Interview: Keeley Hawes Talks About Adultery, Comedy and Therapy
Mutual Friends is a new six-part comedy drama series for BBC One starting Tuesday 26 August at 9.00pm starring the wonderful Keeley Hawes (Ashes to Ashes, Spooks).
Martin (Marc Warren) has two best friends, Patrick and Carl, who couldn’t be more different. One is an irresponsible, unreliable, feckless womaniser and the other is dead. Guess which one slept with his wife?
Martin Grantham is happily married to Jen. They have a son, Dan, a nice house, the works. One day his best friend, Carl, throws himself under a train, setting off a disastrous sequence of events that will change Martin’s life for ever.
Into this mess steps Patrick, a friend from way back. Patrick is everything Martin is not – glib, self-confident, popular and pathologically immature. He’s the last person Martin needs in his life right now – or is he?
Keeley Hawes plays Martin’s adulterous wife. As writer Anil Gupta explains: “Jen is her own worst enemy.
“She has a constant, nagging sense that things ought to be better. This makes it very difficult for her to be happy.
“Deep down she kind of knows it’s her problem, but is unable to change herself, so she ends up blaming everyone else and usually Martin.”
He continues: “Jen is superficially the least likeable character, but we always felt that people would be able to identify with her anger and frustration at life.
“We were thrilled when Keeley not only took the part but embraced that aspect of the character.
“Obviously having someone who looks like Keeley in the role helps the likeability!”
Keeley Hawes became a household name as Zoe Reynolds in the hit MI5 drama Spooks.
Other notable roles have included the period drama Our Mutual Friend and the controversial romp Tipping The Velvet.
Keeley starred in the moving ITV drama After Thomas and beat hundreds of hopefuls “to don her leg warmers” and play ambitious psychological profiler DI Alex Drake in Ashes To Ashes, the warmly received sequel to Life On Mars, a second series of which went into production this summer.
Keeley describes her role in Mutual Friends: “Jen is married to Martin; they’re supposed to have been together for 15 years which I didn’t like as I’m only just in my thirties!
“However, she’s getting a bit twitchy and unsettled and she wants more from life. She would like another baby.
“They still love each other but she’s just after a bit of excitement.
“Martin can’t understand and says: ‘We have holidays, we’ve got a new conservatory’ but it’s not enough for her; she’s reaching that sort of stage in her life where she’d probably have wanted to have another child but they haven’t and decides to go off and look for excitement.”
She continues: “She’s just a bit bored and she makes a mistake – and then she repeats the mistake, which is unforgivable I suppose.
“She sleeps with her best friend’s husband – who also happens to be her husband’s best friend.
“But it’s not just a one night stand, as she does it again and this all becomes apparent in the opening of the drama at the funeral when she just blurts it out to Martin.
“She’s a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown and she’s been seeing a therapist, so I think they’ve probably spoken about it and he’s told her she has to tell the truth and tell Martin and just get it out.
But, in fact, it’s extremely selfish of her to impart this information at that specific moment – but then again, she tells him because there’s no way they can move forward otherwise.
“She sort of blames him really. They go on a lovely journey together, but she has a long way to go to repair the damage she’s done.”
Keeley says she doesn’t identify with what Jen does.
“I couldn’t live with that guilt. I don’t think she’s a bad person and she and Martin do have a little boy together and she does want to make the marriage work.
“All of the characters are pretty selfish, but I hope that people will recognise that in themselves because people are a bit selfish aren’t they – generally speaking if we’re honest.”
She laughs: “We have lots of brilliant flashbacks or fantasy sequences, which are a great idea – they just pop up in Martin’s mind, his increasingly fevered imagination.
“There’s me and Carl shagging in various locations and situations which Martin can’t stop imagining and it gets wilder and wilder in his head and of course it starts to drive him mad!”
en has clearly been to see her therapist several times before she takes Martin along with her.
Keeley says: “Jolyon the therapist does, of course, come up with therapist speak; this is what’s going to happen and this is how he’ll react and you just have to stay calm.
“So she’s prepared for a certain reaction. Instead, Martin’s furious, as you would be, but she’s two steps ahead because she’s been seeing this guy and she persuades her husband to go to a session with her, much as he doesn’t want to.
“She is doing it, though, with a view to making their relationship work and make it better and to make another go of it.
“She just assumes that he won’t leave her – which he doesn’t but I personally would never assume that. I think in real life you’d imagine someone storming out, but he doesn’t.”
She continues: “People do now go to therapy more often, which is a healthy thing to do if you want to make something work.
“Before there was a bit of a taboo with people thinking they had failed. There’s no stigma attached to it anymore.
“But in fact the session is all about Jen’s problems – how she can’t continue to feel guilty for the rest of her life even though she is the one who is at fault.”
She adds: “They stay together because he loves her, they’ve got a child and he comes round to the fact that perhaps he hasn’t put enough effort into their relationship.
“But she then asks him not to tell anybody about this affair because the people it involves are close friends so it would destroy all the friendships.
“And when the secret is revealed via another route, she of course thinks it’s Martin who let it slip.”
Keeley really enjoyed getting back together with everyone to film the series almost a year after the pilot – now episode one – was shot.
She says: “We are all such friends, and you can’t fake chemistry.
“Mutual Friends is about old friends and how we can fall in and out of love with them.
“Richard and Anil really understand women and the way they work.
“The series should appeal to fans of Cold Feet, Life Begins and Friends. It’s a drama, but it’s also very funny and has a terrific pace which brings out a lot of the comedy. I really enjoyed making it.”
Review: My Strange Brain- Brains really are strange…
Channel Five, Thursday 21st August, 11.05pm
My Strange Brain, a documentary series exploring unusual neurological conditions felt like a rather natural progression from my previous encounter with the BBC’s Blood and Guts series, the gory first episode shown earlier this week. I’d just got my head around the history of brain surgery, what modern day science can achieve. Sorted. Now, I prepared myself to be stunned by how much the human brain, when damaged, can play havoc with your personality.
Episode 4, Losing Control, tells the story of three individuals whose lives are controlled by their impulses. There’s Heather, the hypersexual, who endured a brain haemorrhage two years ago and since can’t stop humping other men, much to the annoyance of her husband. Then there’s the former chiropractor, John, who can’t control his urge to draw after undergoing brain surgery and Tony, the surgeon whose experience of being struck by lightning has left him haunted by a compulsion to play the piano.
In some ways, the series is a composed, even quite chipper look at the life of some random people, who are different now to what they were before. No big deal, right? Wrong. There’s something in it that’s a little more lingering. Though quite happily getting on with their new character traits, the underlying damage their strange brains have done to their family relationships renders the show poignantly rather bleak, even as they chat judiciously to the camera. There’s no denying, they are the ones who’ve suffered most from this dramatic alteration of persona.
My Strange Brain, on tonight, is a bit of a lesson in coming to terms with an unexpected and dramatic change. Whether trying to amend the effects or simply going along with what’s left, somehow they must deal with the aftermath.
Find out when My Strange Brain is on tonight.
By Susan Allen
Review: Jesus Boy & Goat Herd- Good if You Missed Your Brother’s School Play
This ten minute short comedy on E4 is endearingly bad, in the same way that when you see your kid brother perform in a play that’s he’s written himself with his mates, you find it charming but still, unavoidably, a bit cr*p.
It stars comedy up and comers Jack Whitehall ( Big Brother’s Big Mouth ) and Nathan Thomas ( semi-finalist in 2007’s So You Think You’re Funny ) and is described by E4 as a ‘laid back road movie sitcom’. This is kind of a good description actually, as the two characters spend most of the time in their car on the way to a rave (the rave by the way is probably the lamest I have ever seen put to film. But I think that’s the point).
It’s great when it’s making jokes between the two guys, with Nathan the straight man and Jack the bolshy, bullsh*itting friend. It’s bad when it starts get obvious- making kind of overly sleazy jokes about sex that aren’t very new or funny.
Now, I might be being harsh because these guys are young and this strand on E4 is here to promote young comic talent and the truth is they are actually a lot funnier than some of the other, much poorer stuff on telly (see Lab Rats for example). So really at its worst, it’s a bit like watching your drunken uncle trying to score at a wedding- it’s definitely funny but it also makes you cringe. At best it’s a quick glance at the inner life of teenagers that has lot of potential, not quite reached, but certainly makes you want to watch out for these guys in future.
By McGee Noble
Review: Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery – Into the Brain
BBC4, Wednesday 20th August, 9pm Alert Me
I think my own poor brain may have blocked out most of the frankly disturbing images I witnessed last night. As I tentatively switched on Blood and Guts with duvet at the ready hovering just under my eyes lest the site of head gloop get too much, I took a deep breath as I realised things were about to get gory.
Michael Mosely’s venture into the 120 year old history of neurosurgery has an appealing format that handily proves rather helpful for the squeamish. The two stories running through the show see shots of the live brain surgery of Katherine, a young girl, who is being operated on in a London hospital to rid her of the part that causes epileptic fits, spliced with the tracing of the chronological development of the practice. The great advantage I find to this is that, just when the site of her pulsating brain popping out of the back of her head while she chats happily away to the surgeons is getting a little too much, there comes a welcome release of atmospheric music and the scenes changes. Mosely reposes in some dusty archive where the brains are safely tucked away in jars telling the story of the surgical pioneers while the viewer gets their breath back.
We hear the poignant story of Howard, who was a victim of the lobotomy, the procedure pioneered in the first half of the twentieth century. Having been forced to the surgeon’s table when just eleven by his step mother, who sounds like an evil witch, his is the first lobotomised brain to be scanned. Other highlights include the guy who has electrodes implanted in his brain to stop his arthritis (who though being cured, incidentally ends up looking rather inebriated as he can’t seem to stand still and keeps manically smiling- but that’s cool, he’s happy) and the experiment where Mosely’s mind is interfered with by magnets. This, though pretty impressive, made me considerably uncomfortable at the thought of the mind-controlling potential of contemporary science as my imagination wondered, envisaging us all walking around with electrodes in our brains and being made to perform a horrific synchronized dance routine by some evil dance Lord. Obviously, this is not the worst that could happen, but it’s what popped into my head at the time.
All in all, Blood and Guts is a fascinating and insightful look into the intrepid adventure of discovering the mysteries of the brain and an eye-opener into just what wonders can be achieved in modern day surgery. It will leave you in utter awe of the daily marvels surgeons carry out, if a little apprehensive of the moral minefield that is messing with people’s minds.
Don’t miss Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
By Susan Allen
Sold?: Match.com- Golly! We’re in a predicament!
Oh no! Look what poor Match.com have gone and done! They’ve landed themselves in a right predicament- the dating website has only signed up too many women and not enough men to match them up with, haven’t they? I just don’t know how that could possibly work in their favour… However will they solve the shocker?
Match.com’s new advert proves there’s nothing for it but to appeal to noble men of the world to get on board and valiantly help them out. And how have they done it? By whacking the word “WOMEN” in front of them repeatedly and presenting lots of little brightly coloured women cartoons (that actually look a bit like a suspect bag of fit jelly babies) to make them drool. Oh, and they’re chucking in a free week too.
Of course, this is all part of the grand plan. Looks like the lovable bums, Cupid and Fate of the previous ads, like two scruffy yet amiable doormen at a ‘Girls Get in Free’ club night, managed to charm the ladies to join the site first and now it’s time to engage, Stage 2, Operation: Reel in the Men. Come on, my pretties, look at the weirdly attractive sweeties…You know you want them…
By Susan Allen
Review: Intervention
Fiver, Thursday 21st Aug, 10pm Alert Me
Fiver’s latest car crash telly US import is this little gem ‘Intervention’ airing Thursday night.
For those who haven’t heard of an intervention, it is where the family and friends of a drug addict (or any other kind of addict/social failure/jobless loser) step in and ‘intervene’ to prevent them continuing in self destruction. This is usually done with the help of a councillor who then manages the trip to rehab.
For the same reason I occasionally tune in to Maury (hilarity), I decided to see what this show was like.
The opening voice over is laden with drama. “This is Alyson…” booms Voice Over Guy, over a montage of ex-white house intern Alyson telling us about her addiction- a variety that goes from crack cocaine to morphine. She seems weirdly chirpy. ‘Aw she looks happy’ says my housemate, as Alyson bops her head to music while driving. Alyson is also fairly direct “i’m a drug addict, that comes first”. The Voice Over Guy continues to narrate her life and i’m hooked. She was an Octathalete, a talented violinist, she worked at the White House! How could she go SO wrong? However, when we cut to Alyson scoring in a car park and muttering “crack crack crack crack” over and over again, I just start laughing. I can’t help it, its so heavy handed- oh ok so she’s a DRUUUG addict. Voice Over Guy cuts in; “She does not know that she will soon face an INTERVENTION…” “I hate American television” says my other flatmate, “it’s like a (inappropriate rude word) club to the face”. He’s right, at least with this show, because the message is never delivered as much as hammered into your brain by the means of montage, helpful on screen text notes and a Voice Over Guy. Everything is reiterated in text, so when Alyson say’s “i’m going down to steal morphine” from her dying father, a text comes up on screen saying ‘Alyson is going down to steal morphine’. It feels like you are going home with a guest from Jerry Springer and like the best of these talk shows, it relies on shock value and deceit of the participants to some extent. Alyson doesn’t know she is being filmed for the show (although she does know she is being filmed) and she definitely doesn’t know that it will end in an intervention, also to be filmed.
Underneath the layers of trash though, is a true story and I can’t help but become engaged. Will Alyson remain a drug addict? Will her parents be able to cope? Will she accept her intervention? Underneath the text, voice over and heavy editing is a genuinely interesting story made a whole lot less interesting by all the fancy pants editing and stupid voice over. But while we get a snapshot of a true story, there is little depth in this ‘documentary’ series, that relies more on its formulaic structure and overzealous narrative tools than on the subjects telling their stories.
Review: Smallville Casts Troll as Supergirl
Channel 4, Tuesday 19th Aug, 9pm Alert Me
Tear your eyes away from the midriff and you will see that she is a bit of a prawn (great body, shame about the face)
When I first saw Smallville, what 7 years ago now, I thought it was a bit pants. Watchable, but sure to die an early death. Turns out I’m not head of a major station for a reason, since it’s been a hit show for going on 8 seasons now. I caught up with tonight’s episode to see how the show has developed.
Tom Welling as the young Clarke Kent is as ridiculously good looking as ever and I’m afraid this episode sees him spend most of his time in a kryptonite reinforced cage, writhing in agony. This is something I remember from the early days of this show: since Superman is pretty much vulnerable only to Kryptonite, it means the writers have to come up with increasingly elaborate ways of using the device. Instead of just holding the rock up to his face and laughing (the most obvious use) this week they have it tasered into him. Just like in American high schools. No not really. Although in some of them. Don’t Tase Me Bro just took on a new meaning.
Since Clark is kidnapped it falls to Chloe and Lana to rescue him, but since Kara is powerless how will they do it? The machinations of the Luthors, both father and son, are ever darker with Lex steadily donning the supervillain mantle.
Kara is new to the show since I last watched and what I can’t understand is how they can cast such a horribly unattractive girl as Supergirl. Excuse my harsh judgement, (or don’t- meh whatever) but still, she looks especially gremlin-like in comparison to the early hot casting of Lana. A true troll of a super hero, she might save you but she’ll probably eat you later. Nom nom nom.
All in all, its easy to watch, and it’s developed a distinct mythology since its early days with the ol’ ‘high schooler has weird power, uses it for evil and town is saved by Clark’ formula. Maybe not the best episode in the season, but enough to make me want to watch it next week. What more can you ask for really?
By McGee Noble
The Lowdown on: Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine
These days Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, the straight-talking TV fashion advisors, have a bit of competition. New kid on the block, Gok Wan, is the latest wannabe style expert to prod the fleshy bits of Britain’s women and give them tips on how to boost the sag. His ‘everyone is beautiful, darling’ approach is proving very popular with ladies everywhere. But Trin and Sus don’t go in for all the hugging fluff- theirs has always been more of a stiff upper lip attitude- ‘this is your body, deal with it’. Surely, with their plentiful history the pair must rightly be named the true queens of style. Just look at what they’ve accomplished…
Before 2 became 1
Susannah Constantine was born in 1962 into a wealthy family. She was privately educated at boarding schools and worked as a teacher and a shop girl in Harrods before working under fashion designer Giorgio Armani as a shop girl in America. She later retuned to London, working for designers including John Galliano. After getting into journalism, she wrote initially about cars, a world away from the fashion she was eventually to end up in.
Trinny Woodall (born Sarah-Jane in 1964) was also privately educated. Random fact: The name she uses, Trinny, derives from an incident at school when was sent home for mischievously cutting off another pupil’s plait and a family friend, Ronald Searle, who wrote the scripts for the St. Trinian films likened her to a naughty St Trinian girl. The scamp was not without her share of trauma though- once at school she was made to stand totally unclothed in front of other pupils as a punishment for having water fight. What the hell were her teachers thinking?! This, she maintains, led to a fear of being naked. Uh, yeah, no sh*t.
She spent 10 years struggling with alcoholism and discontentedly working in marketing before her career turned to fashion.
Opposites attract
Believe it or not, Trinny and Susannah, the pair behind Britain’s biggest wake-up call to women’s dress sense, almost scratched each other’s eyes out when they first met. Introduced at a posh dinner party in 1994, both looked upon each other with catty contempt. Trinny on Susannah: a stuck-up aristocratic snob. Susannah on Trinny: Eurotrash. Looks like they couldn’t stay away from each other though. Now, they’re a beautiful fusion of the two.
“Don’t put that on you fool!” (What Not to Wear)
After co-founding a dot-com fashion advice business, which ceased to be in 2000, losing investors a supposed £10 million (ouch!), a stint at Granada Sky Broadcasting on Ready to Wear and a make-over slot Richard and Judy, these independent women were signed up to BBC Two in 2001. They shone for the next four years with their series, What Not to Wear advising people to ditch their crap clothes and put on shapes that accentuated their natural body shape. Their frank chat about ‘tits and arse’ and thoroughly hands-on approach to participants’ bodies gave everyone quite a shock, them being posh birds and all. Granted, they’ve been labelled ‘patronising’ but they maintain that their approach is one of concern for their guests- a sort of cruel to be cruel (and a bit kind) ethic. Their show was promoted to BBC One in 2004 and in a celebrity slant on the format featured the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Jo Brand.
“Take off your kecks…” (T and S Undress)
In 2006 the ladies left the BBC behind and went running into the arms of ITV, who was fervently waving them over with a shiny-looking wad of £1.2m. They began their new show, Trinny and Susannah Undress, and for two series helped couples with marital problems in their belief that the right cuts and a bit of nudity here and there can solve any disaster. Using makeovers as confidence-building exercises they attempted to revitalize their relationships. The pair did come under criticism for their lack of qualifications to deal with the subject matter but again, bit back (probably with a comment about kissing their firmly supported, big pant-clad tushes)- which reminds me, they also have their own range of Magic Knickers which they launched in 2006 and will “transform your figure”.
“…everyone!” (The Nation)
The newly configured series, Trinny and Susannah Undress the Nation, begun to air in 2007, investigating key fashion errors over Britain and sees the last episode in the current series air next week.
And it isn’t just a one way process. Nope, they don’t mind practising what they preach. For their programme, The Great British Body, they stripped naked with 300 others on a hill to create a colossal living sculpture adding a few lumps and bumps of their own to the Sussex landscape.
Books, Awards, Ramsay’s Pigs and Doctor Who…
As well as winning a Royal Television Society Award in 2002, the ladies have written several successful books on fashion, all of which have fetched them a fortune. What Not to Wear profited £8.7m in 2001. Their next one, which centred from their fashion show bagged them a British Book Award in 2003 for ‘The TV and Film Book of the Year’ and sales figures reached 670,000 copies. Consequently, they obtained a £1m book deal to produce three more of their fashion books, which have become number one best sellers in Britain and the US and have been translated across the globe, selling over 2.5m copies. Gosh. Haven’t they done well?
So well, in fact, that Gordon Ramsay named the two pigs that he fattened up and ate for his show, The F-Word, after them, which they found highly entertaining.
Oh, and also, in 2005, not content with fashion, they voiced a robot version of themselves for Doctor Who in the episode, Bad Wolf.
Those bloody Littlewoods adverts (are actually gold dust)!
And who could forget those cringe worthy Littlewoods ads where they try and rob the store or hijack Santa’s sleigh. Mind you, this was a particularly canny move for the internet shopping company, who not only saw orders rise thirty percent during its sponsorship of Trinny and Susannah Undress, but who in enlisting of the style gurus as the faces of Littlewoods also has seen the brand awareness grow by 13 percent, total sales by 18 percent and visitors to the website by a whopping 56 percent. These girls mean business when it comes to brand representation.
What next?…
So, the two have shown us what they’re made of and no doubt, have a pretty decent CV.
They haven’t just kept their eagle eyes for British bodies only. Often appearing as makeover extraordinaires espousing fashion tips on The Oprah Winfrey Show in America and appearing on NBC’s The Today Show in 2006, they also announced a tour to New Zealand and Australia for a series for public appearances just last year.
But what happens now? Is there still room for the clothing crusaders or has the world had enough of Trinny and Susannah (just like Gordon Ramsay and his two pigs) and enlisted in the Gok Wan club? Either way, their success cannot be denied in helping ladies lose their muffin tops and camel toes and dress a bit sharper. Ta for that.
By Susan Allen
Review: The Genius of Charles Darwin Final Episode- Dawkins gets to the crux, but what’s the price of smugness?
The Genius of Charles Darwin
Channel 4, Monday 18th August, 8pm
Tonight sees the last of three parts of Richard Dawkins’ fervent quest for a world of atheists, who revere the beloved scientific fact. He takes this final opportunity to properly stick an ungodly boot in to all those insistent religious folk and tell them just what a load of guff he thinks they’re talking. This is all well and good- his is a rather compelling argument- but I can’t help but wonder, what’s the price of success in making everyone give up religion?
In tonight’s episode Dawkins delves into the personal history of both himself and Darwin and truly tackles the crux of his argument- creationism is just plain false. He describes how poor old Darwin had a hard time of it largely biting his tongue and nodding politely every time his pious wife would elaborate on her faith and how this disbelief troubled him. Dawkins remembers his own revelatory moment when studying his hero’s theory, and recalls how his was rather a more pleasant transition to atheism. Evolution is comfort enough for him.
Dawkins is determined to show the loony religiosity of these creationists. When he reads the damning expletives he’s been sent via email out loud, the F-ing and blinding in all his Oxford eloquence is rather funny. You’ll struggle not to giggle. Also, look out for the member of that laid-back group, Concerned Women for America, who claims she wants US education to “teach the controversy” but actually just does that thing where you smile despite conducting a fairly serious argument- you know, where you’re basically disagreeing with the fundamentals of what that person’s saying and actually think they’re a complete arse, therefore you’re grinning inanely and somewhat patronisingly with glazed over eyes as they talk. In fact, there’s a great deal of that in this programme- thoroughly narked people shaking hands with Dawkins under the guise of a healthy debate yet looking like they want to batter him with his book, The God Delusion.
What truly gets Dawkins’ goat is two-pronged. He reckons people need to think for themselves and look at the evidence for evolution. Plus, he thinks that the truth, as harsh as it is, is better than living under “a security blanket of religion.” Science teachers should be paving the way for the thrill of true enlightenment so that every child can work out for themselves that evolution is real. Trouble is, people like thinking someone’s looking after them, don’t they?
It’s his point about relativism sounding like a respectful gesture towards multiculturalism but actually being a pretentious cop out that is where I being to wonder whether Dawkins has truly thought through the implications of what he’s saying. If evolution is the truth, is it worth fighting over? Beyond being correct, does it actually matter how people think something happened so long as everyone gets along ok? Indeed, Dawkins’ smug fervour for evolution may be compared to any other narrow-minded crusade, religious or not, one that if you fight too hard to prove, you may just miss the point- that life’s pretty cool and surely not worth wasting by waging war. Be careful what you wish for, Richard.
By Susan Allen
Find out when the last episode is on.
Pick of the Week: Monday 18th August
THE GENIUS OF CHARLES DARWIN
Channel 4 Monday 18th Aug 8pm
As the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s masterpiece On the Origin of Species approaches, Professor Richard Dawkins presents the ultimate guide to Darwin and his revolutionary Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection , which Dawkins considers the most important idea ever to occur to a human mind. In this powerful three-part polemical series, Dawkins explains who Charles Darwin was, how he developed his theory, what it is, and why it matters. In this final episode, as he meets creationists, scientists and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dawkins examines why, despite a “mountain of evidence”, Darwin’s theory remains one of the most controversial ideas in history.
BLOOD AND GUTS - A HISTORY OF SURGERY
BBC FOUR Wednesday 20th Aug 9pm
Today, surgery saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year. But getting to this position has not been a simple story of selfless men working tirelessly in the pursuit of medical advancement. It is also a bloodstained tale of blunders, arrogance, mishaps and mistakes. The road to surgical advance has been paved by heroes. However, it has also been littered with lobotomised patients, grave-robbing and neo-Nazis.
Blood And Guts – A History Of Surgery explores how brilliant surgical breakthroughs, sometimes humorous, often tragic, shaped the evolution of modern medicine.
Final Episode: HARLEY STREET
ITV 1 Thursday 21 Aug 2008 9
Simon Burgess (Tim Dutton) turns up unexpectedly at the clinic after falling over in the street. He was a lecturer at Robert (Paul NIcholls) and Martha’s (Suranne Jones) medical school and as Annie (Kim Medcalf) cleans up his wound we learn he’s come to see Martha on the pretence of discussing a lecture he’s giving. She and Simon haven’t seen each other for 12 years and it’s clear they were once lovers. Martha’s shocked when Simon reveals he could have Huntington’s Disease (a debilitating and ultimately fatal disease) and asks her to test his blood, claiming she’s the only person he can trust. The news hits Martha hard especially when she realises he could be the father of her daughter, Tess, since they had a three week affair 12 years ago. If Simon has the disease there’s a chance he could have passed the genetic condition onto Tess.
Meanwhile, Robert’s sister, Kate (Polly Maberly), calls worried about Mal (Philip Jackson) who’s having difficulty breathing. Robert tells her to take him straight to A&E where he’s diagnosed with pneumonia. His kidney condition means he has a low immune system and a simple cough has escalated. Robert’s initially angry with his father for not telling him about his condition and as they discuss their troubled relationship, Robert explains he’s never been able to forgive him for hiding the truth about his mother’s illness when she was dying. We see a new side to their relationship as they resolve their differences and Mal is instrumental in making Robert realise his feelings for Martha.
INTERVENTION
Fiver Thursday 21st Aug 10pm
Brand new to FIVER comes this emotional,revealing and occasionally graphic documentary series from the US. Offering a remarkable insight into the world of addiction, Intervention tells the story of a different sufferer each week through candid, intimate footage, before showing us what happens when their loved ones plead with them to seek professional help.
First up is Alyson, a bright 27-year-old who was once a prize-winning student with a scholarship to a prestigious university. Having also worked at the White House on several occasions as an intern, her family had every reason to think she was in the process of building a happy and successful life for herself. However everything went wrong when, while still at college, she met and fell in love with a boy named Richie.
WATCH ME DISAPPEAR
Channel 4 Friday 22nd Aug 7:35pm
As part of Channel 4’s Generation Next season, documentary new talent strand First Cut continues with Lucy Cohen’s extraordinary directorial debut. Each year in Britain around 2,500 people are buried alone. No one claims them, and no one attends their funerals. Others have lain dead and undiscovered for weeks, or even years, before they are found, and relatives traced. Driven by a desire to find out more about these lonely individuals from the people who knew and loved them, Lucy Cohen’s bitter-sweet first film pieces together two peoples’ lives, and asks how - in crowded, hectic, connected, modern Britain - it is possible for anyone to simply slip through the cracks and disappear. Using coroner’s reports, reconstruction and good old-fashioned detective work, Cohen painstakingly puts together the stories of two people who died on the same case files of the same coroner in Manchester and who are buried in the same graveyard. As she tracks down relatives and friends, touching stories emerge: the hard-working student dreaming of setting up his own business, and the fashion-conscious girl who stood up to school bullies and played on the street. Celebrating these lost lives, Cohen finds warmth and humour far removed from the bleakness of a lonely death. And taking us back to their gravesides, Cohen pays her respects to those who died unnoticed, but who lived like the rest of us. “By 2010, 16 million of us will be living alone,” says Cohen, “will we die that way too?”
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