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The
Orange County Register, 21st August 1999 .
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Bold British soap `This Life' ratchets up prime-time voyeurism another notch
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By
Kinney Littlefield
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Get a bloody
life, will ya? Get the scorching, second-season start of boilingly blatant,
titillatingly trendy, bad-child Brit soap ``This Life,'' premiering Monday
on cable channel BBC America. If you don't get the fledgling Blighty netlet,
better cozy with a bud who does to share the South London saga of steamy
20-something mates Anna, Miles, Milly, Warren and Egg. They're lawyers all,
once, future and former. And their seething sex-work-and-drug-dunked antics
are the best way to butter your crumpet since ``Melrose Place'' turned toast.
Will prim workaholic Milly (Amita Dhiri) and aimless, gambling-prone, soccer-crazed
Egg (Andrew Lincoln) stay contentedly coupled? Will lovelorn legal grunt
Warren (Jason Hughes) find a nice gay guy to love him back? Will it be moody,
manipulative, bisexual biker Ferdy (Ramon Tikaram)? Will one of TV's most
at-odds pair of housemates _ desperately ambitious Anna (Daniela Nardini)
and self-centered legal eagle Miles (Jack Davenport) _ finally treat each
other with post-coital respect?
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We just
gotta-gotta know _ even if the Brit who's responsible for our ``Life'' obsession
is more than a little amused. ``Well, I'm sure it's only hot with a few
people,'' ``This Life's'' executive producer Tony Garnett (Irish soap ``Ballykissangel,''
Brit cop drama ``Between the Lines'') half-teases from London about the
series. ``This Life'' aired in Britain for two buzzy seasons in 1996-1997.
It snagged major industry awards, including best drama series from the Royal
Television Society and best actress for Nardini from the British Academy
of Film and Television Arts. ``I've been making shows for 35 years that
travel all over the world,'' Garnett says of his World Productions company.
``Some are like wine that doesn't travel well.
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"It's
quite rare for one of our shows to play on America if it's contemporary.
It seems the shows Americans like are all Jane Austen,'' he says of U.S.
cable channels' penchant for 19th-century English adaptations including
A&E's mega-hit miniseries ``Pride and Prejudice.'' ``I can imagine `This
Life' resonating in America because the things young people care about are
universal. It's a time when you don't have much money and you're still sharing
a house or an apartment. You're not a student but you're not a grown-up
with responsibilities.'' Young barristers (British attorneys who appear
in court) and solicitors (lawyers who do other kinds of legal work) earn
next to nothing for their first few years, Garnett says. So Anna, Miles,
et al., share meals, a telly and a single loo in a rambling, down-at-the-heels
house. ``When Anna wins a case she buys champagne and then she's poor again.
``But what really amuses me is that a show like this can be received in
America as almost tough social realism. Whereas the initial reaction in
Britain, because these young people were physically attractive and actually
sometimes really enjoyed life, and some had lots of sex, well, the show
was dismissed as glamorous frivolity.''
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In
their face, off the cuff. Blinkingly close camera angles and home movie-styled
moves keep ``This Life'' casually hip. The show's graphic language _ bleeped
for U.S. viewers _ and bleak, slightly seedy tone _ the antithesis of glowing
``Melrose'' _ add a Euro-trashy edge. You knew ``Melrose's'' Amanda (Heather
Locklear) would bounce back from backstabbing and betrayal like a rubber
band. Same for Monica and buds on ``Friends.'' But with Miles and Milly
you're not so sure. They seem perpetually stymied and sad.
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``In
our business in Britain you can't be taken seriously unless everybody on
the screen is depressed and having a terrible time, and preferably if the
audience is having a terrible time as well _ I'm more than half serious.
``And `This Life's' generation is a frustrated generation,'' continues Garnett,
who is 60-something. ``I think underneath it's quite scared. On the surface
it covers it up with cynicism. Certainly in my country it's the first generation
where there's a very good statistical chance that your parents got divorced
or separated. ``So there's the consequent fear of commitment, that relationships
won't last. I don't think they are less romantic but they are a bit more
cautious.'' Cautious? Tight-skirted Anna of the faux leopard-skin coat comes
on as aggressively as any un-PC bloke. In an upcoming episode, horny Miles
puts a personal ad in entertainment rag Time Out, seeking a one-night stand.
All the casual, graphic angst is carefully calculated. ``This Life'' was
crafted to bag a youthful audience.
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Garnett:
``It started because the man who runs the channel BBC2 called me and basically
said his demographics were all wrong because he had an older audience and
he was in competition with Channel 4 that has a younger audience. So I got
a young team around me and said, `Bring me news from the front because I
don't remember what it's like to be in my 20s.' ``We found a young talented
writer named Amy Jenkins who had never been produced. She had trained as
a lawyer and she had attitude. She created these characters, she gave that
generation a voice. I knew she had attitude because she looked at me and
said, `I can't stand your generation. You refuse to step aside, you're not
making room for us, you refuse to get old, you're still having sex _ and
I hate the Beatles.''' Garnett knew he wanted characters from different
classes and parts of the U.K. Anna is Scottish and less than well-heeled.
Miles is an affluent brat. Ferdy is half-Mexican and half-Indian. This season
there is a gay black character as well. There were no Hollywood-styled focus
groups or research consultants to tweak the show, although ``that's beginning
here _ what America does today we do tomorrow,'' Garnett said.
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Jenkins
is listed as creator of the show, but Garnett assembled its elements _ a
team of young first-time writers, first-time directors and little-known
actors who now are the U.K. flavor du jour. Hughes is currently appearing
on stage in England in a hit production of ``Look Back in Anger.'' Davenport
will star with Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow in Hollywood flick ``The Talented
Mr. Ripley,'' based on the acclaimed Patricia Highsmith novel about a charming,
psychopathic killer. By U.S. standards, ``This Life'' played fast and died
young. Just picture NBC airing blockbuster ``ER'' for only two seasons.
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Garnett:
``There's one reason why shows in America get milked until they're dry and
that reason is one word and that's money. No one makes any money in British
television. ``And we did 32 episodes which was nearly three years of my
life. Frankly, we stopped because I got bored.'' When ``This Life'' first
aired in the U.S. critics quickly compared it to ``Melrose,'' ``Friends''
and MTV's seminal soapumentary ``Real World.'' BBC publicists eagerly extended
the analogy. But Garnett doesn't bite. ``I don't think this show has been
affected by American television at all. I wouldn't mind living on `Melrose
Place' but I'd only seen it a couple of times and I hadn't seen that other
one (``Real World'') at all.'' Now ``This Life'' is over over there even
as it builds BBC buzz here. Garnett just finished producing the second season
of his quirky police drama ``Stanton Blues'' (called ``The Cops'' in England).
It will air on BBC America sometime next year.
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