Family’s hard look story
STARTING tonight on C5 we have a drama about a group of Brits whose summer break abroad becomes the holiday from hell.This is excellent news for us viewers, because we haven’t had a drama to match that description since ITV’s No Return, and that finished several hours ago.
To be fair, which I do try to be, there are a number of key differences between these two television series.
For a start, ITV’s was set in Turkey, whereas this one, THE HOLIDAY (9pm), starring Jill Halfpenny, is set in Malta.
Also, while ITV focused on one family, this one finds a bunch of old university friends meeting up
– Jill’s character Kate being one of them – along with their respective husbands and kids.
And while the family in ITV’s programme were allowed to have a fairly pleasant time for the first nine minutes of episode one, the bunch we meet in The Holiday seem pretty blinking miserable from the start.
Sure, they’re making all the right “we’re on holiday” noises, making out they’re about to have a jolly old time. But it’s not very convincing. From the moment we first clap eyes on Kate and her lot – husband Sean, son Daniel and daughter Lucy, in the car on the way to their villa – we detect a certain atmosphere.
There’s an atmosphere, too, once everyone’s met up.
And I don’t mean the sort of atmosphere Russ Abbot sang about in his 1985 smash hit (I Love A Party With A Happy) Atmosphere. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say these various friends quietly hate each other.
There’s also a lot of giving one another funny looks. Indeed, it accounts for a sizeable chunk of episode one.
Obviously this has its benefits – eg, you can nip to the loo without missing much – but it does get a tiny bit tiresome. Kate suspects Sean is having an affair with one of her pals, but if that’s the case there’s a perfectly good swimming pool she could simply shove him in. If anyone looked remotely upset, that would have to be the person he was sleeping with. Mystery solved, job done.
That said, so far I’ve only seen episode one, so I may be oversimplifying the plot somewhat. Somebody, for example, may be willing to go to crazy lengths to keep this affair a secret.Wouldn’t that be fun?
Elsewhere tonight, in ROCK
TILL WE DROP (BBC2, 9pm; or 10pm on Saturday in Wales),
Martin Kemp and Lady Leshurr are putting together two bands of veteran musicians for the Isle of Wight Festival.
“Veteran” here is defined as 64-plus. Pity.
I know a guy who turns 61 this year who’d have been ideal. Especially now he’s no longer playing bass with Spandau Ballet.