From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

This weekend I started watching a movie I've wanted to see for a long time: Smiley's People, with Alec Guinness. Guinness is one of my favorite actors, and I enjoy him in everything I've ever seen him in. He just sinks into a role. He's the sort of actor who, if you aren't watching something for the sake of him in it, you never notice who he is. But he's brilliant.

I like Michael Kitchen for the same reason. A few years ago I caught him on Foyle's War and thought, "This guy is unbelievable! Who is he?" Come to find out I'd seen him in half a dozen things, including a show where he had a leading role (a thinly veiled Prince Charles character in To Play the King) but I never noticed him. He's brilliant, too.

Then we have Footballers' Wives, a truly ridiculous, over-the-top British soap opera. The show is WRONG WRONG WRONG, and yet, so tasty! Yum! I love it. Principally, I love Tanya Turner, the main character, who, over four seasons, works her way through three husbands, boatloads of money, and large amounts of nicotine, alcohol, and other recreational substances. Zoe Lucker plays her with great intensity, and somehow (how?!) manages to make her sympathetic. I don't know how she does it, but I'm in awe, and I would never, ever not notice Zoe Lucker in anything.

From Alec Guinness, the master of subtle, to Michael Kitchen, who can make one corner-of-mouth twitch or an "em" mean more than a whole speech, to Zoe Lucker, who can toss off the most ridiculous soap opera lines and behavior and make it seem real AND human. Really good actors, all of them.