Mark Thomas investigates why parts of the UK are fenced off, and in some cases not even shown on any maps.Mark Thomas investigates why parts of the UK are fenced off, and in some cases not even shown on any maps.Mark Thomas investigates why parts of the UK are fenced off, and in some cases not even shown on any maps.
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OK but not exactly a blow of people power more of a nudge at best.
Everyone's favourite red political satirist goes on a journey round Britain to find areas that exist but are excluded from our maps. Along the way he finds other examples of things that are `secret' but are really publicly available and other things that should be public knowledge but that are kept secret.
Mark Thomas usually does 30 minutes exposes of all thing political or business related. Usually it's quite funny but doesn't actually achieve anything or give you any idea of things to do afterwards. Here this isn't very funny and nor does it leave us with any sense of achievement.
The comedian gets kicked off semi-secret places all over the country in his attempt to show how absurd the laws are. The Chief Exec of the British Pipeline organisation refuses to tell Mark where the military oil pipe is despite the fact you can buy it on a map! Mark get the plans for Margaret Thatcher's house from the Council and shows where her safe is! But yet he looks at the case of a man who's garden has levels of plutonium in it but the MoD refuse to comment on it!
The film also has lots of little snippets of info scattered through it like the Government's telephone preference system where in an emergency the government has the ability to shut off all UK phone lines (this has happened several times in the past decade or so) thus removing emails and calls from the populace in an emergency. Or he stands outside the Whitehall tunnel system designed to hold all civil servants during a nuclear attack.
However the film doesn't achieve anything in most cases I felt like `so what!'. So what if these things aren't on the map, so what if it isn't marked, it's easy to see why they aren't. Yes we need a more open Government but in some cases they need to be! Also it isn't that funny. Mark shows people up but he only gets a few funny scenes and those are nothing special.
Overall this is interesting but it is neither as funny as Mark can be nor does it really capture the imagination or motivate you to do anything.
Mark Thomas usually does 30 minutes exposes of all thing political or business related. Usually it's quite funny but doesn't actually achieve anything or give you any idea of things to do afterwards. Here this isn't very funny and nor does it leave us with any sense of achievement.
The comedian gets kicked off semi-secret places all over the country in his attempt to show how absurd the laws are. The Chief Exec of the British Pipeline organisation refuses to tell Mark where the military oil pipe is despite the fact you can buy it on a map! Mark get the plans for Margaret Thatcher's house from the Council and shows where her safe is! But yet he looks at the case of a man who's garden has levels of plutonium in it but the MoD refuse to comment on it!
The film also has lots of little snippets of info scattered through it like the Government's telephone preference system where in an emergency the government has the ability to shut off all UK phone lines (this has happened several times in the past decade or so) thus removing emails and calls from the populace in an emergency. Or he stands outside the Whitehall tunnel system designed to hold all civil servants during a nuclear attack.
However the film doesn't achieve anything in most cases I felt like `so what!'. So what if these things aren't on the map, so what if it isn't marked, it's easy to see why they aren't. Yes we need a more open Government but in some cases they need to be! Also it isn't that funny. Mark shows people up but he only gets a few funny scenes and those are nothing special.
Overall this is interesting but it is neither as funny as Mark can be nor does it really capture the imagination or motivate you to do anything.
- bob the moo
- Jun 19, 2002
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- Mark Thomas' Secret Map of Britain
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime50 minutes
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