Revenge of all the President’s women
WO PEOPLE who won’t be sitting down together to binge watch American Crime Story: Impeachment (BBC Two, Tuesday) will be Mr and Mrs Bill Clinton. Unless they have a marriage counsellor with a warped sense of humour.
The first episode of this superb, 10-part factual drama laid bare a dubious set of behaviours for a sitting President, which will prompt most people to react, “How on earth are Bill and Hillary still together?”
We don’t know the absolute truth of the matter but there’s plenty of evidence here from Monica Lewinsky (also an executive producer) – and others – to give credence to the core story.
The clever thing is to choose a story that we feel we know, and then make it extraordinary. It was a minor, “Remember where you were moment?” when
President Clinton once told the world,
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” Maybe not, but according to this drama, you apparently did say to the famous White House intern, “Hi, I’m Bill... That’s a nice sweater you’re wearing.”
Who would have had the Arkansas president down as a man of fashion? But he surprised us all along in this, at times, very creepy drama.
Even in the 1990s, sexual harassment was a serious matter. Clinton’s character is largely absent from the first episode, which built the suspense nicely. When he did arrive, we were not disappointed by our own Clive Owen – almost unrecognisable – who played him as a man who is solely driven by one thing. And we’re not talking about his love for pizza.
When he speaks to a group of new interns at the White House you sense he’s not particularly interested in guiding their young minds. Still,
Beanie Feldstein’s gushy Lewinsky is far from an unwilling partner in this series of assignations, always beaming in Clinton’s direction. She was besotted.
The drama turns on the relationship between Lewinsky and Sarah Paulson’s Linda Tripp who befriended the intern when they were both demoted to the Pentagon. We’re left in no doubt about Tripp’s motivation: cold-hearted revenge for dumping her into the Defense Department – albeit with a $20,000 pay rise. Some people are never satisfied.
Then there’s another of Clinton’s accusers, Paula Jones, deftly played by Annaleigh Amanda Ashford. In her first meeting with her Washington legal team, she’s too embarrassed to
explain everything about her encounter with Bill Clinton, so innocently suggests, “I can draw it!” And then does. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious.
A factual drama that won’t be figuring largely at the Emmy’s is The Trick (BBC One, Monday). I know climate change is an important issue, but to be at
the centre of a major drama when the only plot strand is a data breach is testing the patience of even computer hackers.
Added to that, the plotting was awful and I expect many, like me, switched off after half an hour, having little to no idea about what was happening.
Yes, we had the very talented Jason Watkins as Professor Phil Jones but even he couldn’t find much to go on here.
One of the police summed it up when they launched an “incident room” to probe the fascinating data breach – “Sorry, boss, who’s been murdered?” Only the script.
By far the most intriguing aspect of this drama were two “Crisis Comms” professionals. When companies or organisations go into meltdown, these guys swoop in to save reputations. What a bizarre dark art. But there was little they could do to save this drama. No need to rescue Succession (Sky Atlantic, Monday), as the third series returned in a sparkling form. I confess I’ve moved in and out of this drama, but the new first episode was crackling with wit and laughs. It was like The Thick of It on steroids.
Each character is so brilliantly flawed. Boss Logan (Brian Cox) is a megalomaniac (by definition), son Kendall is unhinged, and another son, Roman, is uncouth – perfect chaps to run a media company.
The plot? Well, Logan is in big trouble and has fled to Sarajevo where naughty media tycoons go on the run.
The bumbling great nephew Greg is my favourite, now “helping” Kendall take over the company. “You’ve been followed by the Pope! Oh, hang on, maybe not the real one.”
Finally, Why Do The Brits Win Every War? (Sky History, Wednesday) is a promising little history series with many laughs, courtesy of Al Murray and his irrepressible Pub Landlord, combined with the ever-present danger of learning something.
Episode One picked off one of our favourite enemies, “The French”, or as the Landlord would have it, “rampant baguette lovers”, championed by Fred Sirieix – “Napoleon was 51 per cent bad, probably more.”
And it turns out the English beat him because the Navy’s rations were superior to the French, with fresh beef and a gallon
of beer every day. Where do we sign up?