Bits 'n' Bobs.

The following will be typed phonetically, in the form of black country dialect. Because of reasons.

Blimey aou about that aye? Our Stevie is trending on the twitter like? Terns out it’s cus he tuck the piss outa chiles-ey on the tele wore it?

Gee-in ‘im a Tesco bag - that’s proper tek-in the piss like aye it?!?

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TV Review: Toast (2010)

Directed by: SJ Clarkson (Life on Mars)

Cast: Oscar Kennedy, Freddie Highmore, Victoria Hamilton, Helena Bonham Carter & Ken Stott.

Adapted from the autobiography of the same name, Toast tells the story of Wolverhapton born cook & author Nigel Slater. Detailing his early life, the relationship with his mother (Victoria Hamilton) and father (Ken Stott) and his burgeoning love of all things food, Toast is quite possibly the best programme that aired during the 2010 ‘Christmas Schedule’.

It’s a wonderfully told story - from the wonderfully shot opening credit sequence, right through to the ending, it’s clearly a labour of love for everyone involved. The production design, and period accuracy is pretty much spot on - the producers shot certain sequences ‘on location’ in parts of Wolverhampton that still retain the same Council style housing of the period.

Certain parts of the production were shot at the Black Country Living Museum - a place I know quite well, given that I walked past it twice a day, for two years on the way to and from work :)

The acting was, without wanting to sound cheesy, a joy to watch. It’s nice to see Helena Bonham Carter not acting so ‘crazy’ for a change - she’s a brilliantly talented actress, and her performance (if not quite her accent ;) ) was fautless. Between this and her role in The Kings Speech (which is amongst my most anticipated film of this year), I can imagine awards a plenty in the future.

Equally brilliant, was Oscar Kennedy as the Younger Nigel Slater (Freddie Higmore plays him as a young adult). For a debut performance, I gotta say his performance was pretty impressive.

As was the film itself. I’ve never read Slaters’ autobiography, so I’m not sure how it compares to the source material (I’ve read comments on messageboards that seem to suggest certain more ‘darker’ parts were omitted), but compared to the generally bland offering from TV land this year, Toast was a feast for sore eyes.

Ware I cum from, we doh talk posh like sum folk, instead we talk proper :)