I Am A Swede

Back to 1980.... It feels like we've gotten over the rough patch the show was going through. Grandad and Reverend Hinton are back and I'm slowly becoming used to new Jack and Dolly. I can totally understand how this type of show would never work now though, when people's attention spans are so short. It's very slow-moving and actionless, with some long, almost philosophical discussions occasionally. Like right now when Rev. Hinton is having a bit of a crisis about his and the church's role in village life. He had a several minutes long talk with the bishop about that, which is something you would never get now, on any show. People would get bored and switch channels, but I find it almost relaxing and strangely captivating. It's one of the aspects of old Emmerdale Farm that I find the most enjoyable. The mix of the day-to-day, almost mundane life of ordinary people and deep, almost existential discussions is absolutely spellbinding. There are no explosions, no back-from-the-dead stories, no illicit affairs and no intrigues. Yet it's more addictive than anything current Emmerdale throws at its audience.

Totally understandable. I can't speak for Corrie, but nothing about Emmerdale is exciting right now. More emotionally draining with all the relentless misery.

The arrogance of the big orange one never ceases to amaze me..... White House begins demolishing part of East Wing for Trump ballroom

1980 has been a bit rough so far. Too few familiar faces. Grandad is in Ireland, Joe is in America and Reverend Hinton is away on a retreat. Add to that new faces on Jack and Dolly and it almost feels like a different show. It's funny, Clive Hornby is the Jack I have most experience with, but after seeing Andrew Burt's original interpretation Clive feels too lightweight for the role. It doesn't help that Jack feels like a different character altogether since his return. If it's the writing for him or the way Clive plays him I'm not sure. Probably a little bit of both. It's a bit of the same with Dolly. Like Clive with Jack, Jean Rogers is perfectly adequate but just not really up to the standard set by her predecessor. When Dolly and Annie were talking about Dolly's miscarriage and Annie revealed that she had experienced the same all I could think of was how much better the scene would have been (in my opinion) if Katharine had still been playing Dolly. I realize they are both new in their roles, so I'll give them some leeway and let them find their feet so to speak, but right now I'm missing Andrew and Katharine a lot.