These are just a couple of Random Picks for Programs that are must watches on BBC iPlayer in the Coming Days and most of all over the Christmas Period (Click to Watch), Available Until Dates and Times from time of publishing, likely to change due to repeats:
I picked up this latest Christmas one-off piece of TV, on BBC iPlayer, it was hid in the schedules at 10pm, Thursday 18th Decmeber on BBC Four, but am I glad I watched it. It is based around Owen, his family, his Dad's Brothers and his cousin, set on 3 separate Christmas Eve and Days, 1983, 86 and 89. It plays on the recurring aspects of Christmas, the change from each Christmas to the next and strangely uses dramatic irony (google it) very well. It was written by Mark Watson and inspired by a Dylan Thomas short story. And couldn't have been a better watch on a snow day here in the UK.
Owen is played fantastically by Oliver Bunyan ('83,'86) and Mark Williams ('89) but also the Narration by Michael Sheen (as Owen) brought the whole thing together for me, yes, Michael Sheen who has recently shot to fame thanks to The Queen, Frost-Nixon, and The Damned United among others. The simple comedy and comic-aspects of the program were great; I would have liked this if it was just a drama, but that hint just to push it over the edge really made it for me, and anyway thats what Christmas, let alone Christmas TV is all about.
Owen and Maurice (his cousin) don't say much in this comic drama, but I didn't mind that and when they did it was exactly what was needed. If these two where mute, it wouldn't be good, but the little speaking interaction they have is perfect, but in regards to Maurice's character having him practically as mute is due to other things around his character that become apparent. In Owen's case, Oliver Bunyan and later Mark Williams both play it perfectly to the narration, adding the physical and emotional aspect behind Michael Sheen's words. I have to say that I preferred Bunyan's Owen more, probably just because he was the one you saw for the first two parts of the story and he is the sort of age that you'd think that the looking back at Christmas childhood would be and not the older Owen, how looks anything between 15 and 19.
The Mother in this great piece of TV is played by Ruth Jones, of Gavin and Stacey fame as Nessa, I never would have known that if I hadn't looked it up, she looks incredibly different to the normal slob she plays on Gavin and Stacey, pure gold she was in this. The Father (Geraint) is has also been round the block for quite a while, Mark Lewis Jones. These two have great chemistry on screen and work perfectly with Owen as a family unit.
The more dysfunctional Uncle Gorwel, his the comedy card and is that crazy uncle that everyone has, I loved him, he's played by Paul Kaye, who I saw play a similarly (maybe even less) dysfunctional in Pulling, just last week. He is great comedy TV, the one you laugh at but can also have a bit of a laugh with.
The rich, fat and rather bitter Uncle Huw is played Steve Speirs, and it is so easy to hate him because is snobbish, rich to a degree (a Welsh degree) and a bit of a fun "sucker", come on it's Christmas! Always pushing his new technology down the throats of the rest of the family. On that note, I love the little references to differences in simple ways of living and technology and the like, for example: "All that walk and then he wasn't there... Why can't people have their own phones?... Why can't people just have a tiny little phone that you could fit in your pocket and take everywhere you go", after Owen and his Dad's trek to the phone box "up the hill" for a five second phone call to Gorwel.
I think that this is a must see this Christmas and also good family viewing if you want, and I still don't know why this was placed in this timeslot on this channel, no offense BBC Four, you're not exactly a ratings pull. But please give it a try this Christmas, you won't be disappointed.
To see this again, it will be on BBC One Wales at 6:10pm and on BBC Four at 7:15pm on Christmas Eve, and other times throughout the Festive Season (also available on BBC HD, check listing), or anytime in the next few weeks on BBC iPlayer.
