State of Play

[whiterose]

This is a BBC-Miniseries also staring John Simm , Bill Nighy, James McAvoy, Kelly Macdonald and Philip Glenister - a must see! David and John are really good together!

David plays a politician who is drawn into a scandal and John plays his friend who is journalist and working on the case. I highly recommend to watch!

[Ravish Me Ripley]

I loved this series, not because i understood ANY of the politics, but because it was so full of lovely men...DM, PG, JS, BN *and* JM!!!

[Ravish Me Ripley]

Ooh...and Marc Warren i seem to remember

[Romana]

I've got a copy of this lying around somewhere - haven't got round to watching it yet but I mean to make it soon

Must say it's not the kind of thing I'd watch normally, but it sounds like a great series and because 3 of my fave actors are all in it, that makes it a must-watch ;D

[mshw1]

Loved this series. I'm going to buy it soon. Hopefully.

[Ravish Me Ripley]

It's £7.99 on play.com at the moment

[lilly]

I just saw this via Netflix here in the States last week, and perhaps not surprisingly was very impressed.

Back in the 1980's, there was this Nigel Havers miniseries called The Charmer and I remember being faintly shocked at the time to hear that many female fans had wanted Mr. Havers' murdering-blackguard character to have avoided punishment and gotten away with it all.

After having watched State of Play, I now suddenly understand that sentiment completely.

[lfcgirl]

you know they are making a movie based on that, with Ben Affleck as Stephen Collins. I saw the trailer and it just annoyed me lol. I love the mini series too much for it to be remade.

[lilly]

I was utterly appalled to hear that too, which only mirrors the exact sensation I had--and continue to have--with the American version of Life On Mars, too; it's probably really unfair for me to automatically dislike Jason O'Mara, but OMG, no amount of critical acclaim Stateside is going to ever going to convince me he's even half as good as John Simm, yeeks!

(Ooh, we could get into a whole other discussion here of who you would most prefer to see make out like crazed weasels: David Morrissey and John Simm, David Morrissey and David Tennant, or John Simm and David Tennant. A girl could get seriously spoiled for choice there...)

I am never more ashamed of my nationality than when American versions of British tv shows and/or movies are made, though. I'm really puzzled by why production execs don't seem to recognise that for every successful adaptation, there are at least a dozen truly execrable renditions, but hey, it's not for me to judge. (Not like that usually stops me, of course.)

What's really sickening is that the Ben Affleck version will probably make of piles of money, too. Gee, haven't they already made State of Play with the sexiest man alive, after all?

[lfcgirl]

omg Lilly I feel exactly the same way about American versions of British tv shows. I have to say the one exception for me is The Office. I didn't watch it at first but now that I have watched the US version, I love it. I think the cast is fab. I would however love to see the UK cast meet the US cast. Thinking of Michael Scott meeting David Brent and Gareth and Dwight meeting just makes me laugh.

And I do not like the US Life on Mars. My good friend loves it but she never saw the UK version so maybe that's why. I did try to watch the first episode and was utterly bored and also started yelling at the tv lol.

[lilly]

Oh, how I share your pain. Much like Blackpool, I actually have only seen stuph on YouTube re: the original Life On Mars, but I have given the U.S. version a very wide berth indeed (unless glaring at the tv commercials counts, that's all that I've seen...and all I ever will).

When will American producers realise that with a few notable exceptions--such as The Office--part of what made these shows so successful in the first place was their quintessential Britishness? You subtract that from the formula, and you're left with little more than an empty concept.

Of course, it's empty concepts that sometimes make the most money, and that's usually the bottom line; still, when I saw the trailer for the new State of Play at the end of the Oscars last night, it vaulted me into full-on huffy, "HMPF!" mode, lolz.

[Ravish Me Ripley]

Just wanted to jump in as a Brit and say i hate American remakes too

Life On Mars remains my favourite TV programme ever, to date, and nothing and no one will ever be able to successfully step into the shoes of John Simm/Philip Glenister. Ever.

Ooh...and crazed weasels David Morrissey and David Tennant please

[lilly]

Alright, so that means we have one crazed weasels vote for David and David...any other opinions? C'mon, folks, your input is needed to decide this vital issue!

After having watched The Deal the other night, I'm compelled to throw a David Morrissey+Michael Sheen pairing into this mix as well; even though my personal reaction to Mr. Sheen has always been, "Meh...deranged pixie," I'm sure that there must be passionate advocates for this combination out there somewhere. (For that matter, there probably is a whole Tony Blair/Gordon Brown slash-writing community here on the glorious interwebs, but I really don't wanna know about it.)

[lilly]

Given that here in the U.S. we're now being deluged with commercials for the Ben Affleck version--to the extent that ads are now appearing in this thread, blech!--I nonetheless was amused to note something...

Know how when they make a filmic interpretation of actual events, the actors usually are substantially better-looking than their real-life counterparts? (The three male leads in Stoned definitely as case in point here.) And how by that same token, usually the movie rendition of a television series operates on the same principle?

Well, when I saw the tv commerical for State of Play the other day, I couldn't help bursting into laughter: "Hmmm...that's, erm, an interesting casting choice, to go with two actors substantially less compelling than those in the original..."

(Because I am not remotely biased in the slightest. Because that of course would be wrong.)

[lfcgirl]

every time I see the ad for that movie I yell at the tv lol. And I have to agree with you about the casting choices.