Telly Talk: Late arrivers

This week sees the return of DCI Banks to ITV for a second series of hot detecting. It also welcomes back Suits on Dave for a third series of sending up those people silly enough to wear something that needs dry cleaning every day of their working life. Not like you of course, you’re different natch. Both have clearly garnered enough of a following to be worthy of a recommissioning, unfortunately I have not been organised enough to be a part of that following. So here comes that familiar question: do I have to start from the beginning or can I jump in now and it not be a problem?

Justified has just started its penultimate series Stateside and Game Of Thrones is set to broadcast its fourth series in the spring time. Both are rather excellent, but with back stories that could occupy more time explaining than watching, and prove no less rewarding for this. With characters that are filled to the brim with quirky histories and detail it does make a drama all the more richer for it, but if you do come in halfway through prepare to receive the darkest looks this side of Medusa if you interrupt mid-viewing.

“It’s what I like to call ‘The Dukes Of Hazard – Extreme’”

If you really need to know who Sansa Stark is and why she has complicated relationships with both the House of Lannister and the House of Frey, don’t ask in the middle of series four, episode one. Store your questions up until the end and then ask. And if there are a whole heap of them, you may find that you’ll just have to take yourself off to either the first three series, the source books, or those who are more pressed for time could try Wikipedia.

However, having come in to join Justified at around series three, with just a few well placed questions I found I knew all I needed to in order to be able to enjoy tucking into the rest of what I like to call ‘The Dukes Of Hazard – Extreme’.

The thing is, it doesn’t matter if you’re late to the party of acclaimed drama series, so long as you don’t spoil it for the other more established devotees. When you watch Sherlock it’s not really necessary to understand Dr John Watson’s military history, as outlined in series one, episode one, in order to by sympathetic to Holmes’ diagnosis in the last episode as to why it is Watson is surrounded by dangerous characters. However, it is nice to be able to remember it.

As someone who has watched the very last episode of Breaking Bad, but has only just started watching the first series of acclaimed teacher-drugs cook drama to catch up, I see no problem in charging in and getting comfortable without any back story. Far too much time can be taken on exposition anyway, and most programmes have a ridiculous habit of spending five minutes at the top of a drama displaying a clip show under the moniker: the story so far.

Yes, you have the cool and groovy brigade coming at you saying how they liked it way back when there were only six viewers that saw the true genius of the piece, but we’ve been hearing that on some shape or form since your mum told you she’d seen the Rolling Stones at a pub gig in her teens and they’d seemed quite good. (Just my mum, then?)

Suffice to say, if a drama looks like your cup of tea, get stuck in and make a date with it, even if it does have a past you’re not too familiar with. That’s how the best relationships start. And if you do get on, you can always dig up that murky first series on iPlayer or Netflix. Now, isn’t that easy.

DCI Banks, ITV1, Saturday 1 February 2014;
Suits, Dave, Thursday 30 January 2014

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