John Byrne looks back on Amy Pond's poignant farewell in Doctor Who, while enjoying the return of Monroe and Threesome.
Reviewed: Doctor Who (Saturday, BBC ONE), Monroe (Monday, UTV), Threesome (Monday, Comedy Central).
There’s a USA flag that hangs above my desk in work, not for any other reason than the fact that I love American TV. From The Flitstones to Family Guy, The Rockford Files to Revenge, Lost in Space to Lost, Dallas to – well – Dallas, I have spent a huge chunk of my waking life looking at shows that were produced in the States.
Like the way Irish-made and produced shows can suffer in comparison with the offerings from the UK, our British neighbours can also look pretty poor and opaque when held up side-by-side with the best that the USA has to offer. But that doesn’t mean that British TV is rubbish. Far from it.
In recent times, UK shows have made massive inroads in the US, not least Downton Abbey and Doctor Who, two very British - very English - shows. And while the former brought in a flavour of Amirikay with the addition in its current third season of Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine, the Beeb’s Doctor Who has firmly embraced the USA in recent years – presumably in order to enhance its viewing potential. And why not?
Last Saturday’s fifth and final episode (well, until the Christmas special) on BBC ONE was set in Manhattan, and marked a fitting and quite poignant farewell for the Doc’s hugely popular assistant, Amy Pond, and her husband, Rory. Although we didn’t get to see a huge amount of The Big Apple, what we did get plenty of was those wicked Weeping Angels, surely the most terrifying creation in TV history since 'Allo 'Allo.
Indeed, the Angels seemed to have been invented with this episode in mind, as they gradually created an ultimately unavoidable situation that saw Amy and Rory disappear from the Doctor’s life forever, so that they could live out their lives together.
It was a wonderfully-told story that left me shattered at the end. Not since Juliet’s death in Lost have I felt so moved by the demise of a TV character. The sense of loss was compounded by the feeling that Doctor Who – with Matt Smith as the Doc and Karen Gillen as assistant Amy – had never been better. Truly, this is the end of a great, maybe the greatest, era in the show's long and chequered history.
Monroe: 'there’s an everyman quality about James Nesbitt'
On to Monday, then, and the return of a British drama that owes a lot to American TV: James Nesbitt’s latest vehicle, Monroe (UTV). If you missed the first season, Monroe’s a quirky, depressive, maverick medic whose private life is a shambles, but who helps people with chronic conditions with the aid of his neurosurgical skills and his team of committed fellow medics. So far, so very House. And while Monroe suffers when directly compared with Hugh Laurie’s once superb show (which sadly overstayed its welcome by a season or two), if it's judged on its own merits it stands up well.
A lot of that’s down to Nesbitt, although the supporting cast (including former Mistresses’ star Sarah Parish and the reliable Neil Pearson) combine to make an impressible ensemble, and the writing's pretty good, too. There’s an everyman quality about the Antrim man, and it’s that relatability that’s kept his profile up ever since he appeared in the wonderful Hear My Song way back in 1991.
Personally, I could do without the CSI-like operation camera angles and focus – in the second season’s opening episode there was a fair bit of inner skull up for grabs while I was dipping my chocolate digestives in my coffee - but it’s a minor price to pay for such watchable telly.
Threesome - everyone involved seems to be having great fun, which is always a good sign
Monday also saw the return of Threesome (Comedy Central), a comedy that I thought hadn’t a chance thanks to an utterly unfunny pilot and a frankly daft concept. But, here we are, season two, and it’s turning into a show that’s at least as good as most of the newer American network sitcoms (yeah, I know - faint praise indeed), and on a fraction of their budgets.
Starring our own Amy Huberman alongside Emun Elliot and Stephen Wright as a straight couple and the bloke's gay best friend who all live together, the show’s premise was based around the short-term fact that Alice (Huberman) had gotten pregnant by gay Richie (Elliott) after a night on the lash. Along with Alice’s boyfriend Mitch (Wright), they decided to bring up the baby together.
With the baby born, it means that the second season is going to be about parenthood practicalities – and getting on with life. Mitch fancies training as a teacher but doesn’t have the grades to get into teacher training college, so he has to go back to school to re-sit exams.
It’s all pretty daft, but there’s a nice touch when Joe Thomas of The Inbetweeners (he played sex-spoofer Simon) appears as a well-meaning teacher, while everyone involved seems to be having great fun, which is always a good sign. Threesome has come in for a lot of bad press, but while it’s no classic it’s certainly much more fun than most of the recent comedy output from the Beeb or ITV. Citizen Khan, anyone?
John Byrne
