Monday 2 December 2019

World on Fire (2019 Writer Peter Bowker)

A man (played by Jonah Hauer-King) who's good at languages with a horrible mother falls for a local lass who works in a factory (Julia Brown) - Mummy obviously doesn't approve. Later, in Poland, he falls for a local lass (there's a pattern emerging here - Kasia Tomaszeski), marries her as the Nazis move in (it's 1939, by the way, a date of some significance), hoping to get her back to the UK, but she sends her younger brother instead (I don't know why she didn't get on the train too, with her brother).




Meanwhile her older brother is on the run in Poland, and the sister joins the Resistance. It's here that Bowker's writing ends up becoming a bit convenient - she is rescued from hanging just at the right time, then her husband of all people is the one to get her out of Poland.

In Berlin, American journalist Helen Hunt (has she got some kind of prosthetic on?) uncovers a 'hospital' for disabled children and tries to help her neighbours Johannes Zeiler and Victoria Meyer.

In Paris, gay doctor befriends gay black saxophonist. Brian J Smith and Parker Sawyers

And back in England, our factory lass's pacifist father Sean Bean is dealing with a sailor son (who's a pain in the arse, played by Ewan Mitchell) whilst the translator's mum Lesley Manville is coping with .. well .. all sorts actually. Learning to hold hands, that sort of thing.

Not sure Hauer-King is the best leading man, but The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison good value as his No. 2. Charlie Creed-Mills is in it too.

After seven episodes it ends on a cliffhanger, but not the annoying sort. So we would watch the next series.

Apocalyptic sort of music by Dan Jones. Photographed by Suzie Lavell, John de Borman, Soren Bay, Mika Orasmaa. Filmed - of course - in the Czech Republic.

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