Bonanza of EE Troupers on U.S. TV Screens


By Kent Gibbons & Larry Jaffee


It's a sheer bonanza for EastEnders fans these days watching American TV.

The biggest example, of course, is watching Michelle Ryan (Zoe Slater) kick all sorts of anatomical features as the star of NBC's Bionic Woman.

Ryan has won critical praise, though the show itself, to me, takes itself a little too seriously. It's the same production team that reimagined Battlestar Galactica with dark modern social commentary — and employs Battlestar's Katee Sackhoff — but, as at least one critic pointed out, that show had a central myth that lent itself better to serious interpretations. Still, the premiere drew an astonishing 14 million viewers, and even though it's waned, its last episode drew 10.2 million viewers, according to the New York Post, which ran a favourable item about Ryan on Oct. 22. (Comments Jaffee: NBC spared no expenses promoting Bionic Woman with three full-page ads in The New York Times promoting the premiere (that's almost a half million dollars for a single ad buy). And EastEnders never before received so many mentions in the U.S. media. The actress did interviews with virtually every major news outlet in print and television. Of course, BBC America couldn't take advantage of all the press because in its infinite stupidity it's sticking to its guns ignoring EastEnders. Michelle Ryan no doubt is the most envied actress in Britain. Her American accent was believable; only once in the first episode there appeared to be a synch/dubbing problem. Ryan's the best thing in it, but anyone familiar with the original series will prefer Lindsay Wagner every time.

• Ross Kemp (Grant Mitchell) is currently seen starring in BBC America's Ultimate Force. He heads up a Special Air Service commando unit called Red Troop. I've only seen (so far) the first two episodes, via DVD, but the sixth episode was to air on Sept. 23, then the episodes will be shown again at various times listed on BBCA's website.

This is the show that ITV lured Kemp away from the BBC, along with a huge contract that Kemp poked fun at during his appearance on the first episode of Ricky Gervais's Extras on HBO. Kemp, as Staff Sgt. Henry "Henno" Garvie, seems very Grant-like in this — macho, sexist (but with a weakness for female flesh), blustery when needed, peerless in a fight.

The show to me has a very direct feel, and an attention to detail that, I have read, was largely due to its co-creator, Chris Ryan, a former SAS soldier. Also from what I have read, Ryan left the show after the second series, to the show's detriment. But I recommend watching it now on BBCA.

•Tamzin Outhwaite (Melanie Owen) stars in BBCA's primetime soap Hotel Babylon. Comments Jaffee: The swanky West End London hotel depicted in BBCA boss Garth Ancier's bet on the best of what his network has to offer is the kind of place that Steve Owen would have taken his darling Walford wife to forget his latest dodgy deal. Outwaithe has the look of a professional, non-nonsense hotel manager. Unfortunately, based on the first two episodes, you really don't know what her character's motivation is. Incidentally, her character is named Rebecca Mitchell (there's no escaping Phil, even in Outwaithe's post-Albert Square life. Much to my surprise I actually like this slick show, but thanks to the performance of Max Beesley, who plays deputy manager Charlie Edwards, not our Mel. It's reminiscent of how Bruce Willis's David Addisson was the reason to watch Moonlighting in the mid-1980s rather than supposed star Cybill Shepherd.

• Daniela Denby-Ashe (Sarah Hills) lights up the screen in an upcoming (as of this writing) episode of Torchwood on BBC America. She appears in episode 7, "Greeks Bearing Gifts," slated to air on BBCA for the last time at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3. This role is quite far removed from straitlaced Sarah Hills (though she let her hair down a few times, if mem'ry serves). Mary is a prostitute in Cardiff in 1812. She has an unpleasant encounter with a sadistic soldier, then the opening credits roll. Later she reappears as a leather jacket wearing onlooker at a crime scene under investigation by the Torchwood team of alien investigators. Mary strikes up a friendship with Torchwood team member Toshiko Sato, a nerdy Asian female (Naoki Mori). The friendship turns erotic, stoked by an alien pendant that enables Tosh to hear others' thoughts. Ultimately it emerges Mary has been inhabited by an alien entity. Mary's been trying to recover a transportation device that had been buried with the soldier that Mary killed back in 1812. Torchwood chief Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) uses the device to zap her into the Sun. Fortunately, not until she has a few lovely scenes with Tosh.

• Lindsay Coulson (Carol Jackson) turned up on a recent episode of PBS's Mystery! She guest starred in an episode of the BBC's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. The episode was called "The Chinese Walls," and she played a rather stock character: the trusted, semi-abused and overlooked secretary who secretly slays rivals for the boss's affection because she knows him better than any other hussy could. Of course, she has the effect of putting the boss in the frame, until the last act. Coulson plays the role well, tough but sympathetic, even though down the stretch the cliche became a bit obvious. The episode aired in the U.K. in August 2006 as part of Inspector Lynley's fifth series. Incidentally, there's a campaign under way to keep the series going after the BBC said it wouldn't make any more. Apparently the BBC hasn't yet aired new episodes from the sixth series that were scheduled to air this year. Its stars are Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small, a favourite of this reviewer since 2000's Glasgow Kiss, a romantic comedy set at a Scotland newspaper. Hey, Inspector Lynley fans: contact the editor of this newspaper for fundraising tips.




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