A palace all of his own (Joe's Palace)

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Joe's Palace
Date:	08/11/07 (364 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast, superb acting, well developed story and relationships

Disadvantages: Went on for a while!

I am not normally someone who sits down for nearly 2 hours on a Sunday evening to watch a television drama. However, the constant adverts for Joe's Palace on the BBC channels managed to capture my interest enough for me to put it in my Sky planner, so when the reminder came up, I decided I'd watch the first half hour and see how it went. I actually ended up watching the whole thing, which for someone who dislikes these long dramas is no mean feat, and I must credit that to the wonderful programme I sat and watched.

Joe's Palace has been widely advertised across the television I think because it has been written and directed by the renowned television drama writer Stephen Poliakoff. Now I will be honest and say that I have not seen anything else Poliakoff has written, so I didn't know what to expect from one of his shows.

The drama follows the story of the relationship between 2 men, both incredibly different yet who get along incredibly well. Elliot Graham is one Britain's richest billionaire's, and is an insecure person who is researching into his father's past to find out where he made his billions. Elliot inherited an incredibly lavish house near to his own home, but feels unable to live in it as he feels the house has many ghosts and mysteries he doesn't know the answers to.

So, Elliot hires a staff who meticulously clean the house everyday, and a young boy who sits and guards the house, who is instructed not to let anybody in. The young boy is Joe, the son of one of the cleaning ladies. Joe is happy with his job, and feels very special to be allowed to look after the house, and doesn't appear to be phased he is in the old house all by himself during the night. Joe and Elliot meet up regularly to speak about the house, and Elliot begins to open up to him about his concerns about the house and his father's past.

We also meet the character of Richard (played by Penry-Jones), a high flying cabinet minister who despite being married, is having numerous affairs. He is using Elliot's house to rendezvous with his women. Charlotte (Kate Reilly) is the first he brings back to the house, and the pair and Joe appear to get on quite well. As the drama unfolds, the relationship between the unravels as they find the house suffocating and Joe starts to form a relationship with either one.

Throughout the show, I was totally engrossed by the story and the developing relationships between the characters. The ones I found most intriguing were between young Joe and Elliot, and also the unfolding one between Joe and Charlotte. Poliakoff has a real knack of filming these relationships, and despite the stories being somewhat seperate, they all work incredibly well within the realm of the film, and this makes for intriguing television.

Another thing which attracted me to watching this were the cast that starred in it. The biggest 2 names in the show were Sir Michael Gambon, who I knew as Professor Dumblefore in the later Harry Potter movies, and Rupert Penry-Jones, who currently plays the leading man in BBC show Spooks. Other members of the cast are Kelly Reilly, Rebecca Hall (The Prestige) and newcomer and star of the show Danny Lee-Wynter plays Joe. All the cast did a superb job, and I very much enjoyed seeing Penry-Jones in a completely different role to the one he plays in Spooks.He was much smarmier and unlikeable than he is in Spooks, and it was fun to watch his scenes. Danny Lee Wynter was superb in his first major role as Joe, and was fascinating to watch, really bringing Joe's character to life.

I am so glad that I decided to watch this in the end. It was a very clever drama, with an obvious storyline with the relationships going on throughout, yet Poliakoff had a constantly running story underneath this one involving the life of Elliot Graham and his father which came to a head right towards the end of the drama. It is actually released now on DVD, which you can buy on Amazon for £10.98. The drama lasted for 1 hour 45 minutes which was a good enough time for all the stories to be well developed. Enjoyable drama and if you missed it this time around, keep an eye for a repeat as it is worth a look.

Please note the second of Stephen Poliakoff's dramas, called Capturing Mary, which stars Maggie Smith, Ruth Wilson and Danny Lee Wynter, is being screened on BBC2 on November 12th.

Thank you for reading.

Summary: Great TV Drama