A Conversation for 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Peer Review: A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 1

Bluebottle

Entry: 'Cilla' - the Television Series - A87875644
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

A look at a highly enjoyable biopic that has an incredible performance from Sheridan Smith.

I'll be honest and say I'm not really a fan of Cilla's, associating her mainly with annoying weekend television programmes. I watched the series as though it isn't about the Beatles, there is a lot of overlap, showing the same people and places from a fascinatingly different perspective.

<BB<


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 2

You can call me TC

I discovered this series on youtube recently and watched some of it. Remembering those days so well, and being able to sing along with all the songs verbatim made it a very emotional watch.

From the entry, I learnt a few things - such as the amount of CGI necessary to get the period right, and the vintage cars bit., etc. I often wondered how much of that went into "Nowhere Boy" which I saw at the cinema a few years ago. (I think you may have an entry on that somewhere....)

It's well structured and answers all the questions I didn't even know I had been asking.

Now the criticism.

You rather gloss over (the real-life) Cilla's death, just mentioning that she had seen the series - I'm not sure if this ought not to be worth slightly more than a throwaway relative clause.

Other nitpicks - you use the unusual word "stall" twice. It's a good word, but twice in succession is perhaps not a good idea.

One or two sentences don't quite make sense -

smiley - biro
Cilla plans on owning her own hair salon and often practices on friends and neighbours, such as Elsie Starkey whose song Richard Starkey is a drummer in a band under the stage name 'Ringo Starr'.

smiley - biro
Fearing that her singing career is petering out, he wants to launch Cilla's next career before singing career ends.

There are others, but the subed can iron them out.


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 3

Bluebottle

Ah yes, I did wrote a bit about 'Nowhere Boy', that was a fun film. Did you know that the star ended up marrying the director, which is the second time that an actor playing John Lennon met his wife while making a Beatles biopic...

I've written a bit more about real Cilla's death now, so I hope you think it a better tribute.

I'm surprised you think the word 'stall' is unusual – it seems at work there's only ever two speeds, stall and urgent… But you're right that repeating it isn't necessary so I've tweaked that as well as the other two sentences you spotted.

Thanks for the read-throughsmiley - ok

<BB<


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 4

SashaQ - happysad


I enjoyed this - good mention of places in Liverpool that my parents knew when they worked there smiley - ok

The only thing I wasn't quite clear about was in relation to the soundtrack - most songs were sung by Sheridan as Cilla, but were the other songs sung by the actors playing the characters, or were recordings of the originals used?

smiley - ok


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 5

Bluebottle

Good point - I've tried to clarify this so hopefully it makes sense now.

<BB<


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 6

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

I have never heard of this series or even Cilla Black herself. I have no idea who she is and after reading this I wonder what exactly she did on TV later? Maybe you should mention some of it in your Entry?


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 7

Bluebottle

What did Cilla Black do on TV later? To be honest, I'm probably not the best person to ask. As far as I can remember from the 1980s and 90s, about 40% of her television work was either mentioning how she knew the Beatles before they were famous at every opportunity and/or appearing in documentaries about the Beatles, while the other 60% was dreary weekend television that was of the same calibre as 'House on the Prairie', 'The Waltons', 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Last of the Summer Wine'.

I wasn't the target audience but she had two programmes on when I was little:
'Surprise Surprise' in which she always sang at the start and at the end while the middle was filled with an occasional practical joke as well as people being reunited with their long-lost love child or a twin sister they never knew existed. So a typical scenario would be a man having dinner with his wife when she'd turn up, say something like 'When you were a student you donated to a sperm bank to raise enough money for a pint, and now, thirty years later, just released from prison, here is your son, Dave!'

The other series was 'Blind Date', a not entirely original idea (see 'Mallrats' etc) in which there was one contestant one side of a divide and three contestants of the opposite sex on the other side. The one would ask the others three random questions like 'What do YOU think the point is of nostril hair?'. At the end the person who answered all three questions with the most innuendos but without being creepy would be chosen as the contestant's partner and they'd go on holiday together, and the next week you would see their holiday video in which it was revealed they didn't actually like each other very much. Cilla would then say how disappointed she was that she wouldn't be buying a new hat.

You can probably tell that I didn't really like Cilla Black as a television presenter, but what I do like is high quality television drama. 'Cilla' is that.

<BB<


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 8

You can call me TC

As I wasn't around in the UK in the late 70s or 80s, I remember Cilla mainly for her songs in the 60s, which were extremely memorable, her voice (which, quite honestly, wasn't very nice, but was very distinctive) and her cheerfulness. She had her own TV show, which was quite an achievement for a female artiste in those days, and it always left me grinning from ear to ear.

I particularly remember her having Petula Clark on the show. Petula is slightly older and was a little more mature and wore a low cut dress. Cilla remarked on this and PC joked -"Well, I thought, what have I got that she hasn't?..."

Obviously scripted, but it's stuck in my memory to this day. It was great that women were (a) being front people on the telly (b) being funny and (c) feeling able to laugh at themselves. That line was probably a TV milestone.


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 9

SashaQ - happysad

I didn't know Cilla did anything else other than Surprise Surprise and Blind Date in the 1980s... smiley - laugh

She became the highest paid female entertainer for her series Cilla, or was it for her later work?


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 10

Bluebottle

She became the highest-paid female presenter when she went to ITV and did 'Blind Surprise Date Surprise'.

<BB<


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 11

You can call me TC

Another milestone she marked in the 60s was the singing of the theme tune to the film "Alfie" which was quite revolutionary at the time (the film, not the song).


A87875644 - 'Cilla' - the Television Series

Post 12

Bluebottle

A revolutionary film, eh?
What's it all about, 'Alfie'?

<BB<


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 13

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Post 14

SashaQ - happysad

Congratulations! smiley - biggrinsmiley - bubbly


Congratulations - Your Entry has been Recommended for the Edited Guide!

Post 15

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

Congratulations!


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