A Television Revolution

By the way, I still reserve the right to call it the 'tele' rather than 'telly', the former, to this writer's mind, being the more acceptable diminutive of 'television'. Deal with it - as fans of the Buffalo Bills used so aptly to put it (sorry haven't got time to explain that one).

There is a glut of really quite passable drama on the tele at the moment. Most notably the big old beast of the BBC is kicking back at the mooted hegemony of the subscription services, in particular Netflix and Amazon. For what it's worth, we prefer Netflix, the Amazon interface not being as user friendly, at least to this sad old e-cripple.

A selection of these new dramas competing for our attention: Bodyguard; Black Earth Rising; Killing Eve; Jack Ryan.

Bodyguard is attracting much of the attention and prompting the discussions in the broadsheets. It has garnered huge (by modern standards, that is to say miles short of the old Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show gold standard) viewing figures for the Beeb. It's quite good, no more - laden with just too many implausibilities. From the enviable mind and pen of Jed Mercurio, it is not a patch on his earlier and brilliant Line of Duty.

Black Earth Rising is a joint production between the BBC and Netflix - the latter screeening it everywhere but the UK. It has a stellar cast and suitably dead serious pretnesions. I've only seen the first episode and that wasn't quite as good as it obviously thinks it ought to be, but since that would be an impossibly high bar, I think this one has potential.

Killing Eve - Again the BBC but this time BBC America, hence presumably the forty-two minute episodes and the casting of the excellent Sandra Oh. Two episodes into this one and for me this is the best of the lot. Quirky, disturbing, amusing, all at the same time. It's an odd sort of target audience that will stay tuned after two such venerable shows as Strictly Come Dancing and Casualty, but let us asume that the schedulers know what they're doing. We watched it on iPlayer, whereat you can get the whole series if you're impatient.

Jack Ryan - I have to confess a guilty pleasure here - I am a fan of the Tom Clancy novels which introduced Ryan to the world - an everyman hero who (spoiler alert) rises to become US President. In the age of Trump this seems more than mildly attractive. This show is more old-fashioned with a lot of big bangs and deafening gun-play, but it's well done.

So all in all, no bad thing for Big Fat Pig to have lapsed back into couch potato mode. There are extenuating crcumstances - a deadline at university is looming and it is BFP's long-practised method to leave things to the last minute. Plus, indignity upon indignity, having set off in my habitual lycra and wholly necessary Oakleys the other day I went arse over tit over an uneven paving slab and had to beat a cowed retreat back to base, dripping blood from hand and arm wounds. Groupie has not been entirely sympathetic particularly as I left some blood stains on the clean bedding. I still bear the scars but I'm being a very brave soldier.