
I'm firmly in the 'against' camp, I just don't understand it at all. Even Westwood sounds more convincing!
Working too hard ? Come on Andrew spill the beans !
Are you involved in any of the 6music 6th birthday goings on ?
It is scary being on the same side at the Tories on ID cards, but console yourself with the fact that were they actually in power they would be well up for such authoritarian nonsense.
Good point, Quinn.
Where do I stand on George Lamb is a difficult one to answer for two reasons: I'm still on 6 Music's official "dep" list (ie. they ask me to deputise occasionally, for which I am grateful), and they share a controller with Radio 2, for whom I still work, so I'm wary of criticising for self-evident reasons. There is also a presenters' code, which says: never criticise your own. I abide by this. (That's why nobody bought me book, I guess!) Also, I haven't really listened to George Lamb. I listened to his late shift before I covered for him a couple of times last year and I tuned in on his first day in Gideon's morning slot. Hard to form a fair opinion.
I may well be involved in 6 Music's birthday: the band are re-forming to play the party! (Other than that, I expect to be airbrushed out. It's never about looking back - always looking forward.)
I've been really enjoying it, it is a realistic vision of what could easily be within a couple of years! I also like the fact that the 'hero' is an ordinary slightly confused geek - makes a change!
The other quality drama floating about is Damages - really well written and delivered (think it got an Emmy)
AnonoNick
At a time when British TV drama seems to be made for ADD generation mere mention of classics such as Tinker, Blackstuff, Edge of Darkness, etc makes me go all misty-eyed.
Then - in the interest of balance - I sometimes pinch myself: surely I'm simply being nostalgic viewing tele such as The Singing Detective (with a complete absence of clunky exposition mark you) through rose-tinted spectacles. Surely, the present day crop of writers and producers are giving us really cutting edge drama that tackles the big issues of the day!
However, I fail to convince myself on that last count.
That said, The Last Enemy has grown on me and I continue to watch it despite the most unconvincing portrayal of a Government minister (played by Eva Birthistle) I think I've ever seen.
I realise it's bad form to mention one's own blog in the comments section of another person but a mate and I were recently wondering why all the good TV seems to emanate from the USA these days?
I really liked the first one, as I love anything set in the near future. The second one was okay, but the third one began to wear a little thin - way too many people being bundled into vans. I've not yet seen the fourth one, as it's backed up on Sky+.
I can quite see us living our lives like they do there in 2012: washing our hands constantly, living under the shadow of terrorism, being watched wherever we go.
Hang on, we already are. Without the vans. It's only a matter of time.
I want to like The Last Enemy more - and it's trying so hard to be a contemporary Edge of Darkness as has been pointed out. But it just doesn't quite work for me.
In terms of subject matter, it's spot on. Politically, I'm as opposed to the ID Card (for which read National Identity Database) as I am for anything else. Unimaginable as I may have previously found the idea, I'd vote Tory ahead of Labour solely based on this one policy.
Yet there are some deeper flaws. Cumberbatch's character is supposed to be highly intelligent, yet he keeps making ridiculous mistakes. In the most recent episode for instance, given his previous use of "TIA", he'd have surely clocked that using his ID Card would reveal his location to the authorities instantaneously. In the same way, he'd have known that he can be tracked with his mobile (it happens all the time right now after all).
The speed with which his sister-in-law jumped into bed with him in episode one was utterly jarring too. I felt a slower burning feeling between them might have felt more real.
And the representation of the "TIA" system is truly awful with a pointless voiceover explaining the salient details for slower viewers. We can read! Although using a computer is dramatically difficult to make interesting, just show carefully directed screenshots; the viewer is used to such montages from previous thrillers showing computer screens or news reports.
Obviously I have stuck with it, and it's good to have dramatic representations of the mundane things in life being made harder like being searched entering a station (I had to walk through one of those folding "arches" the other week at my local commuter station to ensure I wasn't carrying a knife, so I'm beginning to know the feeling. Just as well that I'm not a swarthy foreign-looking type).
And the feeling of despair when his ID Card was cancelled was very well realised.
Better get on. I've got a debit card to use, my mobile to leave on, and an Oystercard to get me home. There'll be one or two CCTV cameras en route too. Just don't take any pictures of them!
Some fair points, Adam Bowie. I wonder if sometimes I am way too uncritical of TV drama. You're right about the Hollywood speed at which Cumberbatch shagged his dead brother's wife. (Does that happen in real life? Like, just after the funeral?) And the talking computer - I agree. I've seen computers done much better on Spooks. But on the whole, I'm up for it. Perhaps the mark of a great drama is one where you let it off its inconsistencies?
@ Andrew:
I've just read your post on the Guardian about the new BBC drama about Elizabeth Wilmhurts's resignation.
For what its worth I used to work woth her and know her reasonably well. She was no pacifist and very much an establishment figure. However, her principled resignation was one that many, myself included, regarded as a great and admirable action.
Thanks, Mike. Perhaps you'd like to post this comment on the entry I've since started above about that very subject?
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