4 posts tagged “camberwick green”

Not many surprises when I read at IO9 this morning on US Life on Mars about a casting call:

Fletcher Bellow (28–30 yrs old) In 1973 he is one of the first African-American detectives in the NYPD. Bellow manages to use his brains and sense of humor to navigate the system, and climb the ladder. He even manages to make peace with his bigoted colleagues on the force. In 2008 he will become Sam Tyler’s mentor on the force. Looking for an actor with a lot of personality, charm and humor …

It looks like a British story will be used in the US series.
   However, a bit more disturbing was this change to proceedings, according to the ABC website:

At home in Sam’s apartment building in the East Village, there’s Windy, a free-spirited, post-hippie chick who can teach Sam a thing or two about the cultural revolution taking place in front of his unbelieving eyes.

   Not sure who this is based on. Nelson the barman is still there (albeit played by a Caucasian-American actor) so I guess Windy is the Life on Mars equivalent of Arthur Fonzarelli, Cosmo Kramer or Steve Urkel. Note how they, too, are typically referred to by one-word names.
   Maybe the character is based on Windy Miller from Camberwick Green?

Best scene from Life on Mars two weeks ago.

   Not much new Life on Mars stuff on YouTube yet! But the finalé is looking very spooky. I am beginning to wonder if 1973 is Purgatory. And the Wizard of Oz references (DCI Frank Morgan, ‘Dorothy’, the use of ‘Yellow Brick Road’ earlier this season) are too plentiful.

From this week’s Life on Mars in the UK, a line beautifully delivered by John Simm:

Listen to me. I can just about handle you, driving like a pissed-up crackhead and treating women like beanbags, but I'm going to say this once and once only, Gene: stay out of Camberwick Green!

 

The BBC went all out earlier this week with Life on Mars’ second and final season. Before the programme started, the TV ident changed back to 1973’s, with the BBC 1 Colour wording (before that geometric monstrosity that came in 1974). Both are below. It ties in beautifully to earlier promos (above) that had the 1973 style. (BBC Wales did a similar treatment, though with the different aspect ratio of televisions, they are re-creations. In addition, Arial, which the Welsh one is set in, was not designed in 1973.)
   The BBC logo itself lacks a little verisimilitude—the designer seems to have just used Neue Helvetica and slanted it a tad more—but on the lower resolutions of TV screens, few would have really noticed.

 

   And just to show that humour has not deserted the British, try this Camberwick Green one for size.