Theatre Actors on the Telly

I lasted longer. After about 40 minutes I realised it was probably supposed to be a comedy - up to that point the lack of anything amusing had thrown me off the scent. It is hard to do those type of dated satires well on TV and the source here was second-rate Evelyn Waugh to start off with. Morrisey was really good though, reminded me of Stephen Moore playing Parolles in “All’s Well” a long time ago - a cad.

Adapted by Christopher Hampton, who I’ve never rated at all - that should have warned me. It’s run into some trouble about its depiction of Asians too - mostly the absence of them - Hampton blustered in the press about this criticism telling us to watch the whole thing first. Nice try.

It was a repeat, as almost all BBC programmes are these days, but having missed it the first time around, I watched, and very much enjoyed, The 7.39 last night on i-Player.

That too starred David Morrissey, having a midlife crisis, with Olivia Colman as his wife, and Sheridan Smith not his wife. 😉 It's all the RMT's fault! For someone with no formal training, she really is a good TV actor.

Then I watched Molly's Game. I have to admit I didn't twig until the end credits rolled, but Molly was played by sometime (maybe) West End star Jessica Chastain.

I’ve enjoyed Hannah Waddingham’s turn in “Ted Lasso” very much. It’s an Apple TV+ series, so has fairly limited circulation, and it’s a bit of an odd beast, the story of an overwhelmingly good-natured but completely inexperienced American brought over to manage English Premier League football team AFC Richmond. Basic plot is that Waddingham got the football team in her divorce from her sh*t of a millionaire husband (Anthony Head) and she thinks Lasso will destroy the club that was her ex-husband’s passion. Initial episodes saw her presented as the archetypal rich b*tch, but later episodes have shown depth to her character. The show as a whole has a very uneven tone, some quite cruel and harsh humour in the same show as heartwarming morals about respecting each other. Nonetheless there’s been enough in it to get me through the series, and a lot of that has been Hannah Waddingham’s performance. Recommended if you have access to the service.

The new series of Fargo with Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw is on Ch4/All4 now and I'm delighted to say it's wonderful so far. If you love Miller's Crossing / O Brother Coens (and I do) it's very much in that area.

Michael Xavier is appearing in the new series of Grantchester currently showing on ITV1.

Emma Williams was on Doctors today.

The delicious Julian Ovenden is currently in Trigger Point, the latest thriller on ITV. I know he's done a lot of telly work as well as theatre, but thought it worth a mention.

This second series of Trigger Point is really gripping, trashy binge-able action drama. Highly recommended. (And Ovenden is an absolute tool in this. 🤣)

Yes. I recognised him too.

Have we already mentioned most of noughties broadway in ‘The Gilded Age’ on Sky Atlantic?