This is gonna be regrettably short, hopefully you can forgive me after all I wrote yesterday I just want to write about 3 things I’ve watched in the past week which really deserve a full multi-paragraph entry of their own each. Two ITV drama productions that were first aired this year – “The History of Mr. Polly” and “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” – and one Carlton production that first aired almost a decade ago, “Cider With Rosie”. All of them brilliant, and in the case of the first two in particular, so good they’ve really made me feel bad for all the things I’ve said about ITV Drama in the past.

Lee Evans in “The History of Mr. Polly” – literally everything I see with this guy in these days further cements his position in my mind as one of the greatest actors I have ever seen. This production in particular is interesting – it really calls on his talent as a silent comedian, there’s lots of physical banter, yet it allows him to go seriously deep too, beginning when Polly considers suicide, right up until he’s defending his life in front of the violent Jim. I’d never heard of the HG Wells story let alone read it prior to this but I was hooked from the start. Just an outstanding TV production, and I hope to see Evans up for awards for it in the next year.

Catherine Tate in “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” – well, I always knew she’d be good in this, even more than I knew Lee Evans would be good in anything he took his hand to. It’s the story and the supporting cast here that wowed me. I was properly hooked by this to my utmost astonishment. When I clicked on the Sky+ recording and saw the running time I was simultaneously relieved and wary – 90 minutes, which actually means around 75 if you count ads and credits. Short enough if it turns out to be rubbish; but not long enough to be anything but rubbish. How wrong I was. This packs in a great story that gets to the core of motherhood better than anything I’ve seen (as far as I could know or surmise; for the record, I’d put Kill Bill: Vol 2. at the top of that list). I particular loved the shy new boyfriend, and the subplot regarding Tate’s own super-neglectful parents was a beautifully tragic piece of icing. Director Robin Sheppard previously did the Wuthering Heights update “Sparkhouse” and “At Home With the Braithwaites” ... I really shouldn’t be so surprised at how good this was.

As to “Cider With Rosie” ... I recorded this a while back thinking it was the 1975 BBC version which I’ve wanted to see for some time. Initially I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t – I never knew of this other adaptation – but I was really surprised by how good this newer production was. It reminded me a lot of the other classic childhood stories, except in this case it really doesn’t suffer from what I call the Jane Eyre syndrome (interesting kid, grows up too soon into boring adult). I loved the scene where the beefy-looking kid revolts against the teacher, and I was seriously surprised that even in the late 90s they showed so much in the scene where he takes Jo “down to the river”. I was planning to watch the old version anyway, but this version felt surprisingly like enough, and even got me planning to read the novel. Incidentally, I just noticed on the IMDb that the narrator was Laurie Lee himself – very cool indeed.

So, anyway, BIG sorry to ITV. I’m sure you’ll still make the odd bit of pap, but this triple whammy reminded me of how good you can be.

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