ANNIKA
DVD region 2. Network.

This is something of an oddity in Network’s admirable collection of vintage television revivals – a 1984 three-part British / Swedish co-production that wasn’t particularly popular at the time and is more or less forgotten today. And while some vintage obscurities have turned out to be real gems, this is pretty poor.

The story follows the romance between unappealing eighteen year old Pete (Jesse Birdsall), a casual worker on the Isle of Wight, and fifteen year old Swedish visitor Annika (Christina Rigner), who he meets during a school trip to the island. Despite having no discernable personalities, the pair quickly fall in love, and when Annika returns to Sweden, Pete follows, only to struggle as the language barrier leaves him alienated and his rough Cockney personality and repressed English ways clash with the sophisticated, liberal Swedish culture (back in 1984, Sweden was still a liberal society!).

There are manifold problems here. The elongated running time (it totals at 150 minutes) drags the thin story beyond breaking point, and the dialogue, the hackneyed plot, the production style and the acting all seem more suited to a self-consciously earnest kids show, but with added nudity (of which more in a moment) and mild swearing. With a ferociously alternative (1984 style) band hogging much of the first episode, shaven-headed men in union jack T-shirts hanging around with black kids and some half-hearted mumbling about unemployment and the lack of future prospects, it also feels like a ‘yoof ‘ project made by people with little idea about how young people lived.

The nudity is rather surprising – there are several scenes with Annika, Pete and their chums in Sweden stripping off. It’s not gratuitous, but given the context, does seem a little odd. I imagine someone now suggesting a TV series where fifteen year old characters (regardless of the actual age of the actors) not only have sexual relationships but also have nude loves scenes would be shown the door by most broadcasters and the subject of tabloid fury.

This is a very slow story with some really, really awful acting (Birdsall went on to a long career in TV, presumably employed by people who never saw this, but Ms. Rigner doesn’t seem to have done anything since) and the production values you’d expect from worthy, lifeless dramas of the period. It’s a long way from being a lost classic and I suspect that only the determined and indulgent viewers will make it to the indifferent conclusion of the series..

DAVID FLINT

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