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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 252032" data-attributes="member: 23">Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV Series One (continued)The non-regular casting is perhaps even more impressive, and this is never more true than with each episode’s “documentary”. Impressively, each of the documentaries are played for truth. The laughs mostly come from the lines or the situation, but it takes a really good actor to be able to work with this kind of material and make it funny without being obviously so. And so good actors are cast. Maureen Lipman talks about her strained marriage to Denis Lawson, for example. These documentaries lead with strength as Jim Broadbent earnestly spoke about being A Fairly Ordinary Man. [MEDIA=youtube]AEA812x0syI[/MEDIA]I love the balance in this. The self-consciousness that Broadbent puts across is perfect. This is a time where documenting the ordinary was anything but that, and so his character is trying to behave normally while being very aware of the film crew. It’s all very subtle and mostly not on the page. And it does feel ordinary. Or at the very least 100% authentic and convincing. Frances Cox as Jim's mother is wonderful. She has that Northern matriarch thing going on where she can everyone down to size with a pithy line without sugar coating or putting on any airs and graces. My favourite line in the piece comes when she bitterly complains about the extra work of having to put a nice crease in Jim’s overalls (the implication being that this isn't usual, subtly telling the audience that Jim is going to extra trouble to look his best on camera). The final straw comes for her when she realises Jim’s brother is going out to work with him:She then scowls and stomps back into the kitchen. It’s a tiny moment in among a lot of other wonderful moments, but her displeasure is hilarious. Especially when combined with the awareness that she’s showing Jim up on camera.Just as funny is Meg Johnson as Marion, owner of The Elbow Cafe in Abattoir Road (“We used to go to The Hairnet Restaurant” deadpans Jim in the voiceover “But let’s just say we weren’t too happy about the consistency of the custard. Let’s just leave it there”). Nothing’s said, but it just comes across that she’s pulled out all the stops for her TV appearance. The hair is coiffed, she’s made up and wearing her best striped roll neck under her pink dinner lady overall. She takes time to make conversation about the weather while standing in her most ladylike pose and and speaks in a low voice as she runs through a menu that is hilariously extensive and pretentious for a greasy spoon:.Naturally, both order the mixed grill (as no doubt did every customer. It's doubtful whether the rest of the menu was even offered to customers who weren't appearing on TV). She then turns and loudly barks the order to her unseen assistant, before turning back to seductively offer them cocoa. Every detail is so incredibly perfect. Perhaps the best remembered of these documentaries is Swim The Channel, with Vic as the neglected over-achiever. As with a number of these it perfectly strikes the balance between comedy and heartbreaking poignancy. They go to some daringly dark places, the tone and themes of which have echoes of the three films which preceded Vic’s TV shows. Her character in Swim The Channel is lost at sea while trying to impress her ambivalent parents who’ve spent the day shopping in London. While her character in Just An Ordinary School attempts suicide after being bullied. In both, there are echoes of Talent’s Maureen, who keeps smiling timidly through while being crapped upon and comparing herself unfavourably with her peers. One can’t help wondering how much is drawn from Victoria’s own experiences. The songs, too, can have a similar message. They’re frequently upbeat - but there’s often an undercurrent of sadness and regret. At times it feels uncomfortably truthful, but it always touches the heart in some way. It goes without saying that there are gems like Acorn Antiques, but this time round I’m appreciating the songs and the documentaries more than every before, which I feel has to do with viewing Vic’s work chronologically and seeing how this work ties in with what’s come before it. </blockquote>

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