This episode goes pretty hard into cringe comedy, but it’s done quite well. I still enjoyed it, even if I felt the urge to watch some of the scenes through my fingers out of second-hand embarrassment!
The commission has kicked off their Raising the Bar campaign, aimed at getting youth excited about the Olympics. Unfortunately, the face of their campaign is Dave Wellbeck, former Olympic runner and horrendous public speaker. While Ian is busy dealing with an argument between Kay and the others over a wind turbine, Siobhan tries to convince Ian to drop Dave.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a talented athlete isn’t necessarily going to be charming, quick-witted, and engaging. And in Dave’s case, he’s pretty hopeless. He’s supposed to be traveling the country speaking to schoolkids, but he’s glued to his notecards, he can’t get his PowerPoint to line up with his speech, and he can’t get the timing right on his stilted jokes. He has a habit of peppering his presentation with, “But what is…?” questions, which he gets zero participation on—I laughed out loud at, “But what is friendship? Anybody here have any friends?”
By the way, at one of the schools Dave visits, the receptionist is played by none other than Georgie Glen, a.k.a. Miss Higgins from Call the Midwife. Fairly similar role, but in a different time period! It was fun to see her.
Our character of the week is Siobhan Sharpe, head of brand. She’s the commission’s rather shallow PR person, played by Jessica Hynes (Daisy from Spaced!) Siobhan is thoroughly unimpressed with Dave and is eager to cut the dead weight from Raising the Bar. As she puts it, “You want people to be inspired, they’ve gotta stay conscious first.” Unfortunately for her, Ian is a lot less cutthroat than Siobhan is and wants to give Dave more chances than she thinks he warrants.
The subplot about the wind turbine is fun too. Kay is eager to have it incorporated into the Olympic Park as a clear symbol of their commitment to sustainability. The problem is, that area gets hardly any wind, so it’d be a waste. “This is like building a very expensive boat in the middle of the desert,” gripes Nick, another member of the commission. Given that Kay is usually the one elbows deep in boring, unglamorous, principled work, it’s interesting that she’d bend her ideals for the sake of the image she wants to promote.
Some good bits in David Tennant’s narration today. Here are my favorite lines:
- “For many in today’s young audience, it will be the degree of crossover between the skills required to become the second-best athlete in your field and those required to be a public speaker that’s the biggest surprise” – The syntax gets a little convoluted here, but Tennant’s delivery makes it work
- “Meanwhile, Ian’s PA Sally Owen is protecting him from any unnecessary calls, irrespective of whether they’re from his wife or not” – hee!
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