Show Notes
Andy and Martin stutter a bit at 'T' in their alphabetical journey through archive TV, following up last time's Tenko episode with the Christmas finale to the popular series, first shown 35 years ago today. They decide that the Reunion special is not only perfectly crafted, but also a fitting end to Tenko as a whole.
Elsewhere, Andy shares his adventures in Singapore: visiting both the Jefferson residence and Dominica and Teddy's plantation house. Meanwhile Martin asks important questions about the narrative's treatment of Chinese characters and the communist pursuit of independence. And he and Andy inevitably also end up discussing the state of democracy as a result.
Elsewhere the pair agree that Jill Hyem should have scripted The Five Doctors given her genius for juggling characters and her subtlety.
All this and an interview with Tim (of the Doctor Who Missing Episodes podcast) about his 2020 binge on all of Tenko in one week!
An A to Z of UK TV Drama will return on 14 Jan with an episode exploring Ultraviolet.
Happy Christmas!
More from An A to Z of UK Television Drama
[Spoiler alert! This series is almost 50 years old but we will be revealing - around 90 minutes - in who spectacularly dies in the literal cliffhanger to episode 7. You have been warned!]
After a brief hiatus, Andy and Martin resume the second season of A to Z with the letter V. Admittedly cheating a little, their choice was 'Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton', the second of two autobiographical Dennis Potter plays from 1965 in The Wednesday Play strand. They also cover the first play, 'Stand Up, Nigel Barton'. Both feature Keith Barron as the title character who we follow from childhood, to university, to a reluctant attempt to stand as a Labour candidate in the General Election.
Andy and Martin travel back in time to the summer of 1965 and the adventures of HR consultant Drew Heriot and his sister-in-law Anne as they face up to the machinations of 'Undermind’: aliens who have brainwashed British citizens in order to cause national unrest ahead of their imminent invasion. Their various schemes include: spreading pirate radio misinformation; inciting youth violence in a seaside resort; influencing the works of a popular children’s author; the distribution of suicide-inducing birthday records; interference with the printing of exam papers, and most abominably of all, the assassination of Eamonn Andrews! Yes, really.
This month Andy and Martin review the highly regarded 1987 BAFTA-winning Scottish drama Tutti Frutti, written by John Byrne and starring Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson.
Twenty-one years after their first recorded interview on the first Survivors DVDs back in 2003, Andy catches up with Carolyn Seymour who played Abby Grant in Survivors.