I've always been a fan of the Comic Strip Presents although they are quite rare items in the schedules - I can't even remember the last one shown until last evening's Tony Blair movie.
Scripted by Peter Richardson and with Stephen Mangan (Guy from Green Wing) as Tony, this was a full on film noir classic.
There were slanted camera angles, London buses, Coppers in pairs chasing through twisting streets, pipe smoking, ordinary people in crowded London theatres and mafia leader George Bush.
Many of the Comic Strip regulars were included and the familiar storyline managed to include most of the cliches of the British variety of black-and-white crime thrillers - except maybe a scene by a pier.
There was Mandelson played by Nigel Planer as the Third Man. Margaret Thatcher (Jennifer Saunders) alone in an old house watching endless news reels of the Falklands war and hiding something deeply disturbing in a cupboard, we had just about everything.
Robin Cook's denouncement of the war meant He Had To Go and was summarily dispatched in a soundstage mountaintop scene by Tony.
No one came out looking too good from the whole situation, and it ended after Tony floated along the Thames with a caption that "Tony Blair is still at large"
More, Please.
3 comments:
I didn't catch all of this, but did enjoy what I saw :)
Not usually a fan of Comic Strip but I enjoyed it immensely. I loved Jennifer Saunders playing Maggie as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
Debra
Nikki-ann, Vladography Yes, it was also fun spotting the varied film references throughout the show.
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