No end in sight for period drama

TV REVIEW

Period dramas are beginning to act like busses. There’s an epidemic unfurling in sepia-tinged output.

With Parade’s End just finished on BBC2 (I will admit it was excellent however), Downton Abbey running on ITV/TV3, and just ahead of Mr Selfridge (also on ITV, about the founding of the London emporium), the corsets were dragged out of the cupboard again in The Paradise (BBC1, Tuesday at 9pm).

The eight-part series, adapted from Émile Zola’s novel Au Bonheur Des Dames, is set in a 19th-century department-store, as opposed to Mr Selfridge which will be set in a 20th century one. Huge difference then.

Parade’s End was also an adaptation (Ford Madox Ford) but while Tom Stoppard’s script followed the gist of Ford, Bill Gallagher uses his source material as more of a rough guideline. It’s all a bit twee and innocent however, which isn’t really a surprise considering Gallagher’s pen last touched the pages of Lark Rise to Candleford, which was effectively Heartbeat in the 19th century.

I’m having difficulty believing it is going to go anywhere near the original novel as a critique of capitalism and poor labour conditions. Zola’s story is transported from Paris to North-East England and the fictional story of businessman John Moray’s efforts to open Britain’s first department store.

Moray (Emun Elliott) has a reckless streak and seems to be able to make ladies swoon at the very mention of his name.

He has opened The Paradise, Britain’s first department store, right across the street from Edmund Lovett’s (Peter Wight) little drapery shop. Denise, Edmund’s ambitious niece (Joanna Vanderham) arrives looking for a job but when the small fish is eaten up by the larger one, she heads across the road. So much for family loyalty.

I’m not sure if I can stick with it for the level of warm, fuzzy glow it seems to give off but it will certainly be interesting to see if it can hold its own against the upcoming Andrew Davis-created Mr Selfridge, which has the excellent Jeremy Piven (Entourage) in the title role and seems to be supporting many similarities. Zola, on the other hand, must be turning in his grave. J’accuse indeed.

One of the more unusual forays into British television occurred this week in the form of Andy Samberg. You might be forgiven for not knowing who he is, but he’s pretty big news in the States having been a staple of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for over seven years. He’s also a member of The Lonely Island, which has given us such classics as Jizz in my Pants, I’m on a Boat and Like a Boss.

The more recent big names to come out of SNL were Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig and have become Hollywood starlets. Samberg on the other hand has chosen a more inconspicuous route. For his first post-SNL job, Samberg features in Cuckoo (BBC3, Tuesdays at 10pm).

Going on the first episode, it’s not quite SNL gold, but it’s got great potential. When Ken (everybody’s favourite vindictive headmaster from The Inbetweeners, Greg Davis) and Lorna (Helen Baxendale) go to the airport to collect daughter Rachel as she returns from the wandering ways that is a gap year, there is more than some ill-advised tattoos to deal with as she has hippy American free-living Cuckoo in tow, whom she married in Thailand. When Rachel informs them she told everyone on Facebook, Ken replies, “I don’t do Facebook, I’m 45.”

The self-appointed spiritual ninja quickly sets about riling dad in every way possible. This is definitely Samberg’s machine and he steals every scene he is in, even when pitted against the flaring nostrils of Davis.

Some of the best news I’ve heard in ages emerged this week with talk that Joel and Ethan Coen are to bring Oscar-winning film Fargo to the small screen, continuing the story of police chief Marge Gunderson. A previous attempt at this happened about 10 years ago with The Sopranos’ Edie Falco pencilled in to star as Gunderson. It never got beyond the pilot and, more importantly, the Coens were not involved.

They are this time however and for those who may have inexplicably not seen the original, pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) investigates a homicide after a local car dealer with money issues (William H Macy) hires two goons (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife as part of a ransom scam. Set mostly in frozen lands of Minnesota, Gunderson is expected to once again be the main character in the TV series, which will be written and executive produced by Noah Hawley (The Unusuals and My Generation).

One to watch
The excellent Homeland returns to RTÉ Two on Tuesday at 9pm. The first series was celebrated in style at the Emmys at the weekend taking the top prize of best drama series. Damien Lewis and Claire Danes also picked up best drama actor and actress gongs, while Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff picked up the award for best writing in a drama series. Not too shabby and series two looks set to be as nail-biting as the first.

Season two picks up several months after season one ended, when Carrie’s realisation about Brody’s connection to Abu Nazir and his son Isa was seemingly erased by electro-convulsive therapy. Brody is now playing happy families as a sitting Congressman, working a little too close to those he is supposed to be taking out, although a scene from a trailer shows him washing blood off himself in a garage so he’s obviously not keeping his hands clean.

Carrie and her mentor Saul (Mandy Patinkin) are also back in the thick of things in the Middle East, despite Carrie having been fired from the CIA at the end of last season. Carrie and Brody’s reunion should be nothing short of explosive.