Dad’s date with destiny
THE awkward morning after. The child disturbing grown-ups in the bedroom and the “Surprise!” birthday party that turns sour. TV drama is made up of moments like these, scenes we’ve seen hundreds, thousands of times, lines we know off by heart.
Danny Brocklehurst’s new three-parter COME HOME (BBC1) included another staple from the drama supermarket. In last night’s opening instalment, Christopher Eccleston played Greg Farrell, a single dad-of-three going on a date.
It went badly, of course. Painful chit-chat (about bin collections) followed by a bitter tirade against his estranged wife followed by contraceptives falling from his pocket. He still came home with
PICKS OF THE DAY
someone though and that’s the true art of a master scriptwriter – to serve up expected situations in unexpected ways.
The same is true of the whole idea behind the series. Plenty of dramas are about people splitting up. But very few broach the territory where a mother – Greg’s wife of 19 years, Marie – leaves her children. Marie (Paula Malcomson) has only moved a few streets away and, just as Greg ranted to the girl on that awful date, who wouldn’t wonder what kind of man drives a woman to do such a thing.
No one asks the same when men walk out on their families, of course. They rarely need to, the reason for leaving is usually obvious. Marie’s isn’t, yet, but in the way Greg behaves, introducing a new woman to his fragile kids, snooping round Marie’s house with a stolen key, there might be clues.
Alongside the unpicking of Greg and Marie’s past, there’s Brenna (Kerry Quinn) who delivers sandwiches to Liam’s garage and is subsequently rescued by him from her violent partner.
She’s young and pretty. She drinks too much and takes drugs in front of his kids. In a spin on another traditional scene, Greg’s little girl thought her mum had come back when she found Brenna in her dad’s bed.
It has, on first impressions, everything you’d expect from Danny Brocklehurst. Real lives, intersecting stories told from different points of view. It also has something that, to this critic at least, came as a revelation.
Normally associated with sour Mancunians, Christopher Eccleston portrays Greg with a Belfast brogue and a raw, vulnerable energy.
He isn’t just angry at his wife, he’s grieving for her, every moment in his daily life reminding him of other moments gone. You suspect that he’ll turn out to be a pig but you still feel sorry for him. Painful and powerful, a reminder that the best drama still comes from home.
Was there some colour coordination going on in GREAT INDIAN RAILWAY JOURNEYS (BBC2)? As the second leg began in the Rajasthani desert, Michael Portillo’s yellow jacket was an exact match for the blanket on the camel he was riding. His trousers, meanwhile, echoed the ‘pink city’ of Jaipur, and the hood on the cycle-rickshaw driving him through it. For once Mr Portillo almost blended into the background.
He also faced competition from the rajahs and their palaces. Most flamboyant was the Maharajah of Jaipur, Mado Singh II, who had a solid silver urn made to accompany him on his trip to Edward VII’s Coronation in London, so that he’d have Ganges water to bathe in.
Then again, that’s a humdrum practice. Think of all the Brits who pack teabags to go on holiday.