Worried About the Boy, BBC Two | reviews, news & interviews
Worried About the Boy, BBC Two
Worried About the Boy, BBC Two
A fresh approach to the rock biopic which ends where these stories usually begin
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Do they really want to hurt him? Douglas Booth as Boy George in 'Worried about the Boy'
“Just drop the wisecracks for one minute, will you!” snaps George Alan O'Dowd’s father, played with craggy authority by Francis Magee. And he has a point. The snide remarks and oh-so-gay repartee come so thick and fast in this BBC drama that it is hard to see writer Tony Basgallop’s screenplay as a realistic recreation of the world of Steve Strange, Marilyn, Culture Club drummer Jon Moss and our George. When this waspish crowd fire coruscating dialogue at one another it's as if they are channelling Quentin Crisp, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams.
“Just drop the wisecracks for one minute, will you!” snaps George Alan O'Dowd’s father, played with craggy authority by Francis Magee. And he has a point. The snide remarks and oh-so-gay repartee come so thick and fast in this BBC drama that it is hard to see writer Tony Basgallop’s screenplay as a realistic recreation of the world of Steve Strange, Marilyn, Culture Club drummer Jon Moss and our George. When this waspish crowd fire coruscating dialogue at one another it's as if they are channelling Quentin Crisp, Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams.
After one of these punch-ups, George is self-possessed enough to say, “How’s it feel to have your arse kicked by a fairy?”
Explore topics
Share this article
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
Support our GoFundMe appeal
Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic effort for an overcooked history lesson
Heidi Stober delivers as beleaguered regent, but Thea Musgrave's opera is limiting
Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup
The early Seventies blues rockers admired by prime movers in British punk
Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic techno-rock juggernaut
The rising London outfit deliver a sweaty Cossack-rave hoedown
Sidorova, Philharmonia, Alsop, Royal Festival Hall review – ladies of the dance
Vitality, virtuosity and sensuality on a pan-American trip
More Life, Royal Court review - posthuman tragedy fails to come alive
A new sci-fi gothic horror about life after death is intriguing, but flawed
Album: Park Jiha - All Living Things
Music and nature in synergy
Captain America: Brave New World review - talking loud, saying nothing
Muddled filler between Avengers films which hardly deserves Harrison Ford
Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - Chekhov's anatomy lesson on the human condition
Russia - but also here, there and everywhere
MacMillan's Ordo Virtutum, BBC Singers, Jeannin, Milton Court review - dramatic journey of a medieval soul
Choral music's finest advocate runs the gamut in an epic battle of heaven and hell
Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix review - the real story behind Ridley Scott's Oscar-winner
Documentary series looks at the 1993 'Battle of Mogadishu' from both sides
To a Land Unknown review - the migrant hustle
A slick tale of two refugees striving and surviving in Athens
Add comment