"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Screen Two: Series 7, Episode 10 – Do Not Disturb (1991)

 
The way I understand it, Screen Two was a British series similar to Masterpiece on PBS:  self-contained TV movies featured on a weekly program.  Of course, the movies were made for/by Screen Two, whereas Masterpiece serves as a U.S. venue for U.K. properties.  At any rate, even though it’s technically an episode of the show, I’m calling Do Not Disturb a made-for-TV film. 
 
The story opens on Jenny and Bruce Coldfield, on their maiden trip of what Jenny hopes will be a regular business:  guided tours of the Norfolk village that served as the backdrop to a Victorian writer’s ghost stories.  With a van of eager tourists in tow, Jenny plans a few manufactured thrills to add to the fun.  But as the trip wears on, she starts to suspect not all the ghosts are fictional.
 
At first glance, PC’s Bruce Coldfield seems like a pretty bog-standard husband role.  The tour is Jenny’s brainchild, not his, and he spends the early part of the film begrudgingly herding the tour group around the village and trying to wear them out in hopes of having his evenings free.  However, there’s more to Bruce than meets the eye; Jenny confesses that she’s always loved “haunted men,” and her husband has a few ghosts of his own in his past.
 
The initial scenes of the film give us an amusing, if lightweight, performance of a man who can’t really be bothered with all this tour-guide stuff.  Later, Bruce shows himself to be observant and intuitive, with a fragility that he tries fastidiously to keep out of sight.  A pretty decent role overall.  He’s best in the scenes where he quietly begins opening up to one of the group members – really lovely exchanges of two banged-up people attempting to help one another.
 
Whovians will recognize Jenny as Frances Barber, who played Madame Kovarian, a.k.a. Eyepatch Lady, in series 6.  I was also amused to see Clive Russell, seen previously in Neverwhere and The Devil’s Whore (although not in one of PC’s episodes) – so if you’re playing Six Degrees, you now have at least two ways to connect Clive Russell with PC, three if your rules aren’t too strict.  And I’ve not heard of her before, but the screenwriter is named Timberlake Wertenbaker, which is one of the more fabulous names I’ve heard recently.
 
Accent Watch
 
A very nice-sounding RP.
 
Recommend?
 
In General – Maybe.  I liked it a lot, but then, I love the premise of modern fans trying to connect with a long-dead author by visiting her inspiration sites and searching her texts for evidence.
 
PC-wise – Perhaps.  While it isn’t going to crack my Top 10 list anytime soon, it’s a good performance of a sympathetic character, and he has some nice material to work with.
 
Warnings
 
General spookiness, an instance of strong language, and sexual content, including a bit of nudity.

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