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TV review

Published Monday 26 October 2009 at 12:10 by Harry Venning

Alan Cumming, star of Cabaret on Broadway and in the West End, was narrator and host of The Real Cabaret, a documentary exploring both Kander and Ebb’s groundbreaking musical and also the pre-war Berlin nightclub scene that inspired it.

Early fears that Cumming might “Do a Rupert Everett”, as we reviewers refer to any documentary hi-jacked by its presenter, proved unfounded. He was more than happy to let the subject matter be the star.

Cumming interviewed historians, musicians, contemporary eyewitnesses and Liza Minnelli. There were loads of clips from Bob Fosse’s film, which is always a good thing. And the archive footage and photographs were terrific. Especially the seventies interview with Christopher Isherwood in which the author of I Am A Camera, upon which Cabaret is based, sounded like he’d been bingeing on helium.

Whether this was his real voice or a gremlin in the recording was never made clear.

Fabulous and fascinating, The Real Cabaret painted a portrait of a world giddy on creativity, excitement, originality, tolerance and liberalism. None of which played well with the Nazis when they eventually seized power, and the nightclub scene in Berlin was ruthlessly suppressed. A timely reminder that the first people the Nazis turned against were Germans.

With Billy Elliot the toast of Broadway, and with The Pitmen Painters recently opened at The National, The South Bank Show celebrated the life and work of playwright Lee Hall.

The programme galloped through Lee’s early career, with barely a mention of his innovative and acclaimed work in radio drama. Obviously this section of Lee’s CV doesn’t offer much in the way of visuals, but some discussion of the subject wouldn’t have gone amiss. Spoonface Steinberg was voted one of the ten best radio dramas of all time, yet didn’t merit a mention.

Billy Elliot was discussed at some length, particularly the accusations of sentimentality it provoked, but the programme’s real interest was in Hall’s new play The Pitmen Painters. Set in Hall’s native North East, it tells the story of the Ashington Group, miners and working men from the thirties who taught themselves art and art appreciation, and went on to produce a unique record of their social and working lives on canvas.

At which point The South Bank Show turned into an extended advertisement for The Pitmen Painters, with huge swathes of screen time given over to rehearsals on film. All a bit lazy, this strategy didn’t do justice to either Hall or his play, and probably hasn’t helped ticket sales much either.

Murderland is a gripping and gruesome three-part crime drama about the 15-year-old unsolved murder of a young mother working as a prostitute. Robbie Coltrane stars as the maverick investigating officer DI Hain, which basically reprised Fitz from Cracker but without the psychological insights. Not that I’m complaining.

Each episode shows the crime from a different perspective, starting with the victim’s daughter Carrie. The actresses playing young and old Carrie were both excellent but looked nothing like each other, and there was a totally implausible plot contrivance featuring a rare trainer with distinctive red markings, but apart from these minor gripes Murderland is terrific.

Details:

The Real Cabaret, BBC4, Tuesday October 20, 9pm

The South Bank Show, ITV, Sunday October 18, 10.15pm

Murderland, ITV, Monday October 19, 9pm

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