Bradley Whitford, Neve Campbell Star in a Climate Change 2-Parter Burn Up on BBC Two
And, maybe if we're lucky, we might get to eventually see this here.
Quickly, about the program, from the Telegraph:
Shown in two parts this week on BBC2, Burn Up stars Rupert Penry-Jones (Adam Carter in Spooks) as Tom McConnell, who – at a remarkably young age, it must be said – has just been promoted to CEO of Arrow Oil. Days into his job, he receives a lawsuit from an Inuit climate-change activist, who says that Arrow, with its reckless environmental ways, has made her Arctic homeland uninhabitable.
Nice to see really good America actors going overseas to do interesting projects, and it's interesting that there are no dramas about climate change being made for US TV, despite the fact that we pack a carbon footprint punch harder than Kimbo Slice's left hook.
But that's what happens in commercial enterprises like ad-supported television. When you look at all the companies that have a vested interest in the status quo not changing, you notice that they all have a really large presence on American television.
And even on public TV in the US there is the problem of people in positions of power nixing projects because of the agendas of either the people who vote on the funds allotted for public TV or the underwriters that pick up the remainder of the cost.
So, Whitford and Campbell has a much better shot at doing important work overseas. Interesting, there is no censorship per se, just the collective power against the issue that makes it tough to get projects like Burn Up greenlighted.
This topical thriller sees oil executives, environmental activists and politicians collide in the battle between economic success and ecological responsibility.
Rupert Penry-Jones stars as Tom, who, having been named the new head of Arrow Oil, finds his life unravelling as he's pulled into a high-stakes game of power and international intrigue.
Neve Campbell plays his colleague Holly, whose covert collaboration with environmentalists puts her in great jeopardy, and Bradley Whitford plays Tom's best friend Mack, a charismatic yet unscrupulous oil industry lobbyist.
Burn Up follows the trio's lives and loves
as they hurtle towards a global climate change summit.
Sometimes I think it's almost as if American TV executives don't think I'm smart enough to appreciate stuff like this. Or, maybe it's just too smart for them.
Also included is Marc Warren, who people who read this blog probably know best as Elton Pope, the Electric Light Orchestra loving star of the Doctor Who series three two (thank you, John) Doctor-lite episode, Love & Monsters, which happens to be a favorite of mine and ran on BBC America this morning.
Promo clip after the jump.
