I've read on more than one occasion that British actor Nigel Harman is, apparently, meant to be considered something of a small screen hunk. A sex symbol. Someone to set pulses racing. Not a damp set in the house. Can't see it myself, but perhaps I'm not susceptible to such things. Come to think of it, there's not many people on TV who have that effect on me. Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers, obviously. Diana Rigg's daughter, Rachel Stirling, in almost anything [I suspect that's second generation wish fulfilment on my part]. Beyond that... not much.Anyway, back to Harman. Far as I can tell [or care], he rose to prominence as Little Den in BBC soap EastEnders. Now he's moved on to other projects. Last night one of those came home to roost. The Outsiders was an attempt by Mersey TV to create a post-2000 version of slick, spy-fi shows like The Avengers or any of the late 60s and early 70s ITC hits [The Persuaders, Man in a Suitcase, that kind of thing]. English Dave wrote about it last week, hoping against hope it would be success and herald a new era of groovy shows.
Well, I caught the last 25 minutes. Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt. My brain is still boggling at what I saw. The camera angles. The cheap-as-chips CGI. The lighting. The wigs. The dialogue. The moment were Nigel Harman is rescued by the ghost of a little girl, no doubt his daughter/sister/significant other. Apparently I missed the sequence where somebody fights the pope's ninjas.
I don't like to slag off the work of professionals, when I'm still nothing more than a wannabe. But from what I saw of it, The Outsiders was car crash TV. Does anybody have a copy of the whole thing? I'd love to see the rest!
5 comments:
Against my better judgement I watched The Outsiders over The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Car crash TV accurately sums it up. I agree with you about not wanting to slag off the work of professional writers, as I'm also still a wannabe. But with something like this it's hard not to. I just think it amusing that Nigel Harman was recently quoted as saying he left Eastenders for the poor quality of scripts, yet he choose this instead!
I couldn't help but feel disappointed. It's a 60s concept, shot like it was the 70s, and with an 80s plot.
What a wasted opportunity.
It was so bad ITV are bound to commission a series.
I came, I saw, I ....want to like this show. I really do. I'm like the girl with one eye hoping that my older one eyed sister's marriage works out.
The little green uniformed lift attendent - pure Avengers.
The jumping off the skyscraper and catching the guy half way down - pure Bond.
The 'daughter' appearing - pure crap.
Trying to figure out the tone - pure.......not very easy.
Ah Dame Di even manages to get my pulse racing...
David,
No, no, no! You so don't want to see the whole thing. 25 minutes was more than enough.
Watching the whole sorry, stinking mess will make you want to punch your eyes out.
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