Promise?

So last Thursday was Louis Theroux meets the extremist Zionists, tonight is the first instalment of The Promise - which promises to be controversial as hell as well as apparently brilliant. Israel seems to be a popular topic on TV right now...


Having enjoyed many a Louis Theroux gawp-fest of weird and wacky individuals (most notably militia men in the USA, nutty Christians in the USA and Jimmy Saville in Roundhay Park) I anticipated some interesting perspective on the ultra Zionists, but was a little disappointed to be honest. Although Louis got into some interesting situations (the unrest in Silwan, a guided tour of a deserted Jewish 'sterile zone' in Hebron) he didn't (couldn't?) push some of the most pertinent points. He had a little go with an Australian guy who helps settlers buy properties in particularly sensitive Arab areas, but it struck me that these people are so media savvy, they know how to deal with and deflect such questions. The extremists came across as, well, extreme - but we knew that about them already didn't we?

is the promise of eye candy???? (no, probably not...)

Tonight's televisual offering promises (sorry) to be quite different. As a drama that jumps around in time between 1948 and 2001 and is the result of eleven years' research, The Promise has set the bar pretty high for itself. I suspect that many people will go in with preconceptions, not only about the conflict, but also about how it will be portrayed by Peter Kosminsky. I expect I will have my own preconceptions, and I hope to be challenged as well as entertained (?) by this programme. I'll be letting you  know...


Watch this space, but in the meantime, I think you should also watch The Promise...

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain.  ~Arabian Proverb

Promise little and do much.  ~Hebrew Proverb