Have You Been Watching...? Jury Duty (2023)

 

One of the “phenomena” that has taken off on the internet is that of the “social experiment”. This involves “influencers” setting up situations with the public and then posting the films online. Think a less-funny Beadle’s About (if you were watching me say this, I'd be doing little air quites for those terms...). Most of these simply serve to promote their content creators rather than be genuine social experiments. TV has had a go too, with programmes such as Big Brother looking at everyday folk under the microscope of TV cameras. None of these come anywhere close to Jury Duty.

When I first heard of Jury Duty, an Amazon Freevee Original first broadcast in early 2023, it was compared to The Office. With not being a fan of The Office, I gave it a miss as that type of Docu-comedy doesn’t appeal to me. What a mistake that was. The series came up on one of those recommended images that appear, and for some reason, I gave it a chance.

What I’m about to write now is NOT a spoiler. In fact, it appears right at the very beginning of the first episode. The series is about a documentary being made around the jury at a trial in an American court. Except it’s fake. All of it is. The trial, the officers and the jury are all actors. Except one: 29 year old Solar Panel contractor Ronald Gladden, and he has no idea. As a member of the public, Ronald answered an advert for potential jurors to take part in the programme all the while believing it to be real. The crew are being given “unprecedented” access behind the scenes of a trial in court, documenting everything from the selection of the jury through the trial itself, to the verdict. But it is all dramatized. The only thing that is not planned is Ronald and his reactions to the developing situations. This requires the production team to be 100% switched on to change things at a moment’s notice in case the game is given away. The team have no way of predicting how Ronald will react, and if he guesses, the entire scheme is over.

What follows is one of the most wholesome and joyful programmes that I have ever sat through. From the selection process, the jury is made up of a group of the most bizarre and yet still believable people and the viewer watches as Ronald tries to fathom how to work with these people and the workings of a genuine trial. The series also features Hollywood star James Marsden (Enchanted, X-Men, Hairspray and many more) as a truly exaggerated version of himself. Despite everything that’s thrown at him, Ronald remains the bastion of common sense and normality amongst all the chaos around him and he comes across as a likeable, and very genuine young man. I defy any of you to watch the final episode without a lump in your throat or tears in your eyes.

The series drifts from each bizarre situation to the next all built around the trial Yes, indeed, the cast and crew sat through hours of a fake trial every single day. Thankfully, the trial itself takes second place to the jury and the show doesn’t linger on the courtroom dramas too much beyond what you need to know to understand the dilemmas the jury finds itself in.

Each episode lasts approximately 25-30 minutes and there are 8 episodes in total (although on Freevee, there are way more than that listed as the last batch are behind the scenes episodes). This makes binge watching very easy but it’s much more fun to spread them out.

I enjoyed the series immensely. The cast are fantastic and don’t let their guard down at all (how they do this is revealed in the behind the scenes and they all deserve awards for their commitment!). For a star like James Marsden to agree to send himself up in the way he does is also commendable and he is hilarious throughout. It’s also very easy to forget, as you’re watching, that this is meticulously planned so a huge credit to the crew for being able to commit to and produce such a feat of television. The writers, the camera crew, the production team and everyone has pulled together to create this masterpiece. It’s no surprise to find it nominated for 4 Emmy awards. As enjoyable as the programme is, the sad thing (while also being a good thing), is that this can be the only series. With the cat out of the bag, anything else can only ever be a retreat or inferior copy as any unsuspecting stooge will hope to promote themselves in the way that Ronald inadvertently did. I hope you do look in on this series as I believe you will enjoy it as much as I.

Year – 2023

Series count – 1

Episode count – 8

Availability – currently streaming on Amazon Freevee

Have You Been Watching...? Wednesday (2022)

 

The Addams Family has been around for ages. Firstly, a comic, then a fondly remembered 1960s sitcom, two amazing 90s feature films (less said about the third, the better) two recent animated features (which I’m not too bothered about) and now this, a spin-off centred around Miss Wednesday Addams.

When I heard of this project, I was wasn’t sure it would worth my time, but then Tim Burton was linked to it and Christina Ricci (who played Wednesday in the 90s movies), Catherine Zeta Jones and Gwendoline Christie all attached to it. This began to sound like something special.

The 8 part limited series, “Wednesday”, is a triumph. The new Addams family cast are wonderful. Catherine Zeta Jones is truly a great luscious and mysterious Morticia, and Luis Guzman is literally perfect as Gomez, not as traditionally handsome in the mould of Raul Julia, but more in keeping with the comics. Their insane lust/love for each other makes for great comedy. Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley brings a sweet vulnerability to the role that was missing from the movies and he’s a very sympathetic character. As great as they are, it’s Jenna Ortega’s show as the new Wednesday. She is magnetic to watch. Dour, but full of humour and she doesn’t blink in her scenes, adding a great otherworldliness to Wednesday. The “internet” was full of criticism for some of the casting choices, but needless to say, don’t believe all you read on the web.

The new series strips the show of the main family, although they appear throughout (one of the family is practically a regular), but moves Wednesday to the Nevermore Academy. This is a special school for special students of which Morticia and Gomez have been previous alumni. This is a home to werewolves, sirens, gorgons and all sorts of creepy and kooky monsters in the form of human teenagers. While I have little interest in teen supernatural dramas, this one has just the right blend of humour and horror to satisfy even the most ardent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans.

Having watched Episode 1, directed by the legend that is Tim Burton and scored by Danny Elfman, I felt I had tired of Wednesday’s behaviour. I wanted more of the residents of Nevermore Academy, led by the delicious Gwendoline Christie as the head teacher Larissa Weem, an old rival of Morticia’s. I wanted to learn more about the town of Jericho and how they live side by side with this world of mythical creatures. However, as the story progresses, my appetite was well and truly fed.

The crux of the series is that having been dispatched to Nevermore, Wednesday finds herself caught up in a mystery and a number of deaths. The mystery isn’t the deaths themselves, its clear early on how they die, it’s the who and why that forms Wednesday’s investigation. Along the way we meet her fellow classmates including the impossible to dislike, permanently chipper Enid, a werewolf who hasn’t reached wolf-out stage yet.  Enid is played by Emma Myers who on the face of it should be an irritating character due to her constant perkiness, but really is a sweet and kind girl. Hunter Doohan  plays Wednesday’s “will they wont they” love interest Tyler, Joy Sunday plays Bianca, a siren who is keen to knock Wednesday down a peg or two and ex-Wednesday herself, Christina Ricci plays Marilyn Thornhill, one of the school staff, almost unrecognisable from her Addams Family days (I didn’t even realise who she played until episode 2).

Our mystery is evenly paced, and intricately plotted which, if the series ran for a longer run that 8 episodes, could have been a problem.  However, in this bite-size series, it just fits tidily, although the last episode does rattle along at an incredible pace.

As the Wednesday series is still incredibly current, this report will stay spoiler free. Is it worth almost 8 hours of your time to watch? Yes. You may be pleased to know in advance it IS a self-contained story. I don’t think that’s a spoiler, none of the pre-publicity suggested it was an on-going series. This new series has created such a great new world for the Addams’ that any further instalments need not even have to be centred around Wednesday at all. Die-Hard fans will enjoy all the subtle (and not to subtle) easter eggs littered throughout.

Year: 2022

Episode count: 8

Availability: Currently streaming on Netflix.

Have You Been Watching...? The Hammer House of Horror - The House That Bled To Death

 

It is hopefully clear by now that, not only will I be giving my thoughts on complete serials, but also individual episodes. When I first thought about doing this blog, there was one episode I knew I had to write about. This particular episode of a well-remembered horror series haunted me for many years (my own fault, having been far too young to watch it, but telling mum I was sick so I could “sleep” on the sofa and therefore watch this…).

The Hammer House of Horror is a 13 episode anthology series, first broadcast in 1980, and produced by ITC entertainment with Cinema Arts international and broadcast on ITV. Each 50 minute episode (1hr with ads) stood alone and there was no running theme through the series or host for that matter.

Each episode opened with a “teaser” (as short scene or two that set up the episode, then the opening credits. I mention this specifically as, for me, opening credits and theme tunes are just as important as the episodes themselves, for any series. Hammer house of Horror is no exception. The opening titles are a mixture of gothic eerie imagery, shadows in windows and help set up the creepiness of the series nicely, coupled with its amazingly atmospheric theme tune. There is no doubt watching these opening credits that you are in for a spooky ride.

Having nestled nicely in the back of my mind since 1980, my first recent exposure to this episode was on a VHS release, and then most recently, it gloriously remastered Blur-ray edition. Depending on the release, the episodes were issued in different orders, on VHS, The House that Bled to Death was episode one, but not on the blu ray. It does not matter, though, as running order doesn’t change the enjoyment.

So, the House that Bled to Death tells the story of the Peters, a small family comprising of Mum, Dad and their young daughter Sophie. They excitedly move into their new home in a nice residential area in the south of England. What they are unaware of, is the bloody history of the house. You, as a viewer, will be aware of this thanks to the “teaser” opening. Yes, we are into haunted house territory in contemporary England. As the episode rolls on, the house begins telling its horrific history through a series of pretty damn scary incidents. The one that lingered in my memory and secured it’s place in my history, was the scene that takes place at a party for Sophie. {spoiler coming} Sophie and a group of children are all enjoying themselves and the party is happily ticking along, when there is a banging sound and the creaking of pipes which dampens the party atmosphere. All of a sudden, the pipes burst and the party guests are sprayed with a bright vivid red blood. Cue screams and clearly distressed children and adults. The scene is quite unlike anything I had ever seen before or since.

The scares keep coming, until the truth of the episode is eventually revealed, and it is NOT what you would think. The entire haunted house story turns out to be a hoax, concocted by Mr Peters himself, as he was indeed aware of the history of the house. Indeed, there is a lot more to the Peters’ relationship than meets the eye! Having then been able to sell it to Mr AJ Powers, who then turned the Peters’ story into a book and film (in a way satirizing the Amityville Horror story, which was released in 1979), and he now is £1 million pounds richer. Powers’ part to play in the story is also more than the viewer might think. The family relocate to America, where they are living “the dream”. However, young Sophie soon discovers her part in the hoax and decides to take a bloody vengeance on Mum and Dad, using the same machete knives from the opening teaser.

It is a very clever script for the series, which relies on his horror, both in terms of storytelling, and from its legacy using the “Hammer” name. To then spin it around that the story is in fact a hoax, is very brave. The final denouement is interesting, Is Sophie acting out of revenge for her murdered cat? (yes, that happens) or is she in fact possessed by the spirits from the house? Has the hoax in fact had a truth behind it?

Nicholas Ball (whom sci-fi fans might recall as the Simulant from the “Justice” episode of Red Dwarf) and Rachel Davies (extra kudos to you if you remember her as Camilla in the Dr Who story  State of Decay, incidentally broadcast the same year) play the main couple, William and Emma Peters, while Milton Johns (mentioned in this blog having starred in King of the Castle and Dr Who) plays Mr Powers, the man who eventually writes a book about the Peters’ experiences in the house. Emma Ridley plays young Sophie while Blakes 7 star Brian Croucher makes an appearance as “George” one of the neighbours from across the road (whose introduction to the story is rather disturbing!).

It is a great “modern” horror yarn, and the lengths the couple go to to ensure the believability of the hoax wouldn’t go amiss with today’s Youtuber/tik tok fame seekers.

Year: 1980

Series count : N/A

Episode count: 1 (of 13) - depending which programme list you're following!

Availability: DVD/Blu Ray/streaming on Britbox