- Netherlands - Holmes’ Bonfire, 1666, 1944
- Belgium - Napoleonic wars — Waterloo
- France - (as England) 1230, 1337-60, 1369-89, 1373, 1415-53, 1562, (as Britain) 1794, 1795, 1813, 1815, 1944
- Germany - 1914-18, 1944-5
- Spain - 1808-13
- Italy - 1944-45
- Austria - 1945
ohulancutash
joined 6 days ago
Please calm down and would the outstanding 22 form an orderly queue.
Not sure I follow their sums on this. The poorest families aren’t living in the buildings with large roof spaces. So whatever the average saving from having solar fitted, they won’t ever approach anywhere near that, if anything. Who gets the savings from blocks of flats? Presumably the council would take the profit from panels on their properties to prop up their failing budgets. Housing associations are also being squeezed.
I wasn’t particularly impressed by this one. 5/10. Agreed Thornton is the main reason to keep watching.
Predictability
This show exists to promote oil, access the flyover state audience, and to rehabilitate Paramount for the right-wing ahead of a major merger. As such, it is an old-fashioned show where boxes are to be ticked, not to be thought outside of.
You have the brave workers in constant danger, you have the battered cowboy keeping it together, you have the Mexicans playing the role of drug dealers. You have the eye candy by the pool, and just the semblance that “if there was a better way we’d do it”. As if.
So yes, the composition and lighting are pretty, the locations are different, and there’s plenty of scaffolding and machinery to pan slowly across while the music swells. But what do you actually leave with after an hour? Very little.
Wafer-thin characters
Billy-Bob is the dour fixer who knows the real way the world works. He delivers at least one lecture per episode about this, without contradiction or growth. A recurring theme is how oil will always be king, always.
His daughter is, apparently, a tight little butt with a girl attached. Or that’s how every other character and the camera treat them. See the excruciating “comedy” bits with Billy-Bob’s roommate.
His son is an oil worker. He reacts to situations, but doesn’t instigate them. He’s a passive character who only serves to justify the audience being told how Tab A fits into Slot B and why that’s important to make the oil come out.
His ex-ex-wife exists to deliver Quippy innuendos. Curiously, she’s the only character who almost gets development, but that’s quickly swept away and forgotten about.
The company owner is a businessman. He likes money. He owns a pool. He’s often at dinner with other businessmen. Or playing golf. Really breaking the mould here.
The company lawyer is a predictable city-type woman, who is good at what they do (which is apparently still a shock to other characters because were essentially in an 80’s throwback show). She starts out rough but softens up because that’s original.
Skipping interviews? That’s also a fine.
Ah but in the article, it says the wrapper was later banned because it wasn’t actually bigger. They’ve been at it decades.