24 Frames of Dreaming

I'm moving - well, sort of!

In the last few weeks I've shifted most of my daily activity to my Tumblr blog, 24framesofdreaming.tumblr.com. So if you want to find me to have a chat or see most of my Doctor Who and Broadchurch stuff, then head on over there and follow me. My Tumblr has seen a lot of work lately and I have an exhaustive tag page with links to individual Old Hollywood stars, Doctor Who and Broadchurch characters, and vintage photography, art, feminist articles, and quotes.

This blog will still host my reviews, fiction, and other longer articles I write. But for the daily chatter and most of the fandom goodies, I'll be here.

Sophia Loren

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[Please note: Happy Valley comes with huge trigger warnings for male-on-female violence, rape, suicide, and stalking. This review discusses these issues. There are no major spoilers.]

In the middle of all the Celebrating New Who fun, I did have a chance to finish Series 1 of the British crime show Happy Valley. It absolutely blew me away, and I highly recommend it.

Catherine Cawood is a successful Detective Sergeant in a small West Yorkshire town riddled with crime and drug abuse. Catherine has a grandson and a sister, a recovering addict herself, and their grim but stable lives are disrupted when Tommy Lee Royce, the man who raped Catherine's now-deceased daughter, is released from prison, returning to town and ready to offend again.

What makes Happy Valley remarkable - and why I found it so riveting - is how it blurs the lines between law enforcer and victim. Catherine is both. Her life is so unbelievably harrowing that it's hard to comprehend how she avoids total breakdown, and actor Sarah Lancashire conveys the crushing weight of Catherine's life with clarity and dignity. Regularly assaulted in the line of duty, Catherine also battles with debilitating PTSD from her daughter's suicide, and struggles to raise a grandson with a learning disability. Despite the presence of a supportive sister and ex-husband, we see how utterly alone she is. Most importantly, though, Catherine is a woman, and we see how being female places her at a disadvantage at many points, from casual workplace sexism to stalking and physical violence. The story makes terrifyingly clear how very close all the female characters live to violence, and that being part of law enforcement really doesn't offer Catherine that much protection when it really matters.

Happy Valley is a difficult (though unfailingly gripping) watch, filled as it is with male-on-female physical, sexual, and mental violence. Some have asked if the series is too violent, which is actually quite laughable when you look at what else is out there. The difference with Happy Valley is that it squarely confronts the viewer with the brutal truth about how violence impacts people. If it's too violent, it's because the reality of real-life male-on-female violence and harassment is equally horrifying. TV needs more series like this, so we get used to being shown the real, devastating mark that violence makes on people, especially women.

It's a fascinating watch because Happy Valley shows us the point of view of the male offender as well. In fact, not simply giving Tommy a passing chance to exonerate himself to the viewer, it practically rubs our face in it. And what we see is terrifying. Tommy Lee Royce is remarkable not for his active malignancy, but for the fact that nothing really matters to him. He only kidnapped and raped a woman because it was mildly convenient. He has no strong feelings about anyone or anything other than his own self-interest, and yet he truly believes that he's basically decent and altruistic, that none of it was really his fault. It's frightening to see inside the mind of everyday evil, and Happy Valley doesn't let us off the hook by leaving the bad guy a mystery. It shows us exactly why he did it, and that's more horrifying than anything.

There's enough black comedy shot through each episode to lift the gloom slightly, and the crime plot never overshadows the development of the main characters, all of whom are utterly believable. Sarah Lancashire (Catherine) delivers an outstanding performance, and the rest of the cast are all top-notch, particularly James Norton (Tommy Lee Royce) and Siobhan Finneran (Catherine's sister Clare). Sally Wainwright's script is bold, gritty, and rarely falters, and if a few plot turns are a bit convenient, they are more than outweighed by the collection of layered, complex characters she creates.

Filming for Season 2 is due to begin this year, and in a similar vein to another high-quality crime drama, Broadchurch, there's a bit of chatter around whether a series that was originally planned as a stand-alone drama should be renewed, and whether subsequent seasons can possibly match up to the near-perfection of the first. I don't know, but if Happy Valley can follow Broadchurch's lead and pull off more seasons, I'll be happy. Either way, this first season is so amazing that I recommend you see it immediately. Five stars.


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image source

Margo McKendry reads lines with Cary Grant in his office, 1961

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Prince Rainier and Princess Grace Kelly in Monaco, 1956

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Rare shot of Jean Harlow in Griffith Park, by Edwin Bower Hesser in the spring of 1929

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On a USO tour during the Korean War, Marilyn Monroe signs autographs, 1954

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Happy Tenth Anniversary everyone!! Today over on my Tumblr account I'm blogging the moments from Doctor Who that make me smile. (The artwork is all made by much more talented people than me!) All the New Who moments that put a big fat grin on my face. Because yeah, there are amazing themes and arcs and characters, but Doctor Who is just pure fun as well.

Some shows hold a special place in your heart, and Doctor Who is one of those for me. I live with multiple chronic illnesses and chronic pain, and I rely on film and TV to distract me when it all gets too much. Escapism isn't a bad thing, especially if it reminds you of the good things in the real world, and Doctor Who is fantastic escapism. It has made me smile so many times, through a lot of otherwise shitty days and nights, sometimes when nothing else could cheer me up.

Doctor Who has inspired me to take writing seriously, and to try to become a better TV and film reviewer. And it's been a conversation-starter with so many unexpected people. One day when a hospital clinic nurse called to assess me for an appointment, we got talking, and I soon found out that he was a huge Classic Who fan, and wanted to know whether New Who was worth watching. So we talked about the Autons, and whether the Cybermen are scarier than the Daleks - as you do when you've just met someone! Doctor Who has this great way of connecting enthusiastic people with each other. I love that.

I'm so grateful for this brilliant show and for all the people who made it happen. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Russell T Davies - I love his work and if he hadn't decided to revive Doctor Who over ten years ago, we wouldn't all be here. So thanks, RTD, for getting the party started again. We owe you a lot.

For me, this day is dedicated to that magnificent dork, the Tenth Doctor, who made me fall in love with the whole thing in the first place. Some characters grow on you over time, but as soon as that cheeky madman in his pyjamas used a satsuma to save the world, I was gone; I knew right then I'd be absolutely enchanted by this character. I love all the Doctors (they are the same person, after all), but it was Ten who started it all for me - my brave, dark, sparkling, "fun-footed" Doctor. (And David Tennant's phenomenal acting talents might have had something to do with that too. Thank you a million, dear sir.)

Thanks, Doctor Who, for all the laughter, tears, artistic inspiration, and pure joy. Let's hope the next ten years of New Who are even more amazing.

“Just . . . . be magnificent.”
“I think I will be.”

Today most of the action is going on over on my Tumblr, so head over there for lots of 10th Anniversary happiness. This is the free day of the Countdown Challenge, so I'm posting the things about New Who that have made me smile. There's quite a lot :)

 Bad Wolf is pretty much my ideal for a season arc.

I love the pure, simple concept of Bad Wolf. I love that it’s such a keenly visual motif, and that it’s become such a recognisable meme through the fandom and far beyond. I love the elegant ontological paradox it contains: the way Rose in her god form is calling to herself before she even knows what’s happening. I love the romanticism of it: someone risking their life to become a god and save the person they love.

The words are commonplace yet alien: they sound like a child story-book; they’re expressed in unglamorous graffiti; yet they echo with an amorphous fairytale menace. The elemental contrast between Rose and Bad Wolf is stunning: the Earthling and the universal force, the shop girl who likes chips and the goddess made of gold and fire and the fabric of time.

Bad Wolf signifies the potential of Rose the ordinary woman: she has no idea what she will become. And she creates Bad Wolf through her ferocious determination and her love for the Doctor. “I want you safe, my Doctor”: she becomes his cosmic protector. She brings closure to the Time War, ending it with an act of life to counterpoise its terrible destruction.

Rose as Bad Wolf doesn’t just save the Doctor in The Parting of the Ways, she also sets up Bad Wolf’s ongoing relationship with the Doctor. In light of the tragedy of Rose and the Doctor’s love story (the original Doctor, that is), it’s a stunningly beautiful thing to imagine that even if he’s lost forever, a universe away from the one he loves, that she has scattered an echo of herself through that whole universe and every universe, as his cosmic protector and guardian.

There’s an eerie echo of this in Tooth and Claw: the Doctor is trapped in a room, while a wolf roams outside, trying to get in to him. It’s a beautiful and bittersweet foreshadowing of Doomsday. And the Doctor’s Big Bad Wolf eventually does find him. My inner romantic likes to think that she’ll always be out there, haunting him, ready to drop those two words in his ear when the time is right and he needs her most.