Dion Paris
The Imposter (Channel 5)
Neighbours has ended, again. The Aussie soap, ditched by the Beeb in 2008 after 22 years, was also axed by Channel 5 in 2022 but rescued by Amazon… which aired its final episode last Thursday.
But if your telly life is incomplete without Australian sun, surf and shameless overacting, this week’s nightly drama The Imposter will satisfy your addiction to schlock.
It has everything — double-crossing siblings, a manipulative matriarch, rebellious teens, a marriage on the rocks, alcoholism, a gay couple desperate for a surrogate baby… plus a daughter, given up for adoption as a baby, who returns from the dead. And that was just the opening episode.
There’s also an eye-watering kinky sex scene featuring Kym Marsh, who claims some of the footage was so raunchy it had to be cut before broadcast.
Kym plays Mancunian Amanda, who buttonholes local businesswoman Helen (Jackie Woodburne) on the beach in Oz, and says, ‘Hi, I’m yer daughter.’
‘I thought you were dead!’ Helen exclaims. She’s been having dreams where she howls her long-lost baby’s name, while blood drips from her hands, so it’s an understandable misapprehension.
If you prefer your dramas to have a bit of subtlety about them, some build-up before the main storyline emerges, you might find The Imposter a trifle too direct, in the same way that a slap in the chops lacks nuance.
But for those who like plots that move fast enough to give you whiplash, and dialogue delivered like a series of falling bricks, this is the stuff. And if, like Amanda’s boyfriend, you really do enjoy having your face slapped, she’s the woman to do it.
What I relish are the slow reaction shots. Crossroads, the motel soap that aired every teatime for decades from the 1960s onwards, made an artform of them — the camera lingering as characters held a pose, thoughts rippling across their faces.
Making a giant Yorkshire pud on his Cook-Ahead Christmas (Ch4), Jamie Oliver claimed he perfected his recipe with the help of university researchers. Surely you don’t need a degree to realise baked batter has no place in a festive dinner?
The technique was originally used to give TV producers a chance to cut to the next scene during live broadcasts.
But they became a soap opera staple, and The Imposter uses them to great melodramatic effect.
Charlie Clausen, who plays scheming estate agent Todd, is a master of the frozen pose. We can see the cogs whirring behind his eyes, as he figures out ways to force Helen to sell the family hotel to the marina owners next door.
‘I’m talking 30 mill!’ he urges . . . and that doesn’t include the Sunseeker yacht he has been promised as a bonus. But he’ll have to persuade Helen’s children, including gay son Ian (Jackson Gallagher), a man with eyes so blue and glittery, I suspect he might have electric contact lenses.
And then there’s Simon (Don Hany), the other brother, a man who drinks so heavily that he can’t be bothered to tuck his shirt in.
All this, plus a promised cameo from Dannii Minogue. Go on, treat yourself… you know you want to.
Source: Dailymail.co.uk | Read the Full Story…
