While we're on the subject of stale soap operas, how can we forget the unbelievably awful masterpiece that is The Bureau? Despite reaching 2000 episodes (and in a matter of weeks, no less), replacing the BBC's Nine o' Clock News and becoming Europe's most watched programme, it takes a special report on spoof current affairs show The Day Today to really bring it to our attention. As you may have guessed, The Bureau is a soap set within the walls of a bureau de change; albeit one filled with inconsistencies, outdated stereotypes and wild overacting. Among the tantrums and inter-office romance is Jack Hennety, (Steve Coogan) a sneering pantomime villain of a boss who is constantly clashing with his misfit staff, not to mention nabbing the show's best lines. ''I'm trying to run a high-class bureau de change, not some two-bit nipple peep show in Rio de Janeiro!'' he spits, after bursting through the door at a typically inopportune moment.And, after a particularly drastic fallout, you can practically hear the collective gasp of a nation when he utters the immortal line ''I never thought I'd say this, right, but pull down the blinds. I'm closing the bureau...for an hour." But, sadly, this winning formula doesn't last.We learn that the show has inexplicably fallen out of favour and, in a move that really should be rolled out across the board, is forced to tour the country from the back of a truck. So there goes The Bureau, ladies and gentlemen. Tacky, trite and terribly written...where do we sign for a full series?
Yorkshireman (hence the surname). Often spotted sacrificing sleep and sanity for the annual Leeds International Film Festival. For a sample of (fairly) recent film reviews, please visit whatsnottoblog.wordpress.com.
