Loop the Loop
Dennis, I wish I had blogged about “The Thick of It” and “In the Loop”, yet sadly no. Perhaps you were thinking of Stuart Reid, who recently wrote about the new film in his excellent column.
As you say, “The Thick of It,” the TV series, is wonderful – a hilarious (and distressingly accurate) satire on British politics in the time of New Labour. It’s hard to get a DVD copy in America, though early episodes can be seen on YouTube. (Sensitive readers be warned: the language is foul — suitably so for a portrayal of modern British pols.)
I have not seen “In the Loop,” the film version, which is scheduled for limited U.S. release on July 28th, but I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews. Depressingly, the actor Chris Langham, who was tremendous as the hopeless and cowardly minister Hugh Abbot in the TV show, got arrested for being a pedophile and so could not star in the film. I’m told, however, that his replacement Tom Hollander is excellent.
I am not sure I agree, though, with Dennis’s disparaging assessment of American television in contrast to what’s on the small screen in the UK. “The West Wing” is indeed boring. And it is true Britain has produced some very good comedy TV in the last decade – “The Day Today”, “Brasseye”, “Peep Show”, “Alan Partridge”, “The Office”, and “The Thick of It” spring to mind — and the odd good drama. But there are many equally high-quality American comedies, and it is worth remembering that the vast majority of TV in all countries — especially Britain — is very, very bad.
Plus, the UK has nothing as good as HBO, which has produced countless first-rate and absorbing shows. But I’d better stop being typically Caucasoid.
Yes, I was thinking of Mr. Reid’s mention in his column in the magazine. I should have noted that my experience of British TV is limited to a select sampling (including all of those listed above–let’s not forget Nathan Barley while we’re at it).
Chris Langham, just to get the facts right, was not ‘arrested for being a pedophile’ however he was convicted of downloading a small number of child pornography images from (remarkably) a public access website. This appears to have been an ill-advised attempt at self-guided therapy in response to his own childhood sexual abuse.
After watching quite an extensive and probing interview with him, I am not convinced he is actually a paedophile although the temptation to suppose so automatically is regrettably widespread. He certainly acknowledged that he had broken the law and did not excuse his actions but it is rather a shame that understanding of a complex case with a sympathetic story on the part of the defendant has largely been blown to the wind and a recent career comeback in The Thick Of It has been thwarted by his own unfortunate actions. That is indeed depressing.