Moving On
Yesterday, I watched an episode of Moving On, which is supposed to be a high calibre daytime drama, showing just after Doctors. I mean 'high calibre' in the sense that a lot of well known actors have been associated with it, as well as writers like Jimmy McGovern (who I think is responsible for it in some way??), and well known guest directors.
Last year, they made five of them, and I didn't watch all of them but one of them was exceptional - Richard Armitage was in it as a character of uncertain morality, let's say, and the acting in it was great, and it had a nice uplifting feel to it eventually.
Yesterday's ("Malaise") was the one I was looking forward to, out of this year's ten programmes. It starred John Simm as an ex-convict called Moose, and Ewen Bremner as Adam, the current partner of Moose's wife, Tina (played by Susan Lynch). It was directed by Dominic West.
Now, let me start by saying that it was nicely shot, and the acting from everyone (including the girl playing Moose and Tina's daughter) was perfect. John Simm, in particular, had the suburban Merseyside accent and the air of hardness (but with a sort of irresistible softness underneath it all) spot on. Ewen Bremner also played Adam so sympathetically and realistically that it pretty much broke my heart. Well, I expected no less from these actors!
The story, however, left an awful lot to be desired. The idea was simple enough - Tina is happy with new age, loving, hard-working Adam who loves her daughter to bits; Moose gets out of jail and seems like a threat to them; then it transpires that he hadn't done the crime he was inside for, and had only refused to dob in his mates because they threatened his daughter; Tina at first chooses Adam, but then is miserable because at heart she still loves Moose. OK, I get it. I think the message is that life is unfair, an particularly on nice people who do good stuff.
But for one thing, I don't want to be that depressed, thank you. Especially not in the afternoon. The shot of Adam at the end watching Tina and Moose and their daughter playing happily families, while he wore a hoody and stood near the school gates, was the most depressing reolution I'd seen to anything since Afterlife. For another thing, the decisions that Tina was supposed to be making for herself and her daughter, and the related emotional situations, were simplified beyond belief. The thought that Adam would walk away without putting up a fight for what had become his family didn't quite ring true. The way Jess (the daughter) suddenly warmed to Moose over a stolen chip was ridiculous. The acting was great, but the story missed out on being affecting by oversimplifying everything and completely failing to have a genuinely heart-warming aspect to it.
So yes, overall I wasn't too happy with that. I think the best daytime drama of this kind I've ever seen was one of the 'Afternoon Plays' (episode title: 'Johnny Shakespeare') they did maybe a year or two before Moving On was conceived. (I see, checking IMDB, that there were 5 series of the Afternoon Plays, wow - I must have had a life once...) This episode, which starred Greta Scacchi, was just beautiful. A lad (c.17ish?) from a poor background who couldn't read ended up discovering a love of Shakespeare through lessons with a teacher (Scacchi) who was generally going through a bad patch in her life; together they made each other happy, and he found triumph by starting to act (even though the was a horrible pressure from his alcoholic mother not to), and they were so meant to be together forever (but we didn't get to see that bit). Heartwarming. Which is what I want from afternoon drama.
Last year, they made five of them, and I didn't watch all of them but one of them was exceptional - Richard Armitage was in it as a character of uncertain morality, let's say, and the acting in it was great, and it had a nice uplifting feel to it eventually.
Yesterday's ("Malaise") was the one I was looking forward to, out of this year's ten programmes. It starred John Simm as an ex-convict called Moose, and Ewen Bremner as Adam, the current partner of Moose's wife, Tina (played by Susan Lynch). It was directed by Dominic West.
Now, let me start by saying that it was nicely shot, and the acting from everyone (including the girl playing Moose and Tina's daughter) was perfect. John Simm, in particular, had the suburban Merseyside accent and the air of hardness (but with a sort of irresistible softness underneath it all) spot on. Ewen Bremner also played Adam so sympathetically and realistically that it pretty much broke my heart. Well, I expected no less from these actors!
The story, however, left an awful lot to be desired. The idea was simple enough - Tina is happy with new age, loving, hard-working Adam who loves her daughter to bits; Moose gets out of jail and seems like a threat to them; then it transpires that he hadn't done the crime he was inside for, and had only refused to dob in his mates because they threatened his daughter; Tina at first chooses Adam, but then is miserable because at heart she still loves Moose. OK, I get it. I think the message is that life is unfair, an particularly on nice people who do good stuff.
But for one thing, I don't want to be that depressed, thank you. Especially not in the afternoon. The shot of Adam at the end watching Tina and Moose and their daughter playing happily families, while he wore a hoody and stood near the school gates, was the most depressing reolution I'd seen to anything since Afterlife. For another thing, the decisions that Tina was supposed to be making for herself and her daughter, and the related emotional situations, were simplified beyond belief. The thought that Adam would walk away without putting up a fight for what had become his family didn't quite ring true. The way Jess (the daughter) suddenly warmed to Moose over a stolen chip was ridiculous. The acting was great, but the story missed out on being affecting by oversimplifying everything and completely failing to have a genuinely heart-warming aspect to it.
So yes, overall I wasn't too happy with that. I think the best daytime drama of this kind I've ever seen was one of the 'Afternoon Plays' (episode title: 'Johnny Shakespeare') they did maybe a year or two before Moving On was conceived. (I see, checking IMDB, that there were 5 series of the Afternoon Plays, wow - I must have had a life once...) This episode, which starred Greta Scacchi, was just beautiful. A lad (c.17ish?) from a poor background who couldn't read ended up discovering a love of Shakespeare through lessons with a teacher (Scacchi) who was generally going through a bad patch in her life; together they made each other happy, and he found triumph by starting to act (even though the was a horrible pressure from his alcoholic mother not to), and they were so meant to be together forever (but we didn't get to see that bit). Heartwarming. Which is what I want from afternoon drama.