Unwritten truths
‘‘ Bonneville never glosses over Dahl’s selfishness, while Hawes is exasperated
Cert PG ★★★
FILMS about famous novelists always face the same problem. Whether they’re hammering away at a typewriter, scribbling on a notepad or tapping away on a keyboard, writing will always be stubbornly un-cinematic.
In this Roald Dahl biopic, writing is a little more high octane. Dahl (Hugh Bonneville) is trying to knock out Charlie And The Chocolate Factory while his marriage is falling apart, the bills are piling up and he’s hammered on whisky.
And these days, people moan about the challenges of working from home. A stylish animated sequence under the opening credits traces the paths of dashing fighter pilot Dahl, and Hollywood star Patricia Neal (Keeley Hawes) to a meeting at a New York party in 1951.
The live action begins 10 years later when they are living in a “rickety old tub” of a house in Great Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, with their three young children Olivia (Darcey Ewart), Tessa (Isabella Jonsson) and Theo (Alfie and Tommy James Hardy).
Neal and Dahl are wonderful parents but their careers have stalled.
James And The Giant Peach has just flopped and the plum roles have dried up for Neal. Then disaster strikes when their seven-year-old daughter Olivia dies of measles.
Dahl can’t process his grief, numbing his pain with booze and shouting at poor little Tessa.
It all comes to a head when an exhausted Neal flees to Hollywood with the kids for a part in a new Paul Newman movie called Hud.
This domestic drama feels more suited to an episode of a TV series than a standalone movie but the excellent performances keep us watching.
Bonneville never tries to gloss over Dahl’s selfish nature, while Hawes lets us feel Neal’s exasperation.
We care about them because we believe in them.
THE DRAMA that has cheerfully dragged us through lockdown entertained us with a new romantic interlude last week. Season 10 of Death In Paradise (BBC One, Thursday) has now concluded after its soapiest series yet. At this rate cheeky trainee officer Marlon will be caught in flagrante in the lock-up. And you thought The Bill was exciting.
But soapy stories are no bad thing. Something had to happen in Honore police station. Otherwise, you would simply have 60 minutes of concentrated head-scratching from our dedicated team while staring at a fascinating whiteboard. Or we would have more of our Dictaphone detective talking into his annoying recorder – “Still don’t have a clue about the killer…hmm?”
Back to romance. After Ben Miller’s very dead Detective Richard Poole made an improbable visit to the sands of Sainte Marie to comfort his one-time fancy Camille Bordey, his successor – two DIS on – DI Neville Parker has now almost declared his love for his deputy, DS Florence Cassell. I say “almost” and “love” because this plot may spin out for yet another series.
Indeed another two seasons have been commissioned, so it may be too soon to buy your outfit for that beach wedding.
A pasty-looking DI in this episode, Parker – in need bizarrely of a sunbed – was looking at videos on the internet about how to tell someone you like them. They exist? It worked immediately when Florence revealed, “I floss regularly”, a conversation cul-de-sac unless you’re flirting at a dental sales convention.
On hearing each piece of advice, dear Neville would commit the words to his trusty recorder. Why doesn’t he just record a series of opening lines to Florence and play them to her? You old romantic! She can simply choose which one she prefers – and then she could go out with someone else, which she almost did before Neville turned up at the door. Or even get Marlon to say it for you à la Cyrano De Bergerac. It is a Frenchspeaking island after all.
In other dramatic twists, JP took the rap for Marlon when the youngster lost his temper and punched a suspect. How else do you get to the truth? JP now appears to be leaving to train other police officers. First course module: what to say into a very small voice recorder when you’re at a crime scene.
Hopefully Death In Paradise won’t need to entertain us during another lockdown.
We suddenly can’t stop making drama
STEPHENSON’S
ROCKET HAS Countryfile (BBC One, Sunday) run out of farms to film? Have all the cattle stampeded? Last Sunday it began repeating old segments.
Now, the pandemic has been tough on everything. But TV largely has been able to shoot outside during lockdown without restriction. They’ve even kept going through
snow. So why was Margherita Taylor resorting to the archives? In one clip, she found Eddie The Eagle. He’s got his feet on the ground nowadays. OK, it’s only a repeat if you’ve seen it before, but this show has millions of dedicated fans. If the farmers can keep going, so can
Countryfile.
about the City. Have traders invested in TV? After Industry, which seemed to be an excuse for the BBC to show young traders doing unsavoury things to each other, we now have Devils (Sky Atlantic,
Wednesday) which is slightly more grown-up. But not substantially.
The lead character Massimo makes massimo amounts of money for his bank, NYL. “Thank God he’s our shark!” gloats his boss, played by Patrick Dempsey, after Massimo makes £250million. But because he’s Italian, the City won’t allow him to enter this precious enclave so it’s time to play dirty.
This is when it got complicated. Massimo and his acolytes – let’s assume they’re the “devils” – then set out to destroy his rival, played by the always debonair Ben Miles. Then just when I was enjoying his performance as the silver fox grandson of a former Bank of England governor no less, Miles decided to throw himself off a balcony.
He landed, rather ironically, on a marble global floor map, right over the east coast of America – and Wall Street. My week can’t get any more profound.
Kevin Eldon and Ken Stott also do turns in this drama, which is unnecessarily complicated. Similar to Industry, there’s a lot of “shorting” going on. This trading technique is beyond most of us, but
George Soros did it to the Pound once, so we don’t like it. So, if you want someone to be evil, have them “short” something. I’m short of patience so won’t watch anymore.
I’m significantly more intrigued with Behind Her Eyes (Netflix), which is a better title than Devils although everyone in this new series also has a sinister look about them. This is a love triangle thriller starring Tom Bateman (Beecham House), Eve Hewson (Luminaries) and Simona Brown (The Night Manager). By the end of episode one, the husband’s (Bateman) wife (Hewson) has met his secretary (Brown)... not knowing about her unrequited passion for him.
Since at least two of the three have a frayed look of Armageddon about them, I don’t expect they will all meet up for afternoon tea. Brown’s character may well border on the sensible, but has hideous nightmares which is just fine since Bateman is a psychiatrist, albeit unhinged. Lie on his couch at your own risk.