Bafta Nominees

I'm torn over who should win for best lead actor on British television. The youngest Dr Who, or the latest Sherlock Holmes?*

Pitting Sherlock against Dr Who is a tough call. Who do you think would win in a bar fight? The guy with the giant brain, or the one wielding a sonic screwdriver?

In a way, Sherlock is the classier choice. (No offence intended to the Timelord).

Benedict Cumberbatch portrays the modern incarnation of a complex, contradictory character sourced from classic literature.

In contrast, Matt Smith plays the most recent re-incarnation (or to be technical, regeneration) of a kooky time travelling alien with a soft spot for Earth.

Sherlock (the series) is more about quality than quantity. Every episode has a filmic veneer, but let's face it- maintaining a high production standard is somewhat easier if your premiere season only spans three episodes.

Dr Who, on the other hand, is a long-running serial where dodgy special effects are downright celebrated. The show has a complex history and there's no denying some of it's a tad kitsch on the eye.

Frankly, elegant understatement has never been Dr Who's forte.

Then there's the genre issue. Historically, science fiction never does well on the mainstream awards circuit. The fact that Smith is the eleventh actor to play the Doctor, yet the first to score a Bafta nomination, pretty much sums it up.

BUT...

As brilliant as Cumberbatch is in his portrayal of Sherlock, it has to be conceded that Smith tackles a unique acting challenge every time he dons that bow tie 'n tweed (which he does with such panache).

How would an actor even begin to embody the personality of a character that's existed for centuries? More importantly, how can an actor instil a child-like, almost flippant social persona over the established patina of a reall-y old soul?

Just ask Matt Smith. He does a beautiful job of exactly that, hence the nomination.

Either way, I'm glad they both scored a nod. Fantastically deserved, my dear Watson!

(*The two nominations are also a sideways nod to Steven Moffat and the entertaining television he's putting out into the world, since he's executive producer and writer for both Dr Who and Sherlock. Other nominees in the category include Jim Broadbent and Daniel Rigby, but I'm backing one of the slender, erratically intelligent misfits from the Moffat universe).

From Text To Textual

Ah, Trueblood. A guilty viewing pleasure for so many if us. The HBO vampire series may not be intellectually or artistically challenging, but by god, it's addictive.

There's not much you can say about vampires that hasn't been written already, so I'll skip right past the relatively lame suckers-as-a-sex-metaphor explanation. I will, instead, strive to scatter as many bad vampire puns as possible through the following text. (Sucks, I know).

A television series that has evolved from a popular book series is an interesting animal. After a lot of thought about the books and the show, comparing them both over the last year, I've come to the following conclusion.

I think of Trueblood, the written word, as the feminine interpretation (in a traditional sense). Trueblood, the television series, is its masculine counterpart.

Sookie: Shut the f*** up!

True Blood, Season 1, Episode 10.

Yes, two completely different animals. What's interesting is that both incarnations, despite sometimes feeling like polar opposites, are extremely successful with the public. More often than not, people are fans of both the books and the television series, which seems almost impossible when you compare the material.

To be clear, I read the books first. My concept of the characters evolved from the written word, whereas a lot of other people's initial exposure to the Bon Temp crew was via the small screen. Frankly, the tv crowd are a rougher lot.

Arlene: I'm sorry you fell in love with a serial killer, alright. But honestly, who here hasn't?

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 1.

For virgins of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, Charlaine Harris's books are ver-y different to the television incarnation. Sookie is a lot more old-fashioned, a lot more respectful, and in a way, very romantic. In the early days of the book series, the sex is a lot less graphic and not as intense a focus as it was from day one of the television show.

The most notable difference? Sookie and her friends and family are not white trash in the books. Possibly a little naive and sheltered, but very different to the television series, where everyone around Sookie seems to revel in being crass, trashy, and at least a tad skanky. (Not to mention the many moments I heard a friend refer to as 'redneck dense').

Jason: Never thought I was really smart enough to get depressed.

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 7.

Likewise, the violence and gore isn't celebrated in print as it is on tv. In the books, epic bloodletting is kind of distasteful, even awful, referenced more for the impact it has on the psyche of our heroine (and her subsequent life decisions), than for the dark thrill of it.

Frankly, our heroine seems to have lost a LOT of IQ points in her transition to the small screen. Sookie comes across as quite well-spoken and relatively intelligent in Harris's fictional efforts. Onscreen? Not so much.

Sookie: Did you just call me a dumb bitch?

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 8.

Label me a fangbanger, but I don't know what it is with vampires. However they're written, they seem to come up trumps! Bill and Eric are beloved in both the written word and on the screen. Even Pam, who I feel is a lot prettier and fresher in the books than on television, is popular in both versions. I guess you can't go wrong with a bloodsucker these days...

Jessica: Is it my fault my fangs come out when I'm turned on?

True Blood, Season 2, Episode 4.

Relatively minor characters in the novels, local lotharios Jason and Lafayette move to the fore on the small screen thanks to the sex 'n blood focus of the television series.

Andy: Conscience off, dick on, and everything's gonna be alright.

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 1.

I prefer Lafayette to Jason, partly because Nelsan Ellis is a brilliant actor (great in a one-episode appearance in Veronica Mars as a former Ugandan child soldier btw).

Lafayette: It aint possible to live unless you're crossing somebody's line.

True Blood, Season 1, Episode 7.

The least successful character transition to the small screen would probably be Tara. Not written to be a hundred percent likeable in the books, she performs an important narrative service in that she's someone from Sookie's childhood that Sookie can react against, and Sookie's opinion of Tara is often a measure of her changing life perspective throughout the series.

On tv, however, she has become incredibly annoying, and is the regular character complained about the most on blogs, reviews and fan forums.

Franklin: She's such a f***ing disaster, we could be twins.

True Blood Season 3, Episode 5.

I actually loved the television version of the vampire Godric. He was possibly the most interesting character transition, and killing him off so early was a real loss. He added a certain depth, with his vastly different perspective to all the other self-absorbed characters on the telly.

Godric: A human with me at the end, and human tears. Two thousand years, and I can still be surprised? In this, I see God.

True Blood, Season 2, Episode 8.

Finally- I was reading the latest novel in the series and for some reason it seemed... strange. It took me a while to realise the sense of displacement came from the fact the characters were beginning to act more like their television alter-egos, and less like their established Book Land personalities. I guess, with people coming into the written series as a result of enjoying the television series, the author was bound to bow a little to the crossover pressure.

Personally, I preferred them as notably separate entities, and appreciated the distinct flavours. (I should work in some kind of AB and AB negative blood type joke here, but it's not coming to me).

For anyone who's interested, on True Blood (tv) next season the witches come to town. Hey, the more the merrier, just as long as they don't try to smuggle a maenad into Bon Temp- after the Maryanne fiasco, those bitches are BANNED.