Douglas is Cancelled is Stephen Moffat's latest four parter, set out to tear apart (or challenge, as I'm sure he'd rather us put it) the modern day, woke, liberal taboos we find ourselves shackled to. Yes, it addresses the ridiculousness of cancel culture, but it also addresses the gulf in generational ideologies as well as the current issues within the television and media industry - whether you're Phil & Holly, Eamonn & Ruth or Douglas and his co-star Madeline, there's no hiding from them (as we've well seen).
The hapless protagonist, Douglas (played wonderfully by Hugh Bonneville) sits alongside his brighter and hotter co-star Madeline (Karen Gillan) to present one of the nations biggest TV shows, 'Live at 6.' It's made clear that Douglass and Madeline have undoubtable on-screen chemistry. However, after Douglas gets caught out after making a 'sexist' comment at a friends wedding after a few drinks (naturally, he can't remember what the joke was, he was "a little drunk") and a fellow guest 'outs him' over twitter, it quickly becomes apparent their relationship is a lot more complex than it might seem.
You can never really decide who's team Madeline is on, especially after she makes the decision to retweet the original tweet saying '“Don’t believe this. Not my co-presenter." Why? To simply 'defend' her beloved co-star. In doing so, she only makes the matter worse. The real question is, did she mean to?
Things start to spirral quickly, and with an interview for a local film festival already set, Douglas and his team, mainly his Producer Toby (played by Ben Miles) start to panic. But fear not, Madeline knows exactly what to do - hold a mock interview to test Douglas on any line of questioning that might damage his repuation. Madeline argues that naturally, she should be the one to interview him - surely she's the best person for the job? And that's where things really start to get spicy. If only poor Douglas could remember the joke, or more importantly, who the joke was about.
The plot progresses nicely, especially in episodes 1 & 2, although a flashback into Madeline's past in ep 3 does seem to halt the plot's trajectory slighty (despite being incredibly important to the narrative). Other than that, it's fast and witty - although does fall foul of a few newsroom cliches.
Bonneville does his job of playing the hapless, white, middle aged and culturally lost 50-something quite nicely. Not too disimilar from his character in WA1, but with a hint of Eamonn Holmes about him. The character of Madeline, however, is harder to get your head around. She's sharper than her co-star, but ultimately flawed by her rage and desire for revenge. Gillan does a good job at portraying a hard-talking, closed off machiavelli, but it's just so hard to like Madeline.
Douglas' daughter, Claudia (Madeleine Power) represents the other side of the divide. She's a hard feminist, and activist, fighting against patriarchy and gets a rude awakening once she's realises how the world actually works. For example, she comes head to head in ep 4 with the rather out of touch comedy writer on 'Live at 6,' brought in to conjure up a joke realistic, misogynistic but ultimately harmless enough for Douglass to spawn off as his own - should he be forced to state what the joke was. Claudia is both irritating and funny and does a good job at being both.
Douglas' wife (Alex Kingston) adds to the plot nicely. Not only is she married to a man in the news, but she is the news - being a newspaper editor. She sees the story from the otherside - which allows the audience and the characters another perspective.
Ultimately, Douglas is Cancelled addresses themes of cancel culture, misogyny in the workplace and the current ideological generational gulfs which seem to be getting so many men like Douglas into trouble. Whilst the plot doesn't progress as much as one might have wanted, Moffat did only have 4 eps to work with. Could he have explored these issues in more depth in this time? Absolutely.
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