Interesting, looks like Newscorp is taking their US property "Rescue Me"
and doing a UK version. I enjoyed "Rescue Me" but it was too "high art"
for most people.
On 02/28/2014 12:22 AM, turquoi...@yahoo.com wrote:
This one is probably only for UK residents or those of the Pirate
persuasion at present, because it seems to be available only on Sky1
in Britain. And it's rated SO "not for Buck" or for TM wussies, but I
note it here just so I can be one of the first to predict that Jamie
Bamber is on his way to a BAFTA award for his work in it. I'd suggest
that he'd win an Emmy as well, but it probably will never be released
in the US because the strong accents would be beyond the comprehension
of many Americans.
It's about firefighters. But the real drama of the series doesn't
center on the heroics of these real heroes whose job it is to run
*into* a burning building that everyone else is running out of. It's
about what they risk every time they do.
Bamber (whose credentials as an actor you might infer from the fact
that most people who enjoyed his role as Lee Adama in "Battlestar
Galactica" never knew he was British) plays a firefighter who is
returning to service after nine months spent recovering from having
been trapped in a fire. The first ten minutes of the series show the
intensity of what it's like to be the person running up to the top
floor of a burning building to rescue a baby, only to be trapped there
after having been attacked by the very residents he was trying to
save, and it's truly amazing action footage...but that's not really
the point.
The point seems to be not the ever-present danger of dying in one of
the fires they're fighting, but the horrors of *surviving* one.
Bamber's character has been catastrophically maimed by the third
degree burns he received, leaving him a physical and emotional wreck
in many ways. But he's a firefighter, so he actually goes back to the
job.
Again, *not* a series for the faint of heart, but good writing, good
acting, and a remarkable contrast to the standard "Wolf of Wall
Street" and "House Of Cards" fare, which seem to glorify people who
are not only NOT heroes, but the opposite -- true slimeballs who hurt
people and not only get away with it, they become rich and famous
because of it. The world of entertainment needs more depictions of
true heroism in my opinion, and "The Smoke" provides some.
