Far too much telly already
Those dead days after Christmas and into the new year have left me with time on my hands. I'd usually be reading a lot, but I'm a bit stuck on my current read, and so found myself drifting to the telly instead. It's a bit scary to think about how many hours I have probably clocked this week. Mayflies A very non-celebratory first watch of the year goes to this two part drama on iplayer. The first episode opens with Tully (Tony Curran) telling his longstanding best friend, Jimmy (Martin Compston) that he has months to live, and then, relying on friendship forged as teenagers, makes him promise that he will get him to Switzerland in time. So, not a particularly cheery start but we are soon in a nostalgic hymn to youth, life, death and friendship, illustrated with instamatic colours, The Fall, New Order and riot police. I found it all pretty moving, probably because I am a sucker for nostalgia and this has it in spades. The second episode gives us revelations on what actua...