Deborah Ross
Save Me Too is superb – with a Proper Ending!
Jamie Oliver’s Keep Cooking And Carry On Monday-Friday, Channel 4 Save Me Too Wednesday, Sky Atlantic
The trouble with watching television in The Time Of Corona is that everything appears as if it’s from a quaint, bygone era, including our beloved, usually comforting MasterChef. Adding ‘tonka beans’ is ‘dangerous’, Gregg Wallace might say, but as dangerous as what? Being breathed over by one of those joggers who won’t veer away and might as well blow his nose on you? Waiting an hour in a socially distant queue for the supermarket, then discovering that once you’re in, anything goes?
How, Gregg, does ‘adding tonka beans’ compare danger-wise? Does it put you on a ventilator? Can’t blame Gregg, really, even if it’s tempting. He couldn’t know that, by the time the show went out, ‘adding tonka beans’ wouldn’t be at the very top of our fear list. (It’s now plummeted to 97th on mine. As for getting fish skin really crispy, that’s now at 126). Jamie Oliver’s Keep Cooking
And Carry On, on the other hand, is a concept that was turned around in record time, specifically for the Covid-19 era, but even so, we’re all watching in a new way. Aren’t we? During one episode I couldn’t stop thinking about the broccoli. Was it delivered? If so, from where, and are there any slots left before 2064? Or did someone from Jamie’s team wait an hour in a socially distant queue at the supermarket, and then discover that anything goes? Will someone die because they went out for this broccoli? So that’s on your mind throughout, although – fair play – this is probably a useful little show. And while Jamie did over-extend himself with those stupid restaurants of his, his passion and sincerity do still shine through.
It shines through here, even if he is overly understanding of the situation we’re in, which takes us to some (unintentionally) hilarious places. This is lockdown cooking. That is, simple recipes made with ingredients from the cupboard or freezer, but he kept saying that if you don’t have such-andsuch to hand, not a problem, just swap it for something else. He made a beef and red wine stew, but if you don’t have beef you could use chicken, and if you don’t have red wine use white. Hang on... isn’t that now coq au vin?
That said, being able to substitute anything for whatever you happen to have knocking about is quite handy. Tonight, for example, I was going to make duck à l’orange (but I don’t have the duck) with oven-roasted asparagus (but I don’t have the asparagus) and fondant potatoes (but I don’t have the potatoes), so I’m swapping all that for a fried egg. Still going to call it duck à l’orange with roasted asparagus and fondant potatoes, though. And we’re all looking forward to it immensely.
Turning to drama as Belgravia limps on – I want to reach into the television, draw Tamsin Greig to my bosom and tell her it’ll all be over soon, there there, hush now – you may be interested in a far better prospect, which is Lennie James’s Save Me Too.
This is the sequel to 2018’s Save Me, which was a critical success and brilliant but did not deliver what I always most crave: A Proper Ending.
This is set 17 months on with Nelly (James) still wearing that filthy yellow puffa and still searching for his missing, sex-trafficked daughter Jody. This is not one of those thrillers beset by granite kitchen islands, top-ofthe-range coffee machines and magnificent homes overlooking water – see: The Nest and multiple other formulaic, mediocre thrillers. It’s set on an East London council estate and everything smacks of verisimilitude, right down to secondary characters such as Melon (Stephen Graham), Goz (Thomas Coombes) and Teens (Kerry Godliman). Same with the dialogue, which is the opposite of Belgravian as it rings absolutely true and never muses irrelevantly on the invention of afternoon tea. (I long to draw Harriet Walter to my bosom too.)
However, while the first series felt wholly original, as well as authentic, this does initially seem repetitive as it’s business as usual for Nelly, who is a womaniser, a chancer, a bad friend and an absent father – he hadn’t seen his daughter for a decade before she disappeared – but do stick with it. This time out, his character does go on a (redemptive) journey, even if his yellow puffa doesn’t get the wash you so long to give it. (But a plot point does depend on that, as we’ll see.)
The performances are all superb. James is extraordinary, a tour de force, while Suranne Jones, as Jody’s anguished mother, is heartbreakingly believable. My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough of Susan Lynch as pub landlady Stace, but that may just be because you can never have enough Susan Lynch. And the cast does now include Lesley Manville, so that makes up for it. I’ve watched all six episodes as they’re now available. And the ending? Proper.
I’m swapping duck à l’orange, asparagus and fondant potatoes for a fried egg