Is TV dumbing down? Not with this clever duo at large
Monkman and Seagull might sound like a surreal detective duo (“When the ecclesiastical superhero teamed up with the scavenging seabird, it was murder”) but, in fact, they were nothing of the sort. Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain (BBC Two) found University Challenge cult heroes and off-screen best buddies Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull embarking on a big-brained road trip around the UK.
Feeding their insatiable appetite for knowledge, the quizzical duo started up north in their search for hidden gems of British ingenuity. This took in Sir Hiram Maxim’s 1904 Captive Flying Machines on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the oldest amusement ride in Europe, giving Monkman the opportunity to demonstrate the theory of centrifugal force; Emley Tower broadcasting mast near Huddersfield, one of the tallest free-standing structures in the UK, providing the perfect excuse for some casual trigonometry; and the world’s only lawnmower museum in Southport.
“If an Englishman’s home is his castle,” mused Seagull, “then our grass is the field of our ambitions and hopes.” Monkman was more worried about health and safety. “Don’t mow me please!” he squawked as Seagull pushed a lethal-looking contraption towards him. They wound up admiring the giant telescopes of Jodrell Bank Observatory, contemplating life on other planets, relishing the sci-fi surroundings and proving unable to resist a selfie.
Our guides were eccentric with an easy rapport. They bickered over road maps and shared a packet of biscuits, like any other mini-breakers on a motorway. Their brainiac bromance was jaunty and enjoyable to behold.
Seagull was the straight man of the duo, dapper and dandyish in blazer, tie and white trousers. The more intense Monkman – wearing his familiar navy jumper-over-a-white-shirt – grinned, gurned and grimaced so much that he resembled a Quentin Blake drawing.
Amid the dumbed-down TV dystopia of Love Island and The X Factor, it was just refreshing to see clever people on screen, being enthusiastic about knowledge. It made me wonder if other memorable University Challenge contestants should get their own spin-off series. Imagine Ted Loveday (he of the chunky knitwear) bringing back The Clothes Show, or super-brain Gail Trimble hosting a cookery programme. Starter for ten, please, and the main course and the pudding while you’re at it.
You wait ages for a TV drama to unexpectedly kill off one of its female leads and three come along at once. Hot on the heels of Bodyguard and No Offence’s shock character deaths, Black Earth Rising
(BBC Two) bloodily dispensed with Harriet Walter in only its second episode.
It opened with an astonishingly tense 10-minute sequence which thrummed with menace. As the case against rogue African militia leader General Nyamoya (Danny Sapani) began at the International Criminal Court, we followed a gang of mercenaries as they honed a plan to violently hijack proceedings. They smuggled explosives and guns into the public gallery but one lost his bottle and they aborted.
Just as viewers were breathing sighs of relief, the back-up plan kicked in. An assassin disguised as a police motorcyclist took over, calmly shooting both Nyamoya and prosecutor Eve Ashby (Walter) all over The Hague’s pristine pavements. If the opening episode was ponderous in places, the series had suddenly ratcheted up several gears.
Meanwhile, fellow barrister Michael Ennis (John Goodman) launched a new case, investigating the murder of a French priest in Rwanda in 1994, and turned to Eve’s adopted daughter Kate (Michaela Coel) for help.
Writer, director and producer Hugo Blick is a distinctive TV drama auteur who has imbued Black Earth Rising with a kind of woozy beauty. This is shaping up to be a nuanced and ambitious story of race, regret, trauma and the ghosts of the past.
It’s also a drama of great faces. Goodman resembled a world-weary bulldog. Coel was feline and electrifying. We knew the 30-year-old was a formidable talent from her Bafta-winning sitcom Chewing Gum but Coel is a revelation here, combining the physicality of an action heroine with spiky, soulful charisma.
Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide To Britain ★★★
Black Earth Rising ★★★★★