Lewis
Sorry to the Pros fans, but this isn't about LC :( But I have to admit that every time I hear that Lewis is coming on, the Morse spin-off isn't my first thought!
Anyway, the new series of Lewis has started, and the first episode was terribly fantasy-fangirlish, and Eni reminded me that I must post about it! The plot centred around a new fantasy writer of the Lewis-Tolkien-Rowling type (more Rowling than anything, I suppose - very popular very quickly, but seen as a modern phenomenon and not terribly literary). So we got lots of references to LOTR, and also to Narnia and so on. For me, that's the nicest way of thinking of Oxford...
OK, before I go on, I have to admit something - I wasn't feeling terribly Oxford-friendly, what with the recent experience of having an interview there (which I found very cold compared with Cambridge, and I was particularly unimpressed with their failure to let me know the outcome of the competition until over a week after they were supposed to let me know). So my mind kept drifting off and I don't suppose I enjoyed it as much as I should have.
But, back on topic, it was nice to see how people I think of as 'people like me' are portrayed on TV. The lad with his figures and his isolation from the world struck me as one of those extremes of characterisation that lead to a rather unfair view of being a fantasy fan. Lewis himself, having become rather grumpier now that he's the main character and doesn't get to play a cheerful sidekick to Morse with his learned but not terribly enthusiastic policing methods[1], found all the fantasy stuff pointless and rather looked down on it, though his own sidekick had plenty of well informed remarks to make.
I also have to have a quick complain about James Fox playing an Oxford don. Unless Oxford is utterly different to what I've experienced at Cambridge, he was hamming it up embarrassingly. And that alongside his son, Lawrence Fox (who plays the aforementioned sidekick).
So, all in all, I wasn't terribly impressed with the characterisation going on, and the plot wasn't nearly fast-moving enough for me (not now I've got into things like Spooks and Law and Order UK!!). But having those references there, and the reflections of a lifestyle I recognise so well, and the sense of fangirlish history, made for a nice episode :)
[1] Just to clarify, I adored Morse. I've never read the books, but the character that John Thaw brought to the screen was an absolutr delight to watch.
Anyway, the new series of Lewis has started, and the first episode was terribly fantasy-fangirlish, and Eni reminded me that I must post about it! The plot centred around a new fantasy writer of the Lewis-Tolkien-Rowling type (more Rowling than anything, I suppose - very popular very quickly, but seen as a modern phenomenon and not terribly literary). So we got lots of references to LOTR, and also to Narnia and so on. For me, that's the nicest way of thinking of Oxford...
OK, before I go on, I have to admit something - I wasn't feeling terribly Oxford-friendly, what with the recent experience of having an interview there (which I found very cold compared with Cambridge, and I was particularly unimpressed with their failure to let me know the outcome of the competition until over a week after they were supposed to let me know). So my mind kept drifting off and I don't suppose I enjoyed it as much as I should have.
But, back on topic, it was nice to see how people I think of as 'people like me' are portrayed on TV. The lad with his figures and his isolation from the world struck me as one of those extremes of characterisation that lead to a rather unfair view of being a fantasy fan. Lewis himself, having become rather grumpier now that he's the main character and doesn't get to play a cheerful sidekick to Morse with his learned but not terribly enthusiastic policing methods[1], found all the fantasy stuff pointless and rather looked down on it, though his own sidekick had plenty of well informed remarks to make.
I also have to have a quick complain about James Fox playing an Oxford don. Unless Oxford is utterly different to what I've experienced at Cambridge, he was hamming it up embarrassingly. And that alongside his son, Lawrence Fox (who plays the aforementioned sidekick).
So, all in all, I wasn't terribly impressed with the characterisation going on, and the plot wasn't nearly fast-moving enough for me (not now I've got into things like Spooks and Law and Order UK!!). But having those references there, and the reflections of a lifestyle I recognise so well, and the sense of fangirlish history, made for a nice episode :)
[1] Just to clarify, I adored Morse. I've never read the books, but the character that John Thaw brought to the screen was an absolutr delight to watch.