The Impressionists (BBC1); Ultimate Force (ITV1): AS befits a drama about painters, The Impressionists looks as pretty as a picture.
Every scene is composed like a masterpiece although the script, designed to assist those who can't tell their art from their elbow, paints the story of these revolutionary artists in broad strokes.
At times, it resembles a moving picture book designed to teach you how Monet and his fellow impressionists scandalised the old guard with outlandish ideas such as painting outdoors.
But it does convey - using letters, records and interviews of the time - the life of an impoverished painter as Manet, Monet, Renoir and Bazille take on the establishment.
Manet has many money problems, including a pregnant girlfriend and beard to support. There's more facial hair on show than at the annual bearded ladies convention.
These artists are better at painting than talking, given to grand-sounding remarks like Manet's: "How can there be art when there's no truth?.".
Not that I wish to annoy him. When an art critic gives him a bad notice, Manet challenges him to a duel - a sword fight - in a bid to cut off his critical faculties.
Fighting is what Henno and his SAS team do in Ultimate Force. Sometimes one gets hurt, so the new series opened with Ed's funeral. Henno doesn't do grief. "Let's mount up, let's get out of here, get the beers in," he barks.
Henno is played with a permanent scowl by Ross Kemp, using his posh voice to distinguish him from EastEnders' Grant Mitchell. If he had a smile, it would've been wiped off his face after "new broom" Captain Fleming was put in charge. Henno's commanding officer told him he couldn't run the unit like a maverick any more.
"He's not one of us," protested Henno. When it was later said that Fleming was "debriefing the father", I began to wonder if he wasn't one of them.
The team had to rescue a diplomat's kidnapped daughters in a former Soviet state. Henno didn't like being left back at camp while the other crept about the woods. "This is a bad idea," he said. Particularly if you're supposed to be the star of the show, he might have added.
Published: 02/05/2006
