'Cambridge Spies'...because the world needs to know if RPJ makes as good a spy as he does spy catcher.

Hurrah! I finally located a copy of Cambridge Spies. It's been on my list for a good 5 years now and I've long resisted the temptation to buy it, though hovering at $20, that averages to $5 per spy. Not a bad deal when you consider they are played by Toby Stephens, Rupert Penry-Jones, Tom Hollander, and Timothy West. The lot of them are...the Cambridge spies, or Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, and Anthony Blunt, or the most dastardly double agents in the history of espionage, or plain English toffs. The 4 part BBC1 series chronicles the spies' early days at Cambridge up to Burgess and Maclean's defection to the Soviet Union in 1951. Though it didn't tear up the ratings or win the hearts and minds of most critics, I'm hopeful. Toby Stephens and Tom Hollander are generally a sound insurance policy against defective storytelling and substandard acting, as is the BAFTA winning scribe Peter Moffat. He also brought us North Square (another RPJ vehicle), Macbeth in the Shakespeare Re-Told series (featuring 'spies' Keeley Hawes and Richard Armitage), and Hawking (with Tom Ward who looks like David Tennant, just saying). What an inbred family, that British television. The lady in the picture, by the way, is Anna-Louise Plowman, or Mrs Toby Stephens to you.

'Whitechapel' - the first cut.

Ugh, eat, eat before diving into Whitechapel. Don't repeat my mistake of dining on cold leftovers, alone, at night, in a tiny dark room. The first 10 minutes of this 3 part show are already making me wish for more sterile bloodshed. Even Ben Kaplan's death by piano wire in series 7 of Spooks was more palatable than what I'm watching now. But stomach notwithstanding, a respectable start. Murder's murder, after all, and it ain't pretty, even if the people solving them are.

The first death comes quickly and the victim's gurgling taunts the viewer while a police officer carefully approaches the scene - a sharp contrast to the posh bow-tie party that RPJ finds himself at. His senior promises an administrative post as soon as he completes the rounds, and so off boy wonder goes to head up a murder investigation. At the scene, DS Ray Miles (Phil Davis) isn't altogether thrilled at the prospect of another ladder climber taking control, and DI Joseph Chandler's (Mr Penry-Jones) inability to keep his dinner down doesn't reassure him. The fireworks aren't popping, yet, but the egos have surely landed.

Admittedly, Rupert Penry-Jones is not the most devastating actor that Britain has to offer, and I doubt that playing another posh totty law enforcement officer does much for the resume. We'll see if he brings any gravitas to the role, or if he continues to rely on above average writing to float his career. Or more dynamic costars. One senses that Phil Davis, who's always reminded me of a far tamer, and British, Gary Busey, has an enormous store of psychotic energy. He doesn't so much speak his lines as he does growl them, delivering a sharp punch that fills the screen without overpowering it. It makes his the more intriguing character to watch, a good thing because I'm only 10 minutes into the show. Back to!

Adieu, 'Spooks', for now.

Alas, my Spooks run must be put on indefinite hold as I am out of access. Where are you, series 5 and 6?! I just finished series 4, in which Adam was pelted with a bullet by a lunatic sharpshooter and rogue agent. Unlike Lucas North who, in series 7, managed to ferry Ros and traitor Connie through London's underground after being hit, poor Adam is left gurgling blood whilst Harry looks to be the next target. Even though word is that the next two series played more like the Adam Show - not that I particularly object to excessive displays of Rupert Penry-Jones - a lot goes down in those forthcoming episodes, in the form of tech guy Colin, nice Ruth, and hottie Zaf. There is an attempted coup, more Adam going crazy, and the introduction of superwoman Ros Myers.

But, if it's RPJ we're looking for, I think I've just set myself up for an evening with Whitechapel, a surprise ITV hit from 2009. The show mashes together some contrasting police personalities in order to solve some Jack the Ripper copycat murders. Mr Penry-Jones does a natural turn as the posh, media-savvy detective inspector who thinks the department foot soldiers could do better with a tie and some deodorant. Phil Davies, who played his boss in the short-lived lawyer drama North Square, prefers the gruff and scrubby way of solving murders and that sort of thing. Whitechapel's been commissioned for a second series, so I'm looking forward to playing catchup.

Persuasion

Something I really want to watch right now.....Persuasion. Otherwise, nothing else to say. My mind is empty of thought.

The TV BAFTAs v.2009

UPDATE: Ahh, Richard has appeared, presented, and left. The Armitage Army/Spooks boards will be quieted now. Time for some sleep.

***
I now understand the allure of Twitter. It's meant for things like updating sports scores and red carpet sightings. Not to be used by politicians to feign coolness and twit twatty jabs at one another. So I've been refreshing my pages every few minutes to get updates. Rubbish. How early 2000s of me.

They've given about half the awards, and the first one out - Best Drama Series. Result...Spooks lost! :( Admittedly expected because Wallander had the hype. I guess if The Wire never won an Emmy, we can live with great shows getting shafted. Anyway, there are more important things in life. I'm waiting for Richard Armitage to present an award but not sure how much longer I can hold out. Rupert Penry Jones has had his go. The things I want to say about him, and the presenters in general, must be put in context with the tone of the show and Graham Norton's Letterman-like performance. But I'm tired, so these thoughts will have to come once I've got my 8 hours.

Anatomy of an Obsession

When there's not much to write about.....how I became an avowed Richard Armitage fan.

After perusing the fan forums, I conclude that I'm not entirely off the deep end, though admittedly more delusional than your average television viewer. Still nuts enough to write an entire blog post about an actor though, as if obsessing alone somehow dampens the crazy factor. It doesn't.

Crazy kicked off with a random viewing of North Square, a show about some posh totty lawyers. RPJ played his usual smug, smart, but somehow lovable self. About this time, the 7th series of Spooks was starting. I gave it a go, only because of one Rupert Penry-Jones. Little did I know he was going to get blown up in the first episode, or that I wouldn't miss him at all thereafter, or that the show would be awesome. Didn't really pay attention when Lucas North was first dragged out with a bag over his head. It wasn't until the conversation in the car with Harry Pierce that the man even registered on the radar. It's the moment when Lucas says that he'd agree to play spy for the Russians and he gets this look...is he really a double agent? Verrry intriguing. While everyone else was deciding what side he's on, I was trying to figure out if this scraggly actor (his character had just emerged from 8 years of Russian imprisonment) was dangerously handsome or just a skinny dude who needed a haircut, a shower, and some chicken.

Well, we know how that one turned out. Here is where credit goes to the show for its delicious powers of seduction. Those first 60 minutes of season 7 were television crack. There were many plot and character strands that converged into one explosive climax - possible double agent, massive bomb plot, kidnapped soldier. What really hooked me though was the return of Ros, agent extraordinaire. If MI5 recruited more people like her, they wouldn't be leaving shit in cabs and trains all the time. In her opening scene, she is informed by the Section D that her mission is compromised, and she's ordered out of Russia where she's working undercover. But one phone call ain't stopping this woman. She's minutes away from reaching her contact, and when she arrives, the guy's dead. As she's searching his body for information, she spies, from a beer bottle, an assassin. Within seconds, she disposes of the guy, probably with her bare hands and without secreting a bead of sweat. In my Second Life, I want to be Ros.

But I diverge. By now, I'm hooked, and since Lucas North is kind of a major character, and because he appears tattooed, shirtless, and ripped, my curiosity is piqued. Naturally, I do a little research. I don't remember what came next - Robin Hood, Vicar of Dibley, or North and South - but the combination of those 3, plus the ongoing series of Spooks was like Charlie getting lost in the Chocolate Factory (wait a minute...). Pure imagination and sensory overload.


And that's how it happened.

Hello, 2009!!

Watching: Robin Hood S02E011
Listening: BBC Podcast - Beyond Belief
Reading: Persuasion by Jane Austen

News of the Day:

• Crappy Christmas gifts for sale on eBay.
• 14lb baby. Truly.
• A somewhat smaller baby gets glue in her brain.
• Love amid the ruins after the Sichuan earthquake.
• Life lessons from board games.
• Phantom of the Opera, Part Deux. Good idea or bad idea? The Times thinks not.
• Sharks are wimps.
• Yes, more Rupert Penry-Jones. 5 Minutes interview segment on BBC about Adam Carter's Big Bang, 39 Steps, and his massively good looks.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Holiday television I

Watching: Robin Hood S02E02
Listening: Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
Reading: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill

News of the Day:

• Harold Pinter...dies.
• New Wallace and Gromit!! And it's toasty.
• China's melamined milk trial opens. Let's hope the judges' bubble teas aren't tainted.
• Recycle your mobile, or die.
• Spider ancestors.
• China v Pirates (of the Aaargh, matey variety).
• The Pirates (of the Pittsburgh variety) sign two Indian pitchers after reality show performances. Expect a Bollywood version soon!
• The Times asks: Are de luxe CDs a rip off? Yes.
• Board games and Christmas are as sure as passing Go and collecting $200, or landing in Jail.
• Baby born on floor. Scary.
• Another Rupert Penry-Jones article to celebrate this Sunday's 39 Steps. And pictures, just for good measure. (A 'posh totty' indeed.)
  

Christmas television. We don't have Christmas specials in America because our television seasons are twice as long and usually run through the holidays. Instead, we have A Christmas Story marathons. Well, marathons of all sorts and lots of football. (Hail, Notre Dame!) Anyway, I managed to get bits and bobs of UK Christmas programming. Mark Gatiss's Crooked House freaked me out proper, and I only watched one episode. I caught part deux because my favorite History Boy, Samuel Barnett, did another effeminate turn, this time as Billy, the main guy's good chum. The show comes in three episodes and the spooky stories are linked by a haunted house and the discovery of an old door knocker. I'll spoil the surprise and say a ghostly, or ghastly, bride haunts another bride-to-be. This in and of itself is not too scary - except her eyes are gouged out!! Bridal apparitions freak me out more than clowns (although I'm also watching Ashes to Ashes at the moment).

My second taste of BBC Christmas was Gavin and Stacey. I'll admit this is the first episode I've seen in full. (The one with the History Boys at the bachelor party doesn't count because it's chopped up on Youtube.) The Barry clan head over to the Shipmans' for Christmas, and everyone kind of gets more than they bargained for - except for dear Smithy (James Corden) who finds himself increasingly squeezed out of his son's life by bus driver Dave. Ehhh...it was endearing, the way you're family is endearing after overdosing on Christmas ham, eggnog, green bean casserole, and one too many stories from crazy uncle. Which means I managed an emotional attachment to the characters but none of the cozy, fleecy embrace I was hoping for considering how much people adore this show; there were some smiles but no healthy laughs. I like that the tension between Smithy and Nessa (Ruth Jones) rubs the heart like a Brillo pad at times. Corden and Jones's script is fantastically muted, allowing some real acting for a change. Anyway, it's all a great set up for the third season where we'll see Gavin and Stacey transplanted in Wales for his new assignment and more uncertainty for Smithy, Nessa, Neil, and possibly fiance Dave. Ahh, love, marriage, and that messy bit in between.

My final Christmas treat, and my only present to myself, was the latest Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death. Fantastic! I could amuse myself with plasticine animation for hours, days. This short is a simple story of love, murder, bread, and dogs. The two run a bakery with an adorable assembly line (if one can be called such) that pops out golden lumps of bread. But there is a cereal murderer on the loose, and they could be next! Anyone who doesn't warm to this story should be made to eat stale bread and drink from a hose for the whole of 2009.

There is a post script to all of this, one involving pre-war Britain, spies, and Rupert Penry-Jones, always a fine combination. 39 Steps airs this Sunday so my holiday isn't over yet.

Bugs, Boys, and Broadway

Watching: Mad Men S01E04-05
Listening: Goodbye by S Club 7
Reading: Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt

News of the Day:

• Newly discovered creepy crawlies, including a fluorescent millipede that produces cyanide and a froggy that has actual green blood.
• The French suffer from heavy legs. What are heavy legs?
• Rupert Penry-Jones - slightly vain, obnoxiously gorgeous.
• Dating apparently died. Good thing I was never into it.
• Shrek goes Broadway (with the help of Brian D'Arcy James and Sutton Foster).