Old Age...

A good friend of mine recently told me a very sad story.

He explained how he and his wife were getting jiggy and they tried a bit of bedroom acrobatics, but his knee gave way. Then, ten minutes later, they were doing something else a little bit ambitious for a pair of olds and her knee gave way.

He lamented how this has never happened before and how it made him a bit sad. It made him realise that old age was probably starting to arrive in ever-accelerating increments.

My thoughts are with him and he deserves your sympathy, too. In fact, buy him a beer. Or just give him money… 

He would prefer money.

Trapped...

Trapped is a Nordic Noir thriller currently screening on BBC4 and it's pretty bloody good.

Set in Iceland, it tells the story of local police chief Andri (pictured above), played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. Once a high-flying detective in Reykjavic, Andri is now running a small police department in a small port town, which suddenly becomes big news when a ferry pulls into port and a dismembered corpse is recovered from the harbour. The ferry and its passengers are forced to stay in port while the investigation gets under way, then a blizzard traps everyone in the town and more disasters and deaths unfold.

The 10-part thriller is beautifully shot and the narrative moves along quickly enough, even though it feels quite slow-paced. Ólafsson plays the lead role of the sometimes vulnerable and sweet Andri with under-stated charm, while Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir is reserved and compassionate as his right-hand woman, Hinrika.

It's classy stuff. It's not quite series one of The Killing or The Bridge, but it's certainly in that ball-park for quality and intrigue.

The Rack Pack...

Made by the BBC and broadast via iPlayer rather than on any of the Beeb channels, The Rack Pack is an entertaining drama about the rise of snooker in the 1980s and the rivalry between establishment darling Steve Davis and baize wild boy Alex Higgins.

I'm a massive Higgins fans and he still remains one of my sporting heroes, and Olivier Award-winner Luke Treadaway certainly captured the charm and the tempestuous nature of ‘The Hurricane’. The drama did, however, skirt over some of Higgins’ more self-destructive and offensive episodes and essentially portrayed him as a tortured Byronesque figure. That may well have been one side of him, but it wasn’t the entire picture.

Will Merrick is excellent as Steve Davis, the dominant snooker force in the 1980s, who provided the strait-laced and corporate ying to Higgins’ explosive yang. There’s also a notable mention for Kevin Bishop as Davis’ wide boy entrepreneur manager, Barry Hearn.

The comedy-drama may offer slightly rose-tinted view of the era and its stars, particularly where Higgins is concerned, but it’s a tender and highly engaging piece of TV, and it’s well worth a look if you have affection or nostalgia  for the era or its players.

Quote of the Day...

'The problem with the porn industry is that it gives young people a totally unrealistic expectation of how quickly a plumber will arrive at your house...'
George Takei