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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