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30 Days of TV - Day 17
( The Days )
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
"Mini series" seems to mean different things on different sides of the pond. In the UK, a full series may be no more than six episodes, so there's nothing "mini" about Band of Brothers and similar. A mini-series, to me, is a self contained story in four episodes or less. And with that definition, I have no trouble at all picking out my favourite: Tipping the Velvet. (And look - I've got an icon for this one!)
Even if it wasn't an awesome three episodes, I'd be tempted to pick this for the sheer gall of a BBC series having a title that's a euphamism for oral sex. Times certainly have changed! But it is awesome. Based on the novel by Sarah Waters, it's a period, lesbian romance. Kinda Dickensian, actually, in that it shows you the underclass and class tensions of Victorian London...but with added sex.
Nancy Astley falls in love with male impersonator Kitty Butler, runs off with her love to London and begins a career in the London music halls as Nan King. Things fall apart when Kitty betrays Nan and marries a man. Nan goes through a very dark time, moving from poverty and depression to prostitution and eventually falling into a (mostly consensual) D/S relationship with an aristocratic woman. That relationship, too, falls apart rather spectacularly and Nan falls on hard times again. But her story has a happy ending when she eventually finds love in an unconventional family and finds her stage career isn't as dead as she thought.
That summarises the plot, but a summary can't convey how brilliant the series is. It's a comedy, really, events portrayed with a gentle sense of humour and occasionally a biting wit. The darkest moments are very dark, but there's never a sense that there isn't some hope around the corner. The sex scenes are never so graphic as to edge into porn, but they're not fade-to-black, either. Nan's transformation from a quietly average girl who can't quite figure out why she isn't really attracted to her boyfriend to a confident and talented performer is like any rags-to-riches tale, but it's only the beginning of Nan's journey. She's someone I find it hard to identify with, largely because of the way she forces herself into Florence's life in the third part, but her struggles with herself will be familiar to any gay woman and I love the way she grows and changes throughout the story.
A lovely piece of television.
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
"Mini series" seems to mean different things on different sides of the pond. In the UK, a full series may be no more than six episodes, so there's nothing "mini" about Band of Brothers and similar. A mini-series, to me, is a self contained story in four episodes or less. And with that definition, I have no trouble at all picking out my favourite: Tipping the Velvet. (And look - I've got an icon for this one!)
Even if it wasn't an awesome three episodes, I'd be tempted to pick this for the sheer gall of a BBC series having a title that's a euphamism for oral sex. Times certainly have changed! But it is awesome. Based on the novel by Sarah Waters, it's a period, lesbian romance. Kinda Dickensian, actually, in that it shows you the underclass and class tensions of Victorian London...but with added sex.
Nancy Astley falls in love with male impersonator Kitty Butler, runs off with her love to London and begins a career in the London music halls as Nan King. Things fall apart when Kitty betrays Nan and marries a man. Nan goes through a very dark time, moving from poverty and depression to prostitution and eventually falling into a (mostly consensual) D/S relationship with an aristocratic woman. That relationship, too, falls apart rather spectacularly and Nan falls on hard times again. But her story has a happy ending when she eventually finds love in an unconventional family and finds her stage career isn't as dead as she thought.
That summarises the plot, but a summary can't convey how brilliant the series is. It's a comedy, really, events portrayed with a gentle sense of humour and occasionally a biting wit. The darkest moments are very dark, but there's never a sense that there isn't some hope around the corner. The sex scenes are never so graphic as to edge into porn, but they're not fade-to-black, either. Nan's transformation from a quietly average girl who can't quite figure out why she isn't really attracted to her boyfriend to a confident and talented performer is like any rags-to-riches tale, but it's only the beginning of Nan's journey. She's someone I find it hard to identify with, largely because of the way she forces herself into Florence's life in the third part, but her struggles with herself will be familiar to any gay woman and I love the way she grows and changes throughout the story.
A lovely piece of television.