The US remake of The Killing has some of the original's Danish cool – and jumpers, and another week, another British obs doc.
TV
The Killing
NB: The TV1 listings in the November 5 and 12 issues of theListener say “To Be Advised” at 4.55pm every weekday, and at 7.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday because, at the time we went to press, TVNZ had not made a decision about the programmes that would screen in those timeslots. However, TVNZ has since announced it will screen Coronation Street at 7.30pm on Thursdays and Fridays starting November 10. Ellen will screen at 5.00pm every weekday. TVNZ’s full TV guide is here.
aimRenderAd(300, 250, '300X250','ContentRect','/POS=POS2'); if(!$.browser.msie){ ContentRect_frame = $("#ContentRect")[0]; ContentRect_frame.src = ContentRect_frame.src; }Children’s Hospital (TV1, 8.00pm). The opening of a new children’s hospital in Manchester – the UK’s largest – was a big deal in June, so naturally an observational documentary series was a top priority. Cameras intrude on the lives of the small and ill, including in tonight’s episode a seven-year-old with a range of genetic conditions who is undergoing his 22nd operation, and a three-year-old with an orange pip up her nose who is being treated in the emergency department. Possibly of more interest are the state-of-the-art facilities at the hospital, described by the BBC as the result of the biggest shake-up in children’s healthcare services in decades. There are some 2500 staff, 371 beds, a dedicated emergency department, fold-down beds for parents, en-suite rooms, a hospital school, and a dispensing robot in the pharmacy.
The Killing (SoHo, Sky 010, 8.30pm). Sometimes being last in the television food chain has its advantages: down here, we have not been party to the rhapsodising over Danish series The Killing (Forbrydelsen), which was a huge hit in Denmark and an unlikely hit in the UK. It won a Bafta, was nominated for an Emmy and made a star of the heroine’s chunky-knit fair isle jumper (it’s cold in Denmark!). Happily, we’ve never seen this series here (but it will be available on DVD), and although remakes, with a tiny few exceptions, are almost always inferior, we can go ahead and watch the US version of The Killing without having to grumpily complain it’s not as good as the original. This series has been made by AMC, which is known for such quality fare as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and it has been given the space it needs to tell the story of a murder investigation. It carefully unfolds over 13 episodes as Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and her new partner Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) try to find the killer of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen. The side-story of the Larsen family’s grief and disintegration is brilliantly played by Michelle Forbes and Brendan Sexton as her parents. In the best murder-mystery tradition, the killer could be anyone, from Rosie’s dissolute former boyfriend, to her slightly creepy teacher, to the guy who works at her dad’s furniture-removal business. There is a connection to the mayoral campaign of a city councilman. In keeping with the gloomy Danish origins, the location of The Killing is Seattle in the winter, which is probably as depressing as Copenhagen. The city is green and grey; it rains a lot. Enos, not conventionally beautiful, is a super-cool presence. Best of all, in a nod to her Danish counterpart, she gets to wear chunky jumpers, too.
FILM
Mao’s Last Dancer (Rialto, Sky 025, 8.30pm). Bruce Beresford’s film is “simplistic, is overly long and, for a film based on real events, feels astonishingly formulaic”, said our reviewer David Larsen, but nevertheless, he found it has heart. It’s the story of dancer Li Cunxin, who was plucked from a farm at 11 to attend Madame Mao’s Dance Academy in Beijing, and defected to the West. (2009)
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