Hooked

Want to know what I have been watching? Well I'll tell you anyway.

The entire series of 'Patrick Melrose' starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It is supposed to be a comedy, but the tortured life of Patrick (drug and alcohol addiction, sexual abuse from his father, etc. etc.) makes for slightly squeamish laughter. Cumberbatch is a brilliant actor.

Last night, half of the box-set of 'Killing Eve'. Implausible, but very entertaining. I like both the female characters, and despite all that killing it is funnier than Patrick Melrose, especially when you consider that P.M. is a true (ish) story.

Tonight is the last episode of 'Bodyguard'. Can't wait. Even more implausible than Killing Eve, but addictive like all good (or even bad) drama series should be. They asked somebody who knows if there really are as many women snipers in the Met as there are in the series, and he said 'probably', but all bomb-disposable experts seem to be men. Someone else said that we would be surprised at how many bodyguards form intimate relationships with their wards, but I would find it hard to believe that the Foreign Minister would end up shagging her PPO, even if she did have a penchant for a bit of rough.

All of 'Trust', the dramatisation about the kidnapping of Paul Getty Junior starring Donald Sutherland. Anything with him in is always worth watching. Also, I was brought up a few miles from Sutton Place during the time when it was all happening, so I had an extra interest in it. One thing I found completely believable was the utterly callous behaviour of J.P. Getty 1st. He was renowned for it, and it has been so well documented that you don't have to suspend disbelief. The only authenticity which slipped occasionally was when Sutherland's accent slipped into Canadian. Even as an old man, Donald Sutherland still manages to get parts which involve him having vigorous sex on camera. How many years since Julie Christie I wonder?

We watched all the Poldarks, and that really is a silly but addictive melodrama. The times I laughed watching it were for all the wrong reasons. The exterior scenes were the most ludicrous. The locations manager would choose a windy cliff-top in Cornwall, then make it bustle with village life by having wooden barrels or trestles lying around to obvious purpose, or an old women spinning yarn in an exposed spot on the grass and other villagers wandering in and out of shot as Poldark converses darkly with his missus about trouble in the mine before taking his shirt off  - again.

Prior to these, the last time I got hooked on a TV series when when we all wondered who shot J.R. I have a lot of catching up to do.