Tom Nicholls

Some of you may have read my previous [blog on Comfort
Telly](https://cstonline.net/comfort-telly-by-tom-nicholls/){target="_blank"},
where I pondered if in the end the value of this type of TV Drama is in
its actors and performances. (Granted, that the writing is central as
well.) Last year ITV resurrected or rebooted their nineties success
series *Cold Feet* (ITV, 1996 -) and with its return this week, I've
been thinking back on series 6 or series 1 of the reboot. I must admit
that far from thinking that the resurrection of *Cold Feet* last year
would be an aid to relaxation and serenity on Monday evenings, it seemed
opportunist, mercenary and just a very bad idea from the trails.

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Cold Feet, original cast (Series 1-5): Back row Pete (John Thomson),
Adam (James Nesbitt), Rachel (Helen Baxendale). Front Row: Karen
(Hermione Norris), David (Robert Bathurst), Jenny (Fay Ripley)
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Series 6 cast -- the return.
:::

Come the opening night and as an ageing TV Studies person, I was in need
of some TV induced comfort. So beer at hand, I watched at home waiting
for it to crash. In my viewing it did not, in fact I stuck with it. As
did a significant section of the audience ([Peaking at 8.5 m, settling
at 6.5m BARB](http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/)). The
familiar characters -- Adam (concerned, but not always tuned into the
needs of others), David (financial go-getter, the ailing voice of
Thatcherism, but salt of the earth when the chips are down), his former
wife Karen (caring mother, but still keen to remain independent), Pete
(dependable mate and advisor to Adam) and Jenny (the most interesting
performance and character. Struggles with living with Pete and is the
anchor for the group on occasion) -- all worked their magic some 13
years on from the original series finale.

##### A quick recap on Series 1-5

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I teach Public Service Broadcasting and one of the toughest weeks is the
history of ITV and the concept of a PSB entity as a PLC. It is pretty
tricky to get all the twists and turns, not to say contradictions,
straight if you are a UK student. For those International students --
principally from China -- this needs a complete rethink. So, it's a
regional system? Well, it was, but no longer, but with opt outs and a
concern for non-London settings it has regional concerns? It has to turn
a profit, but it must do so within a PSB remit, albeit an ever reducing
set of obligations -- see 2003 Communications Act and especially 2010
Digital Economy Act.. It must be popular? Yes, see *Coronation St*.
(Granada/ITV, 1960- ), *Downton  Abbey*  (Carnival for ITV, 2010-15) and
*Broadchurch(Kudos/Imaginary Friends for ITV, 2013-17)*!, but it is also
expected to lead on standards because historically it did so  -- cf.
*Armchair Theatre*, *Jewel in the Crown* (Granada for CH4, 1984) and the
Naked Civil Servant. (Thames, 1975)(Can you imagine the latter being
produced by BBC Drama?). In so many ways *Cold Feet* delivered the
contemporary purposes and channel identity of ITV.

The question of whether this is Comfort Telly, is clearly in the eye and
the mind of the viewer. I think a cushion rating might be introduced,
and I would give *Cold Feet* 4 cushions, but *Doc. Martin* 5, for
example. (Out of 5) What is it doing? How is it constructed? -- As one
might ask in a seminar. Well, for this viewer, the construction is
reassuringly standard -- see the contemporaneously broadcast *National
Treasure* (CH4, 2016) for something shot in a more
troubling/non-standard/ showy way and clearly with a much more
disturbing narrative theme. We still have a narrative played out mainly
in domestic interiors with occasional visits to a hotel bar and
workplaces.  (Are they too posh for the pub, now?) We have familiar
characters, not just for those following the original series, but more
generally these are a range of everyday TV drama people. But, then
arguably they are not. They clearly represent the aspirational TV Drama
characters from the nineties and earlier. The copy, some might say, of
*Thirtysomething* (Bedford Falls/MGM TV, 1987-91) the popular drama
series screened on CH4 a few years prior to Cold Feet's start.  So, for
example if Adam wants to fly to Singapore for a long weekend, that's no
problem! However, this is balanced against the less fortunate, Pete
(John Thomson) &  Jenny (Fay Ripley) who now lead a slightly less jolly
life. But, my key observation here would be that the mise en scene and
the narrative are misleading, nobody is actually living in the sort of
poverty which is not unknown in contemporary Manchester. Finally, one
might consider genre here. Without giving too much away, one central
narrative -- the Rom. Com. one, is signalled so clearly from episode 1,
that viewers can afford to feel smug at their omniscient knowledge. It
is clear that Adam has little idea, but we viewers think we know the
rules of the game. Surely, a real pleasure and comfort in viewing.

To return to acting, I would suggest that this is at the heart of the
series' success. It is the ensemble playing and scripting which is a
delight here. But, as I recently discussed in an undergraduate
dissertation tutorial, what does that term mean precisely? It sounds
obvious, but for a single camera shoot, the opportunities for the actors
to play off each other's performances are limited. (Present, but
limited.) That they are deploying well known and developed characters,
both to themselves and to the audience, helps. This could have course in
comedy, especially Sit. Com., led to a lazy deployment of catch phrases
and stock gestures. I'd argue *Cold Feet* does not offer this. Instead,
within predictable characters, one could argue character tropes, it
plays new variations on familiar tunes. Thus, when Pete is depressed he
does not immediately head down the pub, granted the scene is included,
but instead John Thomson delivers a series of withdrawn moments. Of
course, this is not a serious discussion of depression in depth, it is
an ITV drama what would one expect? But, it is a real attempt to act out
some of the symptoms and not to simply tell a gag. James Nesbit does
display a puppy like face at times to signal attempted empathy, but now
this is done knowingly and not infrequently in a self --reflexive
manner.

Perhaps, surprisingly, given the cast's success since the original *Cold
Feet*, there are few, perhaps no, intertextual references. In popular
drama this is often felt to be one of the key pleasures and reading
skills of the form. Here the very great temptation to reference those
other roles (e.g. Nesbitt --*The Missing and Monroe*, Norris -- *Spooks*
and *Wire in the Blood* , Bathurst  -Toast of London and Downton Abbey) 
is resisted. This blocks off one pleasure and comfort -- 'wasn't he
in/she is in...you know' etc -- but brings another since we are safely
back in the Manchester of *Cold Feet*. That world where there is always
friendly support, mildly suppressed passion and therapeutic discussions
with friends when needed. Perhaps this is actually the aspirational goal
of the series. In the reboot you can even survive a spell on remand if
you've got friends to talk to -- as happens to David.

So, is this Comfort Telly? Clearly this depends upon the effect on the
viewer; like comedy this genre could be determined by intention, but
surely it is definitively defined by effect.  Looking back to the first
incarnation, it is clear that where more difficult topics were to be
discussed, they would be handled within this cocoon of mates, drinks and
gossip. The quintessential examples of this are Adam's Testicular cancer
in series 2 and the death of Rachel in series 5. The former much praised
for giving airtime and exposure to a difficult health issue -- at least
in the nineties -and the latter either being a either cynical ratings
ploy or an attempt to discuss death and grief. Again pretty much a taboo
for prime time, popular TV Drama. In fact having sat down to rewatch the
original 5 series it is surprising how much less settled a world the
characters inhabited. Perhaps this was simply because they were younger,
but this does not preclude some admiration for the range of issues shoe
horned into the series.

This leads very neatly, to another standard assumption about popular
culture, that it might in some way be ideologically suspect, indeed
manipulative. The case for the prosecution is, in simple terms, that
since ITV needs to deliver audiences to advertisers it will create
settling programmes and ones which promote consumerism. In this case we
could start with domestic interiors, move on to fashion and end on food
and entertaining.  (e.g. The Aga in Pete and Jenny's   kitchen, never
got that, or David and Karen's magnificent kitchen/dining room or the
endless meals and bottles of wine that accompany key discussions). With
the new possibilities of product placement for ITV, this must be hard to
resist. Indeed, the current sponsorship deal with Sainsburys stresses
the possibilities for more interesting meals. But, beyond this lies the
suspicion that popular TV Drama, especially ITV drama, exists to soften
up the populous, to- re-assure them at all is well in the nation and the
world, though clearly it is not. The timing of the pilot and the first
series might be of interest here since they straddle the first Blair
term. That moment when so many of us in the country, suddenly sensed a
new age and felt hope after many years of Conservative rule. So, Cold
feet arrived just at a moment when many were feeling optimistic about
the future and some degree of comfort, even smugness?  However, in the
world of *Cold Feet*, politics barely gets a mention, things just are,
they do not need to be interrogated beyond the personal. That the
original was scheduled on a Sunday night also chimes with this view of
softening up the viewer for the working week. That the return series is
broadcast on a Monday, might be seen to either be irrelevant -- with
online access -- or significant in the way that ITV scheduling has
changed over the years. (Incidentally, there is still a majority
viewership for Linear TV, so not irrelevant at all, I would argue see
[Toby Miller's
blog](https://cstonline.net/who-watches-british-television-today-anyway-by-toby-miller/){target="_blank"}).
Series 2 of the reboot moves to Friday evening  suggesting another
scheduling shift back to popular drama at the end of the week on ITV.

So, where does all this pondering lead? I think to a few further
tentative conclusions. Firstly, that Comfort Telly might be more complex
than it first looks in terms of the issues considered, but not in terms
of formal properties, narrative structure, character types and acting
styles. That it might both re-assure and question at differing points
within both a series and an individual programme. That it could open up
topics to debate which would not be covered elsewhere.   (Much more
clearly displayed in popular dramas like *New Tricks (Wall to Wall for
BBC, 2003 -)* and *Spooks* (Kudos for BBC,2002-11) in the noughties
which were able to suggest  UK involvement in extraordinary rendition,
for example, in a way in which factual programmes would never have dared
to. Granted the former looks more like comfort telly than the latter.)
What I can conclude, with some certainty, is that these popular dramas
will continue so long as we have a fully-fledged PSB system and that
they will continue to offer something no other medium does, a welcome
break from our daily routines whilst also reflecting upon them. That
marvellous way TV Drama has of marking a moment in time and difficulties
in life whilst simultaneously offering us soothing narrative solutions.
Roll on series 2 of the reboot!

##### ITV Trailer for Series 7

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Tom  Nicholls** is a Senior Lecturer in Media Theory at the University
of Lincoln. Initially trained as a Photographer at Birmingham School of
Photography his teaching and  research interests have gradually migrated
to moving image critical  theory over the last twenty  five years,
teaching Film Studies and  specialising in Television Studies more
recently


Some of you may have read my previous blog on Comfort Telly, where I pondered if in the end the value of this type of TV Drama is in its actors and performances. (Granted, that the writing is central as well.) Last year ITV resurrected or rebooted their nineties success series
<em>
 Cold Feet
</em>
(ITV, 1996 -) and with its return this week, I’ve been thinking back on series 6 or series 1 of the reboot.

Postagens de Rogue Scholar

COMFORT TELLY 2: COLD FEET, THE CASE OF THE COMFORTING RESURRECTION