Tuesday 9 December 2008
Spooked
With its popular presentation of Russia as a (indeed, the) threat to Britain, complete with a network of sleeper agents motivated by some undefined "ideology" (presumably the Communism against the return of which the present Russian Government is in fact a significant bulwark) and prepared to set off a "portable nuclear bomb in a briefcase" in London, Spooks is now a public menace.
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No more so than Shameless, which presents poor people as razor-wielding junkie prostitutes
ReplyDeleteIt was a public menace when it presented a conspiracy of the media, MI6 and elements within the Government plotting to overthrow Parliament and the PM.
ReplyDelete(Or, if it wasn't then, it isn't now.)
No, it presents razor-wielding junkie prostitutes as razor-wielding junkie prostitutes. Which they are.
ReplyDeleteRussia, by contrast, is not a threat to Britain. Anything but, in fact. Nor is she a rallying point for (presumably) Marxist-Lenninists or their fellow-travellers. Anything but, in fact.
Reeman, it was only half wrong on that one.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There's nothing worse than fictional programs which are insufficiently factual.
ReplyDeleteIt influences public opinion. It is intended to. It credits some very interesting "story consultants" or what have you. It is broadcast in prime time on BBC One. And while running for the Tory Leadership, David Cameron said that it was "the best thing on television"...
ReplyDeleteI have it on very good authority that the producers were put under discreet pressure by both CCHQ and the Home Office to make their plotlines more "acceptable".
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the West Wing, which at the height of its popularity did so much to ensure the election of John Kerry in 2004.
ReplyDeleteI assume that you mean GCHQ, but do tell me if I'm wrong and you mean the Tories.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine that anyone is too suprised. As much as anything else, that would account for why it depicts even the decision to evacuate Parliament and the Royal Family as taken by the Home Secretary rather than by the Prime Minister.
Look at the way "Little Dorrit" is being used to feed David Cameron's "broken society" narrative...
ReplyDeleteMick, in its way, I think that it probably did influence that election, just not in the way that those who made it had had in mind. It was certainly intended to.
ReplyDeleteBut people out in Middle America watched it and thought, "well, we sure as hell don't want a President like that". What Bartlett's creators had thought were his good points were bad points to them.
Not the only factor, of course.
But certainly one of them.
No, CCHQ. If I'd meant GCHQ, I'd have said so. How on earth would I know anything about discreet pressure from GCHQ?
ReplyDeleteDozy, don't give them ideas.
ReplyDeleteMind you, Cameron reading Dickens? I don't think so.
David,
ReplyDeleteObviously I can't go into too much detail on this one, so you'll have to trust me:
If we allow the British people to form a too trusting attitude towards the Great Bear, there is a very real danger that the UK as we know it will cease to exist in the next 10 years.
I shouldn't be breaking cover by telling you this, but you've got a surprising number of admirers in certain places, and we don't want you to take the wrong tack on this - it could undo all our good work.
How on earth would I know how on earth you would know about ... no, let's not.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, no surprise. Remember when Spooks started, right at the height of "The War Against Terrorism". And it was commissioned and made by chance? It would have been anyway? I don't think so.
But now, it seems, that the enemy is Russia again.
Except, of course, that it isn't.
Unfortunately, Beaky, there are people who could read that and really believe it. Mercifully, they are most unlikely to find their way here. But settle down in front of BBC One at 9pm on a weekday? Now that is a whole other story.
ReplyDeleteBeaky, how was the interview?
ReplyDeleteNot here, please, Mick.
ReplyDeleteEmail him.
Cosidering how much work the Russian's have been putting into fighting the impression that they're a bunch of ex-KGB thugs, it's a crying shame that the BBC are protraying them as the kind of people who would commit murder openly in London.
ReplyDeleteYes. It's hard to see what more the Russians can do to restore their reputation in the West. Programmes like this are very unhelpful. I'm not saying the BBC should be more helpful to the Russians. They're editorially completely independent. I'm just saying they should know what's good for them.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't put it quite like that, Jerry. But you and Mungo are right, of course.
ReplyDeleteIt may just be entertainment but I suspect there would be sackings if they produced an episode in which the PM of a named party, MI5 & the Bilderburgers were bribing journalists to push a faked global warming scare to keep us obedient.
ReplyDeletePerhaps more credible than the Russians nuking London for fun.
Despite being purely entertainment after all
"You cannot bribe or twist, thank God, the British journalist
But seeing what the chap will do, unbribed, there's no occasion to"