'The Paradise' was interesting last night. As if the BBC, having looked at how ITV are doing period drama these days, are trying everything they can to emulate that success. So they just make it stupider - missing the point of why Downton Abbey is great in its own way - and their own period stuff (the revamped Upstairs Downstairs and Cranford) are great as well (i am still cross about them cancelling the wonderful Updown.) The Paradise was fun - but somehow underconfident, slightly dumb and obvious in almost every way. (And where were the accents meant to place it? Middlesbrough? If so, why don't they say so...?!)
1890s Newcastle apparently (from the iPlayer unexpanded summary only). I thought it was meant to be Edinburgh, due to the names and some accents, while the novel it's apparently loosely based on was set in Paris. It was entertaining, if not spectacular. I wasn't sure about all the outside stuff, like funding and the threat to other shops (and particularly the slightly odd Glendenning storyline). It detracted from the setting of the store itself and how it works from the general staff's point of view, glimpses of which were more interesting. That might appear more in later episodes though I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe cancellation of UpDown was not unexpected, but very sad, especially when the last series was so brilliant. I guess Call the Midwife's viewing figures finished it off.