Everyone seems to love this so before your expectations go through the roof, I'd like to just say that it's absolutely pedestrian and plodding. Martin Compston is no great shakes as an actor in anything he does and he's so central that his terrible performance drags the whole edifice down.
Putting on a pair of academic spectacles does not make him come anything close to acting like an author, as that is literally all he has.
His friend Tully tells him he has cancer and has four months to live. What does he do? He stands, with poker face. There must be a mistake he says. We need a second opinion. We'll go private. What about dropping your jaw a bit, giving the guy a bloody hug or anything that suggests some inner emotional response.
Later his wife (the excellent Ashley Jensen) asks him what he made of Tully. "Good" he says. Good? Can you maybe act realistically. And tell us a bit more? What would a real person say?
What they wouldn't do is simply narrate a script.
It's the very worst of the BBC in house style. It might have worked years ago, and maybe still works with River City and Shetland fans but in an era of Netflix it's Stone Age!
Putting on a pair of academic spectacles does not make him come anything close to acting like an author, as that is literally all he has.
His friend Tully tells him he has cancer and has four months to live. What does he do? He stands, with poker face. There must be a mistake he says. We need a second opinion. We'll go private. What about dropping your jaw a bit, giving the guy a bloody hug or anything that suggests some inner emotional response.
Later his wife (the excellent Ashley Jensen) asks him what he made of Tully. "Good" he says. Good? Can you maybe act realistically. And tell us a bit more? What would a real person say?
What they wouldn't do is simply narrate a script.
It's the very worst of the BBC in house style. It might have worked years ago, and maybe still works with River City and Shetland fans but in an era of Netflix it's Stone Age!