Why Was I Too Snooty For The Fades?

This post has been edited and republished as there were errors on the original posts. By errors I mean Blogger decided to delete the first half so it didn't make sense. Bastards.

As I grow older and more wiser I realise that I'm a bit of an idiot and this became even more apparent when I watched The Fades. The Fades was a television show that aired on BBC3 way back in 2011 and featured some familiar faces including Natalie Dormer, Joe Dempsie and Ian De Caestecker and followed Paul (De Caestecker) who was haunted by dreams of an impending apocalypse and also saw fades, which are essentially ghosts. Due to his abilities he was labelled as an Angelic, but his powers exceeded the ones of the other Angelic's around him and he was tasked with stopping the looming apocalypse that he had been dreaming of. So basically it was a show that was tailor made for me yet I didn't watch it. I sat through the whole of ITV's Demons which was abysmal but I missed this beauty.

I first took notice of the show few months ago when I was wikipedia-ing (it should really be a verb) a lot later than I should have been and stuck it on my very long watch list. I never actually thought I'd get around to watching it because I felt that there were more worthy things to watch on it but last week I decided to bump it up as there's only six episodes and I doubted I would actually watch it all. I figured it'd be more of a teen drama with some supernatural elements, and more about the main character getting laid and saving the world would be a side story. Boy was I wrong. The only thing about this show that even slightly points towards teen drama is the fact that some of the characters are teens but that's it really. Sure theres a bit of romance but it dealt with a lot of adult themes like loss, grief and sacrifice. I love my supernatural dramas and I think that British television tends to mess up that genre a fair bit, The Fades is probably the most enjoyable supernatural drama I've seen on British television in the last couple of decades and you can trust me because I have done my research.



I was hooked after the first episode and I actually wanted to stop watching it because I hate shows ending on a cliffhanger and knowing that it was cancelled after the first six episodes was agonising. I still carried on watching, I really couldn't stop myself and with every episode I became more and more hooked. I tend to lean towards supernatural and science fiction shows so believe me when I say the writing was top notch, they dealt with the supernatural elements with the fades and impending apocalypse as well as the real world effects it has. Usually the shows I watch are unable to balance the two and usually focus on the supernatural goings on within their world but The Fades was able to explore the two thoroughly and realistically. It used ghosts differently than I had ever seen before, sure I'd seen them driven to madness and want to hurt the humans around them but I had never seen them like this. You can tell that the show and the supernatural lore that it used was thought out and original, and it gave me a break from what we usually see. I don't want to spoil it too much for you but I will say two words, ghosts cannibalising. 

At times it is hard to suspend disbelief when watching a show of this genre and I find myself thinking "seriously, nobody outside the all-knowing circle realises that dozens of people are dying these ridiculously unnatural deaths?" but I didn't think that once because the writers confronted it and made that part of the story. They had police knocking on doors and trying to figure out what was going on but being left perplexed! Through this the show managed to bring in people that didn't know about the other worldly being and the effects that it had on them living in a world where the undead were trying to break free. It didn't distract from the main plot of the show either, it was truly sewn in beautifully, if I could bow down to the writers I would!

It wasn't only the ghosts and the human reactions to them that the show got right, but also the characterisation. All of the main characters were three dimensional and all served a purpose, I haven't seen a core group of characters so good in a while. It's hard to pick a standout because they were all so good, even the villainous John (Dempsie) had my affection and sympathy and I was rooting for them all, even though some of them wanted to eat us alive. But the writing is only one part making characters three dimensional, the other part is the actual acting which was fantastic. I want to bow down to the writers but also want to give the casting director a kiss! I can finally see why Natalie Dormer is looking like she's going to be the breakout star of Game Of Thrones and I've been watching Joe Dempsie since Skins so he's not that much of a shocker to me. Ian De Caestecker even has me rethinking my decision to give up on Marvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D! I gave up after a few episodes and now I'm waiting till Christmas when I have time to binge on what I've missed just for him!

Naturally after finishing the first (and unfortunately the only) series of The Fades I was fuming! The show managed to tie up the major story arc of the series but at the last moment opened up the storyline for the second series. Even though we only caught a minute of what was to come I was still eager to know what the heck was going to happen, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. How could a show like this have gotten cancelled? It was one of the most imaginative things I'd seen British television produce in a while! Of course the reason was people like me. I've looked around online and can see that it's been well reviewed and even won awards after the cancellation which proves that it really should have been renewed! I saw a quote from Ben Dowell of The Guardian saying 

"It is difficult not to watch BBC3 and E4 and think channels which target the under 35s are emerging as amongst the best places for boldness and innovation in UK TV drama." 

It was then that I realised that I hadn't paid any attention to the show during its run (and for a while after it) because I was too snooty. Dowell's right, BBC3 and E4 do garner towards younger audiences and when I think of those channels I think of sitcoms and teen dramas and I'm not too big on either so I tend to avoid them unless theres a re run of something I enjoy. I haven't even really watched E4 since they lost Friends to comedy central. I didn't care too much when BBC announced that they were scrapping BBC3 because I didn't feel it was too much of a loss, I didn't want to lose BBC1 or BBC2 and we need BBC4 for the oldies so the choice seemed fitting. Damn my snootiness, I should really have known better seeing as though I watch shows on The CW and that garners to teens a hell of a lot more than BBC3! I was too pretentious to pay attention to BBC3's programming and didn't notice this gem, if I could go back in time and watch it when it was on I would. I apologise to the fans of The Fades for me and other people that thought the same for robbing you of future episodes of the fantastic show.

Even though watching the show now won't bring it back, I recommend that if you haven't you should. You'll have six hours of a brilliant show and it does tie up the original storyline even though it introduces another one that you'll ponder about for hours on end. Excuse me while I go and watch everything that BBC3 has ever broadcast.

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