Radio Weekly #20
This week Ian Wolf encounters the kingdom of Premenstrua and listens to some cat jingles…
ElvenQuest
I’m a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy comedy, but ElvenQuest has always come across as “good, not great”. However, this new, fourth series started with an episode which could change my opinion…
For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s a set in a Tolkien-esque fantasy world called Lower Earth, where a group of “Questers” are trying to find the all-powerful Sword of Asnagar. Two of the Questers are Sam Porter (Stephen Mangan), a fantasy writer from our world, and his dog Amis, who’s transformed into a human (Dave Lamb). Both were sent to Lower Earth by the other Questers.
Elf leader Vidar (Darren Boyd), Dean the dwarf (Kevin Eldon), and warrior princess Penthiselea (Ingrid Oliver, though formally Sophie Winkleman) complete the cast.
In this opening episode, the Questers defeats some trolls in the kingdom of Premenstrua – ruled by unpredictable Queen Eleanor (Louise Delamere), who is celebrating her birthday and wants a present. The ‘present’ is the entire story of the Questers, which they must write up over the course of a single night on pain of death…
Probably the main reason this episode stood out was because of Sam, and how useless he is in comparison to the others. But by the same token, the characters are the main issue with the series.
Some of them are great – especially Lord Darkness [Alistair McGowan], whose cunning plans often get too cunning…and he’s brought down by something simple like forgetting his keys. However, other characters aren’t so well fleshed out. Penthiselea just seems like a typical fantasy, sci-fi heroine – somewhat violent and slightly sexual, but often just filling a gap because the writer thought they needed at least one woman in the story and they couldn’t think of anything more imaginative.
If the writers manage to flesh out their creations more than this series could well be perfect. That’s the only thing holding ElvenQuest back.
Susan Calman is Convicted
Stand-up Susan Calman is mostly noted for her appearances on The News Quiz. However this new late-night show, Susan Calman is Convicted, gives the Scottish comic her own platform to get on her soap box.
In the first episode, Calman looks at civil partnerships and gay marriage. Calman is gay herself and in a civil partnership, not that she calls it that as she constantly refers to herself as being married. She talks about her sexuality, how she wants to be able to get married, and the problems she had with her own civil partnership, which included the fact that marriage couldn’t be mentioned during the entire ceremony for legal reasons. Come to think of it, this opening episode couldn’t have been better timed for Calman, following the vote on legalising gay marriage being passed in the House of Commons.
But concentrating on the show itself, there’s a lot of it I liked, most of which wasn’t really concerned with the theme. There were all sorts of odd tangents, like when she talks about her love for her three cats, which includes dressing them up and giving each of them their own jingle.
The problem programmes like this and Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation (which starts its ninth series at the end of the month) is that there’s a danger of them getting too preachy. It’s true that these kinds of shows won’t be for people whose politics are right-wing, but in my experience right-wing people tend to be more “laughed at” than “laughed with”, which is why there’s never been a right-wing equivalent of Mark Thomas. The problem’s that people think that those who are “laughed at” are electable (see Boris Johnson).
If you don’t mind the preachy nature of these kinds of programmes, however, you’ll get a lot of enjoyment from a performer like Calman. She’s tops.
