It’s time for some of us to ’fess up and admit that we think of PBS and the BBC programming much as we do the national deficit. Yes, we know it’s important to pay attention, and we really mean to, but it can be, well, tedious.
For those looking for an interesting way to ease into the land of the worldly, you’ll want to fire up Netflix streaming, PBS or BBC and catch up on the charming “Last Tango in Halifax.” Too busy making merry? No problem: Season 2 ends on Christmas Eve, so you can get your dose of Christmas trees and holiday cheer while watching a compelling comedy drama on, yes, PBS!
“Last Tango in Halifax” is a bit of a mix of ABC’s intergenerational “Modern Family,” but without the pratfalls and double entendres, and with some of TNT’s “Dallas” or even ABC’s “General Hospital” scandal mixed in. But it’s a show on PBS from the BBC, so it’s way up the sophistication ladder from those American shows.
Usually.
If your secret (or not-so-secret — we’re not judging!) TV tastes include cliffhangers about illness, sex, odd romantic liaisons, broken promises, longings, regrets and foolish mistakes, well, you’ve come to the right place.
British television writer and playwright Sally Wainwright wrote the series — which unfolds around two childhood sweethearts — with an ensemble cast in mind. When the two childhood sweethearts reconnect — thanks to the Internet — they realize that 60 years apart hasn’t dampened their love. Of course, they have each lived a lifetime by the time they meet again, and their kids, and their kids’ kids, play into their “happily ever after.”
What’s perhaps most fascinating about this series, which the BBC and PBS bill as a comedy/drama, is that the couple’s adult children are fully developed. Just as the writing for the incredibly compelling “Breaking Bad” made viewers care not just for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman (Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, respectively) but also for others including Skyler White (Anna Gunn, who actually took real-life grief from viewers who disagreed with her character’s actions) and Hank Schrader (the narcotics-busting brother-in-law cop played by Dean Norris).
In “Last Tango” Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid) are the center of their English universe. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself just as fascinated by the love and familial stories surrounding Celia’s high-brow, intellectual school headmistress Caroline (Sarah Lancashire), Alan’s sheep-farming, constantly down-on-her-luck and hopelessly unlucky-in-love daughter Gillian (Nicola Walker) and the rest of the clan and their friends.
Presenting characters from both the north and south of England — whose differences in culture and lifestyle are as vast as those among residents in Tupelo, Mississippi, and New York City — couldn’t have been easy. Yet the writers and actors achieve it without belittling the beliefs or practices of either group while still conveying a sense of humor in some of the more singular parts.
The only downside to “Last Tango” is that each season is only six one-hour episodes long. But what a wallop those six episodes offer.
We hear that Diane Keaton is interested in remaking “Last Tango” for HBO. The English version will be a tough act to follow.
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