Shirley

On TV: Thursday 29th September 2011

Channel: BBC Two 9pm (70 minute duration)

Episode Type: One off drama

In 1 Sentence: Glitzy biographical drama of Dame Shirley Bassey which didn’t quite deliver

Shirley

BBC Summary: Drama charting the rise to fame of singer Dame Shirley Bassey. Born in Cardiff's Tiger Bay to a white mother and Nigerian father, Shirley is the youngest of eight children in a family living well below the poverty line. By the time she is a toddler the family have moved to the all white area of Splott. Shirley takes no prisoners when faced with racist taunts and the stares of local kids. By the time she is 12 Shirley has discovered she has an extraordinary voice and can earn money singing in pubs around the docks. By the age of 15 she is already singing and dancing in 'coloured review shows' popular in the 1950s. But it is a chance meeting with struggling agent Mike Sullivan that changes Shirley's life forever. He promises to make her a star, but has no idea of the personal sacrifice that will mean for the teenaged Shirley.

Sullivan controls every aspect of Shirley's career, guiding her to success. When she meets and falls in love with young film producer Kenneth Hume, the relationship between Shirley and her mentor is tested to the limit. Oblivious to rumours about Hume's sexuality, the two marry and the power struggle between the two men for control over Shirley's life threatens to destroy her.

My Review: I had read the Guardian review before watching Shirley so perhaps that skewed my viewing of it, but I’m sure I would have felt the same way Guardian or not. As it says in the article, there’s been some brilliant BBC biopics recently, and I was definitely hoping for more of the same. However this one fell down a little, due to one major error, I believe. I just didn’t care about Shirley. A quick 10 minutes of background depicting how poor she was as a child isn’t really enough. I failed to make any sort of emotional connection with the character, as it didn’t put enough effort into developing her as person. They just swiftly moved on from one part of her life to the next, and on many occasions going backwards and forwards, confusing me even more. The whole thing was far too short for it to be a true biography. I felt they decided to focus more on the gritty glamour of her life and her singing more than her as a person. One minute she was a lonely, vulnerable young girl and the next a stuck-up diva, so her character, either written or performed by Ruth Negga, was inconsistent. 

However there were some great performances from the supporting actors, no matter how small a role they played. Charlie Creed-Miles played her manager very well. You felt sorry for him at times, but also frustrated at him for not treating Shirley properly. Henry Lloyd-Hughes was excellent as smarmy Kenneth Hume, Shirley’s husband who turned out to be gay. Right from the beginning you could tell he was a charmer, so the plot was predictable, but performed well enough to be engaging to the end. And lastly, the wonderful Lesley Sharp played Shirley’s mother with great conviction.

Also Colin Teague, who directs Doctor Who amongst other things, was behind this, so when I saw his name come up at the beginning I knew that, if anything, it would look good, and he, at least, didn’t disappoint.

For a drama part of the BBC Two Mixed Race Season, very little was mentioned about race - it was barely touched on! This puzzled me as well as many plot points which were skimmed over. 

I knew pretty much zero about Shirley Bassey before this, and, to be frank, I don’t know that much more now. I know that she was poor, had a baby, got lucky as a singer and married a gay man, but that’s about it. As someone from the younger generation I was looking forward to learning about the great Shirley Bassey and invest in her journey and get to know her as a person, but  unfortunately the drama just left me a little cold. 

Score: 7.5/10