My God, Eastenders is really good at the moment. Dark, yes, but really good.
Lucas always seemed a little unbalanced but he’s seriously freaky now.
The weekend highlights were marred by a sudden short and unexpected advert for a Jedward album. There was I thinking that they were totally over because one of them had a seizure or something (usually a bit of a dampener on public appearances), but Hell no! They have a whole album of songs; including the karaoke-but-without-any-singing version of ‘Ghostbusters’ and the neo skate punk classic ‘All the Small Things’… Yes, that’s right, they have been licensed to destroy this amazing anthem and boy oh boy am I angry about that. It obviously wasn’t enough to just rip-off some Busted styling school uniform etc. they just had to bulldoze a few more pop punk motifs.
The advert actually appeared during a break in ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, a thoroughly awful cash-in on the runaway success of ‘Glee’ that has prompted a rejuvenated into American rock classics that actually never had any mileage over here in their original heyday. Probably because we don’t have any Twin Peaks/Patrick Swayze style roadhouses where people in suburbia sink a few tankards and howl along to soft metal and didn’t in 1987. We had Harvester, Little Chef and Welcome Break to stop off on a long journey and not a hint of hairy emotive rock.
Within a few moments of the advert break Duncan James had stood up and proclaimed the immortal words ‘And that’s what this show is all about’ and offered a self-congatulatory smile to the audience. I’d quite enough.
Sherlock Holmes was very good though, authentic modern London scenery shot in dim, faintly sinister tones, with excellent central performances, a highly unlikely crime and promise of a gripping next few instalments.
I just hope Blink 182 try a lawsuit for crimes against pop.
