Micky Love (1993)

 

I like the variety of programs you find on British television.  In addition to series, miniseries, anthologies, made-for-TV-movies, and even short-film series (like 10-Minute Tales,) you’ve got works like Micky Love.  It’s basically an hour-long TV movie, the length of a TV episode, but telling a complete, self-contained story of its own.  I've not really seen its like in U.S. television.  I suppose it's something like a long short, but it's great that the U.K. can provide a venue for it.

 

Anyway, the eponymous Micky Love is an aging TV personality who's made a successful comeback following a disastrous flame-out earlier in his career.  After a series of ups and downs in his personal and professional life, he's been able to regain a good living for himself, hosting a silly, popular show on Channel 4 – honestly, I can't quite figure out what it is.  Game show?  Talk show?  Variety show?  Whatever it is, it looks ridiculously cheesy.  However, a long chain of office gossip leads Micky to believe his show has been placed on the chopping block.  Let's just say his resolve not to go gently into that good night has the potential to burn more bridges than he can afford.

 

PC plays David Critchley, one of the network bigwigs.  He and a colleague are the ones who unintentionally set off the rumor mill, and as is wont to happen in something a bit farcical, he spends much of the resulting hour trying to repair a situation he doesn't know exists.  The studio is thrown into chaos, no one can get a hold of anyone, Micky's breaking bad in a big way, and David has no idea that he's one half of the parties responsible.

 

It's fine.  Nothing too terribly demanding.  David is appropriately perplexed, frustrated, and frantic, as he should be, but he's not a particularly important character.  In fact, Micky refers to David and his partner in crime as simply “the other two.”

 

This movie is filled with familiar faces.  Rik Mayall does a great job as Micky, and look out for a very young Alan Cumming and a pre-Pride-and-Prejudice Jennifer Ehle.  There's also a microscopic appearance from Paul Higgins, who played the fantastically psychotic Jamie in The Thick of It and In the Loop.

 

Accent Watch

 

Sounds to me like a light Scottish accent.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Possibly.  I thought it was an interesting, well-done story with some strong performances.

 

PC-wise – Not particularly – not a whole lot for PC to do here.

 

Warnings

 

Sexual references, a fair amount of language, alcohol abuse, and implied (not shown) nudity.