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Oh please let's not have any more of the BBC's well-meant but rather pitiful attempts at 'diversity'. They've 'diversitied' this (third) season of THE A WORD to death, ticking every box they reasonably (and sometimes unreasonably) can.
But not only do the new characters seem unnecessary, neither does anyone appear to have checked if they can actually act (with the exceptions of David Gyasi's sympathetic Ben and Gemma Paige North's engaging Sarah).
So we are treated to a lot of wooden deliveries of lines supposed to be funny simply because they are recited by someone with Down's Syndrome or by a cute Asian boy.
We are patronising these groups if we fail to cast good actors in these roles, basically patting them on the head and saying 'We don't expect you to act; it's enough that you tick one of our boxes.' Not to mention the stereotypical portrayal of the token gay best friend.
Gay 1
Down's 3
Clever Asian 1
Autistic 2
Black 2 (though latest replaces earlier character as if a quota must be met)
The Beeb is pursuing diversity at the expense of quality. I shudder to think how they're going to set about insinuating 'trans', 'non-binary' and 'pansexual' characters into season 4. I'm not saying these groups shouldn't be represented but please don't stick them all ad hoc into one programme.
Plus, the excellent Morven Christie and Lee Ingleby appear to have been sidelined in order to foreground the awful Christopher Eccleston. It's become The Christopher Eccleston Show and he gleefully and hammily overacts in every situation. The humour has degenerated into little more than farce, now revolving around his woefully unfunny banter and tendency to act like he's a child being told off. His OTT facial expressions are so irritating that I just want to punch him till he falls down.
I hope they get this series back on track and don't continue to make 'diversity' a byword for useless.
score 3/10
bashfulbadger 1 July 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5872733/ |
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8-11-2020 12:29:13