So the whole thing kinda left me underwhelmed. I'm a massive 'At Home With The Braithwaites' fan and was very interested to see what the writer, director and star could produce over on the BBC.
It was sentimental and sensationalist. Her sister being her daughter? That was old way before Eastenders did it. Carol smashing up a car and hanging a dog but letting her dad hit her? A 12 year old being pregnant and no-one asking questions? My biggest problem was that Sally Wainwright was supposed to be writing this great passionate love story. A bit of rainy snogging on the moors does not make it passionate. If they were so massively in love with each other then why did they let anything stop them? They played psychological games and deliberately hurt each other. If Carol later picked up sticks with her sister/daughter and went off why couldn't she have done that earlier with Andrew? It was also directed by Robin Sheppard, who did first series work on 'the Braithwaites'.
Okay, enough about the writing. The acting was good. Celia Imrie was pretty classic, as was Nicholas Farrell, though he bore high both physical and character resemblance to David Braithwaite. They were fun. Joe McFadden, whatever. He annoyed my girlfriend almost to the point where she couldn't stand to watch it anymore. And why did he suddenly acquire glasses when he became a teacher? Are they part of the uniform or something? His wife, Becky, was played by Camilla Power. The aforesaid girlfriend occupied herself by persuading me that it was a grown up Jill Pole from the Narnia dramatisations. It was. She was cool. And then of course there was Sarah Smart.
I couldn't believe it when Carol turned up in the posh car with the smooth hair-do. It was certainly a double take moment. Wainwright is certainly very interested in this character. She took Virginia (Ms Smart's wonderful character in 'the Braithwaites'), changed the world around the character and wrote a story. She didn't even change how the character looked. Sarah Smart was good, but she showed us nothing that new. We know she can pull funny faces and swear and shout and be angry and lovely. And I'm ever so pleased she got the chance to play a romantic lead in a big production. I just hope her next role will be more interesting and different.
It was sentimental and sensationalist. Her sister being her daughter? That was old way before Eastenders did it. Carol smashing up a car and hanging a dog but letting her dad hit her? A 12 year old being pregnant and no-one asking questions? My biggest problem was that Sally Wainwright was supposed to be writing this great passionate love story. A bit of rainy snogging on the moors does not make it passionate. If they were so massively in love with each other then why did they let anything stop them? They played psychological games and deliberately hurt each other. If Carol later picked up sticks with her sister/daughter and went off why couldn't she have done that earlier with Andrew? It was also directed by Robin Sheppard, who did first series work on 'the Braithwaites'.
Okay, enough about the writing. The acting was good. Celia Imrie was pretty classic, as was Nicholas Farrell, though he bore high both physical and character resemblance to David Braithwaite. They were fun. Joe McFadden, whatever. He annoyed my girlfriend almost to the point where she couldn't stand to watch it anymore. And why did he suddenly acquire glasses when he became a teacher? Are they part of the uniform or something? His wife, Becky, was played by Camilla Power. The aforesaid girlfriend occupied herself by persuading me that it was a grown up Jill Pole from the Narnia dramatisations. It was. She was cool. And then of course there was Sarah Smart.
I couldn't believe it when Carol turned up in the posh car with the smooth hair-do. It was certainly a double take moment. Wainwright is certainly very interested in this character. She took Virginia (Ms Smart's wonderful character in 'the Braithwaites'), changed the world around the character and wrote a story. She didn't even change how the character looked. Sarah Smart was good, but she showed us nothing that new. We know she can pull funny faces and swear and shout and be angry and lovely. And I'm ever so pleased she got the chance to play a romantic lead in a big production. I just hope her next role will be more interesting and different.