bancrows Reviews

Agatha Raisin (2014– )

This is not Agatha

[1/10 · 19 October 2016]

And it is most certainly not Agatha's great friend Mrs Bloxby or her husband Alf Bloxby, the vicar, nor is it almost all of the characters created by M. C. Beaton.

This must be the worst adaptation of a series of successful novels ever.

The books - and there are no fewer than twenty-seven of them - are light-hearted and humorous.

Agatha's reliance on Mrs Bloxby to support her in her moments of angst and poor judgment is a theme which recurs throughout the series of books. Mrs Bloxby's husband Alf is something of a curmudgeon, but he is a minor character who can't stand Agatha.

This television series would have us believe that Agatha has bleached her often-mentioned glossy brown hair, developed what seems to be something of a Scots accent to replace the southern accent Agatha has perfected since her early days in the Birmingham slums. I didn't last long enough to ascertain if the dreadfully-miscast blonde actress who for some unknown reason plays Agatha has legs to match those of M.C Beaton's much-better-preserved Agatha.

Agatha Raisin is not an ageing platinum blonde with a peculiar accent and never will be.

Why didn't they make it properly?

The Bill (1984–2010)

Plot Mislaid

[25 October 2004]

The Bill was compulsory viewing for its first decade or so, but its relatively-new executive producer and his team of gossip-writers have conspired to reduce it almost to farce, presumably driven by a desire to attract those who habitually switch off after the serial soaps.

That is sad enough, but even sadder is the fact that even its degraded form, The Bill remains one of the better current offerings on television, purely for the two or three minutes per episode now devoted to the original concept.

Perhaps we should be grateful for those few minutes, which those attracted to the programme for other reasons may ignore while making or taking bets on which of the Sun Hill staff will soon have a child kidnapped, or prove to be corrupt, have a serious problem with alcohol or drug abuse, turn out to be either adopted or the parent of a long-lost illegitimate child, become unfaithful or a bigamist, go mad or murder several colleagues.

If only we'd known.