Bloody hell, it were grim up north. Peter Moffat's new six part drama opens on an overcast, depressing day in Derbyshire in 1914, as twelve year old Bert Middleton gets locked in a tiny cupboard by his brutal, hard-drinking father – apparently for committing the terrible, heinous crime of "swimming." Bert escapes, goes to school, and is immediately thrashed by his brutal, hard-drinking teacher for being "left handed". Bit harsh. All this is just a normal day for young Bert. Being tortured and imprisoned is about the only thing you have to look forward to if you live in The Village (BBC1).
Bert's older brother Joe (Nico Mirallegro) is equally trapped in this heavily colour-corrected hell hole. But lucky for him the Great War is about to break out, sending him and his smiley mates off for a nice break in France.
So begins the cheerful tale of 100 years of life in this small Derbyshire village. We look back on it all through the bloodshot eyes of the now grown-up Bert – "the second oldest man in Britain". Sadly, the part of this 112 year old gentleman is played by an actor who only looks about 75. I'm guessing Equity are a bit short on card-carrying centenarians.
Suffragette Martha (Charlie Murphy) arrives on a bus. It's the first bus ever to come to The Village, and people get so excited about it that they momentarily stop thrashing each other. Bert falls instantly in love with Martha, goes into a field and starts touching himself in a special place. Then he climbs onto a roof and looks through a hole in the tiles at a bunch of naked women having a bath. I'm just telling you what happened.
Meanwhile Bert's brutal, hard-drinking father (John Simm) has to bring in the harvest all on his own. No-one in the village likes him, presumably because he is so brutal and hard-drinking. John's long-suffering wife Grace (Maxine Peake) has discovered that the only way to stop her brutal and hard-drinking husband from being brutal and hard-drinking is to stick her hand down the front of his trousers. Which she does to great effect.
Up at the "Big House", Lady Clem Allingham (Juliet Stevenson) looks down on all of this with a quiet detachment. She's much too posh to have to deal with brutal and hard-drinking poor people – her time being exclusively taken up dealing with brutal and hard-drinking rich people. Juliet Stevenson gives great posh.
The Village is well acted and beautifully directed by Antonia Bird, and Bill Jones gives a splendid performance as the younger version of Bert. I'm quite looking forward to episode 2, but I'll take a couple of anti-depressants before watching it.
Read more TV reviews at Mouthbox.co.uk
Bert's older brother Joe (Nico Mirallegro) is equally trapped in this heavily colour-corrected hell hole. But lucky for him the Great War is about to break out, sending him and his smiley mates off for a nice break in France.
So begins the cheerful tale of 100 years of life in this small Derbyshire village. We look back on it all through the bloodshot eyes of the now grown-up Bert – "the second oldest man in Britain". Sadly, the part of this 112 year old gentleman is played by an actor who only looks about 75. I'm guessing Equity are a bit short on card-carrying centenarians.
Suffragette Martha (Charlie Murphy) arrives on a bus. It's the first bus ever to come to The Village, and people get so excited about it that they momentarily stop thrashing each other. Bert falls instantly in love with Martha, goes into a field and starts touching himself in a special place. Then he climbs onto a roof and looks through a hole in the tiles at a bunch of naked women having a bath. I'm just telling you what happened.
Meanwhile Bert's brutal, hard-drinking father (John Simm) has to bring in the harvest all on his own. No-one in the village likes him, presumably because he is so brutal and hard-drinking. John's long-suffering wife Grace (Maxine Peake) has discovered that the only way to stop her brutal and hard-drinking husband from being brutal and hard-drinking is to stick her hand down the front of his trousers. Which she does to great effect.
Up at the "Big House", Lady Clem Allingham (Juliet Stevenson) looks down on all of this with a quiet detachment. She's much too posh to have to deal with brutal and hard-drinking poor people – her time being exclusively taken up dealing with brutal and hard-drinking rich people. Juliet Stevenson gives great posh.
The Village is well acted and beautifully directed by Antonia Bird, and Bill Jones gives a splendid performance as the younger version of Bert. I'm quite looking forward to episode 2, but I'll take a couple of anti-depressants before watching it.
Read more TV reviews at Mouthbox.co.uk