The Poolie Bunker

I made the mistake of attempting to watch this last night.

Has there ever been a more depressing, one sided, stereotypical, bleak, unadventurous portrayal of the North East region made?

It's even filmed in some kind of grainy dark way that lowers the tone (literally) even more.

Never again....

At least Spender had a few laughs...

honestly i think you are looking too deeply into a programme thats only fiction that happens to be filmed in the north east and not a documentary of the region. Just need to go onto youtube for a start to see some doing a hatchet job of the region. Vera is just a fairly enjoyable time filler with her being a female version of Frost. Somebody too old for the part to be taken really seriously. At least she is an old stale white woman and in 10 years time the new vera will be a transformer previously known as ali in a former life.

Inspector George Gently was an infinitely better serirs than Vera which is very dark and depressing. Probably because it was set in the 60's - and many of the scenes were shot in Seaton Canoe and the Headland. It was funny seeing the actors walk out of the Seaton Hotel and magically being transported to Tynemouth. Shame that they had George killed off in the final episode.

Seaton Canoe.

My Father lived there as a child.

Aye, and George Gently was shot at the Blue Lagoon in the final episode.
Never seen anyone ambushed there, more likely to be assassinated by a rogue golf ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lqvQFO ... seysMonkey


Falling Down...filmed in Sunderland..

Vera never quite mastered the accent, did she? This used to pish me off so much I couldnt stand watching it. It is not as if she improved in later series. I kept wondering why they couldnt have got an actress who could manage the accent properly.

Is an accent necessary…I think they overdo it at times.
The original Get Carter had Michael Caine chasing a bloke from Gateshead Coal Staiths all the way to Blackhall with the headland in the background…..now that’s what I call fit.

If you have a character who is supposed to be from the North East played by a professional actor, I dont think it is unreasonable to expect the accent to be believable. Brenda Blethyn would have been paid pretty well to play the role so why not make more of an effort with the accent? My guess is she signed the contract and when she rocked up with the North Eastern with a hint of Home Counties accent it was too late to get rid of her so they ploughed on hoping she'd get it over time.

This came out today on ITV....all 4 episodes are on ITVX.
I reckon this true life drama will have accolades coming out of its ears.

I Fought the Law is an upcoming British four-part true crime television series for ITV written by Jamie Crichton and starring Sheridan Smith. The series is based on Ann Ming's non-fiction book For the Love of Julie detailing long campaign to overturn the 800-year-old British double jeopardy law following the murder of her daughter in Billingham.

Filmed in Hartlepool and Newcastle.

https://metro.co.uk/video/i-fought-law- ... o=vjs-link

Looks like a good watch.
Is it them studio's near bottom of church street.
They look impressive from the outside.

she was still more believable than hollywoods attempts of london accents especially dick van dyke in mary bobbins. its not her accent that was the problem but her age and appearance that looked well off reality.

Fought the law.

A very strong minded woman who devoted non stop years of never giving up to get some kind of justice
Well done Mrs Ming.