Bring the drama
Alice & Jack
You don't learn that in a first aid course. There's Ben Mitchell lying on the floor of the Queen Vic, choking on his own blood, while dad Phil becomes hysterical. Sonia takes a knife and the tube of a pen and calmly cuts into Ben's chest to create an airway.
In the first test of comedian Bill Bailey's eight-actor reality competition, Bring The Drama (BBC1), contestants had to recreate one of the classic EastEnders scenes in which Sonia Fowler saves Ben's life after a shootout.
God only knows if this could work in real life. Bill didn't seem to think that was a good idea. “Don’t try this at home,” he warned, as if hundreds of BBC2 viewers were already rummaging through the sideboard for a pen and scissors.
The standard situation definitely caused great emotions. Natalie Cassidy, the brilliant actress who actually stars as Sonia in the series, was a guest judge and warned against slipping into melodrama.
That's an interesting observation. EastEnders is, after all, a non-stop melodrama, but it works because the cast makes it seem like normal life. There is no need for tragic gestures or hand-wringing – the storylines are extensive, allowing the actors to focus on tiny details.
In the first test of Bill Bailey's eight-actor reality competition, contestants recreated a classic EastEnders scene in which Sonia Fowler saves Ben's life after a shootout
The set design certainly evoked great emotions in Bring the Drama, but there was no need for tragic gestures and hand-wringing – the actors had to focus on tiny details
The oldest of the students, 67-year-old healthcare assistant Janice, understood this quickest. Playing Sonia, she let the slightest hint of doubt cross her face before pursing her lips in determination and thrusting in the pen. I'm still not convinced about the wisdom of a bar operation, but I believed that Janice really did it.
Showstopper of the night
Jasmine (Taj Atwal) told her friend Rachel (Kara Tointon) that her boyfriend wanted a threesome in the thriller “Too Good To Be True” (Chapter 5). Jasmine declined: “That evening is the semi-final of Bake Off.” Cake is much healthier.
However, we didn't reach that moment until the last 15 minutes of the show. Most of the episode involved too much formulaic setup, with heavily edited auditions meant to keep us on the edge of our seats.
Who will win the casting director's praise? Whose dreams are dashed by a little criticism? Who will be the first to tell us they are doing this for their dead grandma (sob!)? Who cares – we just met these people?
Judge Kelly Valentine Hendry was careful to point out that if a performance excites her, she is likely to drop her pen. Apparently it's the theater school equivalent of a Paul Hollywood handshake, but as praise it lacks drama. Maybe she wants to work on it.
There's no shortage of drama in the six-part romance “Alice & Jack” (Chapter 4), in which Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson play lovers whose affair resembles a toxic addiction.
Jack is a nice guy, a gentle scientist with a new wife (Aisling Bea) and a baby, but he lacks the spine to tell wealthy loner Alice to go away when she sneaks back into his life – and unannounced shows up at his workplace. 18 months after their breakup.
There's no shortage of drama in Channel 4's Alice & Jack, which stars Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson as lovers whose affair resembles a toxic addiction
She says she wishes him and his family nothing but happiness… and then tells him she can't handle life without him.
His weakness is what attracts her. From the moment they meet on a dating app, she mocks and bullies him. It's brutal: She sleeps with him, then kicks him out, waits for his text, then deletes it.
This is classic abusive behavior to begin with. She asks him what he does for a living, scoffs at it, gives in and calls him adorable, then asks him how he thinks he's going to die. When her dress was adorned with red flags and her T-shirt read, “Run from me, now,” the message couldn't be clearer.
If this were a drama about a manipulative, cruel man toying with a gullible girl, we would be disgusted, but somehow it's supposed to be whimsical and seductive by swapping the genders. I'm sticking with it (that's how it continues tonight), but so far it's hard to feel sympathy for either of them.