EVERYTHING looked so bright, glossy, colourful and idyllic in Pushing Daisies (ITV1, Saturday), I was half-expecting R.E.M to pop up and start singing “Shiny happy people holding hands!”
Only, holding hands isn’t an option for the main characters in this new, American-made, eight-part fantasy adventure starring Lee Pace and Anna Friel, and narrated by veteran actor Jim (what a Carry On) Dale.
Hopefully you were sitting comfortably and had suspended all disbelief because, here goes: pie-maker Ned (Pace) discovered he had the power to bring people back to life with one touch. One more touch? They’re dead again.
This is especially frustrating in relation to his born-again childhood sweetheart Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Friel, who speaks in an odd mid-Atlantic accent).
They became reunited in an unconventional way. Nearly a couple of decades after sharing their first kiss as kids living next door to each other, Ned, now using his special powers to help a private investigator solve murder cases, brings Chuck back to life . . . but can’t bear to let her rest in peace.
So, a big “Ah! That’s magic, they’re back together again!” But a much bigger “Ah! That’s tragic, they can’t even hold hands!”, because that would end their relationship – and Chuck’s life – for good. Sadly, in among the agony and the ecstasy, we also had:
Overly-sentimental moment number one: Ned and Chuck hug a wall that separates them.
Overly-sentimental moment number two: Ned and Chuck get a pair of ornamental monkeys (it’s a long story) to kiss each other because, well, THEY can’t kiss each other.
Overly-sentimental moment number three: Ned and Chuck pretend they’re holding hands, while actually holding their own hands behind their backs.
You see? Things got a bit too twee.
These were specific incidents but, overall, the first episode seemed a bit weak and weedy, and looked, at times, like a diluted version of a David Lynch drama – Lynch Lite, perhaps.
Great efforts had obviously been made to give it a certain style, but the powers-that-be appear to have overlooked the substance.
This is a shame because, done a little differently (with, for example, much sharper and funnier dialogue) this could be – perhaps it may yet be – a refreshingly off-beat triumph.
Still, it LOOKS good!
