The other Cromwell’s story

by Ben Soton

What do we know about Henry VIII?  He had six wives; three called Catherine, two called Anne and one called Jane.  Less widely known is that he spent much of his reign in the company of men called Thomas.  Thomas Wolsey, who served as Lord Chancellor in the early part of his reign, Thomas Howard the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas More, who also served as Lord Chancellor as well as the less well-known Thomas Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.  The BBC latest Sunday night drama, Wolf Hall – The Mirror and the Light is the story of Thomas Cromwell. 
Thomas Cromwell served as Henry VIII’s Chief Minister from 1534 to 1540; ultimately a moderniser with strong Protestant sympathies who oversaw England’s break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries.  He played a role in modernising the English state; which saw an increased role for Parliament.  Cromwell’s origins were considerably humbler than those around him, which almost certainly played a part in his downfall.  
The Mirror and the Light is the second TV adaption of the novels of Hilary Mantel; in both adaptations Cromwell is played by Mark Rylance and Henry by Damian Lewis.  Both the book where Cromwell is the narrator, and the television series, portray Cromwell in a sympathetic light.  Rylance’s Cromwell has both humanity and toughness; on the one hand he shows genuine kindness to Princess Mary when it suits his interests and, in another scene, physically moves an opponent out of his way. 
The Mirror and the Light starts where the first series ended with the execution of Anne Boleyn and Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour.  Both series show the intrigue that existed within the Tudor court.  Rival factions strive to push the King in their direction, whilst avoiding his wrath.  The most reactionary sections of the nobility oppose Henry’s break with Rome and look to Princess Mary, his daughter by Catherine of Aragon.  This faction gravitates around the De La Pole Family.  In episode one, Wreckage, Cromwell is able to bring Mary into line leaving the De La Pole family weakened.  This episode shows Cromwell gaining in self-confidence as he out-manoeuvres his opponents, whilst keeping the King onside.  Cromwell is seen taking advice from his long dead mentor, the late Cardinal Wolsey (played by Jonathan Pryce); who acts as his conscience and a sounding board for his thoughts.
If you think this sounds like a complex chess game you are not far from the truth and evidence suggests that Cromwell was influenced by Niccolo Machiavelli and his famous book on statecraft The Prince.  But Thomas Cromwell eventually fell afoul of his master.  In 1540 he was brought down by a rival faction around issues related to Henry’s marriage to the German princess, Anne of Cleves.  Although Thomas Cromwell came to a sticky end at the hand of the King the star of one of his in-laws was rising. A Welsh courtier in Henry’s court had married Thomas’ sister and, as was the custom of the day, assumed the name of his wife’s more noble family. One of his descendants become this country’s greatest moderniser – Oliver Cromwell – but that’s another story!

  

Old Town blues

by Ben Soton

The BBC’s latest Monday night drama, This Town, is actually set across two towns, or more precisely cities in the 1980s.  It covers some of the politics, music and culture of the period featuring the Handsworth riots in Birmingham as well as the IRA bombing campaigns.  Also featured are the music based sub-cultures of the period; skins, rude boys and Zulus; whilst the involvement of organised crime gives it an updated Peaky Blinders feel.
The story centres around an extended family that cuts across ethnicity, nationality although interestingly not class.  The Birmingham side of the family, mixed race British/West Indian includes Gregory Williams, a soldier in the British Army (played by Jordan Bolger) and his younger brother, (played by Levi Brown) a college student and aspiring musician Dante.  
Meanwhile the Irish-Catholic Coventry side of the family, the Quinns, include Bardon (played by Ben Rose), another college student and aspiring musician; his IRA father Eamon (played by Peter McDonald) and alcoholic mother and ex-wife Estella (played by Michelle Dockery).
The series proves that Michelle Dockery should not be seen as a type-cast actress; she can ably play a working-class alcoholic as well as an aristocrat from Downton Abbey.
It opens with a scene from the Handsworth Riots of 1980 and shows the extent of police racism of the period.  Many of the scenes are intersected with music from the era as many contemporary bands had their origins in the West Midlands.
Much of the plot centres around attempts by Dante to avoid being drawn into organised crime whilst Bardon struggles to avoid being drawn into the IRA campaign by his father.
The plot is further complicated when Gregory, Dante’s brother, is ordered by his superiors to spy on the Irish side of his family. In this sense the drama reflects bourgeois attitudes of the time that are still around – that being Irish makes you susceptible to “terrorism” and being black makes you susceptible to organised crime. To avoid this both Bardon and Dante, along with other teens form a band as a means of escape amid numerous references to the M6 as a way out of Birmingham. Needless to say the essence of the series is that of individualism versus the community.
 

Kitchen sink spies

 by Ben Soton

The Ipcress File (2002): ITV series. Sundays 6 March to 10 April 6pm on ITV1; full series available on the ITVHub (with ads) and BritBox (ad-free). Written by John Hodge. Directed by James Watkins. Stars: Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander.

Harry Palmer, the creation of Cold War espionage fiction writer Len Deighton, was an alternative to James Bond. Back in the 1960s Deighton’s novels exist as a half-way house between the pure action adventure of Bond and the rather dry psychological thrillers of John Le Carré.

    Unlike Bond, the smartly dressed, cocktail-drinking sociopath dedicated to Queen and Country, Palmer is cut from a different cloth. A working-class Londoner with a Maths degree, he reaches the rank of corporal in the British Army whereas Bond was a Commander in the Royal Navy. Instead of being a hired gun for his superiors Palmer takes to smuggling, which finds him in Colchester Military Prison.The first Palmer novel, The Ipcress File, is the subject of ITV1’s latest Sunday night drama.
    To have his sentence commuted, Palmer (played by Joe Cole) is approached by Major Dalby (played by Tom Hollander) with a view to helping British intelligence rescue a kidnapped nuclear scientist. As the story progresses Palmer’s life unravels. He had previously served in the Korean war, only to come home to find his wife had suffered a miscarriage and his marriage subsequently collapses.
    Palmer is not an obvious servant of British imperialism. His social background, with an understandable grievance, make him a security risk. In a scene featuring a conversation with Colonel Stock of the KGB he even displays a knowledge of Marxism Leninism.
    The television adaptation presents a nostalgic view of the 1960s. Most scenes show a somewhat exaggerated cleanliness along with immaculate clothing and perfectly styled hair. This, however, was an era when classical economics, normally referred to as neo-liberalism, had been suspended for the less socially vicious Keynesianism, which focused on welfare and full employment.
    The era also saw a strong labour movement and internationally the presence of the Soviet Union meant a shift in the balance of forces in favour of the working class. Increased social mobility was an additional feature of the decade, shown when fellow intelligence officer Jean Courtney (played by Lucy Boynton) develops a shine to Palmer whilst becoming bored with her upper-class fiancé.
    There are occasions when one wonders if Palmer will switch sides, which adds added suspense to the plot. But at the end of the day the story, and Palmer’s character in particular, is essentially about co-opting working class support for the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Palmer is given smart clothes, a car and access to a world he would probably never see in exchange for taking part in a war ultimately against his own class.

Bristol’s ‘Wild’ West

by Ben Soton

The Outlaws. BBC TV series currently showing on BBC1, Mondays 9pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer. Created by Elgin James and Stephen Merchant. Directors: Stephen Merchant and John Butler. Stars: Rhianne Barreto, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Jessica Gunning, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Charles Babalola, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Walken.

Stephen Merchant’s Bristol-based sit-com The Outlaws has now been running for the last few weeks on Monday nights. Merchant has been responsible for an array of comedies including The Office, Extras and Small World.
    The focus of his latest drama is group of Bristolians undertaking Community Payback for a range of minor offences. The characters include a lawyer, a social media celebrity, a small business owner, a civil-rights activist, a student, and an American draft dodger who has been living in Bristol since the Vietnam war.
    Merchant takes a non-judgmental view of every member of this highly diverse group. The story includes flashbacks to the offences that led to each of them finding themselves wearing high-vis vests and clearing derelict waste ground. This results in an array of amusing scenes, often depicting sad situations. In one instance Greg, the lawyer (played by Merchant himself), drives into a police car whilst trying to avoid being caught with a prostitute.
    In The Outlaws Merchant attempts to show some of the issues prevalent in his home town of Bristol, which last summer hit the headlines when Bristolians threw the statue of the slave-trader Edward Colston into the Bristol Channel.
    Another character, Myrna (played by Clare Perkins), is a Black civil rights activist who took part in the destruction of the hated statue. Myrna finds herself doing Community Payback for towing away a police recruitment caravan in Bristol High Street. Her situation shows the price some political activists pay for a lifetime of commitment. She lives alone in a bedsit surrounded by posters and old books and finds herself kicked out of her own organisation by younger activists.
    Although some of us have done a bit better for ourselves, many of the issues depicted in the drama could apply to much of the country – the work-place bullying suffered by Greg the lawyer from his cocaine-snorting colleagues; Frank (played by Christopher Walken), the American who lives with his single-parent daughter, struggling to make ends meet on a low income. The drama also touches on the issue of drug-related crime; something not unique to Bristol.
    Everything changes when a bag-load of money is found on wasteland. John, the businessman (played by Darren Boyd), needs it to help his ailing business; however Myrna, surprisingly, believes the money should be handed over to the authorities. The consequences of this are likely to give the series an extra edge.

Crimes at sea

by Ben Soton

Vigil : six-part series. BBC1, 9pm.Also available on BBC iPlayer. Stars: Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Shaun Evans, Paterson Joseph and Martin Compston.

Underwater adventure is a genre that’s been around for over 150 years. Jules Verne kicked it off in 1869 with Captain Nemo and his Nautilus in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and hundreds of books, films and documentaries have followed set in both World Wars, the Cold War, and fantasy and science fiction scenarios.
    BBC1’s latest Sunday night drama, partly set on a nuclear submarine, raises issues over Britain’s so-called independent nuclear deterrent, the Trident nuclear weapons system.
    In episode one a sailor, Petty Officer Craig Burke (played by Martin Compston), is found dead and a civilian police officer, Amy Silva (played by Suranne Jones), is sent aboard to investigate. Tension mounts between Silva and senior members of the crew who view her as an interfering outsider. In an earlier scene Burke had raised concerns about the sub’s descent causing the sinking of a fishing trawler.
    Back on dry land Silva’s partner, Kirsten Longacre (played by Roe Leslie), discovers that Burke was in a relationship with an anti-nuclear campaigner, opening up possibilities for a conspiracy or cover-up. Meanwhile, events on the sub show that those in charge of this highly dangerous and not to mention expensive piece of kit (according to CND the total cost comes to £205 billion) are not as competent as they should be.
    The series is a reminder that Britain has not faced the threat of invasion for 80 years, whilst raising issues around the dangers of this country’s independent nuclear deterrent in the form of the Trident submarine. Firstly, it is not independent but under de-facto US control. Secondly, in terms of deterrent, it is comparable to using a hand grenade to swat a fly. In other words, more of a danger than a deterrent.
    After watching this drama, I’m relieved that this county’s risk of invasion is so small – but one might ask the question that if Britain is in any danger at all why does it have so many troops stationed abroad?
    As the series continues it transpires that a foreign sub may have been responsible for the sinking of the trailer. In total, six world powers have nuclear submarines: Britain, the USA, France, People’s China and India. Any of these states, with the likely exception of China and India, could have had a submarine in the North Sea at any time. But the opening credits of the drama show footage of the Russian President Vladimir Putin giving viewers the idea that the responsible vessel must have been Russian.
    Could this be part of the New Cold War against Russia (and China) with the narrative that Britain is not adequately defended with naval personnel involved with naïve but well-meaning peace campaigners, thus encouraging viewers to support increased defence spending and a further crack-down on dissent and protest?

Another French connection

 by Ben Soton

Baptiste Series 2, currently showing on BBC1, Sundays at 9pm; also available on BBC iPlayer. Created by: Harry Williams, Jack Williams. Written by: Harry Williams, Jack Williams, Kelly Jones, Catherine Moulton. Stars: Tchéky Karyo, Anastasia Hille, Barbara Sarafian.

BBC1 is currently screening the second and final series of Baptiste, a gripping drama in which the retired French police officer Julien Baptiste (played by Tchéky Karyo) tracks down missing persons, those whom the regular police are incapable of locating. The drama emerged from an earlier series, The Missing, originally shown in 2014, in which the main character played a prominent role. The French detective was later revived when the first Baptiste series was launched in 2019.
    In the current series the family of the British Ambassador to Hungary, Emma Chambers (played by Fiona Shaw), goes missing and she uses Baptiste to find them. The search leads them to a Hungarian far-right party and its links to an even more sinister terrorist group known as Gomorrah. In episode three a Hungarian far-right politician uses a children’s story as the basis for a speech she is about to make, showing the simplistic and childlike nature of their arguments. At face value, the programme dismisses the view that the European Union  is an oasis of enlightenment, and that Brexit Island is a bastion of ignorance.
    Episodes so far have been dominated by flash-backs between past and present. The purpose of this technique is to keep the viewer focussed but equally it can also cause confusion.
    The event that separates past and present to us is a massacre by the fascist terror group Gomorrah, in which Chambers is seriously injured and Baptiste has a nervous breakdown. As the series progresses it appears that Gomorrah is the key to the disappearance of Chambers’ family. Meanwhile, the sub-plots based around Baptiste’s chaotic personal life also feature.
    Baptiste raises the issue of why people go missing. An estimated 170,000 go missing every year, an equivalent to one person every 90 seconds. Around 70,000 of these are children, many of whom are in local authority care – known as ‘Looked After Children’.
    Previous series of Baptiste and The Missing have focussed on the global sex industry and the trafficking that accompanies it as a possible reason why many of the people, particularly women and children, disappear.
    A television series set in Hungary, involving the British ambassador with a French police officer, is a reminder that we live in an interconnected world. The Hungarian police are portrayed as incompetent, corrupt and possibly in league with the far-right. Ironically, the British police, who would normally be involved with such a high-level disappearance, are nowhere to be seen. Is this part of the BBC’s Remainer agenda, which views this country as being left isolated after Brexit?
    When it transpired that the British husband of the Hungarian extremist leader is the mastermind behind Gomorrah my fears came to light. The narrative promoted by the series is as follows: Britain has left the EU, whilst the far-right are gaining ground in Hungary. The two events are connected. The British ambassador, left disabled after a shooting, represents Britain isolated and weakened after Brexit. The saviour is a retired Frenchman, acting out of good will.
    The series is soon to reach its climax. I am anticipating a dramatic ending as well as a resolution of Baptiste’s personal problems. When watching the BBC, however, beware false narratives.

Easy Money?

 by Ben Soton

The Syndicate, Series Four. Created and written by Kay Mellor, BBC TV (2021–). Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC1, also available on BBC iPlayer. Stars: Neil Morrissey, Liberty Hobbs, Emily Head, Kieran Urquhart, Taj Atwal, Katherine Rose Morley.

We live in a society where a few people are very rich and most of us get by; from time to time some people don’t get by at all. This system is called capitalism.
    Some of us have been arguing for a system where everybody gets by all of the time and are able to expand their own horizons and talents to the benefit of society and themselves. This is called socialism or in its more advanced form communism.
    Meanwhile, the very rich people who benefit from capitalism have devised ways of keeping the rest of us under control. These range from sheer brute force, media manipulation – another word for lying – to more subtle methods of social control. It could be argued that one of these methods is the National Lottery.
    The idea behind the National Lottery is that if you spend £2 on a piece of paper you could possibly win the money to give you the lifestyle of the super-rich: yachts, luxury villas, cars that cost more than your house, watches that cost more than your car, the list is endless. There is a slight problem to this otherwise brilliant idea – it is bollocks. If you ever someone hear tell you that socialism is a good idea on paper but doesn’t work in practice, throw this argument back in their face.
    The National Lottery is a grand illusion, rightly described as a “tax on the poor” (Daily Telegraph 27/7/2009) and a “national disgrace” (Independent 17/01/2013).
    Lottery winning is the basis of Kay Mellor’s television franchise, The Syndicate. It’s fourth series brings another dimension into lottery winning – fraud.
    In this series the lucky winners work at a dog grooming parlour in Yorkshire, owned by the unscrupulous Graham Woods (played by Mark Benton). A shopkeeper, Frank Stevenson (played by Neil Morrisey), steals the ticket however, and runs off to Monaco. Meanwhile our somewhat miffed dog-groomers head after him to claim their winnings.
    The series shows society’s problems by zooming in on the lives of the characters. Our winners include Keeley (played by Katherine Rose Morley), a gambling addict, whilst her mother (played by Kim Marsh) scrapes by on a zero-hours contract. Meanwhile Collette (played by Emily Head) is a former student previously forced into prostitution to pay for her studies.
    What unites them is gullibility and the complete lack of awareness. For instance, Keeley believes she can win the money to pay for their airfare with scratch cards. This depiction is a possible sign of the BBC’s contempt for working class people and anyone outside London.
    But isn’t the Lottery itself based on gullibility? This paper subscribes to the view that human nature is not fixed but is linked to the social system under which we live. We do not blame individuals for wanting more than they currently have – after-all, a demand for higher wages is a demand for more money. Neither would we encourage theft. Is it that surprising however, that a shopkeeper might take the Lottery winnings for himself?
    The irony of this story is that to claim their winnings a group of workers must act collectively – the very opposite of what the Lottery encourages. The dog groomers should have perhaps considered collective action against their employer.
    Another irony is that when workers organise against their employer they are portrayed as greedy whereas when they win the lottery, they are heroes.

Axes to grind

by Ben Soton

Small Axe (2020). TV mini-series of five 60-minute episodes on BBC1, Sundays at 9pm; currently also available on BBC iPlayer. Series Director: Steve McQueen.

Small Axe, BBC1’s latest Sunday night drama, is a series of feature-length stories covering the struggles of the West Indian community in Britain. Obviously, a response to this summer’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, I can already hear those of a racist persuasion crying about the BBC getting on the bandwagon. This should be seen in a positive light however, namely would these programmes have been made had it not been for this year’s wave of protest?
The work of director Steve McQueen, the drama covers issues from police harassment to the West Indian music scene. The series successfully depicts the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, which is gradually fading from memory. The drama does not pull any punches about the West Indian community, in particular the issue of domestic violence towards women and the use of soft drugs.
    Episode I, Mangrove, covers the issue of police harassment of the black community. This episode centred around the Mangrove Restaurant in Notting Hill, which was subject to continuous police harassment by the Metropolitan Police. The restaurant was regularly raided on spurious grounds and issued with fines for minor infractions. Fed up with continuous harassment, members of Notting Hill’s black community marched on Notting Hill police station to protest. Those later arrested with riot and affray later became known as the Mangrove Nine.
     Episode II, Lovers Rock, depicts the story of a young black woman caught between white racists and over amorous men from her own community. This episode largely focusses on the West Indian music scene. With an almost entirely black cast, it depicts the tensions within as well as the customs of that community.
    Episode III, Red, White and Blue, on the other hand, covers the experience of a young black man who joins the Metropolitan Police.
     This series of films, along with the BLM protests, comes at a time when many of the gains made by the anti-racist campaigners are, albeit indirectly, coming under attack. This includes the Windrush scandal as well as the hostile environment created toward migrants with its inevitable effect on more established ethnic communities. It was not so long ago however, when the UK was the only state in Europe where an Interior Minister, in the name of Home Secretary Amber Rudd, was forced to resign for racist behaviour. Meanwhile, when far-right activists descended on London to defend (boarded up) statues one of their number was caught urinating on a memorial to a dead police officer. It’s not all doom and gloom but time to remain vigilant.

A Tory drama for today

by Ben Soton

 Roadkill: 4-part mini-series (2020) on BBC1 and currently also available on BBC iPlayer. Written and created by David Hare. Director: Michael Keillor. Stars: Hugh Laurie, Millie Brady, Helen McCrory, Saskia Reeves, Patricia Hodge, Olivia Vinall, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Sarah Greene, Iain De Caestecker, Danny Ashok.

In few political dramas does the Prime Minister state their allegiance. Roadkill, the BBC’s latest Sunday Night political drama, is an exception, where Prime Minister Dawn Ellison (played by Helen McCrory) openly states she is a Conservative. This is perhaps not surprising because its creator, the veteran playwright David Hare, has never shied away from the theme of contemporary politics in his dramas.
Hugh Laurie plays the up and coming Cabinet Minister Peter Lawrence. Laurie has come a long way since the nineties, where he was typecast as playing well-off thick people; notably Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster and the Prince Regent in Blackadder. Recently Laurie has successfully played a number of serious multifaceted characters, such as the arms dealer Richard Roper in John Le Carre’s The Night Manager.
   Television drama reflects reality. Also, politicians, and for that matter ordinary mortals, have skeletons in their cupboards. This includes having had sex with people they were not married to – tell me something I don’t know! In Roadkill, however, Dawn Ellison takes a very high-handed view. Against Lawrence at least, who has some very big, as yet undecomposed, skeletons in several cupboards.
  The Great Offices of State, in this country are Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Which is why Lawrence is disappointed when offered the post of Justice Secretary. Like all politicians Lawrence wants to be Foreign Secretary when in fact he’s after the premiership. As a result, the Prime Minister sees him as a threat and uses his skeletons against him.
  Roadkill also plays into myths the establishment would like us to believe. Lawrence is a ‘man of the people’, who allegedly worked his way up from humble origins. Due the warped right-wing narrative however, being a ‘man of the people’ goes hand in hand with being an NHS-privatising, Trump supporting neo-con.
  Being left-wing, on the other hand, means coming from Hampstead, frequenting dinner parties and supporting the European Union , a narrative with its origins in the Brexit debate. A debate from which the real left, who have no time for NHS privatisation or the EU’s neo-liberal, imperialist trading bloc were largely excluded. Lawrence also has a slot on “AlltalkRadio”, intended to be a parody of the far-right radio station TalkRadio that regularly parrots nonsense about the upper-class being an oppressed minority. They also delve into comedy however, when they call the fake-left dilettante Owen Jones a Stalinist.
  The drama also touches on some of the contradictions within conservatism. There has always been a conflict between those who simply want to preserve the status quo and whose mindset is based on nostalgia, whilst on the other hand there are those who believe in the marketisation of every possible area of society including the Health Service. Peter Lawrence is very much of the later persuasion. A few years ago, Tories in Winchester were divided over the sale of the local bus station; the discussion, which I understand may have involved an element of corruption, resulted in a local Tory finding himself in a mental health facility. Will Lawrence experience the same fate – it couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke.

Do they mean us?

by Ben Soton

Us. Based on the book by David Nicholls. Four-part television comedy series, shown from 20th September at 9pm on BBC1; currently available on BBC iPlayer. Director: Geoffrey Sax. Producers: Roanna Benn, Greg Brenman and Tom Hollander. Starring: Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves.

For some time, I have pointed out that the BBC tends to create dramas about people whose lives are totally detached from the rest of the population. The latest Sunday night drama, Us, is no exception. Based on a book written by David Nicholls, the drama centres around the Petersens, a well-off London couple facing divorce and their teenage son. Douglas (played by Tom Hollander) is a scientist, and his wife Connie (played by Saskia Reeves) is an artist; their son Albie (played by Tom Taylor) is about to start university.
    I am not one who argues that to be working-class you must reside in a council flat and exist on a diet of pie and mash and drink brown ale. Assuming Douglas and Connie receive enumeration in the form of wages they are indeed working class. The lifestyle of the characters in this drama is still a considerable improvement on that of the rest of us, however.
    Many of us go through divorce. It is usually an unpleasant experience, especially regarding children and the division of money and property. In Us, the Petersens go on a holiday across Europe, which to me seems a rather enjoyable, even a holiday-of-a-lifetime, experience.
    Us could be best described as a coming of middle-age drama where Douglas, who insists on sticking to a tight itinerary, discovers that he is basically boring and lacks spontaneity. Meanwhile, generational differences are exposed when Douglas wants to view historic buildings and Albie, who is arguably too old to be holiday with his parents, wants to make friends with the opposite sex.
    The drama is interlaced with flashbacks to the 1990s, when the couple first met. This is when I decided that Douglas and Connie were never compatible in the first place; however, in one flashback to the 1990s Douglas’ character impressed me. At a dinner party the young scientist is confronted by a New Age hippie who states that he does not like all these chemicals, Douglas points out that the human body is simply a collection of organic matter. This is something we should be aware of when confronted by anti-rational arguments that oppose scientific logic in the fight against COVID-19.
    Another argument for watching Us is that in an era of travel bans and quarantines, many of us are unlikely to experience a foreign holiday for some time. Travel is an important part of the drama and the idea behind it is that you can discover yourself at any age.

A not so gripping tale

by Ben Soton

 Singapore Grip Six-part ITV series based on the novel by JG Farrell. Stars: David Morrissey, Colm Meaney, Luke Treadaway, Elizabeth Tan and others. On ITV from Sunday 13th September at 9pm, also available on the ITV Hub.

As every TV reviewer now tells us, the ‘Singapore grip’ is a slang term used to describe the sexual act in which a man remains stationary during intercourse whilst a woman clenches her vaginal muscles to pleasure the penis. In all likelihood the man would be of wealthy European decent whilst the woman would be a native of East-Asian origin.
    The Singapore Grip is also ITV1’s latest Sunday Night drama, which takes us back to 1942, just before the Japanese invasion of Singapore, based on the 1978 Booker Prize-winning satirical novel by J G Farrell. The drama centres on the colonial elite who controlled Singapore’s rubber industry.
    In episode one Mr Webb (played by Charles Dance), a somewhat liberal rubber plantation owner, dies. His fortune goes to his son Matthew (played by Luke Treadaway), whom some suspect may be to the left of his father. The plantation manager, Walter Blackett (played by David Morrissey), has ambitions of his own when he encourages his daughter to marry Matthew.
    This, along with the impending Japanese invasion and Mathew taking an interest in the conditions of native workers, sets the scene for the series.
    The idea behind satire is that it makes fun of the truth and the drama does so in ridiculing the last days of the formal British empire in the far east.
    The British authorities in Singapore certainly had their priorities right. At a time when Britain was allied to the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire was poised to march through Malaya, they were still trying to deport communists back to Japanese-controlled China.
    The suspected communist is Vera Chiang (played by Elizabeth Tan), who is saved from deportation by Mr Webb. Interestingly, the colonial official who wants Ms Chiang deported believes that she is more likely to have communist sympathies because she has a high level of education. This is not to say that communists are more intelligent than reactionaries but it also exposes the fear-based mind-set of late colonial officialdom.
    We also see army officers unable to make decisions, which is seen as an important quality in wartime. Meanwhile an Air vice-marshal believes that Japanese militarism can be explained by that country’s high consumption of fish.
    The series uses panoramic camera angles, or more than likely CGI, to show the daily bustle of the city state. This includes British soldiers patrolling Singapore’s poorer areas and shots of the island’s wildlife.
    With a second lockdown increasingly likely, television studios will inevitably close. My advice is to enjoy as much television drama whilst you can.

Making the grade…

A review by Ben Soton 

 Semi-Detached:  BBC2, Thursdays at 9.30pm, also available on BBC iPlayer. Writers: David Crow and Oliver Maltman. Director: Ben Palmer. Stars: Lee Mack, Neil Fitzmaurice, Ellie White, Samantha Spiro, Patrick Baladi, Clive Russell, Sarah Hoare, Geoffrey McGivern and others.         

    Many British people live in semi-detached homes, or in the place referred to as suburbia, away from the inner-cities or sink estates but still not the countryside. Pete Seeger mocked this way of life with his folk rendition of Little Boxes in 1963. Manfred Mann did the same a few years later with his Semi Detached Suburban Mr James. Because suburbia covers such a wide and all-encompassing area it is so-easily ridiculed; but by ridiculing so much it becomes inoffensive.
    The semi-detached lifestyle is a step up for many who grew up on council estates or the inner-city, whilst a source of snobbery for the more well-healed. A suburban area of any town or city in Britain will contain those to whom it is a step up and some to whom it is a step down, as well as those who have always lived there. It is a great meeting place and for this reason a great theme for comedy.
    Suburbia is the theme of Semi-Detached, the latest BBC2 sitcom. The main character Stuart, played by Lee Mack, is a dysfunctional 50-something with chronic IBS who for lives with his younger partner in the same street as his politician ex-wife and her partner Ted. For Stuart, a DJ, this lifestyle is an upward move; whilst for his nemesis Ted, played by Patrick Baladi, it is a step down. The street is shared by the sexually liberated Barry and his partner, who are happy to share their sexual exploits with everyone, whether they are interested or not. Thrown in for good measure are Stuart’s brother, on the run from money-lenders, and his aging father who has recently come out as gay. This combination of insecurity, snobbery, envy and free-love leads to a chaotic environment.
    From the Adventures of a Taxi Driver and its sequels of the 1970s, the not-so-funny Terry & June of the 1980s to the Keeping Up Appearances series of the 1990s, suburbia has always been a source of amusement. Semi-Detached however, shows a different place. The earlier series showed an ordered setting, often upset by intruders. In the case of the Adventures films it was the working-class taxi-driver or plumber; whilst with Keeping Up Appearances it was Hyacinth’s less well-heeled relatives.
    In the past viewers were always asking the question, are these people as repressed as they are made out?
    Semi-Detached, however, shows suburbia in a state of complete chaos. Stuart’s father regularly brings in men he met on Grinder. His brother attempts to smuggle himself into France on a cross-channel ferry. Meanwhile Stuart puts up with continual abuse from the distinctly unpleasant Ted but gets his own back by being sick over him.
    I could be tempted to say that the series shows how suburbia has changed, but perhaps it was a place always full of insecurities and secrets.
    Think of the so-called swingers’ parties of the 1970s. What has changed is that today we no longer hide them behind net curtains. Either way, suburbia and the semi-detached lifestyle will be a source of amusement for a long time to come.

The seedy side of Georgian London

by Ben Soton

 Harlots}(2017–2019). Creators: Moira Buffini and Alison Newman. Stars: Lesley Manville, Kate Fleetwood, Holli Dempsey. BBC2, from Wednesday 5th August at 9pm, starting with a uble-bill. Series one and two will air back-to-back.

It is a common misconception that the past was more puritanical than the present. It may have been the case in the Victorian era and obviously the short-lived Puritan-led English Republic of the 17th Century but not Georgian London which is the setting of the BBC drama Harlots. This was Whig England. The Whigs, the principal supporters of the 1688 ‘Glorious Revolution’ were largely aristocratic land magnates, who had made their wealth from financial investments in land, tobacco, sugar and of course the slave trade. They opposed the excesses of absolute monarchy, which they saw as a hindrance on trade. They were in many ways the ‘extreme centre’ of their day.
    The theme of the drama is the sex industry. There is an ongoing discussion about the nature of prostitution and its role within capitalism. Some argue that it is no different than any other form of wage labour. However, when we sell our labour power, whether working as delivery drivers, nurses, construction workers or even entertainment correspondents we are selling something external to ourselves. This is not the same as selling your body.
    Harlots shows the multiple sides to prostitution in the Georgian era and is best be described as anti-prostitution and pro-prostitute. At one extreme Charlotte Wells, played by Jessica Brown-Finlay is the mistress of a wealthy aristocrat and Member of Parliament Sir George Howard. She gets him to pay off her gambling depts and buy her jewellery. At the other extreme Mary Cooper is found in the gutter dying of syphilis whilst the drama shows various degrees between the two extremes.
    Much of the plot centres around the rivalry between two rival Madams. Lydia Quigley, played by Lesley Manville plays an established Madam and is able to attract many of the Whig elite. Whilst Margaret Wells (Charlotte Wells’ mother), played by Samantha Morton is coming up in the world. Quigley makes every attempt to thwart her rise by trying to get Wells’ brothel closed down and even hiring a religious zealot to campaign against her; hypocrisy is not a new phenomenon. Wells is no saint either as she sells her younger daughter’s virginity to obtain the lease on a new property in Greek Street. This raises the question of who are we to judge? In eighteenth century London there were few other means of survival for these women.
    Full of sex scenes Harlots shows the sleazy and decadent side of Georgian London. It has the makings of a successful costume drama with an element of intrigue and a touch of tragedy. The characters come to life with strong acting. In a non-judgmental way, it gives us a limited insight into the period just prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Dreams of Gold in Victorian New Zealand

by Ben Soton

The Luminaries (2020), TV mini-series. Stars: Eve Hewson, Eva Green, Himesh Patel. Produced by: BBC Two, Southern Light Films and Working Title Television. Distributed by: BBC Two (UK) (TV) and TVNZ (2020) (New Zealand) (TV).

The BBC’s most recent historical drama The Luminaries is based on Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Set during the New Zealand Gold Rush of the 1860s, it combines mysticism, suspense and romance.

The main character Anna Wetherill (played by Eve Hewson) arrives in New Zealand to make a new life for herself.  She finds herself cheated and forced into prostitution and opium addiction by Lydia Wells (played by Eva Green), a brothel madam with a side-line in fortune telling.

I was expecting a poorly lit, barely audible drama, rather like the adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn a few years ago. Instead I was pleasantly surprised; a multi-layered plot is emerging based around the lives of the settlers with some reference to the native Maori population. Like any historical drama, it raises several questions.

It raises the question of different models used by British imperialism in the 19^th century. The Indian model was used in places of high population with high levels of economic development; local elites needed to be co-opted as well as forced into accepting Imperial domination. Both India and later Egypt had established textile industries, which were later destroyed in order to protect British industry. This resulted in a native population ruled over by a British administration with varying degrees of collaboration by the local elite.

The alternative was the Australian model applied to areas of low economic development, consisting of hunter gatherer or primitive agricultural societies. This model resulted in the settlement of large numbers of British or Irish migrants, and the displacement of or even genocide against the local population. This resulted in Anglophile colonies such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand that were largely loyal to the Mother Country and were the first parts of the British Empire to achieve self-government.

New Zealand contained elements of both. The Treaty of Waitangi (1840) was signed between Maori Chiefs and the British Government, and today elements of Maori culture have been integrated into New Zealand society. A famous example is the country’s All Blacks national rugby team chanting the Haka, a Maori war dance. But out of a population of around five million, over 70 per cent is of British and other European descent and the Maoris remain second-class citizens.

The drama also exposes the myth of the Gold Rush. Successful prospecting requires economies of scale and large quantities of equipment and capital, making success for the individual prospector unlikely. As Anna is told in Episode One, few made money from individual prospecting, the most successful are those who provide services for the prospectors such as the selling of mining equipment, opening guest houses and the provision of food, drink and entertainment, including prostitution.

The Luminaries goes some of the way to exposing the human misery that entwined 19^th century capitalism – in particular, the role of the sex trade and the treatment of women.  The racial angle concentrates on the position of Chinese labour, which shows the link between opium trade and British imperialism. We see this as Anna’s life goes from bad to worse, whilst hoping to be rescued from her sorry state.