Outcasts - Cast Out

Outcasts

And so, with a great fanfare and much ballyhoo the BBC unveiled its new Sci-Fi blockbuster Outcasts. With Earth having suffered a nuclear war, the hope for the human race lies beyond the stars on a planet called Carpathia (named, no doubt, after the ship that saved the survivors of the Titanic). This planet is rich in cliche and utterly devoid of humour, a place where no-one seems to learn anything. It's what we call a reset show. No matter what happens in an episode everything is fine again at the start of the next.

Outcasts has not done well. Although it got off to a reasonable ratings start people didn't stick around in sufficient numbers to warrant its prime spot of 9 0'clock Monday night. It has now been cast to the outer regions of the weekend schedule.

South Riding

I doubt that the same fate will befall South Riding, the BBC new costume drama for Sunday evening. It's written by one of our best scribes, Andrew Davies and boasts a cast of fine and brilliant actors. However, anyone watching closely will have picked up on another raft of cliches and inevitabilities. For example, if four women go for the job of headmistress of a girl's school and three are waring grey coats and hats and one wears a bright red dress and lipstick which one will get it? Any ideas? Guess.

And what about the fat councilor with a bible in his pocket and a fire and brimstone delivery from the pulpit; a man who rages against fallen women. Any chance he might fall from grace and partake of a little back street love? Right again. As he stood by the chapel door and spied his 'fallen woman' of choice a saxophone on the soundtrack (the internationally recognised sound of dirty sex) alerted us to the up-coming sexual shinanigens.

And then there was the local squire who didn't much take to Little Miss Red Dress and her Bolshevik utterances. When he headed one way muttering, "Bloody woman" and she headed in the opposite direction uttering, "Bloody man" did we really think they would remain enemies or that Fairy Cliche would wave her wand and soon they'd be making up. The make up scene was hilarious; he was trying to birth a calf, her car ran out of petrol outside the barn.Soon they both had their arms up the cows rear end.

It's all very safe and jolly and as I mentioned earlier inevitable. The BBC likes to keep it safe on Sunday, in fact it might be worth floating a series called just that "Safe on Sunday" where rich toffs in top hats help poor urchins and everybody smiles.

I know everyone doesn't want to be challenged but don't we all like to be surprised? Cliche is a killer. Any writer will tell you how easy it is to stumble and fall without realising but it's certainly something every writer should think about when reading that recently sweated over script.


If cliche is there, get rid. It might mean a rewrite but your viewers will thank you for it in the end.

One of the biggest surprises I ever had was watching ER. Now we know that in its hey-day it was the best medical drama on television. They had a character called Dr Romano. He was brash, insensitive, bigoted and sometimes racist. Although he was a deliberately unpleasant and cruel character, he also frequently provided comic relief, and thus became popular with viewers as ER's "man you love to hate". (Compelling characters does not mean 'nice').

At the beginning of the ninth series, whilst evacuating a patient, Dr. Romano backed into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter and BAM lost his arm. HIS ARM! He was a surgeon.

It was one of the single most shocking moments I've ever witness on TV. And it was over in seconds. They didn't dwell on the shot. Give you four different angles. Slow it down. Watch the reaction on the the faces of everyone gathered. It happened. It was over.They could have continued to milk that character for at least another series but no. They went for surprise.

When stories become safe and predictable and no-one ever learns anything from their actions we get bored and turn off - and the show gets cast out.

A lesson for us all.