Hostages BBC4

volchitsa

Anyone else watching this?

I've become a fan of the BBC4 Saturday night foreign language slot, partly for the reviews and comments in places like the Guardian blogs - but not a sausage about this Israeli series.

I'm enjoying it and really miss the online/media discussions there were about previous series such as the Killing etc that were in this slot.

volchitsa

So has this Brian Boyd person been lurking in here? I start this thread yesterday complaining about the lack of interest in Hostages, and look what appears on Sunday Morning. Yay, thought I, wonderful!

But wait.

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/israel-is-the-new-denmark-when-it-comes-to-scintillating-drama-1.2129456

What really bothers me is the guy doesn't appear to have watched the show. I don't normally go in for conspiracy theories, but honest to God, it looks like he just took my OP and filled out the ideas in it enough to make a (very slight) article of it.

Weird or what?
And still nobody around interested enough in the series to actually want to discuss it ...

Dozen Wicked Words

No, it's a clearly a coincidence I'd have thought, he mentions hostages though, as do you. That's really where the similarity ends.

I quite liked his article though, so thanks for link.

volchitsa

Umm, I wasn't being entirely serious. And you're welcome.

But being serious, then, if that's what you want : what exactly in that article is an actual review of the series Hostages, as opposed to a nostalgic/ironic recounting of what many people, myself included, seem to find enjoyable about that BBC4 viewing slot?
I mean : foreign-language escapism - check, discussing the epis afterwards, check, Scandi-drama and Montalbano, check and check - is there anything I didn't mention in the OP that got more than a name-check in the article? Given the extra number of words in his, it seems just a bit more of the same, a little more in depth. Imo.

I have several things I'd be interested in discussing about the actual plot and characterization, but no, not a sausage. Boyd just wrote a subtitle (taut plotting and Pinteresque intent (umm, ok. I guess) went for a trip down memory lane about previous programming in the same slot, and then repeated his subtitle in guise of a conclusion.

Still, it's better than the Guardian, I suppose - which still has exactly zero coverage of it.
Though maybe the tenor of the comments in the IT article give an idea as to why a review of an Israeli TV Programme may be more difficult to manage than one from anywhere else - straight into a discussion of Israel/Palestine, although that appears to be entirely unrelated to the plot of the series. A tiny mention of the young soldier having spent 6 months in Gaza, just an effect that conflict has on everyday life in Israel I suppose.

volchitsa

Actually OK, I see in the end I didn't mention Montalbano in the OP, but I nearly did - honest!

PeterDuggan

Damn blast and curses, the elastic band snapped in my recorder last night (Sat, 14/3/15) and I missed the last (triple) episode of Hostages on BBC4. Did anyone happen to record it?

volchitsa

PeterDuggan wrote: »

Damn blast and curses, the elastic band snapped in my recorder last night (Sat, 14/3/15) and I missed the last (triple) episode of Hostages on BBC4. Did anyone happen to record it?

Actually I did (we had friends over so could hardly tell them to keep quiet!) but it's recorded on my sky box and I have no idea if it's possible to put it into a format that anything else is able to read. Seems not to be as far as I can work out, alas.
But I'm not very gifted in the domain.

brian_t

Guardian review :

BBC4's Hostages is completely ludicrous – but still totally gripping

Spoiler warning: contains details from episodes one to seven of Hostages

volchitsa

brian_t wrote: »

Guardian review :

BBC4's Hostages is completely ludicrous – but still totally gripping

Spoiler warning: contains details from episodes one to seven of Hostages

Thanks for that, Brian, I saw the article (well, tbh I've been searching the online media for a few weeks now!) but didn't like to post it myself as there seems to have been so little interest in the thread.

I'm still wondering has anybody here seen this at all?

PeterDuggan

volchitsa wrote: »

Actually I did (we had friends over so could hardly tell them to keep quiet!) but it's recorded on my sky box and I have no idea if it's possible to put it into a format that anything else is able to read. Seems not to be as far as I can work out, alas.
But I'm not very gifted in the domain.

Thanks very much volchitsa. I actually got a copy elsewhere.

volchitsa

PeterDuggan wrote: »

Thanks very much volchitsa. I actually got a copy elsewhere.

So that makes at least four of us in the country watching it, maybe five, which is nice - I was starting to think we must be the only ones!

brian_t

I have it recorded but I won't get to watch it for a while yet.

Harry Palmr

volchitsa wrote: »

Thanks for that, Brian, I saw the article (well, tbh I've been searching the online media for a few weeks now!) but didn't like to post it myself as there seems to have been so little interest in the thread.

I'm still wondering has anybody here seen this at all?

I watched it - enjoyable if very unlikely. The multiple revelations and finals twists came in a right rush of activity in the final episode, resulting in much confusion as to who was doing what and why. I got it (just!) but they really needed to pace the writing better for the conclusion.

Lucyn

I watched it too. Agree about the pace. I was starting to lose interest in the middle and then a mad rush to bring it all together in the last 30 mins. Very enjoyable though. BBC4 on a sat night has been very good with borgen, spiral etc

brian_t

Season 2 has already aired on Israeli TV.

Hopefully BBC4 will show it sometime.

Kim Bodnia joins the cast.