Amid the deluge of humour-free "comedies" and scraping-the-bottom-of-the barrel reality shows that dominated our television screens in 2013, there were more than a few gems that shone brightly from the televisual mire. While the established series took their anticipated plaudits, , , , , , (we would have expected to include the normally excellent on that list but the final season was rather disappointing) were joined by some riveting new shows: , , , , .
For me, somewhat surprisingly, it was the sleepy fish-out-of-water black comedy that proved to be the most intriguing and entertaining show of the past 12 months. But if, like me, you spent most of last week basking in a gin-soaked festive stupor (and, of course, there was no , so you must have missed us, right?), you may have failed to notice the return of former mobster Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt; ) as the second season began on Thursday (continuing on FX this Thursday, at 10pm).
Now a successful nightclub owner and father of two, Tagliano, still living under his witness-protection alias Giovanni "Johnny" Henriksen, is up to his usual shady business dealings, juggling parenthood and the corruption of the locals amid the icy fjords of Norway. Last week, trouble briskly blew in from England, in the shape of football hooligan Duncan Hammer (Paul Kaye, ), who turned up to sell a dodgy Ferrari before Tagliano (who narrowly avoided having his children baptised "the ass twins"), loyal aide Torgier and slippery ex-social worker Jan introduced Mr Hammer to the business end of a knitting needle.
Whereas the quirky first season warmed our cockles with its quaint, wise-guy violence and extremely dry Norwegian humour, season two adds a touch of grit to the mix, with the plotline encompassing immigration, race and homosexuality, and Tagliano becoming embroiled with former mob associates, fervid police chief Laila and some cheeky cockney gangsters (there's a wonderful, scene-stealing cameo from Alan "Bricktop" Ford of fame) who come in search of their missing Hammer. Van Zandt is once again on tip top form, as is the charming Norwegian cast, and while may be aiming for a little more gloom this year, it still radiates with humour and stunning cinematography. Thankfully, it's all mob business as usual.
With a name like Dallas Campbell (above), you'd be forgiven for thinking the presenter of the eye-opening three-part documentary (BBC Knowledge, next Sunday at 9pm) must be a redneck Nascar driver. But fear not, the British actor is an engaging and knowledgeable host and, while he may perform daredevil stunts to demonstrate how his generation is shaping the modern world, his enthusiasm for such capers appears to be flecked with genuine humility and fear, rather than bravado. It's stunning to watch him standing in the clouds atop the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, as the camera pans out to reveal just how small one man can seem, and how ridiculously tall this mega-tower is. It's a vertigo-inducing feat surpassed only by Campbell's abseiling down the side of the very same building, to clean its numerous windows. It certainly had my heart racing.
The makers of have used computer imaging and time-lapse photography, and the programme moves from gigantic man-made structures to the mass urban sprawls, including Hong Kong, that make it possible for us all to squeeze onto the planet. It's a documentary that focuses on the greatness of engineering and how our future is staked on these bustling metropolises, but it fails to mention (or successfully ignores the fact) that that very same "greatness" has also laid waste to our natural resources, and that our "redesigning of the planet" could just as easily be seen as inexcusable destruction. Sure, humans have accomplished astounding feats of technology to cope with dramatic overpopulation but, seen through glass-half-empty eyes, doesn't that just go to show that, unless we change our breeding-like-rabbit ways, our species is pretty much doomed?
