Quintin Jardine's blog

There’s a new production on BBC1 this week called Outcasts; I’ve watched the first two episodes. Some positives, some negatives. On the plus side, it provides a new vehicle for Hermione (Spooks) Norris, and for the brilliant Daniel Mays (Red Riding and Ashes to Ashes). I thought it would do the same for Jamie Bamber, but the producers pulled a stroke by killing him at the end of episode one. Long way to go and the + points may extinguish the – points, but at the moment, I’m wondering what’s coming up that I haven’t seen before, and why they needed to set it in a galaxy far far away, when they could just as easily have constructed the same story line on a post apocalyptic South Uist or St Kilda, saved some money and avoided the sheer disbelief generated by the notion that in less than thirty years time, mankind will have achieved mass inter-stellar travel, yet still be fighting with 20th century automatic weapons.  There’s hope for it, but when I see that it’s being touted on BBC America, I’m left wondering whether the BBC is simply trying to create its own version of Lost and if so, why.