19/10/89
Words:
Chris Arnsby
Mark Goodier: “Good evening and welcome to the best of BBC radio and television together. It's Radio 1FM and BBC1 for Top of the Pops. We have the full top forty rundown tonight and Britain's brand new number one. We start with the third straight hit for D Mob with Cathy Dennis. This is C'mon And Get My Love."
Imagine going to work and while a colleague appears to be exactly the same person as yesterday, it is actually their twin. Would you notice? This is the premise we are asked to believe in Ludwig, starring David Mitchell, familiar though several series such as Peep Show and Upstart Crow. Yet he has never quite been as David Mitchell as he is in Ludwig. He plays John Taylor a crossword setter (nom de plume Ludwig derived from Beethoven) who prefers words to people but finds himself thrown into a different walk of life when his twin brother James, a detective, goes missing. James’ wife Lucy persuades him to up sticks, come to Cambridge and go into the police headquarters posing as James’ to find clues as to her husband’s disappearance. Why she doesn’t just ask the police to find one of their own or even tell her son for several days is one of several odd developments dotted though.
Episode 7 - They Came First
This is a series that likes to turn the tables frequently and take us off on a tangent so for this episode after being teased with domestic bliss as Dorothy, Lucas and Sylvie hunker down in a remote country house, we end up with the reveal that Lucas is Glinda’s defender (and lover). Its the second explanation we’ve had for his backstory so it’s no wonder he had amnesia! It’s a seriously good twist though in an episode that elsewhere has something of a shock value. The house where they are staying has a large scarecrow in the front another symbolic link to the original. The episode’s stand out moment is when the house they are in begins to turn upside down and you realise more or less anything can happen in this show!
Episode Three -
Mistress New Mistress
The story of the Wizard has always been a tale of deception and this episode sees Emerald City continue that tradition revealing he is not all he seems. He confesses to one of his counsels that he had no powers at all before he came here and that his name was Frank Morgan (a nod to the original author) while later he doesn’t deny that he can no longer awaken the stone giants supposed to be guarding the city in the event of the return of the Beast. Vincent D'Onofrio's performance is subtle and you can detect the sense of a man struggling under the surface to keep control over everything because he likes the power so much.
The Oz books penned by L Frank Baum have proved to be inspiring fodder for a number of versions and adaptations across various media. As the best known ones are The Wizard of Oz film and the musical Wicked, the tales have become synonymous with songs. A more ambitious attempt to relocate this world to that of drama was made with Emerald City. First developed by writers Matthew Arnold and Josh Freidman for NBC the concept was to extrapolate familiar characters and scenarios from the books to give them a futuristic, edgier twist. They also wanted to make a version grounding some of the more fanciful concepts in a more realistic though still unusual context as well as bringing characters who featured in all of the original fourteen books together to exist at the same time.
Some highlights from this year's River of Light festival, held in Liverpool each autumn.
Episode seven takes a further step beyond the initial premise
to tell something of a time travel tale centred around Lilia. Her powers of
premonition prove vital to solving the next trail which takes place inside a
suitably gothic mansion. Agatha and Billy - with temporal interjections from Lilia and Jennifer
- have a limited time to complete a game
of tarot and there are literal swords hanging over their heads one of which
drops each time there is an error. Presented with Lilia and Jennifer’s scenes
popping back and forth incorporating flashbacks to previous episodes show how
deeply plotted the show has been. We also see Lilia as a child learning the
skills that will now help her win the game albeit at a cost.
