Good And Bad All Over

The usual crowd of drinking buddies turned up for Missing Believed Wiped. There were a few absentees and last minute no-shows, but most were in attendance.

In previous posts I’ve mentioned how, because our tastes diverge dramatically in places, nights out can lead to lively debate. Or rather they don’t agree with me, whereupon I explain to them that they’re talking a load of old cock. So it wasn’t surprising there were likes and dislikes amongst the selection screened at the NFT.

Our Pal, who had turned up for the event, is a fan of Patrick McGoohan and enjoyed the episode of Rendezvous from 1961 that the man starred in. My opinion of McGoohan is that from everything I’ve seen him in I get the impression he learnt his acting style from watching German Expressionist cinema. And if the Oirish accent he was affecting in the drama we had just watched had been any more extreme, by rights he should have had a pig in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other.

Differences like that aside, as the talk idled its way around to current television, it turned out that the one thing we were all completely in agreement on was that the current Robin Hood was an utterly rancid barrel of flapdoodle. Which, I have to say, certainly surprised me. Especially bearing in mind that these guys are less than picky when it comes to choosing their entertainment. Hell, one freely admits to still watching Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who. Yet even he thought that all the twatting around in the Green Wood was an abject failure.

After that bombshell came the even more surprising revelation that they all loved Casino Royale. Most of these guys have their little favourites which they clutch to their chests having carried them along from childhood: the old ITC adventure shows like The Prisoner and The Persuaders!, the “comedy gold” that is the Carry On series and, perhaps all too predictably, James Bond.

To them they are hallowed idols to be revered, and occasionally stroked. My opinions are less... reverential. I was expecting some frothing about how Daniel Craig wasn’t right for Bond or there weren’t enough gadgets or whatever. In fact, I was rather disappointed that I didn’t have to argue its merits. Damn!