More Miles to go.

TV It had been rumoured as early as last year, but now the BBC have released information about plans for a 10 year reunion episode of Amy Jenkins’ This Life - although little has been said other than the whole original cast will be returning and some plot details:

“One of the group has become a commercial success after writing a book based on their friendship and a TV production company is keen to film the group’s reunion.”

Whilst I loved the original series, I’m not entirely thrilled by the prospect, especially since it is going to be in the form of a 90-minute film rather than a new series. Part of the attraction of the show was the slow burn – like any drama series the storylines that ebbed and flowed from week to week, the sexual tension between Anna and Miles; the lack of such with Milly and Egg; and Warren (later Ferdy) stuck in the middle. Although there is something seductive in finding out what happened after the glorious finale, I can’t help but feel that whatever Jenkins has in mind can only be less thrilling that what we of a certain age all have in our collective imagination.

Over the short form, and with a reunion plotline it’ll have to work wonders not to spend much of its duration explaining how they were broken assunder. Films that have previously used this formula such as Peter’s Friends, The Big Chill and Return of the Secaucus 7 have very clearly demonstrated that this is just one of a number of reunions and that they’ve stayed in touch. This seems like the best policy here, although it’s a shame that the new episode won’t simply supply a slice of the character’s lives now rather than creating a “special event” drawing them back together.

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