Channel 4’s nightly entertainment is usually brash – think Gogglebox, First Dates or the ghastly Naked Attraction. So it was a pleasant surprise to watch the three short films in the On the Edge strand, which is designed to showcase new film-makers.
All had a gentle, low-key air about them despite covering emotional subjects. Running at half an hour apiece, they told separate stories but each shared a general theme about caring responsibilities. That description makes them sound terribly worthy, but they weren’t.
The Final Countdown, written by Natalie Burt, was about 70-something Ray (Paul Copley, one of Britain’s most reliable character actors), in denial about his wife’s dementia and maintaining his daily routine of popping out for a pint and a bet on the horses. Ray is devoted to Dora (Eileen Davies) and is opposed to her going into a care home, while their grandson believes that’s where Dora needs to be. It’s a situation that will be all too familiar to many viewers.
In Letting Go, my favourite of the three, boxing coach Gabe (Anthony Welsh) struggled to accept that the young teenage girl he and his partner had fostered for the past three years was going to be returned to her birth mother. As the girl pulled in two directions, newcomer Luna Mwezi gave a remarkably natural performance: every reaction and expression felt completely true. Both films wrapped up too neatly, with endings on the more saccharine side of bittersweet. But it would take an experienced writer to deliver any more than that over such a short running time.
The weakest of the trio was Wet Look, starring Tanya Reynolds as a mermaid called Gwynne who finds herself permanently be-legged and living a normal life in Wales with boyfriend Rob (Iwan Rheon). Mermaids don’t seem to be an object of curiosity, with the GP simply handing Gwynne a leaflet.
“So, you’re a mermaid, Gwynne? That’s great. We don’t get many mermaids here, since the sewage,” Rob’s taxi driver dad tells her.
It’s an allegory about disability, with Gwynne explaining that she feels “bricked up” inside her body and enduring insensitive comments from people she meets. But the fantastical nature of the story makes it more akin to an episode of Black Mirror or Inside No 9, meaning that it’s crying out for a clever ending that never comes.
This anthology series is the closest thing we have to the old Play for Today. It would make perfect daytime viewing for those of us who would like to watch a little drama in the afternoon, rather than endless property programmes and quiz shows.
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