Phil Newton casts an eye on the TV scene letting you what you've missed and gives also give you the heads up on what to look out for.
 

No 2 - 4th February 2008.

When Doctor Who became such a ratings success after its relaunch in 2005, it was only a matter of time before BBC's main rival devised its own Saturday night action-sci-fi-adventure serial to tap into the same market. Which brings us to season two of Primeval (ITV1), an effects-laden romp in which a Home Office-endorsed team strive to preserve the natural order and fight a variety of pre-historic creatures - yes, it's a bit like Spooks crossed with Walking With Dinosaurs.

If you've not seen it before - and I missed the entire first series myself - then don't panic, essentially all that you need to know is that a team of zoologists headed by Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) are investigating "anomalies" - rifts in time which are allowing beasties to come through into our world. In the three episodes I’ve watched thus far we've had raptors in a shopping mall, killer worms in an office block and a sabre-toothed tiger in a theme park. Next week I'm fully expecting to see a pterodactyl outbreak at Heathrow Airport. To complicate matters further, Cutter’s wife Helen is also travelling through these time anomalies, and their constant meddling has additionally caused team member Claudia (Lucy Brown) to cease to exist and instead re-appear as PR advisor Jenny Lewis – and Cutter is the only one aware of this.

The cast work pretty well together and there's plenty of verbal sparring, especially from Andrew-Lee Potts (who eagle-eyed FrightFesters might remember from Rob Green’s The Bunker) as the rather inept Conor who provides the comic relief, whilst Seed Of Chucky fans should look out for Hannah Spearitt (yes, she who was in S Club 7) who plays feisty blonde Abby. It's surprisingly bloody for a 7pm time slot and the CGI is much better than I’d anticipated. Or rather, it was until the sabre-tooted tiger turned up in episode three... let's just hope the producers didn't blow the post-production budget on the first two episodes.

Still, for all its shortcomings, as an alternative to the myriad of reality dancing and musical shows on a Saturday night, Primeval is fast establishing itself as a fun-sized slice of prime-time entertainment. Whilst ITV are no doubt hoping for favorable comparisons with Doctor Who, it's actually Torchwood that the show most closely resembles, albeit a more family-friendly watered down version. Speaking of which...

"Excuse me, have you seen a blowfish driving a sportscar?"

"Bloody Torchwood!"

And so begins season two of Torchwood (BBC2), with Captain Jack Harkness (the ubiquitous John Barrowman) and his team of pretty things returning to defend Cardiff against alien invasion. Whilst not a fan of Captain Jack’s character in Doctor Who, I feel he’s much better suited to the spin-off where he doesn't have to play second fiddle to the Doctor. I largely enjoyed the first series but it wasn't to all tastes and efforts have clearly been made to round off the rough edges and give the show a polish. Season two is bigger, bolder and brasher than before with the Torchwood personnel actually working as a team rather than bickering or flirting which many people felt hampered the early episodes. This time the focus seems to be on the individual incidents rather than having an underlying story arc, and it feels more confident taking this approach.

Opener Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was a fun way to kick off the new season but was dominated by the presence of James 'Spike' Masters as Captain John, a less scrupulous fellow time agent. Better was Sleeper from our own James Moran, a tightly written story about an alien sleeper cell which questioned what it is that makes us human. As you'd expect from the man who gave us Severance, it featured scenes of violent pandemonium including numerous stabbings and explosions, a liberal dose of humour, and perhaps the first ever use of the expletive "f*ck-flaps" on British television.

The only drawback from employing a whole team of different writers on the show is that there's no consistency in tone, so whilst the first two stories featured wisecracks and asides aplenty, last week's To The Last Man was an altogether more sombre affair with absolutely no banter whatsoever. Still, as long as they remember to keep Gwen (Eve Myles) as the focal point for the action then Torchwood should be okay, as it's her reaction to the fantastic events surrounding her ordinary life that grounds the series. It will be interesting to see how the group dynamic shifts when Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) arrives later in the series.

The most disappointing return this month was Messiah: The Rapture (BBC1), a fifth outing for the Beeb’s dark serial-killer drama. With Ken Stott jumping ship it was left to Marc Warren to take the reigns as he investigated a number of murders linked to an upcoming court case. The whole double episode lacked any gravitas whatsoever and the plot was so routine it felt like a rejected story from Waking The Dead, the whole exercise reeked of a desperate attempt to preserve an established brand name. Why do producers insist on trying to keep a popular series afloat once the main character moves on, it so rarely works? I can only hope that the Life On Mars re-boot Ashes To Ashes (from Thursday 7th, BBC1) fares better.

This month has also seen the return of a couple of my favourite long running non-genre shows in ER and Shameless (both Channel 4). Sadly both programmes are hemorrhaging key cast members faster than an Eastenders Christmas special, and I fear death knell is about to sound on the pair of them. Now in its 14th year, ER boasts none of the principal cast from its heyday and now relies on Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) to lead the show. Whilst the celebrity cameos continue (Forest Whitaker and Stanley Tucci being the most recent guests) the current nucleus of the cast - the likeable Scott Grimes aside - is no match for the likes of George Clooney, Noah Wyle etc.

Things are even worse at Shameless where eldest son Lip has now followed Fiona and Steve (James McAvoy, before his movie career took off), Monica and neighbours Kev and Veronica out of the show. The excellent David Threlfall (almost unrecognisable by comparison in Hot

Fuzz) remains in place as patriarch Frank Gallagher, but otherwise life on the Chatsworth Estate is populated by supporting characters and the increasingly irritating Maguire clan next door. What's most surprising is that the producers are so confident in the characters that they've commissioned a whopping 16 episodes for this series! As much as I've been a fan of both dramas since the beginning, I have to admit that they're shadows of their former selves and I can only hope that the makers see sense and bring them to a close after this run.

Just to end this column on a lighter note, I'd recommend comedy fans to check out series three of The Office: An American Workplace (ITV2) whilst Paramount Comedy is conveniently repeating series two if you missed it. Going from strength to strength since its shaky first series, this is every bit as enjoyable - if not better- than the British original from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Also worth a look is Modern Toss (Channel 4) which now features the excellent Swing News and Space Argument sketches alongside established characters like the Drive By Abuser and Mister Tourette, the master signwriter.

In my next blog I will be looking at some of the new US shows that are hitting our screens, so until next time,

Keep watching until the next time,

Phil.

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