Gazette 1.4 and 1.5

1.4 Missing was a reasonably diverting tale of a missing girl. There is a very particular way in which the working classes are portrayed in this sort of show, grotty wallpaper and sullen pride. I have no idea how accurate it is, presumably it's at least a bit condescending and at worst downright insulting in tone - but at the same time I guess it must have its roots in some sort of reality.

There is a truly bizarre film sequence towards the end where a man is giving directions to a search party, he appears to be a completely untrained non-actor stumbling through his lines and occasionally reading from a cue card.

No Hadleigh but a nice seedily genteel performance from John Nettleton as a crime journalist from London - highlight of the ep for me was a film sequence where he and his photographer are being driven up to Yorkshire and stop on the way to buy some milk for Nettleton's character's ulcer. Beautifully filmed in crisp b&w, gave a real sense of the UK streetscape - one felt fairly sure that the Doctor and Jamie were concurrently dealing with Cybermen in the sewers.

Did I mention how I have trouble working out if Gillian Wray is attractive or not? I mean, she's not unattractive - but the scripts treat her like God's Gift, whereas all I can see is a fairly presentable dolly bird perhaps a bit on the short side. I don't think the haircut helps. Anyway, I wonder if this is just one of those beauty paradigms that just hasn't aged well.

1.5 In Between The Lines - They're going to build a road! Cripes. Most notable thing in this ep was seeing Reginald Marsh as a slighly pushy local councillor. I hadn't really been aware of Marsh until seeing his rather likeable performance in The Plane Makers recently, and it is interesting to see him playing more of an alpha male here. Hadleigh is back. Gillian Wray gets a makeover and is, indeed, rather pretty. The Gazette gets another staff member, Woodward, which must be a great relief for them.

I'm enjoying Gazette without being bowled over - my enjoyment is probably currently comprised 30% watching Gerald Harper, 30% the location film sequences, 30% the plots and 10% general vintage television sensations of mellow nostalgia. This is fine.