Heroes and Villains opens with a shot of beetles scrambling around the bottom of a wicker basket. They are being observed, at close range, by an enemy of the revolution, whose severed head will shortly be joining them. As if decapitation weren’t bad enough, the condemned man also has to endure the sadistic taunts of Citizen Freron (Rob Brydon), who is prepared to sacrifice any number of innocent necks to protect his own.
Welcome to France 1793, at the height of The Terror, where the slightest misalliance, personal insult, error of judgement or association with failure could lead to the guillotine.
Paralysed by paranoia and politics, the Army of the Revolution sits ineffectually outside Toulon as the British navy reinforces the heavily fortified royalist stronghold. Until the resistance at Toulon is quashed, the revolution can never be secure, but the only viable military option appears to be a suicidal frontal onslaught by the infantry. Apart, that is, from Captain Bonaparte’s (Tom Burke) scheme to deploy the artillery to the fore with the infantry in support, instead of the usual way round.
Heroes and Villains was advertised as a drama-documentary but what it actually served up was a deeply satisfying dollop of full-blooded historical epic, not seen since the glory days of Rome. Telling the story of the upstart Corsican’s first dalliance with destiny, the film managed to cram intrigue, power politics, heroism, horror, sexual perversity, camaraderie, sadism and convincing battlefield action into its modest 60 minutes, yet still find time to also include atmosphere, tension and some truly impressive special effects. Should BAFTA ever introduce a Best Head Blown Off By A Cannonball category, Heroes and Villains would be a shoo-in.
More importantly, the film featured some great performances.
As the ruthless and psychopathic Freron, Rob Brydon was positively chilling. I shall never see Uncle Bryn from Gavin And Stacey in quite the same way ever again. And Napoleon himself couldn’t have asked for a more moody, charismatic, swashbuckling portrayal than the one Tom Burke delivered. And this despite a fleeting, yet disconcerting resemblance to Noel Fielding from The Mighty Boosh.
Sold is a comedy-drama about an office of ruthless, amoral, unscrupulous estate agents, ruled over by uber-bastard Matt (Kris Marshall) and dedicated to his doctrine of “disambiguation” (otherwise known as lying).
While there is much fun to be had creating characters without any redeeming features, writer Steve Coombes hasn’t provided them with any interesting ones, either. So, despite Kris Marshall’s malevolently manic and eminently watchable lead performance, the comedy has so far remained stuck on the same level.
But Sold is worth staying with to follow the dramatic fortunes of the solitary sympathetic character Danny (Bryan Dick), whose near saintly behaviour - finding homes for bereaved cats, betrayed wives and autistic children - throws his colleagues into stark relief.
Will Danny be seduced over to the Dark Side, or will he prove that good can triumph - even in the world of 3% commission on £1million sales?
DETAILS
Heroes and Villains - BBC1, Monday, November 12, 9pm
Sold - ITV1, Thursday, November 15, 9pm
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