pcrime-17089

I'm only on the first episode but having read the book about 5 times in my teens it's pretty much spot on so far. The casting is brilliant and fortunately they made Taggie slightly older. Yes Rupert isn't blonde but the actor playing him has his arrogant yet charming persona spot on. David Tennant seems to be having a whale of a time, Baz, Maidstone, Lizzie, Caitlin and the whole clan are pretty much how I imagined them. It's pretty much a perfect romp (as Dame JC might say) showing the wit, sharp eye and knowledge that the book has for its subject of TV and the super rich in the 80s and, of course a lot of umm "bonking"?

This is a film about a Teddy who survives being lost in an airport, a plane crash and sharks only to be heartlessly tossed back onto the dark watery depths by his owner! Justice for Mr Timms!!!

I realise it wasn't setting out to be an epic and it's quite entertaining, I did keep shouting, not sure sharks do that and I'd have liked some of the minor characters to have a bit more of an arc but hey, it does what it says on the tin. One character does something toward the end that I found particularly frustrating, I just don't think that would be a choice a grandmother would make but hey we are not looking for realism. That poor Teddy though.

It's certainly not a bad mini series there is some great acting from the men who play Pund and James and then some shocking acting from some of the other characters from the 50s era. The blends of stories worked really well and it zipped along at a good pace. My main issue though is that the main character in the book appears to be mid to late 40s and as good as Lesley Manville is, she is a lot older and it just jarred with me all the way through and spoiled it. Also the character came off as far harsher on screen and I don't remember the stuff with her Dad but Horowitz wrote the teleplay and I'm sure he knows best. It's fine, I just didn't like some of the cast choices.