Is it really 10 years on from when BBC Two first ran 'This Life'? Ouch. I rewatched this in its entirety on DVD earlier this year, courtesy of Amazon's DVD rental service partly to check that it was as good as there's so little else on that matches it.It ended on a brilliant high note. A punch up at the wedding of Miles (Jack Davenport's) as Milly (Amita Dhiri) took on her rival Natasha Little. As the women scrapped in walked Warren (Jason Hughes – the Welsh one) back from his travelling who utters just one word: "outstanding", which kind of summed it up.'This Life' was blessed with fine writing and a fine cast of characters, which as well as Miles has ), Egg (Andrew Lincoln) and Anna (Daniela Nardini). Lincoln, of course, went on to be in teachers where he played…Egg.Haven't seen much of the rest of the them, but the memory and the familiarity of the house they shared lingers on.Partly, it worked so well as everyone lived in a house like that at one stage and had a similar cast of characters (five storey Georgian near Clerkenwell – that'll be Kings Cross really, Ed).Everyone wanted it to comeback for a third series and I'm sure it was considered before the writers and cast walked away and moved on.I've always thought it a major failure of British television that so often the quality of ideas and performances of shows such as 'This Life' are thrown away too soon.Why is it that we don't have this shows that run for five or six years rather than one or two (there are some exceptions such as 'Cold Feet').You always hear that people want to leave it while its good, but we never get the chance to evaluate for long enough beyond its first two years.In the States they get five if not seven years (the magic syndication number) of great shows like 'The West Wing (oh how we miss you), 'The Sopranos', and Sex and the City' et cetera.Still mustn't grumble a one of show is better than nothing. The 90-minute episode has an intriguing set-up as our twenty somethings are now well into their thirtysomething years (sounds familiar) and one of the group has become a success after writing a book (Egg? Well he did try and start before his old man beat him to it) based on their friendship and a TV production company is keen to film the group's reunion. Sounds like it could have elements of a docu-drama, all very post modern. We'll get to see if Miles managed to stay the course in marriage after marrying someone who told him she was 30 when in fact she was 37. Everyone has to betting on a Miles and Anna get together if not for a happy ending then at least as an on/off/on/off affair.
Gordon Macmillan
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