Dead Clever: The Life and Crimes of Julie Bottomley (2007) (TV)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Dearbhla Walsh

Writer:

Sally Wainwright (writer)

Release Date:

1 January 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Cast

Dean Lennox Kelly	...	Ian Bottomley
Andy Darbyshire	...	Court Clerk
Lesley Nicol	...	Jean
Suranne Jones	...	Julie Bottomley
Rachel Leskovac	...	Karen
Helen Baxendale	...	Sarah
Jennifer Hennessy	...	Gaynor
Malcolm Storry	...	Brian
Gugu Mbatha-Raw	...	Jessica
Ted Holden	...	Kevin
Paul Wormwell	...	Young Nathan
Robert Angell	...	Accountant
James Quinn	...	D.S. Liam Peterson
Martin Buchan	...	Judge
Vincent Franklin	...	Daniel

Also Known As:

Dead Clever (UK) (promotional title)

Runtime:

UK:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Bacup, Lancashire, England, UK

Company:

ITV Productions

Braindead

Before you begin to contemplate whether to spend 2 hours of your precious life watching this utter pile of pathetic rubbish, can I suggest you think of the very worst piece of Television Drama you have ever seen, add 2, multiply by 400, and you will begin to get close as to how bad this drama really was. It's hard to know where to begin to describe why this Drama should never ever have seen the light of day.

Let's begin at the story, I don't know whether this originated in the writers imagination (Sally Wainwright)or was adapted from a Book, but either way they should be utterly ashamed to put there name to this script. It defied every last ounce of reality, never knowing whether to play it for comedy or serious, and failing miserably on both fronts. Advertised as a "Black Comedy", then I suggest that ITV should be prosecuted under the Trade descriptions Act. It was most definitely NOT comedy and the only Black was the Bin liner where the whole project should have been consigned.

Sometimes a film or drama can be so bad it ends up being good because you end up laughing so much, however I just ended up feeling angry at having my intelligence insulted so much by this feeble effort. Quite how other people who reviewed this found this "Fabulous" defies belief, it just goe's to show that the quality gene in some people went sadly missing at conception.

To be fair to the actors, there was not a lot you could do to recover the inane script, but why oh why do people at ITV believe that Suranne Jones is a leading actress, admittedly she is a gorgeous gal, but I saw better acting from 2 Christmas trees in our local Panto last week (Please ITV, the Girl CAN'T ACT !!!!!! stop trying to turn her into a Star Vehicle). I hope Dean Lennox Lewis picked up a hefty check for appearing in this rubbish, and now returns to The excellent "Shameless" with instructions to his agent to never again accept calls from ITV's Drama Dept.

It is clear that ITV are determined to dumb the channel down to the most basic moronic television eg X Factor, I'm a celebrity,endless reality shows,in other words "The Chavs Channel" and now ITV Drama seem intent on joining this stampede.

If you have videoed Dead Clever, can I suggest you fast forward to the Adverts and watch them instead, believe me at least that way you will retain the will to live.

By the way, my friend Carol loved Dead Clever but then again, she has been in a Coma for the last seven years