Re: Richard III goes camp?
Posted by:
poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: December 08, 2002 12:48AM
<HTML>When you said the A&E channel I naturally (for a Brit) assumed Accident and Emergency (in translation - imagine there being a channel called ER...). The idea of a whole channel dedicated to those kind of shows filled me with horror - not least due to the idea that your idea of Blighty could be influenced by BBC shows such as Casualty, 999 and Pet Rescue...
The idea of a period version is actually the sort of cross-over that TV execs are currently keen on, especially if they could put a reality TV element into it -
<i>Day Four of the Big Brother Period Hospital, and Florence has decided to remove Alfred's gangrenous leg using only a rusty saw and a bottle of brandy...</i>
If you really want to know what the other shows are like:
<b>Casualty</b> - set in an A&E ward, it's like watching ER in slo-mo. After mainlining valium... Casualty differs from ER in that it shows the accident happening - not just the bloodied bodies being dragged in. A typical set up will have somebody driving a car intercut with a milk tanker driver on a mobile phone, possibly with a caption reading 'DO NOT USE MOBILE PHONES IN A CAR - IT COULD CAUSE AN ACCIDENT'. It's as predictable as a Government health warning... Perhaps the real interest in watching it is to see how much of the plot you can guess from the first two minutes of the show. There is also a hospital admissions policy of three life-threatening cases per show. One will die, one will be reunited with a long lost pet/family member/kidney, and the third will be 'humorous'.
<b>999</b> - remarkable for taking itself so seriously, it recreates accidents for the benefit of the TV viewing public. It's a roll-call of people falling off cliffs, off piers, beaches, bouncy castles, eating dodgy curries... I have no idea why this s so fascinating. If they can get a guide-dog, children or mobile phone involved, so much the better. It's terribly full of hyperbole, and if it ever heard of SEBs, there'd be one on every week.
Pet Rescue was a footballer from some foreign clime a few years back...</HTML>