If there is one thing us brits can do, it's make a drama!!! Very good with a great cast, lots from Kidulthood, which can't be bad. What annoys me though is that while we're always making way for all the new American shows, which are about as lifelike as The Kraken, the British Dramas have a nasty habit of showing us a pilot episode that turns into zilch!!! Beginning to think that we're being taken over by Americans, but no one has thought to tell us. They did the same with Hex, gave us 2 series, and then ended it way before the story was over!! Anyway enough moaning......its great to see that we obviously have a lot of talent in our little Isle. Time and time again we produce fantastic drama that is both believable and gritty. It might not always be very pretty, but its very true to life, and deals with a lot of day to day issues that in todays world we have to deal with. There are drugs, vandalism, violence etc in all our lives now, even if its just from reading the daily papers. I would definitely like to see more of what Noel is capable of, as he has already shown what a versatile actor he is, by appearing in completely opposite ends of the spectrum, namely Kidulthood and Doctor Who, i mean how different can you get. More British shows, bring it on!!!!!
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just-claire10 March 2008
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After their last flat was destroyed by arson, Elisha, her mother and her sister move into the W10 area of London. Within minutes Elisha has had a box of personal effects stolen out of the car and sets out to find it with whoever's help she can get. Meanwhile local rude boy Orin finds himself in possession of drugs belonging to local gangsters and trying to sell them on without getting hospitalised by the original owners.
This one-off (probably) drama was part of the ongoing rebranding of BBC3. Gone are the "magic number" blobs that so many students and twenty-thirty somethings found cool and in comes loud "youf" programming innit. W10 LDN got some faint praise in some of the papers the weekend before it was shown so I decided to watch it but found myself particularly underwhelmed by the whole thing and there seemed to be little to it that wasn't on the surface. I'm sure in some regards the dialogue, characters and setting are all very convincing but only on the level of packaging. Take away the heavy style of the delivery and let's look at the script for a while.
This doesn't take long because there is not much here. The characters do not stand out as people and even less as people within this environment. Yes they talk the words but there is nothing behind these words to convince that they are not just reading them (which of course they are). I hate to compare it to HBO's The Wire but I'm afraid once you have seen that series it is hard not to use it as a frame for many things; looking at the convincing scream of the underclass that The Wire delivers effortlessly, you can see where this all falls down. The film then quickly becomes about the two threads the search for the box and the sale of the drugs. Neither thread is interesting or engaging and just comes over as a way of dragging in as many undesirable types into the story as possible.
I'll give Clarke credit for doing something with his fame but it would have been better for him to done something smaller instead because this seems to have gotten away from him. Walters and Hassan turn up for no reason at all other than blind support. Madekwe is stunning no doubt but her performance is too "feisty" and little "reality". Likewise Henry, who is a cliché in every way that similar characters in The Wire are not. The rest of the cast follow suit all very good at spitting the dialogue but nobody able to go beyond that in any way.
Overall then this is a superficial and uninspiring British inner-city drama that screams "youf" from every pore. Happy to just paint with basic colours, Clark's script is clumsy and unsatisfying through, giving nothing more than events for the cast to work with.