British TV adds song and dance
BBC America will air a six-episode mystery that mixes in some musical numbers.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published October 22, 2005
American audiences have flirted with British television for decades - a bit of culture here, some oddball comedy there - but BBC America's latest venture, Viva Blackpool, will reveal just how far we'll fall for something completely different.
Premiering Monday, Blackpool is a six-episode murder mystery - with show tunes. As promotional material suggests, "Sex, Drugs and Murder. Let's make a song and dance about it."
CSI goes Do Re Mi. And it works.
The story is rich, the colors surreal, the characters are deep and addictive, horribly flawed and absolutely lovable.
And the singing and dancing are great fun, with three or four tunes an episode, including songs made popular by both Elvises (Presley and Costello), Jimmy Cliff, Nancy Sinatra and Billy Idol. Never mind that in some cases licensing troubles sent producers in search of soundalike singers instead of the originals (including an English husband and wife team of Sinatra and Presley soundalikes).
Peter Bowker, the writer who created Viva Blackpool, said the time is right for a television musical. Americans weren't ready for Steven Bochco's song and danceathon Cop Rock when it debuted in 1990 (it was wildly expensive to produce, got dismal ratings and lasted 11 episodes). But shows such as Ally McBeal and The Drew Carey Show, and the success of films Moulin Rouge and Chicago hints America is itching for a song.
Bowker hopes.
The key, he told television critics last summer, is to use the songs wisely - and sparingly. Each must serve a purpose. The show can't turn into an opera.
Presumably, we're not quite ready for an opera.
"What I wanted to do was for the musical numbers to always push the story on in some way," he said. "It also got past the cliched scenes."
For example, These Boots are Made For Walkin' provides a great way to convey the tense exchange between Detective Peter Carlisle (played by David Tennant) and suspect Ripley Holden (David Morrissey). The song offered a new way to present that crucial cop-criminal moment.
Bowker said he's been keen on musicals since 1978 when he stumbled on the TV miniseries Pennies From Heaven.
"Bob Hoskins started to sing, and I remember thinking, "You can't do that. That can't be allowed on television. That can't be right,' " Bowker said. "The thing that excited me about it was it was like somebody had invented another color and put it on the palette. Well, that was another part of television language, and it was there to use."
Exciting palette aside, Blackpool would founder without an exceptional cast.
No fear. Morrissey, who has a long list of English movie and television credits, is magnificent. His portrayal of a small-time casino operator struggling with his home and professional life while at the center of a murder investigation is hypnotic.
Despicable yet lovable, a tough guy who can sing (and dance cheek-to-cheek with another man), a doting father and loving husband who sleeps with hookers, the character of Ripley Holden demands a lot. Morrissey triumphs.
"I couldn't praise the actors enough," Bowker said. "We've talked about the music a lot. I could've taken all these risks as a writer. Without these guys taking phenomenal risks as performers, it just wouldn't have been the show it was."
David Tennant (the next Dr. Who) is remarkable as the incorruptable cop who falls for a murder suspect's wife, and Sarah Parish as Natalie Holden is, in Tennant's defense, hard to resist.
Recently, British television has extended its influence across the Atlantic in new ways.
Premium channels HBO and Showtime adopted the British style of delivering a handful of episodes that are ready when they're ready, rather than insisting on the usual 22-episode, September to May American season. Witness HBO's The Sopranos and Deadwood or Showtime's Weeds popping up in March, or January and October, even skipping a year before returning with fresh episodes.
Basic cable outlets FX and TNT followed suit. Check out The Closer or Nip/Tuck.
Last spring, after The Office scored for BBC America (including an Emmy nomination), NBC remade it into an American weekly broadcast sitcom. HBO came back by signing Ricky Gervais, star of the British Office to a new project, Extras, and teamed with BBC for its colossal Rome series.
Whether American audiences will fall for the song-and-dance Blackpool is anyone's guess. The premise may turn some viewers off before they tune in, but those who do will see why it was a hit in England.
Katherine Mitchell, general manager of BBC America, said in a phone interview that the British television format translates well to America exactly because the shows are not designed to go on forever.
"In the U.K., we commit to making a series with a beginning, a middle and an end. Then we make it, and then we decide when to schedule it," Mitchell said. "There's a creative imperative versus a commercial imperative."
The series' shorter duration also helps lure film stars to TV, because they know up front how long the commitment will last, Mitchell said.
Notice Glenn Close in FX's The Shield?
Morrissey has already made the jump to Hollywood, starring opposite Sharon Stone in next year's scheduled release of Basic Instinct 2.
But this may be a case where British TV could learn something from America's love of keeping things going: Morrissey has agreed to return for a 90-minute sequel.
- Chase Squires can be reached at 727 893-8739 or squires@sptimes.com His blog is www.sptimes.com/blogs/tv
REVIEW: Viva Blackpool premieres Monday night at 10 on BBC America. Grade: A