Dear John : Something Special

Back in 1998, the BBC started releasing virtually every sitcom they had under the new ’Playback’ banner, and as the year progressed the then new DVD market was beginning to blossom, so for a short time both VHS and DVD boxsets were available. Dear John forever the victim of circumstance was released only on VHS. The Playback range was akin to a shark, it just keep moving forward and didn’t take the time to look back, so Dear John appearing on DVD would have to wait a further 12 years. Acorn finally acquired the rights and released both series with the Christmas Special in 2010.
The boxset is as complete as it can be, several cuts have been made due to music copyright problems, the first episode is especially affected by this with the ending being totally recut to avoid using a Beatles track. However having said that at least we have episode 7 of the first series in all its glory and the Christmas special, which to my mind has never enjoyed a terrestrial channel repeat. Why have I singled out episode 7 from the first series? On two occasions series 1 was repeated by the BBC, and twice they failed to show episode 7,mainly due to the fact BBC sitcoms back then were traditionally 6 episodes and if a repeat was scheduled they only tended to free up 6 slots. Of course thanks to GOLD the entire run has seen the light of day (Several times) recently.
Dear John has as I’ve always seen it is truly the forgotten gem in Sullivan’s crown, it turned up in 1986 with little or no fanfare even though at that time Sullivan was truly the Governor of comedy writers, Only Fools And Horses was big and destined to become bigger, and Just Good Friends was another ratings smash for him. In fact at that time Sullivan was a big hero of mine and one of the main influences on me wanting to become a writer. As a comedy series it traded beautifully on Sullivan’s favourite themes, mismatched characters thrown together and the bittersweet nature of life.
Cast wise they came up trumps with a wonderfully cast against type Ralph Bates, as our eponymous hero, he had the truly difficult job of making John seem likeable and well rounded, bringing out the decency, the tragedy and the humour. At all times seeming down-trodden, but still with enough about him that he will carry on. No mean feat and for a man who was associated with Hammer horror and villain roles, Bates plays it absolutely pitch perfect.

Of course any sitcom is only as good as the supporting cast and in true Sullivan style, Dear John has one of the very best line ups ever assembled in a sitcom. Louise, Kate, Kirk and Ralph the core four members of the 1-2-1 group (Friday group), are all instantly classic characters, with hilarious, tragic but at all times consistently believable back stories. And as series 1 progressed we discovered that they have all borne the scars of love and experienced heartbreak….well nearly all of them. Also special mention must go to John’s best friend Ken and his wife Maggie…clearly brought in to show the flipside of the coin and generally putting forward the idea that domestic bliss is a fallacy

Highlights from the first series include, the loss of Terry,Ralph’s constant companion, Kate’s revelation of three failed marriages, Dazzling Darren Dring superstar DJ, Ken’s attempts at an affair and the man behind Kirk StMoritz. The first series ends on an appropriate downbeat tone, but the series garnered enough good reviews to be commissioned for a second.
The second series is lighter in tone than the first and there are some rays of hope and happiness for John, the potential for a new romance and promotion at work. Alas in true Dear John style he’s a victim of circumstance and through his own niceness and naivety they both come to naught. Also casting problems arose. Belinda Lang jumps ship mid-way through the second series having been tempted by a lucrative deal to appear in the period soap opera The Bretts on ITV. Which explains the new hairdo in Series 2. Her replacement Sylvia a minor character from Series 1 is decent enough but lacks the spark that Kate’s character has.

One of my most favourite aspects of Dear John is the superb rapport between John and his son Toby, which is hardly surprising as his own real life son plays him. I generally don’t rate child actors but William Bates is just wonderful, and delivers one of the best gags in the series regarding the penguins at the Zoo.

The last we see of John and co is the 1987 Christmas special, now back in the 80s the BBC operated a strict pecking order when it came to Christmas specials, they had 90min filmed episodes for the rating smashes, then they had the 50-60min format for those who were building up the ratings nicely and then they had the 30min extra episode for those who had yet to prove themselves but it was worth a punt to broadcast one over the holiday period. Dear John fell into the middle category and it is a near as perfect a Christmas special as you’re ever likely to watch, funny, tragic and ultimately John emerges as the most decent man alive. As he forgoes his own personal enjoyment to help others.

Now it is a common misconception that Dear John came to an abrupt end due to the untimely demise of Ralph Bates, the real reasoning behind it was ill health prevented him from returning to work on the proposed third series and he passed away in early 1991. It was always Sullivan’s hope Bates would eventually be well enough to return for a third series and even mooted the possibility of the 1-2-1club continuing as a direct spin off reasoning the characters were strong enough to front their own series, thankfully sense prevailed and it was at Christmas 1987 we bid farewell to John.

However it was not the end for Sullivan as bizarrely one of his lesser known works in the UK became his biggest money spinner in the US, Dear John USA(as we British viewers came to know it) ran for four series and a total of 90 episodes and as American remakes go, it’s actually pretty good. Judd Hirsch is a perfect Americanised version of John and the supporting cast are equally well cast. There is an attempt to remove the overall downbeat tone of the British version, however thanks to the cast and especially the efforts of Hirsch, it still provides some lovely bittersweet moments, and like many American remakes once it escapes from the shackles of redoing the original British scripts. It finds its legs and a voice all its own. Overall pretty good and well worth seeking out.

When James Ellroy paid Belfast a visit

Saturday the 7^th of November 2009. The Waterfront. Belfast. A man came to visit and somewhere deep inside me I knew things would never be the same………..Please excuse the cack-handed attempt to ape the style of a true master. The night James Ellroy came to visit Belfast to publicise his new Blood’s A Rover, the long awaited final part of his Underworld USA trilogy, will be a night long cherished by fans of American crime fiction. The event was organised with aplomb by David of No Alibis fame, who had somehow managed to secure Belfast as the final leg of Ellroy’s exhaustive tour. He came lurching on looking for all the world like John Malkovich’s dad, he read some selected passages from Blood’s a Rover, well I say read but I can’t help but feel it doesn’t really do him justice Barked and snarled seems much more apt. A short interview followed with Stuart Neville, where you could see he wanted to ask Mr Ellroy tough questions, but I think he was just as awestruck as the rest of us.

However there was meat in his responses and Ellroy emerged as a bizarrely and infuriatingly contradictory person, I drew my own conclusion that he’s basically a right-wing nut-job with strong liberal views; God only knows how he gets through the day? He talked about why the book took so long, he talked about an affair he engaged in and he also spoke about his breakdown. Blunt honest and self-effacing doesn’t even begin to cover it. The Q&A with the audience went over well, however he was welcomed to Belfast so many times I suspect he begin to worry was he ever getting out of the place. Also time has softened his attitude towards the movie LA Confidential, years ago when it came out, he had very little time for it, but he spoke fondly of it and even cracked a joke about one of the actors involved. My heart did go out to the poor guy who stood up and praised his favourite Ellroy book before asking his question about it. Only to get the response, basically translated as I hate that book, I wrote it for money and I will never write another like it.

As I left the Waterfront that night clutching my copy of Blood’s A Rover, I looked back and saw Mr Ellroy holding court, signing books and joking with his fans. I noticed a man staring intently at him. This guy looked like he had stepped straight off the pages of an Ellroy novel. A quiet man bristling with tension and ruthlessness. I asked David who he was and was told it was Ellroy’s agent who had flown in from New York for the last night of the tour. Of course it was, who else could it possibly be.

Game of Thrones Series 1 - Kinda Spoiler Free

Never in a million years did I think I would not only have watched and enjoyed Game of Thrones, but I would also be compelled to do a write up on the first series...

Now to make clear from the start I haven't read the books, I don't intend to ever read the books, I'm not reviewing the books, I'm reviewing the TV Series.....This is not to denigrate the books I'm sure they are fine exponents of the printed word, but that genre has never really been my cup of tea. Which leads into my first thoughts about the series Game of Thrones...which was 'Sounds alright I suppose'. It only really came to my attention because parts of it were being filmed in Northern Ireland, and HBO(Second only to the BBC) were producing it.

From the opening of the first episode 'Winter is Coming' the info dump is intense and and can leave you reeling a bit, various houses are introduced Stark of Winterfell, The Lannisters, Targaryen and Baratheon...not mention various acolytes, henchmen and old enemies. Virtually everybody comes with a lot of emotional baggage and some semblance of a back story. So there is an awful lot to take in, having said that by the end of the second episode you have a very sure grasp of what is happening, why it is happening and exactly who it is happening to...but much more than that,you care about the characters, and with such an ensemble and in such a short space of time this is no mean feat. So all credit to the writing team on this series.

Overall the approach of the series seems to be in true HBO style, a broad canvas upon which a plethora of characters are strewn across the locations, inter-connecting back-stories and narratives linking them all in some shape or form. The climax of the season comes in the penultimate episode and the final episode is used to wrap up any loose ends and prepare the ground for the second series. Hell it worked for The Sopranos and Six Feet Under so if it ain't broke don't fix it.

It's not often you watch a series and are looking at the casting and thinking uniformly 'Yeah they've got that pretty much spot on' - Game of Thrones is one of those series. Also if you had told me last year that I'd be raving about a series that featured Sean Bean, Mark Addy and Jerome Flynn in it. It would probably have lead to me punching that person in the face and telling them shut up. But they are three actors I've never really had a lot of time for Bean is overrated, Addy is annoying and Flynn well it's Jerome Flynn for God's sake. But yet all three were excellent, assured believable performances with just the right amount of OTTness, which this series requires.

The other thing I love about the casting is the high proliferation of the 'Old Guard', I'm talking about stalwarts such as Peter Vaughan,Julian Glover,James Cosmo,Clive Mantle, Charles Dance and Donald Sumpter. Actors of that caliber really do raise the bar for the series, they bring depth and subtlety to their characterisations, and in some scenes they only have a few lines but they command your attention nonetheless. And just when you think you know them and what makes them tick, their characters pull a surprise out of the bag towards the end of the series. Vaughan's Aemon reveals his family history, Glover's Pycelle demonstrates his deception in court and Dance's Tywin is shown not to be the bloody-minded head of the family as suggested by his offspring throughout the series. Special note must go to Clive Mantle's Greatjon Umber - he plays it like Gene Hunt in Camelot via Monty Python and the Holy Grail....might not be to everybodys' taste but I found him massively entertaining.

As ever with any ensemble cast some people will shine and rise above it to potentially steal the thunder, so in no particular order here is my top 5 characters/actors in Game of Thrones.

Iain Glen/Ser Jorah Mormont - A brilliant character played with just the right amount of charm, and old school class,to make him rise above the cliche character he could've been,however the main thing that makes him so fascinating is his relationship with......

Emilia Clarke/Daenerys Targaryen - If any character goes on the obligatory 'Journey' then it's Daenerys Targaryen from the soft easily led sister at the start of the series to dragon wielding Khaleesi at the end of the series, literally rising from the ashes stronger than any Kahl. Magnificent.

Aidan Gillen/Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger - I've always had a weakness for the duplicitous charming characters, I find them so entertaining as they are capable of just about anything and coupled with a bravura performance from Mr Gillen, makes for interesting and intriuging viewing.

Conleth Hill/Lord Varys - Now I've never been a big fan of Conleth Hill, I always felt I was missing something when I seen him act, but his performance in this must be a career best, subtle, clever and creepy, his scenes with Sean Bean in the dungeons are lovely little two-handers that work mainly due to the superb delivery from Mr Hill.

Peter Dinklage/Tyrion Lannister - Very little to add about this character and Mr Dinklage's performance that hasn't already been said, Noble, funny, risque and tragic all doled out in equal measure just perfect, any episodes without him do lack something..

Special mention must go to Jason Momoa as Kahl Drogo who generated his own 'meme' online with Khal Drogo drooling or 'Drogooling' as it came to be known, barely said a word and nearly stole the show, it would seem certain demographics are as shallow as the rest of us.

As with all things there are a couple of niggles, and I do mean only a couple. Firstly the look on Lena Headey's face whenever she is being challenged, is pure 'Smell the Fart' acting of the highest order and I really do wish she would stop doing it as it is undermining the performance in a huge way. Also those ravens don't half get about quick. Something happens in King's Landing and the BlackWatch at the Wall are reading about it minutes later, we cut back to Kings Landing and events have only moved on at most a couple of hours. I know they are being used as a narrative device to push the plot forward, but a careful watch on the timeline within the scripts might be warranted.

Coming from Northern Ireland I really can't let slide the fact some of the location work was done virtually in my own back yard, and I have to say the production team's use of Matte Painting and set decoration was excellent and Tollymore Forest has never looked better, never mind encountering White Walkers I'm surprised they didn't disturb any mushroom pickers....

If you haven't already seen this series....then what the hell are you doing reading this?

Can't wait for the second series, especially after some the plot reveals and developments in the final episode, it is gonna be great........

So that's my round up of series one done and bloody hell I managed to wax lyrically about the series and not mention HBO's usual propensity for excessive nudity once.......ah bugger....there is lots of it by the way....even though Episode7 was oversold to me....unnecessary and gratitious yes....but I did worse on my 21st birthday...but that's another story...for another time.

May as well let the machines take over......

It is a funny thing, technology is both my saviour in the workplace and my executioner. I am a socially awkward person in certain circumstances, and I do attach the label of odd to myself as many others have done so in the past, I don't mind because I accept it to be true. I am truly always the one who can be seen shuffling around in the background, desperately not trying to meet the gaze of strangers and fluffing 'hellos' to people I barely know.

Years ago, when you were in work, the people you worked with were the people you interacted with during your working day. These days not so much as I have always found in the past I tend to not have an awful lot in common with the people I work with, whereas online via sites such as Facebook and Twitter I interact with (Work permitting) my friends and with various other people I have a lot more in common with). The end result is I'm finding myself making less effort with work colleagues, now on the whole and going by past experiences this is no huge loss.

However it has got me thinking what the end result of this will be, could we end up THX1138 style drones just doing our work and not bothering to engage with the person sitting next to us.................but it doesn't matter anyway as they are doing exactly the same thing, so at least nobody is getting offended.

There is a serious side to this some companies take a dim view and have blocked social networking sites within their systems......granted there are sometimes practical reasons for this but the benefits of these sites are being explored as well.....however I'm digressing from my point. Will this see the end of the cliche 'Water Cooler Moments' in work......also what will this mean for office romances....will they all become virtual? Well at least that means the guy with body odour problems who runs the post room might actually be in with a chance.....

What about office parties and work nights out, will the retreat into virtuality see the end of those horrendous experiences? So you see it's not all bad.......

Anyway I've just fallen off my chair the person sitting across from me has just asked me 'Do I like Glee'? - It's an outreach moment and no mistake.....

Was That Me?

Tues 19th
AM..........Woke up feeling tired as usual, the same thoughts that were in my head when I went to sleep are there when I wake up. The constant grind of routine is killing me, the same old feelings the same old tropes.The same banging my head against a brick wall. Basically I'm trying really hard not to overthink or even think about things at all, as I'm worried I will just want to crawl back into bed. Cup of coffee and I'll focus on the rest of the day after that.

Midday.....The sun is shining and I'm still dealing with crap, more rejection, more applications, more phone calls. I seem to be trapped in a rut......starting to believe I'm no good to anybody,feels like something is pulling me down and I'm going to take everybody with me.

PM......That was a terrible day,I've just wanted to scream and shout for the last hour, fell apart and just lay on the bed. My mind was totally numb, nothing was going through it at all. Why am I feeling like this? I want it to stop, I want to feel the way I used to feel.....that seems like such a long time ago.......can't do this anymore today.

Wed 20th

AM..............The day got off to a brilliant start more fighting, all my own fault. I'm not thinking things through, and I seem incapable of doing such a simple thing. I wish I knew where all this was going? It's always the same. Get up for nothing, go through the day for nothing! Sick of it!

Midday.......I'm finding this quite hard to do, as I feel much worse after I've done it, and there are still hours of the day left before I can go back to bed. I miss the person I used to be...that's a good thing right? Missing things is good isn't?

PM...........I've been sitting on a bench for the last 30 odd minutes, staring at nothing...........I know where this is going now...more counselling, more prescriptions for stuff I don't even want......


The above I discovered in an old notebook, and to be honest I'd forgotten I'd ever written it,it was done at the behest of my GP, he wanted me to keep a journal for a few days to ascertain my level of depression.....and as most people know if you don't self harm or wish to harm others or think about killing yourself then you're not that bad.

The scary thing for me was realising how little things had changed in my head, I had just learned to control them a bit better......that was until the end of last year...when my old adage of 'I'm okay I'm always okay just didn't seem to cut it anymore, and feeling the control slipping away from me again terrified me.....it's all about control.

Funny Familiar Forgotten Faces

The return of beloved characters! Is it a good thing? Generally it doesn’t live up to your expectations, and can leave you feeling slightly disappointed. Anyway the 3 we’re looking at:

Star Trek:TNG - Relics
Doctor Who - Battlefield
Blake’s7 - Blake

Nothing is guaranteed to get the fans chomping at the bit more, than the return of a beloved old face from the programme’s past. I’m aware Star Trek has done TOS faces turning up more than once, so why Relics? Also Battlefield wasn’t the Brig’s first return, why Battlefield and not Mawdryn Undead? Gareth Thomas turned up in Terminal via a drug induced dream sequence, why not that instead of Blake? Well at the moment I’m appreciating David Bowie’s Little Wonder in my ears as I type this and all I can say is, at the moment there is method behind my choices.

The return of James Montgomery Scott, we weren’t exactly clamouring for it, but when it was announced that as well as Scotty returning we were also going to get the original bridge recreated! Well that whipped the Trekkies into a frenzy, sadly all too short lived. The bridge is only seen for an extended chat between Scotty and Picard. Also Scotty seems to have been transformed from loveable and curmudgeonly into an annoying pain in the arse, and worse still LaForge the smug banana clip wearing poker up his ass dullard that he is doesn’t seem to appreciate he is in the presence of a legend. Worry not folks it’s simply a plot device so we can have some cosy moralising about how we should appreciate the older members of our community, and look! A contrived situation designed to highlight that the ‘old people’ still have something to offer society. So what do the Beige Brigade do with this enlightened attitude? Well obvious really, kick him off the ship into deep space with only a short range shuttle as transport….Help The Aged should take notes. The main problem with Relics is it could’ve been any elderly engineer/random character hiding in that transporter buffer, and as such all the episode seems to do is serve Doohan and his beloved character a severe injustice.

Whereas with Battlefield as mentioned The Brig had made two appearances 6 years previously, so why the big fuss, well the season opener was going to be a fully fledged UNIT story, a lovingly crafted tribute to the classic stories of the past…..well as we all know that’s not what we got! Oh no what we got was a story that opens in a Garden Centre! At first we thought the Brig is undercover, there’s going to be Krynoids in this Garden Centre! Nope no Krynoids, The centre manager is another of the Master’s disguises as he attempts to bring the world to its knees via the use of mulch? No it’s just a Garden Centre and he’s buying a tree…with his wife!(In one fell swoop ten years of Slash Fiction fell to the wayside). What follows is a very tedious journey as The Brigadier takes his sweet fricking time getting to the action, granted a very nice scene when he meets the 7th Doctor for the first time, and a very quick succession of fanboy pleasing nods including Bessie follow. However at this moment we’re down to about 36 minutes of storytime remaining, and the whole point of bringing The Brig back has been fumbled, fudged and failing dismally. The Doctor and The Brigadier should’ve been together for the majority of the story, so we could see the friendship between the two, so when it looks like Alastair has croaked it, it just might actually mean something to the viewers, alas no it didn’t.And to compound the tedium of the story it finishes with our heroes doing a spot of gardening!!

Now here’s the odd thing what made Battlefield fail, is Blake’s main strength. Keeping Avon and Blake apart makes the final episode absolutely pitch perfect. The tension is drawn out, we become aware of their plans, big stuff happens and yet the main event is still to happen, Avon and Blake meet again(And properly this time, not a dream sequence with Blake and a RSC beard), all very tense. Yes yes Blake chooses his words very poorly, yet I think no matter what he said Avon was going to shoot him anyway (If only to keep the catering budget down),and as if that wasn’t enough everybody dies! The joy of Blake in this episode is, it is clearly the same character but he has changed in the intervening years and Thomas plays it just right, especially when he’s up against a full throttle Paul Darrow who by the time he reached the end of the series, was so OTT even The Shat would be saying reign it in a bit. Also unlike the previous two selections there is a clear and valid reason for the return of Blake, Avon needs him, if he ever hopes to defeat the Federation, so it’s not just tokenism.

It has to be said it is good when old characters turn up, but when they don’t behave the way they have done in the past you have to argue what is the bloody point? However let’s face it producers are going to continue to do it as it initially guarantees good ratings, ever if it’s a clunker of a episode, it generates extra interest, and that to them is always a good thing.

An Idea

Teaser: Earth, England, August 1845. A balmy summer’s night, the three daughters of the household are getting ready to retire for the evening; they are all reading or writing.A distant rumble of thunder, torrential rain starts out of nowhere, the thunder rumbles louder, the girls look out of the window, a screeching splitting noise is heard followed by an almighty crash, all is silent then a knocking sound is heard, the knocking is constant, the daughters go to the main door of the house, asking Who’s There? No answer but the knocking continues, one of the girls open the door. It is the Doctor, dishevelled and beaten, on the point of collapse, he whispers Help Me and falls into their arms.

Act One: The Doctor wakes up, it is the next morning, the three ladies are standing around him, and they introduce themselves as Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, The Doctor’s arm is in a sling, his head is bandaged, they ask him what happened? Flashback to The Doctor and His Companion in the TARDIS, a message is received, it is a wanted dead or alive notice regarding the Doctor, suddenly the TARDIS is under attack, and whatever is attacking the TARDIS is causing temporal energy to leak into the control room, making his companion age rapidly. For her own safety the Doctor puts her into a stasis chamber which will protect her from the temporal energy, the Doctor attempts to steer the TARDIS through the attack, he hits the Earth’s atmosphere, and crash-lands near the Bronte house.

Act Two: The Bounty Hunter that attacked the TARDIS is attempting to pick up the Doctor’s trail again. The Bronte sisters become enamoured of the Doctor, as he recovers
(his Time Lord constitution making him heal quicker than a human), but he is still too weak to make it back to the TARDIS, besieged by questions from the girls, he attempts to explain something about himself. The Bounty Hunter has determined the time and general location, he lands and immediately attacks a villager, demanding information. He is told of the weird weather and burning skies of the night before. Satisfied he is in the right area, he unleashes the Pack, genetically enhanced Ogrons, to track down the Doctor.

Act Three: The Doctor sensing that something is wrong tells the girls to bolt all doors and windows, however it’s too late the Pack come crashing into the house, the Doctor and the Bronte sisters run for their lives, realising that their lives are in danger if they stay with him, the Doctor tells them to hide, and he makes off into the woods. The Pack and The Bounty Hunter follow, a game of cat and mouse ensues, with the injured Doctor coming off the worse.

Act Four: The Doctor is at the mercy of the Bounty Hunter, suddenly the sisters turn up,
They distract the Bounty Hunter, by blasting him with a shotgun this allows the Doctor to escape, Leading the Doctor to safety, with the Bounty Hunter and the Pack in pursuit, however the sister are leading the Bounty Hunter into a trap, he falls into an abandoned pit, when he lands the device that controls the Pack is damaged, without the device the Pack turn on the Bounty Hunter and kill him, The pack are still trapped down the pit, the Doctor comments that without hormone revitalisation they’ll be dead in 36 hours, the sisters help him back to the house, It is the next day the Doctor is nearly back to full strength, he is saying his goodbyes to the sisters, he has managed to dispose of the Bounty Hunter’s ship, and found the TARDIS, the Doctor leaves wondering who would put a bounty on his head. The sisters marvel at the TARDIS dematerialising and also each sister wonders wouldn’t the Doctor be the most marvellous inspiration for a romantic lead in a novel.