Staying in #3 with Snatch and Night School (Jack Reacher)

Snatch

It’s currently looking like Snatch, the tv show inspired by the Guy Ritchie movie, has dropped under the radar, but it’s a hidden gem, and maybe a future cult hit.

Geezer porn describes it to a cup of rosie lee, all gangster hard men re-imagined in a modern day London and it works well.

Again the small screen is allowing a premise to be expanded on, and again it works perfectly.

Visually it has Guy Ritchie written all over it, but he is only credited as the source for the material, but if he has had a hand in it then obviously he prefers to remain in the shadows rather than advertise his presence.

Never fear though as over all it is the culmination of a certain type of English drama that owes a debt to The Krays, The Sweeney, Brit Pop and even a tiny bit of Minder.

The young leads of Luke Pasqualino, Lucien Laviscount, who comes back strong after The Bye Bye Man, and Rupert Grint (Yes it’s him) are very watchable as they find their feet in the world of organized crime, and with Dougray Scott and Marc Warren (Green Street) weighing in to flesh out the cast what we have is a rock solid show that packs a punch.

So why is it not being touted as one to watch?

The answer is probably rooted in a poor advertising campaign, and the quality of so many other shows that are screening at the moment.

Right now it is taking something special to rise to the top, and while Snatch is one that should, and possibly still could, it isn’t at the moment.

Maybe you could do yourself a favour and rectify that.

A quality televisual delight that features some sharp dialogue, plenty of action, and ecstasy taking strip club visiting Hasidic Jews is that is your thing too.

Night School – Lee Child (Jack Reacher #21)

Lee Child has never felt the need to continue his Jack Reacher series of books chronologically, and it isn’t unusual to join his iconic character in an adventure from the past, but with his latest he hasn’t just jumped back to touch base with a younger Reacher, but partially reinvented the character by casting him as a team player.

Well as team player in the sense that he is more dependent on others than we have come to expect.

Who knew he could play well with others?

It’s not a huge leap away from the character that so many have grown to love, but an interesting departure nonetheless.

In this he is back in Europe and working steadily towards bringing to Reacher style justice an adversary that is plucked from the modern world.

It’s all eastern terrorism and western machinations.

An outing that ultimately delivers more of an espionage thriller than some will have expected, but it is a deftly delivered one.

The type of fan that would be happy reading a regurgitated version of the debut again and again doesn’t appear to be too pleased with this instalment, but you can’t please everyone all the time, and it is doubtful that Child’s or his character would give a shit anyway.

With a collection of the short stories just released on hardback it could be a while before Reacher #22 is with us, but the series is still going strong and again with Night School there’s no sign of the ball being dropped.