Update on life and some TV stuff
Conscious as I am of wanting to update my pet blog, I am constantly being sucked into the time vortex that is eBay. Christ, it’s time-consuming. All I’m trying to do is sell a few children’s coats and some (admittedly over-priced) china (which is complicated - there’s emotional baggage to get rid of too, but I can’t find an eBay category for that).
So I take the briefest of breaks from obsessively answering badly typed questions from potential buyers in Germany and Sweden (no, I do not want to post things to Europe) to let you know that I am finally ‘into’ Little Dorrit, although I feel I’ve missed an episode and am still not sure what the French guy is doing. Perhaps that’s the point.
I like Matthew MacFaddyen (I really should look up the spelling) in this; he’s all minutely quirky facial gestures and nervous smiles, which he sort of was in Spooks but it suits the part here. I haven’t really got any empathy with Amy Dorrit which is probably not good, given she’s supposed to be the heroine of the piece.
I can’t help but feel the scheduling of this drama has done for my engagement with it. I missed the first hour-long episode when it was first on, so had to catch up on iPlayer, and haven’t got into the two half-hour updates each week so am constantly running to the iPlayer which I note now inconveniently switches between allowing you to download a programme and only allowing you to watch it streamed from the website. I want the option to do either.
Two half-hours a week is neither appointment to view nor habit. If memory serves, Bleak House was on every night for half an hour, or at least more than twice a week. Perhaps I’m mis-remembering. Either way, Bleak House was by far a glitzier, more star-studded and overall impressive production than Little Dorrit. Wonder if I’m going against the critical consensus here? Perhaps I’ll never know.
Later, if time, I will appraise you of my feelings - and they are emotional - about I’m A Celebrity, Get Met Out of Here and Strictly Come Dancing (with or without John Sargeant).