The BBC and Me

[Writers Plot]

posted by Leann Sweeney

Face it. You watch TV and you like it. I won't tell anyone. Between the monsoons and heat indexes approaching Fahrenheit 451 here in the Commonwealth of Texas, I prefer air conditioning. And I suffer no shame in admitting I am addicted to crime shows. I like the real life ones on Court TV. Forensic Files, LA Forensics, North Mission Road. And my new favorite is on Spike--a station I've never tuned into in my life until they created a new program called Murder. Got your interest? Yeah, me too. Watch and trust me, if you like mysteries, you will be mesmerized. You will learn how ego is, in the (made-up) words of the brilliant (I'm KIDDING) yet flawed Paris Hilton--"like, so not hot." That's all I'm telling you. Turning to fictional American shows, The Closer and the new show Damages are excellent. They have saved my so-scorching-sunscreen-is-a-joke summer. But my real love is the BBC.

What is it about British crime shows? Why are they so much better, IMHO, than what we're offered on this side of the pond? For consistently good drama you cannot beat Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness, MI-5, Waking the Dead, Life on Mars. Then there's Inspector Morse and Prime Suspect. (I understand neither of these last two are still in production, but damn they were good.) All these programs would be chopped off like the head of a chicken after two episodes on one of our major networks. I saw this happen last season with three excellent shows--Vanished, Kidnapped and The Nine. These were "serials." They required that the viewers pay attention, keep up with what happened in previous episodes. Well, gosh, ain't that hard? So--off with their heads. Gimme my Law and Order--right now!! Oh, and throw in a hundred game shows while you're at it.

Casting is like a breath of fresh air on the BBC. Even I could get a job if I knew how to act (which I don't). Why could such a thing happen? Because I look like an ordinary person. Not to say there aren't beautiful people to be found on these shows, but Inspector Morse? That old guy even had a love life. Oh yes he did. Indeed, the BBC crime extravaganza is populated with plain faces and flawed bodies, folks who don't have to have six-pack abs or surgically altered breasts to be brilliant and complex and deliver excellent scripts in an amazingly believable way. No low cut T-shirts for their crime scene investigators required. Good writing will do that. Suck you in and not let go.

So, this is a blog about how to create good theater, how to make the worst-weather-ever tolerable. It's all in the writing. And I am smiling like a small dog with large bone as I type these words. Give me ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. That's what good crime writing is all about. That's what ANY good writing is about.