Steel River Blues

Well, after a few years of waiting, finally another fire brigade drama on British television. And this one's set in the north, which makes a change from the usual London-centered action these days. Steel River Blues delivers everything one could expect from a modern UK drama: comedy, action, suspense, more action, and northern accents aplenty. It's nice to see ITV providing some quality material for a change; it would have been no surprise if they'd stuck cameras in a real fire station and marketed it as "Reality Drama".

The basic premise of the show is the same as any other Fire Service program: Dudes in fire station sit around until the bell goes off, then hop into their big red engines and charge off accompanied by appropriate music and sirens. To make it interesting, however, the above-mentioned dudes lead amusing discussions throughout, and it's basically just very well balanced.

If you're hungering after some firefighting action and Fireman Sam isn't fulfilling your needs, this show fills the gap nicely.

I hate British-made television as a rule; soaps really irritate me with their unrealistic plots and don't even get me started on the subject of period dramas and police shows like the Bill.

That said, however, Steel River Blues is the best new show on television for a long time. It's got just the right mix of drama, humour and realism as well as a great soundtrack and, although it's early days yet, it shows real promise.

Not only that but now there's finally a show that doesn't treat us "Northerners" as either hub-cap-stealing Liverpudlians (Brookside)or hot-pot-eating, pint-swigging seamstresses that need a 'Cockney Geeza' and his Footballer's-wives-esque wife and kids to make the street cool (the factory girls on Corrie - come on, you don't expect me to believe that everyone in London actually speaks like that, do you? I have been there once or twice!). Both of which are such clichés and so unrealistic I can't tell you! Thank heavens there's finally someone writing something set in the North of England who actually seems to have lived here for more than a few days!

Damn good television with by far the best soundtrack of any show I've seen in a long time!