In my opinion, the only thing that has improved in the last year, is the number of good programmes to watch on TV which is the best therapy when stuck at home endlessly with your other half.
Thank God and all the angels that we have similar tastes, which at least eliminates any fights for possession of the TV remote control. The series that I have recently recommended to all and sundry was ‘Staged’, in which David Tennent and Michael Sheen have been playing themselves, when like the rest of us they are in lockdown and going slightly barmy. They are supposed to be rehearsing for a new stage play but having to try to get to grips with doing that effectively via Zoom! I have told all my friends and family to at least give it a try even though it doesn’t sound inviting. It does draw you in very quickly. We have laughed our heads off during each short episode and the end result has been to sent me to the computer checking up on what else these two great actors have been in. We were more familiar with David Tennent, having seen him in lots of stuff including the excellent series Broadchurch, we were less familiar though with Michael Sheen, who we have not seen much of, don’t know why that should be.
So, I set out to find some of his other work. We started with Quiz; which is about the ‘Coughing Major case’, as he was known, when he got himself on, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and did win the one-million-pounds jackpot. We couldn’t believe our eyes on seeing Michael Sheen playing Chris Tarrant, so different from playing himself on Staged. Amazing; though why would you be since acting is his job? Having enjoyed Quiz, and not really taken much interest at the time of the court case, it probably did make it more interesting. We enjoyed that each evening as our last TV item before bed time. We watch something stronger first thing and then make sure that we don’t have nightmares by choosing something less disturbing to end the evenings viewing on.
That sent us scurrying for more of Mr Sheen. Of the many TV and films he has listed in on Wiki; we then picked the Frost/Nixon movie. Again, it was excellent, although my brain was buzzing all the way through the interviews, worrying as to who was that under the Nixon wig, makeup and body language. It almost spoilt it for me and I had to check the cast list before we retired that night. Both men again looked so different in that 2009 story, yet I know that I had seen the other actor in something else, but could not think what it was for the life of me. The answer was that Nixon was brilliantly played by Frank Langella whom I had been to see on my own at the Chichester Festival Theatre where he played King Lear some years ago, I had a second-row seat. My hubby Stephen, can have too much Shakespeare, whereas I can never get enough and that has been a problem since I was nine or ten maybe less. My mother was an usherette in Worthing Repertory Company with plays changing weekly, and whose home was the Connaught theatre in Worthing, half a mile or so from my childhood home. Anyway.
All of which brings me to the latest dose of Michael Sheen, this time in a TV series, The Prodigal Son. We are several episodes into Season 1 and are completely sold on this worrying drama. Season 2 has not yet started yet as far as I know.
No comments:
Post a Comment