Betty's Utility Room

Okay. Managed to see four episodes of the acclaimed drama, Life On Mars (the acclaimed BBC drama). What a treat for you: a review of a series which was reviewed by everyone else in January. Woopy do.

As mentioned previously, the first episode was wiped due to Sky Plus failure. Saw the second with the husband, who decided he didn't like it after about 10 minutes. I can always tell when he wants to give up on a programme because I can see him looking across at me every few seconds from the corner of my eye.

I suggested we carried on watching for the rest of that episode. Which of course provoked the following response afterwards:

"I only have a few hours a week to relax and you made me give up ONE HOUR of my time to watch that rubbish, and I knew I wouldn't like it from the start".

So I watched the next 3 episodes by myself, because it's "an acclaimed BBC drama" and I like to give things a chance.

Oh, it's fairly entertaining in its own way. The central character, DI Sam Tyler, is in a coma and may or may not have travelled back through time to 1973. I still haven't decided if he really has gone back to 1973, or in his coma is acting out a perceived notion of what it would have been like from watching nostalgia programmes and reading about the era if you're too young to remember much about it. He would have been 4 years old then.

The husband pointed out that the 1973 police had obviously been influenced by The Sweeney (the acclaimed 1970's "hardhitting drama" (tabloid-style cliche) that I was never allowed to watch at the time).

"All the cops used to do on that was punch people up every so often."

All the references to How Different We Were Then get a bit tiring. We're lead to believe that the 1970's were the Dark Ages.

The police seem pretty clueless, and lack the advantages brought about by ADVANCES IN FORENSIC SCIENCE (the latter fact is laid on with a trowel in each episode). Not only that, but a lot of the policemen live up to the racist/sexist/homophobic stereotype compared to our enlightened noughties cop, who's constantly chastising them and is sensitive and caring and wants to prepare food using olive oil instead of lard and encourages his colleagues to "think outside the box". ("LOL", as modern people say). Blimey! Times really have changed and we're all so much more caring and egalitarian these days, aren't we? Well, of course we are, even if the expressions "it's political correctness gone mad!" and "I'm not a racist, but ..." weren't in use in those days.

In the most recent episode I watched, "hardman DCI Hunt" (tabloid-style cliche) was heard to remark that there'd never be a woman Prime Minister in his lifetime (his description was a bit more graphic but this is a blog read by very nicely brought up people, so ...). It reminded me of watching one of those 1930's films set in 1910 where the maid speaks to the lady of the house:

"Modom, your new gentleman friend's waiting outside to see you. He's in one of those new fangled automobile contraptions. If you want my opinion, they'll never catch on."

We are all supposed to roll our eyes and smile to ourselves, safe with the benefit of hindsight. If we're dead easily amused, that is.

One of the worst things is that the WPC has exactly the same hairstyle as me when I was about 13 years old. Slightly greasy flyaway curls (shade: Lifeless Mid Brown). You have to spend about 20 minutes struggling with curling tongs to look that crap. At least that bit was authentically '70's.

I'll carry on watching I suppose.

There's still Green Wing, too.