Lord of the Fans

Great British Comedy: from Spaced to Shaun of the Dead…

When Spaced first started airing on British TV, Simon Pegg and his friend Nick Frost weren’t exactly household names. In fact, they were completely unknown and about the only gigs Simon Pegg had done were small and local – nothing which had been seen by thousands of people, or threatened to topple the Box Office on its first outing. Spaced, then, was a whole new kettle of TV fish and a very bizarre animal that eventually became the thing of cult followings. Directed by Simon’s friend Edgar Wright and also starring mutual friend Jessica Stevenson, Spaced was an odd trip into the unknown which charted the friendship of 2 flatmates as they moved into a new home in London (in a house which looked a lot like a haunted-house, as it happens).

And it could so easily have gone wrong for Nick Frost. Having never acted before and only doing so because Pegg had asked him, thinking him the man for the job, he was thrown into Spaced with zero experience and absolutely no idea of what to expect…

A zombie film for people who love zombies and comedy, it was the film that cemented Edgar Wright’s directorial career…

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British Sci-Fi Telly.

Right since its very earliest days, British television has provided us with some truly cracking morsels of science fiction. One of the first fine examples to grace our screens was the 1958 BBC adaption of, ‘Quatermass and the Pit’. Starring Andre Morell as the intrepid rocket scientist, this was genuinely scary stuff for the time; even when it is watched today, there is something decidedly creepy about this superb BBC TV dramatization. And (if you still aren’t convinced of its scare factor), you should be aware that both John Carpenter and Stephen King have cited ‘Quatermass and the Pit’as a major influence on their work.

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Adults only!

Once upon a time cartoons were for kids. Once upon a time executive office furniture was used for sitting on rather than racing up and down the corridors, but times have changed on both counts. At least in my house and my office they have anyway! The Simpsons started it, although the humour in that is so gentle and inoffensive you could let your kids watch it safe in the knowledge that the worst they would here is “Cowabunga!” Futurama, the second (and I think better) creation by Matt Groening went a bit further, with a slightly foul-mouthed, alcohol, kleptomaniac robot, a few vaguely sexy scenes and plenty of humour that would have sailed over the heads of any little ones watching…

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Bean There, Done It

British actor Sean Bean is one of the most rugged actors around. For years he has dominated historical television series with his iconic role as Sharpe in the long-lasting Napoleonic War epic, originally written by Bernard Cornwall. This series saw him as a lowly but tough and dependable soldier in the British army fighting off the French forces from Spain to Belgium where the decisive battle of Waterloo was fought.

Through most of the series he depicted grime, chin stubble and a ragged uniform. This was reality historical tv.

One of Sean Bean’s other major roles was in the first film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring. In this epic movie he played the warrior prince Boromir, the favourite son of his demanding father. Boromir made one fatal mistake, but redeemed himself by defending the hobbit Frodo to the death towards the end of the film.

A son of Sheffield in Yorkshire, Sean Bean naturally talks with a Yorkshire accent. Although he has managed to change his voice as required for most of his acting roles, in one recent series he has been able to let his original accent come through. This is Game of Thrones, a fantasy series set in an alternate world where warlords battle it out for domination of several kingdoms.

It is violent, sexy, dirty and vicious. When you see Sean Bean hitting the red carpet in his designer suit for Hollywood premieres, it is a far cry from most of his film roles, when he is about as far from a designer suit as you could possible imagine.

Maybe this is the mark of a great actor, that Sean Bean can make you forget the glamour as he portrays the grit.

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Potter Rules

Some of the best British films of the last decade have been the Harry Potter franchise. With the seventh book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) being split into two for filming purposes, these eight films have brought work, money and kudos to the British film industry.

It is probably a bit over the top to say that the Harry Potter franchise has revitalised the British film industry all on its own, but the series has certainly helped breath new life into the system. All over the country actors and actresses, producers, directors, studios, special effects companies, stunt doubles and filming sites both large and small have benefited from this incredibly popular series of books and films.

It is to the credit of the author of the books, Joanne or J K Rowling, that the films were made in Britain and featured mostly British actors. She insisted from the start that since the books were set in Britain with a definitely British feel to society and school, the films should reflect the books.

As a result the eight films have been a showpiece for the British film industry. Although my friends and I are well past the age of reading Harry Potter in the school playground, we have been serious fans of the films, catching each one soon after their release.

This year with the launch of the final, long-anticipated finale of the series, was no exception. The fact that a large group of us was on holiday in Cornwall in the south west of England made no difference to our enthusiasm or our plans. Sadly for them, a few of my friends had over-indulged the night before, so leaving Jane, Tom and Colin at the hotel in Looe, the rest of us headed off to join the local kids for an evening of Potter-mania.

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Run Fatboy Run

I love British films. I love them because they are so very British. Rather than trying to emulate the French or the Germans, we really have carved our own small form of art out. Now, a British film stands out a mile off and that can only be a good thing!

One such very British film that we must here endorse is Run Fatboy Run – the film which definitely helped catapult Simon Pegg into a better position for his movie-making future.

The film, if you’ve not seen it, tells the story of Dennis, a man who…you won’t see running much. In fact, he’s scared of everything. Commitment included, so when he is about to get married to his long-term girlfriend, you can guess what happens.

For the first time in his life he runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction.

What I didn’t know about the film, when I first saw it, was that it was directed by none other than David Schwimmer of Friends fame. That’s right, the loveable dork has grown-up and completed his first film!

Honestly, who’d have thought it, a great British film coming from an American?

Well, if you’re dubious, don’t be. Schwimmer directs the film with a dynamic and simple approach that won’t leave you scratching your head or feeling dizzy. Despite what my friend Tim from Diesel Wakefield says, it is a film that anyone can enjoy. OK, so it has some romantic moments, but don’t let that put you off because this one’s worth watching.

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I Am Iron Man…2!

‘Iron Man'presented the world with a nice surprise in 2008 – a superhero movie that didn’t take itself too seriously! Which considering it dealt with the issues of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction is quite a feat! Now two years and some diminished box office returns later, ‘Iron Man 2'slams onto DVD standing up somewhat awkwardly to its older brother.

Whilst ‘Iron Man 2'follows the example of not taking itself too seriously, it does suffer a bit from the lack of any real danger. Whilst Jeff Bridges was perhaps not the grave threat that fans were hoping for in the first film, Mickey Rourkes turn as the sadistic ‘Whiplash'in IM2 is a bit all over the place. He is given a thrilling and great bad-guy -style entrance near the beginning of the film, but is virtually forgotten (and literally locked up) until the end of the film. Throughout the weighty middle we have to put up with Sam Rockwell’s irritating Justin Hammer, a rival weapons designer to Tony Stark whilst Tony himself staggers about getting drunk and partying with hot chicks.

An uneven entry perhaps, but overall IM2 is still enjoyable and has some great moments – keep a close eye out for Captain America’s shield which Tony uses to prop up his latest contraption. The chemistry between Robert Downey Junior and Gwyneth Paltrow is still present and highly amusing. Looking at the suit though, you do wonder if Tony should switch to red diesel uk considering the problems he has with his power source throughout most of the film.

Forgettable, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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Ultraviolet – The series, not the awful US movie

Anyone who says Britain can’t make decent genre television really needs to remove their chin from the cesspit of generic US imports. Britain has and still does make wonderful genre shows. The only difference is money. Today I’m going to talk about one such show that sadly was a victim of merciless budget cuts; ’Ultraviolet’.

Created and written by Joe Ahearne, ‘Ultraviolet'paved the way for modern genre shows to be taken seriously. At its core the show was essentially a gritty and hard edged police drama that just happened to have vampires as the protagonists. The most telling characteristic of this drama was that it never actually referred to the vampires as vampires. Jack Davenport played the lead character Michael Colefield as a normal police detective who accidentally gets drawn into the ‘CIB'unit after his best friend is turned into a ‘Code V’.

Ultraviolet had it all; from unrequited love between two main characters all the way along to a sinister political plot on the part of the ‘Code Vs’. Far more ‘real'then it had any right to be, the show was received warmly by the critics but never picked up enough of an audience on its initial run to convince Channel 4 executives to renew the series. Email marketing and word of mouth spread quickly though and even today there are mass calls for a return to the world of ‘Ultraviolet’. Joe Ahearne himself stated that he would have loved to return for another series, but as time ticks on, it seems ever more unlikely that we will see those characters again.

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Poor Keith

My good friend Keith Proctor introduced me to The Brittas Empire, and to begin with, in those first few seconds where Keith told me all about the premise – a sports centre ran by, essentially, the world’s most irritating maniac, and staffed by people like Colin, who was literally rotting from the inside out… – I was worried. Worried because Keith could be awfully passionate about really rubbish things, and he was just one of those people you get who buys a tracksuit and thinks that green and pink looks really cool when worn all over you. Poor Keith, I haven’t seen him for ages, but I pray he’s got rid of that thing now.