White Heat (BBC 2)

White Heat (BBC2) I’ve been following White Heat. White Heat, of course, refers to that antique phrase, by, I think it was good old Tony Benn, that went something like the white heat of new technology, blah, blah, blah…(but without the blahs). So it’s 1965. History is happening on the black and white television in Jack’s livingroom-Churchill is dying and then there is a little matter of his state funeral- bollocks to all that. There’s Petuala Clarke and downtown and red plastic macs and short skirts. Did I mention short skirts? There’s short skirts and everybody seems to be wearing them, even the guys, apart from the Irish bird (Jessica Gunning) who has come to London to get away from all those troubles, but has only brought her mum’s wardrobe of mauve clothes with her and anyway she’s fat, so what can you expect? But long skirts. There’s also a Jamaican. People on buses make monkey noises at him, but that’s to be expected. They didn’t know any better then. And there’s a gay Asian, who didn’t know he was gay, the Irish bird had to tell him. She caught him with his mouth flung open and a guy accidentally trying to stuff something down his throat. He’s a trainee doctor, so you’d think he’d have known, but hey he is Asian. You’ve got Lee Ingelby the side-shed boy who is working in the new field of electronics, which, of course, never catches on. Then, of course, you’ve got the real star Claire Foy. She’s a red head and cute and a virgin. She’s intent on changing at least one of those things. And she picks Jack. Jack the upper class landowner who is conducting some kind of social experiment that goes something like if you’ve got an Englishman, an Irishwoman, an Asian, a Jamaican et al. and not only have you got them, but you’ve also got their dopppelgangers appearing almost fifty years later, what have you got? I’d guess, a soap!