Television
Matters of life and death
Wendy Cope
0 ther television critics have been re- viewing Animal Squad (BBC1) week after week and I realise, now the series has ended, that I must have missed something quite compelling. I decided not to watch it because battery hens and mistreated dogs are upsetting. One must, of course, watch a certain quota of upsetting programmes in order to be reminded what a sad, bad place the world is and how greatly in need of all the things we might be done to improve it, were we not sitting in front of our televi- sion sets. But one cannot watch them all and I use up my quota on programmes about the depressing things that happen to people. That's the theory anyway.
While the last Animal Squad was being broadcast on BBC1 I was watching the first episode of The Life and Loves of a She Devil on BBC2. It was somewhat discon- certing to realise, as the credits rolled, that my ' concern for Jonathan the hamster outweighed my sympathy for any of the human characters in this drama. The ham- ster cast as Jonathan gave a most moving performance, clawing desperately at the bars of his cage while his owner set the house on fire. She had been thoughtful enough to send the children to McDonald's and to remove a nasty-looking grey cat to a place of safety but Jonathan was forgotten and burned to death. He wins my nomina- tion for best supporting actor of the week. I had expected to feel tremendous sym- pathy for Ruth — the She Devil of the title — but she wasn't at all likable and perhaps she wasn't meant to be. No one, not even the children, was the slightest bit likable. I found it difficult to believe in them or in their relationships with one another and I was disappointed. Maybe I should try Fay Weldon's book.
The best performance by an actress that I have seen in recent weeks is Marion Bailey's as Ann Fletcher in To Have and To Hold (ITV). Ann is a quiet, conven- tional woman who has been overshadowed for most of her life by a brighter, more attractive sister. Ms Bailey's particular strength in this role is a warm, radiant smile, which falls just short of being entirely convincing. As the series progres- ses and the character becomes tougher, we are seeing the smile less often. This week we shall find out whether or not Ann gets the baby she has been waiting for. Anyone who has been following this series and has not yet seen the BBC's perfect dramatisa- tion of Hotel du Lac will be faced with a dilemma because they are due to be broadcast at the same time on Friday evening.
But the television event that I am most looking forward to, I am ashamed to say, is the beginning of the new series of Dallas on 22 October, when it will be revealed to us how the late Bobby Ewing came to be in his ex-wife's shower-room on the morning after her wedding. Who am I to complain about implausibility when I swallow this kind of rubbish and love every minute of it? I have heard from two different sources that the answer to the mystery is that the last 31 episodes were a dream, from which Pam has just woken up. If so, the script- writers have gone a bit far, even for me. I have been trying to remember where everyone had got to immediately before Bobby was killed. Mark Graison was dead at the time. Sue Ellen was drinking. Little Christopher had a different face. I don't think Ray and Donna had yet begun to take an interest in handicapped children. It will be a pity if this is cancelled out because Ray's and Donna's performances in sign language are among the funniest things on television at the moment. Whether or not it all turns out to be a dream, I am confident that Sue Ellen, who was blown up at the end of the last episode, will be back with us in one piece on Wednesday. I wish I could hold out the same kind of hope for Jonathan the hamster.
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