TV
COMEDY DRAMA SERIES
Lock,Stock...
Channel 4, starts Mon 29 May, 9pm. Guy Ritchie's acclaimed BritFlick, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels was a godsend for Loaded readers everywhere. Slick, sexy, violent and witty, the film became synonymous with youthful, fast- paced vigour. Setting a new precedent in the loveable rogues category, it was followed less successfully by the likes of Plunkett And Mac/eane, Circus and Love, Honour And Obey.
Channel Four are taking a gamble that this new series based on the hit film, will win favour with the same audience and judging by the first episode, the odds are favourable. The feature-long ‘Lock, Stock And Four Stolen Hooves' is not entirely dissimilar from the original, co- written as it is by Guy Ritchie. Four lads — dressed in immaculate Ted Baker suits — are duckin' and divin' as you have to, in the mythical badlands of the East End. Their exploits are set to a suitably cool soundtrack and filmed in the same sepia tints with the familiar skewed camera angles and slick visual effects in place.
Where the original was criticised for being too much like a series of well-made advertisements in its episodic immediacy, the same can be said here. Through the course of the first episode, the Guinness ads and the Caffreys' ’Storm Brewing' commercial will come to mind. Despite it being derivative in style and storyline of the original film (that’s the point of the series after all), this is highly entertaining television. Awash as we are in bad sitcoms and dire dramas, Lock, Stock . . . is destined to be received as a breath of fresh air.
Producer Tony Wood was attracted to the project for this very reason. 'It felt very different from a lot of TV work available and it seemed like such a colourful
DRAMA
Rough Treatment Scottish, Sun 28 & Mon 29 May, 9pm.
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Daniela Nardini's career path hasn't exactly been stellar since the highly addlCli‘JG twentysomething nonsense- of This Life, who could ever forget the
The telly version of Guy Ritchie's cult movie is Minder with guns
Daniela Nardini goes gunning for her colleagues
disaster that was Big Women7 And, to be frank, this Intro-part drama looks like another ropy chOice of vehicle for her undoubted talents
opportunity,’ he notes. ‘It just looked like fun.’ David Caltagirone who stars in the series - along with fellow newcomers Scott Maslen, Shaun Parkes and Del Synnott — shares his producer’s sentiments. ’l've always moaned about British TV and how rubbish it is and I've been wanting something to come along with balls. I hope this is it.’
Where some would argue that this is too dramatic a departure in both style and storyline from TV's standard fare, Wood is confident that Lock, Stock. . . , in following the fun-loving escapades of four Cockney geezers, will secure a dedicated audience. ’lt’s born out of the great British tradition in that it gives more than a nod to the Ealing comedies and Minder. From that point of view, I don’t think we are taking too much of a risk.’ (Catherine Bromley)
Rough Treatment has llaiti 5‘ Eve Turner, an army of‘ire" oat: w; against male prejudice am s'."..r;<; {if}
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to please her ex-army (larl, .'.l1()
raped by I‘.‘/O upper-class tints a‘te' a drunken night in the mess The (as-{- goes to court, they get off and Slit-s betrayed by a mate. At “smith no nw dad dies Of a heart attack, she a terrible aCCident which leaves ' ('" coma and that's about ter: in
’If you thought Anna [her .ll)l)‘,’ in This L/fe] was tOugh, await 'tr: sews Eve,’ Nardini inSists ’Shes address .t’ and uncompromising ll‘. fart, s"t~ ) a competitive pain in the arse ’
With the plot attempting to (01'4" so much ground in such a short span- o" time, we're left With a su<((>ss.o" o" ridiculous stereotypes, each one now ludicrous than the last, ‘.'.':I?‘ the
cast, including Nardiiii, looknr; fa , ‘ 11‘ embarrassed at the hatkne/en they’re forced to utter moves With the seamless (irate o‘ a hippo on stilts from ari'iy mania ’.<> courtroom drama to hospital drama, etc, Without a single orirjiiial rum int" surfacing (Doug Johnstone;
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