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Post by tony34 on Jul 20, 2009 23:21:25 GMT 1
Where are my posts?
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Post by tony34 on Jul 20, 2009 23:23:10 GMT 1
Great to see Anna back doing gritty Brit drama. And as a character quite unlike herself- not entirely sympathetic. And a bit hard-nosed! Clearly doing everything for her kids, though punching the mother in the face was both applaudable and deplorable at the same time! A bit of a shock seeing her topless in an early scene! Especially after Radio Times said not to expect any nudity! Nice bum shot and stockings scenes too! I would have taped it but i somehow can't think of her in that light- as a whore! Might tape the repeat on BBC4/ Gold/Whatever in future. There are outtakes pics from the rainy stockings scene here www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/art....ew-TV-role.html Nice though convoluted Christian-themed conclusion- unlike McGovern to give us such a fairytale ending. It resembled the Moving On daytime shows he recently produced- stories for women to cry and swoon over. |
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Post by Dave on Jul 21, 2009 7:56:04 GMT 1
Not sure you can call the "topless" scene really topless - it was v v brief indeed . It was well edited and directed in that was the only "nude" scene and all the shots in the sauna were not titillating or contained any nudity at all.... actually the scene in the sauna was one of the most powerful between Mark and Dee. I dont think it was that much a fairytale ending - although her kids get into the school , she has lost Mark, she has lost her 2nd job, she is still in financial difficulties.... We have all the "out-take" pictures in the gallery - Mark Campbell kindly allowed us to exclusively use them not long after they were originally published... annafriel.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=479You can watch the episode again here on BBC's iplayer: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lsz78/The_Street_Series_3_Episode_2/I recorded direct off the BBC so I'll be adding screengrabs in the next day or 2..... Great to see Anna back doing gritty Brit drama. And as a character quite unlike herself- not entirely sympathetic. And a bit hard-nosed! Clearly doing everything for her kids, though punching the mother in the face was both applaudable and deplorable at the same time! A bit of a shock seeing her topless in an early scene! Especially after Radio Times said not to expect any nudity! Nice bum shot and stockings scenes too! I would have taped it but i somehow can't think of her in that light- as a whore! Might tape the repeat on BBC4/ Gold/Whatever in future. There are outtakes pics from the rainy stockings scene here www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/art....ew-TV-role.html Nice though convoluted Christian-themed conclusion- unlike McGovern to give us such a fairytale ending. It resembled the Moving On daytime shows he recently produced- stories for women to cry and swoon over. |
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Post by tony34 on Jul 21, 2009 17:20:47 GMT 1
On reflection, you're right about the ending, i suppose. Yeah- it wasn't a topless scene as such but still- i wasn't expecting it! Nearly spilled my cocoa!
Anna is in next week's ep- a Jonas Armstrong starrer- the guy she introduced as a soldier to scare off Mark.
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Post by Dave on Jul 21, 2009 20:14:10 GMT 1
The Times Review....21 July 2009
The Street
BBC One
***** (5 out of 5 )
Jimmy McGovern and Jan McVerry's The Street was so good last night that it almost made you forget that Liverpool simply does not produce prostitutes who look like Anna Friel. She played Dee (left), forced to sell her body to pay for a house in the catchment area of a decent school. By the end she had attained martyrdom, sainthood and two places at St Peter's. Having misinterpreted, according to some readers, the end of last week's episode, I am loath to stick my oar in here, but was there not an indication at the end that Dee was serious when she said that her boys had got in because she had “shagged” the governing body's vicar? After all, in his speech comparing her to Jesus, he called her by her professional name Rudy. How would he know? Complaints to the usual e-mail address, please.
The Guardian
TV ratings: Anna Friel lifts The StreetBBC1's Jimmy McGovern series The Street attracts 5.1 million viewers, a gain of 100,000, for episode with Anna Friel
Anna Friel's appearance in The Street boosted the hit BBC1 drama by 100,000 viewers last night, Monday 20 July.
The Jimmy McGovern series, which will end after this run, attracted 5.1 million viewers and a 23% share in the 9pm hour, up from 5 million and a 22% share last week, according to unofficial overnight figures.
The Street (BBC1), as its very name suggests, is Coronation Street written as serious drama. Dee (Anna Friel, returning to British television) has moved into the street to get her sons out of their sink school ("Where I was the only one that didn't have a son in jail or dead") and into a good local school. She works every hour she can to pay the mortgage, even weekends as a croupier. Mark, a plumber (Daniel Mays), falls in love with her and takes her to meet his parents. His father (David Bradley) looks at her and looks away. In that minimal turn of the head you realise what Dee really does and what Dad did.
The writing is formidable. The rows are real rows in which every-body shouts at once or nobody speaks at all. The talk is real talk ("What about Mum?" "What about her?" "What do you mean what about her?"). And it had, you will have to believe me, a very strong streak of comedy, like the dark hair down a donkey's back. Dee turns up for the vital school interview with a black eye, pleads her case passionately and gets her way. An outcome partly explained when the vicar on the panel addresses her as Ruby.
Delightful if, perhaps, a little on the sweet side. Have you ever had a sugar butty? It is a Lancashire delicacy.
The Guardian TV & Radio Blog
BBC drama should put a stop to happy endings The Street is great drama, filled with fine performances. But why does it always end happily?
When we're taking aim at British drama for lacking ambition, courage and originality, The Street is clearly not a target. Fantastic performances abound, from some of the UK's finest actors; the dialogue is generally first-rate, the plot development rarely sp oon-fed (a tough ask in single 60-minute pieces), and when Anna Friel was on screen yesterday, there was an intensity rarely seen in today's homegrown, small-screen fare.
That the likes of Friel, Bob Hoskins, David Thewlis and Jim Broadbent have been tempted to return to British television drama is testament to the quality of the writing, and Jimmy McGovern's pulling power. The news that McGovern will be calling time on the series, following cuts at ITV drama (who produce it), is not good for actors, viewers or aspiring writers.
So, what's my problem with a series that regularly pulls a decent audience in for an hour of edgy, if somewhat nostalgic, realism? It's the bloody happy endings, that's what. Why does it always have to turn out so hunky-dory?
In last week's episode, Hoskins, as a reformed alcoholic publican, stood up to the local gangster and took a beating for his principles, before winning the respect of his regulars and vanquishing nasty Liam Cunningham at the last moment with a few choice words and a cocktail umbrella.
Friel's tale of a down-on-her-luck mum, so desperate for her children to attend a good school that she helped finance a move to the catchment area through prostitution, was beautifully played, but had a similarly lucky ending tacked on the end.
And don't expect Jonas "Robin Hood" Armstrong's scarred suicide-bomb victim to succumb entirely to drink, drugs and despair on his return from service in Afghanistan, in next week's slice of modern life.
Really, the residents of that street should form a lottery syndicate – many of their troubles would soon be over; although Timothy Spall's Eddie would probably misplace the ticket – until just before the deadline for claiming their millions, when it would suddenly appear again.
Is a happy ending a pre-requisite to ensure bums on seats, demanded by a BBC1 primetime slot? Not judging by Torchwood's brave finale recently.
Is realism considered too depressing for viewers in these tough times? Has a secret directive calling for uplifting drama been issued by the Beeb? Perhaps Ben Stephenson can tell us over a nice cup of BBC coffee ...
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Post by amanda on Jul 21, 2009 23:20:41 GMT 1
TV ratings: Anna Friel lifts The StreetBBC1's Jimmy McGovern series The Street attracts 5.1 million viewers, a gain of 100,000, for episode with Anna Friel.Source | Guardian UK. Fantastic job Anna!!!!
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Post by Dave on Jul 22, 2009 7:36:55 GMT 1
TV ratings: Anna Friel lifts The StreetBBC1's Jimmy McGovern series The Street attracts 5.1 million viewers, a gain of 100,000, for episode with Anna Friel.Source | Guardian UK. Fantastic job Anna!!!! LOL Amanda - I'd included that one in my post above !!!  |
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Post by amanda on Jul 22, 2009 9:52:12 GMT 1
ROFL! I hadn't watched the episode yet so skipped over everyones posts to avoid getting spoiled of what'll happen  . Must've missed that on accident. WARNING - SPOILERS! Just watched the episode tonight - absolutely loved it. I agree with everyone here, Anna's best work yet. I was extremely impressed by her performance, she did an extraordinary job with the role. My praise as well to Daniel Mays! Both he and Anna seemed like a great match for co-stars, the tension, love, and confusion between their characters was well portrayed. You felt quite sad for Mark wanting Dee so badly yet she had to 'hide' her secret from him to avoid hurting his family and her children, but I'm glad she was the one to tell him her secret, I had a horrible feeling throughout the episode he was going to find out somehow. LOL and you were right DaveC, I cried at the end  damn. Felt horrible for Dee begging the school board to allow her sons to attend the school, after everything she'd been through for them. I'm glad they did let the boys in, and she ended up with Mark in the end no matter how many reviewers are whining about the ending - I thought it was great. Overall, a wonderful episode, and beautiful performance by Anna. Very proud of her indeed  ! |
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Post by tonyaf216 on Jul 22, 2009 11:18:19 GMT 1
I watched it before I want to work yesterday and thought WOW what a great performance by Anna its a shame Anna has't been doing other stuff for British TV as she would get my vote for an award at the TV Quick or any other awards.
Im looking forward to seeing in the westend in Sept or Oct
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Post by xJustFriel on Jul 22, 2009 15:50:46 GMT 1
Omg The Street Is Soo Sad And Depressing But It Really Makes You Appeartice What You Have In Life. And What Your Parents Go Through To Keep You Save.
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Post by jizjaz on Jul 22, 2009 16:09:53 GMT 1
Anna just watched the street and you were fantastic x
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Post by davec on Jul 26, 2009 18:43:10 GMT 1
LOL and you were right DaveC, I cried at the end damn. I've just got back from my travels and watched it today. I didn't find it as moving as some of the other episodes I've seen, probably because I was too busy watching Anna's every blink of her eyes On reflection I think it was a superb piece of TV drama, by the actors and the writers. It was impossible for me to be fully sympathetic will any of the characters, yet easy to empathise with most of them as their faults were the consequences of past decisions by themselves and others and they were trying to work out whether or not to live with those consequences or do something to change things. I thought the two main women characters were most interesting:- Anna's character chose to try and change her life for the better - by moving house and getting into debt, turning to prostitution to pay the mortgage, facing and assaulting the mum of the kid who was bullying her son and pleading desperately to get her sons into a new school. All these were double-edged swords and you could argue either way if they were the 'right' things to do. She clearly justified all these decisions in her own mind, and showed she understood the negatives and was constantly revisiting her decisions. She eventually decided to ditch the prostitution, and though it was done on the spur of the moment at a very highly charged time, you got the impression she had thought this through over some time and was just waiting for that catalytic moment - a very strong character played with great conviction by our Anna Mark's mum was the most insightful and knew exactly what was going on! While Dee was looking after her kids by being very active (rather too active!) and very inwardly focused, she was also looking out for her family equally actively yet with a much wider perspective. She supported her family unity by putting up with her husband's visits to hookers, working very hard to keep the peace between him and Mark and trying to do the same between them both and Dee. She above all the others could see and understand the bigger picture and was able to empathise and try and manufacture an outcome that would match her own goals - a happy husband, son and grand daughter. The men were much more shallow:- Poor Mark just wanted the fairytale - a pretty girl to love and shag who would love and shag him back He thought he'd found it with Dee, and to be fair he was very persistent and he got her into bed pretty quickly and soon got himself totally besotted. Then, when he found the fairytale wasn't real he could only see things from his own perspective, couldn't deal with it and lashed out at everyone in frustration! Mark's dad was the only character who was satisfied with their lot and was prepared to fight to keep the status quo. He had a very caring, dutiful wife, a good business, a loyal son and a pretty grand daughter - oh, and access to hookers and the money to pay for them. He could not see his wife's unhappiness with a life spent only serving him and the family business, his son's unhappiness at being alone or his grand daughter's need of a family environment, let alone the qualities that Dee could bring to his family. All he saw was a tart who could spoil his own little world for him. He tried to protect himself by playing on the need to shelter his grand daughter from prostitutes and bully Dee into ditching Mark - a really nasty side to his character. There were lots of great bits of insightful writing that showed the unpredictability of human behaviour:- I really liked Dee's son being embarrassed when she was fighting in the street - when Dee was thinking she was protecting him and he would be proud of her. I thought it interesting that Mark punched Ruby's last client, when he probably wanted to thump her really, but couldn't, of course! Mark's dad thought Dee was going to spill the beans to Mark's mother, but she was actually just trying to help Mark and his mum by telling her he had been arrested. And then, right at the end, the only reason Dee managed to get her sons into the new school was because the school's moral guardian had paid her to satisfy his carnal desires I thought the kids were all great - bright young people with lots to give, and yet nobody asked what they thought or needed! So in the end the story was all about sex. All the men wanted to shag Anna Friel, either for sex or for love. That made them all vulnerable and although she never deliberately tried to exploit it, in the end it was that which allowed her to get what she wanted for herself and her sons. But does she know that? So.......... is real life really like this ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? |
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Post by Alissa on Jul 29, 2009 2:33:24 GMT 1
Just watched the episode on youtube and must say I was completely blown away with Anna's performance. Have to say this performance is one of my faves!!
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Post by Dave on Aug 17, 2009 13:20:14 GMT 1
Forgot to add this the other week:
Don't know if anyone watched Episode 3 of The Street but Anna was in this episode also for about 1 minute... the guy who helped her in Episode 2 when trying to get into her house is walking along the street and Anna has dropped a bag of shopping from her car, onto the pavement. He bends down to help her but she screams - possibly due to him just appearing out of nowhere but also possibly due to the scarring and disfigurement he has received whilst on active duty in Afghanistan (he has been caught in a bomb blast). He walks off up the street upset at Anna's reaction and she follows him up the street trying to appease him by saying she would have screamed at whoever came to help her as he had crept up on her....
I'll try and add the small clip to the Members area and add some screengrabs soon...
BTW - it is another really really good episode - superb acting and emotions once again....
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Post by Dave on Aug 18, 2009 22:52:48 GMT 1
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. Must've missed that on accident.
damn. Felt horrible for Dee begging the school board to allow her sons to attend the school, after everything she'd been through for them. I'm glad they did let the boys in, and she ended up with Mark in the end 
!
