There is never anything on tv at the moment. When I finish my marking, lesson planning, cleaning the kitchen, making the sandwiches and decide to relax in front of the telly to do my ironing, or my tesco order at 1130 in the evening I've missed all the good programmes.
At dinner last night with my friends, I was socially I'll-equipped to deal with a conversation about the merits of Bake-off. My babysitters tell me I would really like this. They promise me it isn't like X factor. They assure me no one is horrible. Oh and it's about cakes. How can I of all people, not watch. Next year, I say every year. But according to my book group, it's now ruined by being on BBC1. I grasped gratefully onto a discussion of The Motorway: Life in the Fast Lane http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04hfvcr which had been repeated at midnight.
So while babysitting for my childminder last Saturday, I was thrilled to see that I had missed most of the new series of Scott and Bailey. https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/scott-and-bailey This not only meant that I had more than one episode to watch on catch up while I marked year 8 books, but also meant I didn't have to wait a whole week until the next one. I love Scott and Bailey. Since becoming a mother, or since becoming a working mother, I'm not sure, I have slightly lost my taste for long running, US 24 episode seasons. They rarely last one season, and disappoint me every last episode, and the ones I do like they stop making. (I loved FlashForward!) I have enough unresolved issues in my life. I have experienced enough horror. I need resolution before I go to sleep. So I started watching CSI. And that is just enough catharsis for sweet dreams.
But at the moment there is Scott and Bailey. This is a police drama, and in some ways follows many of the conventions of police drama. There is a central partnership - unusual for crime drama in some ways, many detectives are unable to maintain partnerships for example Rebus, but many detectives have a sidekick of some description; Sherlock needs Watson, Chandler has Miles. There is a demon of a demanding boss they have nicknamed Godzilla, there is a series arc over a number of episodes involving the personal lives of the two central characters - failing relationships, over work, response to threatening situations and so on and there is also complication, climax and resolution every episode or every other episode as the crime is solved.
Oh and they are women. the central characters. Like Cagney and Lacey. Remember them? (No, I don't either,) Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp are amazing as contrasting characters - Janet Scott the older, more experienced detective who tries to maintain a family life despite her long work hours and Rachel Bailey, the heavy drinking, smoking, fast-tracked maverick genius who has inappropriate one night stands and sometimes struggles to keep her aggression in check. And Amelia Bullmore is Gill Murray, their boss. Amelia Bullmore. I would watch her in almost anything after seeing her play a post-natally psychotic woman in festival. She also writes some of the episodes. Oh and her line manager is Pippa Haywood: Joanna Claw from Green Wing - possibly the best programme ever on television.
So they are women, but they don't act like women. That is to say the problems they face are primarily those faced by detectives, or fictional detectives at any rate, not those faced by women. Janet's marriage breaks down which is at least partly caused by her workload, but this plot has been used by other writers to show the difficulties of male detectives, Rachel's commitment issues are explained by her mother's inadequate parenting and her dodgy taste in men. I have heard it said that Janet's quiet interview style is more realistic than the Gene Hunt table thumping and having watched 24 Hours in Police Custody http://www.channel4.com/programmes/24-hours-in-police-custody
that would seem to be true.
The names; Scott and Bailey are surnames, but also potentially male names. These characters are not defined by their gender nor restricted by it. It suggests motte and bailey - the defence of the realm or at least society, a responsibility these women are not afraid of and equal to.
Did I mention Amelia Bullmore wrote some episodes? She was also responsible for Craven - the Radio 4 drama starring the equally wonderful Maxine Peake as another single, female, tough detective http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vcqfb . All of these characters are detectives rather than female detectives, they are police officers rather than police women and because there are more than one of them, there is space to represent a number of different types of women - even if they are stereotypes. instead of fulfilling the one and only female character role. There are scenes where the crime is being discussed by three women in an office, or even solved. They sometimes solve collaboratively rather than competitively and when Gill was reported for drinking on the job, or Rachel found out she was asked to take on a promotion only after Janet said no, they talked about it. And carried on as friends.
It's a shame it's finished now. Suggestions please for what I can record to watch next term.
