~Lark Rise To Candleford Think of this show as the BBC version of Little House On the Prairie. It’s all warm and fuzzy and positively bursting at the seams with moral goodness. And I mean that in the nicest possible way because I love both shows. Lark Rise is a hamlet of poorer townsfolk while the market town of Candleford is its wealthier neighbor. Sixteen year old Laura Timmons (Laura Ingalls) is the bridge between the two, her adult voice narrating the stories. She leaves her family in Lark Rise to start a job at the post office with her mother’s cousin Dorcas, who is the post mistress. Dorcas is the level headed moral compass of the show (Charles Ingalls) who is often to be found straightening ruffled feathers and coming up with solutions to problems within and between the two communities. Like Little House, there is a full cast of quirky and eccentric characters. There’s the two dressmaker sisters who look down their noses at everyone—the same noses that they have a habit of shoving into other people’s business (Mrs Oleson and Nellie!). There’s a country squire with a fragile wife and a past romantic history with Dorcas, a pious postman and a batty old housekeeper. And those are just the folks in Candleford. Lark Rise is chock-a-block with colorful characters; delightfully charming rascals the lot of them. They all contribute to the humor of the show, as do a constant stream of visiting characters who provide new storylines and keep things fresh and interesting. It’s a solidly written, heartwarming show that has the ability to bring about the waterworks in many an episode, while still managing to keep its feet squarely on the ground.
~The Indian Doctor In the summer of 1963 Dr. Prem Sharma and his wife Kamini arrive in a small mining village in Wales where Prem is to take on the post of village doctor. Kamini, whose ideal move to Britain had included London, takes one look at this place in the middle of nowhere and immediately wants to leave. The locals, in turn, are rather bemused to find themselves with a foreigner as a doctor. Not that anyone is openly hostile, this show is not about racism as such, it’s much gentler than that. It’s more about preconceived notions and mutual curiosity and the many cultural differences make for plenty of inbuilt humour. Add to this the medical issues and social changes of the day and there’s plenty of drama to go around. In one episode, the requisite village snob feels obligated to invite the Sharma’s over for dinner where she asks if they feel comfortable sitting on chairs at the table and not pillows on the floor. Over the course of the evening she is hilariously put in her place when she discovers that Kamini actually comes from a wealthy family with a house of a dozen servants and has hobnobbed with many an English elite. Amid a wonderful cast of characters it is Sanjeev Bhaskar and Ayesha Dharker who are the heart and soul of the show. They have such great chemistry and are just so warm and real as people. And Ayesha, so stunning with her colourful saris and a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts, can’t help but win the village over. The show’s concept is actually based on historical events. In 1963, the British government invited Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi doctors to the UK to cover a severe shortage in the relatively new National Health Service. 18,000 answered the call and for the most part were very well accepted, especially in rural areas that hadn’t had a local doctor in years.
~Robin Hood This is a high octane romp through Sherwood Forest —tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek! When Robin returns to his village, where he is Earl of Locksley, after fighting in the crusades abroad for many years, he returns to find his people have been royally mistreated by the deliciously evil Sheriff of Nottingham. So, instead of returning to his comfortable life he runs off to the woods with a few friends and embarks on that iconic life of robbing the rich to save the poor. There is always plenty of drama and heaps of tension as Robin and his merry men are always getting themselves into scrapes that it seems nigh on impossible to escape. But swashbuckling and acrobatics always save the day and while it’s ridiculously improbable, it is so wildly entertaining that all must be forgiven. But let’s not forget the beautiful Marian, no shy retiring Lady, she. It turns out that she’s been doing a little Robin Hooding of her own over the years as the masked Night Watchman. Consequently, she fits right in with Robin and his gang, and can frequently be found saving them all! The frequent anachronistic nods to modernity make it perfectly clear that any hint of corny is most definitely deliberate, making for a really fun and entertaining watch.
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