Media Diary- Week 1: Cilla

These days, I have to admit, I don't watch much TV. Besides watching my weekly favourites it's rare that I really take notice; this week I was intrigued to watch the new three part biopic 'Cilla', a portrayal of the musical career of Liverpool's own Cilla Black. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Cilla Black but I thought it would be interesting to see the portrayal of Liverpool in the 60's and whether the producers actually included Liverpool in the episodes not just filming in studios.

The first episode itself was surprisingly enjoyable! I have to say I didn't recognise anywhere I knew besides The Cavern (although I'm not convinced it was the actual Cavern), although I did get the essence of Liverpool coming through. The drama itself is about Cilla's musical career rather than her personal life and I did recognise a lot of the music and had heard of many of the bands the character Cilla went to see during the episode.

What I did find most surprising was the fact that the drama revealed her involvement with The Beatles as well as her close friendship with Ringo Starr. On the other hand, I didn't know some of the things the characters referenced but I wouldn't use this to criticise the story line itself; I understand that being a teenage I most probably was not the target audience the drama was aimed at. 

I was most impressed with the actors performances; Sheridan Smith is an actress I admire when she stars on both stage- 'Legally Blonde', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Flare Path' and screen- 'Gavin and Stacey', 'Mrs Biggs', 'Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps'- I loved her performance, when you watch her on screen it's easy to see the passion she brings, she truly embodies the character. Cilla's husband Bobby was portrayed by welsh actor Aneurin Barnard who starred in the BBC historical drama 'The White Queen' (playing King Richard III), 'Moonfleet' and 'Hunky Dory'. 

After watching the first episode on Monday night the only thing that did irritate me slightly was the accents. I felt that on a whole they were okay but at certain points they did fade and I'd only go as far as to say they were maybe a little wishy washy. Interestingly enough, I read an article in the Daily Mirror criticising the accents; the writer wrote how 'the performances were hailed' but the accents 'left a lot to be desired'. Tom Dunlea, the actor who played Ringo, was the one under most criticism after many members of the public thought his Ringo sounded Irish rather than scouse.

Overall, I think I will continue to watch the concluding two episodes because I did enjoy watching; it was light-hearted and easy to watch. The two things that I'd say were my favourite were; the costumes, I could definitely picture real teenagers in the 60's  in those costumes...in my eyes they were spot on! The second was the music; I knew some of the songs and I loved that the songs were all recorded live on set! If I was to give advice to the writers the only thing I would say was the fact that I couldn't understand why Bobby was portrayed as stupid at times and a liar, if he was meant to be a witty character it worked because he did make me laugh but when I wasn't supposed to.