Saturday 21 November

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Waterloo Road/Above Suspicion

Denise Welch, Eva Pope and Neil Morrissey in Waterloo Road
  • Posted at 12:40pm
  • 02 January 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 5 comments

It's that time of year again, when the Worshipful Order of TV Editors holds its annual coach outing to Malham Tarn, a delightful part of the world, dear readers, and beloved destination of many a geography O-level school field trip during my feckless youth.

We have a high old time, acting out scenes from our favourite series among the glories of the Yorkshire Dales, and I'm in charge of this bit of the agenda this year, so we will be re-creating key moments from Bonekickers. The choice is bountiful, but I might get us all to pretend we are being chased by a CGI snake with teeth, so I get to shout out: "There's a killer snake on the loose!"

But there's important business, and first item on the agenda will be: when did British TV dramas get so soppy? Not all of them, of course, but look at Waterloo Road, which returns to BBC1 this week. I will admit to a sneaking fondness for this soapy drama set in a rough comprehensive school, simply because it wears its big, beating heart on its sleeve to the point where you can see the ventricles pumping.

Its pulmonary appeal is a very American thing, from the message that comes over loud and clear that Kids Aren't Bad, They Just Need Love, to the indie songs that chirrup on the soundtrack, and it pulls unashamedly at every heartstring it can grab hold of. There's a scene right at the end with a young boy in a prison cell that's accompanied by The Script's We Cry, a weedy little ballad beloved of emoting teens. It's so boldly saccharine, it will rot your teeth.

As it's the start of a New Year, it's the perfect time for our Order to insist on the wiping away of television dramas' most tired, limp, weary, hopelessly overused bits of dialogue. As it happens, at least two dramas this week feature my Most Annoying Clichés, and they both happen to be by Lynda La Plante (Above Suspicion and Trial & Retribution), though she can't be held wholly responsible for the proliferation of the hated - cue drum roll - "the press will be all over this" and "the press will have a field day".

Couple these two deadly phrases with inane images of gaggles of photographers and supposed journalists all yelling incoherently as they cluster around cars or on the steps of crime scenes or police stations (A Touch of Frost and Silent Witness, among many others, are guilty of this, too) and you have the whole, annoying package. It's one of the worst of all visual clichés; I've never seen this happen in real life and I have some experience of these things. So stop it. Now.

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Comments

  • Posted on 28 October 2009
  • at 8:35am
  • by Nancy

9 think waterloo road is a brilliant programe ! AND I LOVE IT !

  • Posted on 10 March 2009
  • at 1:43pm
  • by BLAH BLAH

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!

  • Posted on 06 February 2009
  • at 7:31pm
  • by hanna

cant u tell us the other series plzzz im despert

  • Posted on 10 January 2009
  • at 12:12am
  • by pietro99

Has Lynda La Plante lost the plot so to speak, or are we expecting Prime Suspect quality all the time?

  • Posted on 07 January 2009
  • at 4:36pm
  • by Alan

I find that what spoiled Waterloo Road for me was the rapid degeneration from a drama that was about running a schoolful of difficult teenagers to a soap exploring all the permutations of relationships among the teachers. Apart from Grantly, they're an unconvincing lot. The same thing happened to Casualty, Holby City and others. My goodness, if I ever ended up as a surgical patient in a hospital like Holby I'd want a guarantee that they'd concentrate on the job and not discuss their sex lives over my exposed innards.

As to "Above Suspicion" I thought it just wasn't very goodat all, cliches or no cliches.

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