Critic's view - Friday, February 12
The Age
Thursday February 11, 2010
Black Adder the ThirdGo! 8.30pmTWENTY-three years on, the third series of Black Adder remains as sharp as a guillotine blade. The co-writers are Ben Elton, an extraordinary wit, and Richard Curtis, who subsequently had hits with Notting Hill, Love Actually and more. Together, Elton and Curtis devised cute plots, wonderful characters and eccentric, rich dialogue. The performances are exemplary, too, with Rowan Atkinson perfectly cunning in the title role. Beside him, Tony Robinson is the long-suffering straight man and Hugh Laurie, long before House, reveals a knack for comic timing. Series one was set in the 1480s; series two a century later. By series three, set in the 1810s, the family's fortunes have suffered significantly. The holder of the Blackadder name is now butler to the bumbling Crown Prince (Laurie). Baldrick remains a boarding house for lice. In the first of tonight's two episodes, Blackadder is disgusted by the popularity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. After a rousing round of anti-French gags, Blackadder is imprisoned by French revolutionaries, where Baldrick inevitably devises a cunning plan. It involves a guillotine. The plan is risible; the show is brilliant.Better Homes and GardensChanel Seven, 7.30pmDIVERTING and fluffy, tonight's instalment of this infotainment staple sees the amiable Joh Griggs taking a tour of the Lodge with current occupant Therese Rein. Having never taken tea among the vast lawns and rose legions of the PM's residence in Canberra, I was fascinated. Other segments aren't bad, either. Graham Ross visits an offbeat yard in Victoria, designed by a rampaging topiarist; Karen Martini creates a pavlova that looks better than anything I remember from childhood; and Fast Ed cooks a prawn risotto. Whatever you do, though, turn off before Tara Dennis begins her bedroom declutter. There's nothing wrong with ordering one's possessions; the problem is the materialism and excess that underpins this segment. Here's a decluttering tip: buy less in the first place, sunshine.Hitler's BodyguardSBS One, 8.35pmTHERE'S something perverse and disturbing about SBS's obsession with Hitler. Every other night, there's a program interviewing very old people with some spurious connection to the Third Reich. "I once saw the Fuehrer's car drive by," they say. "At least, I think it was his. But my sister's neighbour once bumped into him at the baker's. The Fuehrer just said, 'Guten tag'. Spooky." This series refers to Hitler as an "evil genius". Wasn't he just a racist rabble-rouser who surrounded himself with a phalanx of thugs? Episode one shows how his small gang of thugs grew quickly into a cumbersome, in-fighting bureaucracy. Interesting revelations about assassination attempts are undermined by quotes from Hitler delivered in a dodgy German accent. He sounds like an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator. If you miss tonight's episode, don't worry. There are 13 parts. Does anyone else feel like hiring a bodyguard against all the hyperbolic narration and melodramatic music?Sleuth 101ABC1, 8pmBILLED as a whodunit game show, Sleuth 101 begins with a murder. Then a celebrity guest must solve the crime by examining the scene, interviewing suspects and taking hints from endearing host Cal Wilson, ever quick with a quip. Tonight, John Wood plays an obnoxious family man who carks at Christmas. Perhaps his menopausal missus, Marjorie (Denise Drysdale), is the killer? Or his dowdy daughter Michelle (Robyn Butler), self-unemployed son Steve (Dave Lawson) or neurotic daughter-in-law Ally (Nicola Parry)? Comedian Dave O'Neil watches re-enactments before grilling each suspect. Tonight's players are excellent and, crucially, enjoying themselves. Like a non-commercial sibling of Thank God You're Here and Talkin' 'bout Your Generation, it's witty and fun.
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