Time for a crime round-up. I was in Borders in Oxford at the weekend, and spotted that Neil Cross (script-writer for the last two seasons of Spooks) has a crime novel out, Burial, which is reviewed over at the It's a Crime blog, here. Spooks is a patchy show. I was huge fan of the first series, with Hugh Laurie guest-starring as Jools Siviter, a portent of what he was capable of delivering in House (congrats, Hugh, on scooping the Screen Actors Guild Award for that role, for the second year running). Then the show went off the boil, in my opinion, during season four and I'd almost given up on it entirely by the time we reached season seven, the latest one. I'm so glad I didn't as it was fantastically good, thanks in no small part to the addition of Richard Armitage to the cast. The writing stopped trying to compete with shows like 24 and played to its strengths as a British TV series. Gemma Jones reprised her role as Connie James, known affectionately in our house as Spy!Gran. Jones had the most amazing scenes of the whole series, and deserves an award for her performance. She also got me thinking about the rumoured remake of The Equalizer (a favourite show of mine from the '80s with Edward Woodward as a vigilante in New York) - if only the show's remakers were brave enough to re-cast the lead role as a woman! Gemma Jones would absolutely storm that part. Warm cardigans, big guns. Not that different to Edward Woodward, really.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Bag and tag
Time for a crime round-up. I was in Borders in Oxford at the weekend, and spotted that Neil Cross (script-writer for the last two seasons of Spooks) has a crime novel out, Burial, which is reviewed over at the It's a Crime blog, here. Spooks is a patchy show. I was huge fan of the first series, with Hugh Laurie guest-starring as Jools Siviter, a portent of what he was capable of delivering in House (congrats, Hugh, on scooping the Screen Actors Guild Award for that role, for the second year running). Then the show went off the boil, in my opinion, during season four and I'd almost given up on it entirely by the time we reached season seven, the latest one. I'm so glad I didn't as it was fantastically good, thanks in no small part to the addition of Richard Armitage to the cast. The writing stopped trying to compete with shows like 24 and played to its strengths as a British TV series. Gemma Jones reprised her role as Connie James, known affectionately in our house as Spy!Gran. Jones had the most amazing scenes of the whole series, and deserves an award for her performance. She also got me thinking about the rumoured remake of The Equalizer (a favourite show of mine from the '80s with Edward Woodward as a vigilante in New York) - if only the show's remakers were brave enough to re-cast the lead role as a woman! Gemma Jones would absolutely storm that part. Warm cardigans, big guns. Not that different to Edward Woodward, really.
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6 comments:
We have been working our way through the whole of Spooks and have just finished series 3 - I wasn't sure about persevering (all my fave characters have just gone!) but now I will, since you tell me it's worth it...!
Who were your favourite characters, Tania? I loved Tom, never took to Adam, used to watch for Harry and Malcolm. Then along came Lucas (series 7) and I fell in love with the show all over again.
I really liked the whole interplay between Tom, Zoe and Danny. I haven't taken to Adm either, but am fond of Harry and Ruth, and Malcolm too!
Oh yes Harry and Ruth! (Confession time: I write Spooks fanfiction. Harry, Tom, Jools Siviter, Malcolm. I'm a devil for it.) It lost its way during series 4 and 5, trying too hard to be like 24, but this latest series was amazing. All about character arcs and the team dynamic, rather than blowing things up. Although there was a TOP scene involving Malcolm and a microwave oven...
Should I skip 4 and 5 and go straight to series 6, oh Spooks pro?
I would recommend series 6 for Hermione Norris' role as Ros, and for the introduction of Gemma Jones' character, Connie. Otherwise it was a ropey series. Series 7 more or less stands alone in its brilliance, is out on DVD on Valentine's Day and is far and away the best series since series 1 (and has an even better finale episode, for my money). I ought to be on commission!
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