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The Syndicate

137 replies

MintChocAddict · 02/06/2015 21:11

Is it filmed in Scarborough?

OP posts:
limitedperiodonly · 17/06/2015 11:53

Roughly the last 10 minutes was:

Flashback to the girl you think is Amy meeting Sean in the dark. It's Mary. Sean tells her about the win. She is strangely drawn to him.

Then we're in the kitchen again. Everyone seems to accept that Sean has nothing to do with Amy's disappearance. Sean says he's going to take Mary to the airport. She angrily accuses him of wanting the other girl (can't remember her name) over her.

Sean gives Mary a cheque to settle a debt and £10,000 extra and tells her to go back to her boyfriend and their baby. The boyfriend has had an accident on a building site and is probably quadriplegic. Fuck my boyfriend, says Mary. He should have held on to the scaffolding tighter. I want you, Sean. He says he'll always love her, but it's not to be Sad

Sean goes with Mary to the airport in the cab. I'd probably want to make sure she got on the plane too. Why doesn't she get the train? Surely it would be easier?

The syndicate is due to meet Baron Hardup to discuss the deal to buy into the stately pile. Lenny Henry pootles by in a brand new tractor. Parp, parp.

Girl whose name I've forgotten takes the ribbon from her hair, shakes it loose and lets it fall. She smiles indulgently at Lenny, who appears to be channelling his namesake from Of Mice And Men. She seems not to be angry that he's lashed out about as much as her mum wanted to spend on a new kitchen without asking anyone and not to remember that she told her mum off for that.

Baron Hardup and his evil wife and feckless stepson are discussing where the paintings are. And the Bentley and the Ming vases.

Feckless stepson said they were hard-headed business decisions and Baron Hardup was too senile to drive anyway. He is goading Baron Hardup into another stroke. Baron Hardup bashes the table with his ivory-topped walking stick and tells FS that he'd give him a damn good thrashing if he had the strength then he sinks back in the chair, exhausted by the effort of acting.

Comedy simpleton Lenny Henry saves the day by knocking on the door and talking amusingly about his 'condition'. He needs to remind us of this because he's wearing a suit that still fits even though he says he got it when he was 20, and not the funny hat that marks him out as a comedy simpleton. Passim Benny from Crossroads. He witters on charmingly about his plans to do up the gardens to Lady Evil who looks like she thinks the eugenicist movement of the '30s had a point.

Feckless Stepson scoffs and gargles more of Baron Hardup's scotch from the crystal decanter that's probably worth a few bob.

Cook mum hands round a family-sized bag of crisps and a couple of bottles of Pinot Grigio along with brochures for the new kitchen. She talks about her big plans for a cookery school that'll bring in millions, I tells ya.

She passes a package to Amy's mum that has come for her in the post in a casual manner that says to everyone: This Will Obviously Be Significant.

Distraught mum weirdly doesn't open the package but receives a call and a picture of Amy. But that damned place doesn't have a signal so it conks out.

Feckless Stepson suggests that she's imagined it all because she was overwrought and working class. He is very insensitive.

He mentions that his American friends have come in with a higher offer. The Syndicate are devastated.

Sean walks in. He and Girl Whose Name I've Forgotten exchange goofy looks. Baron Hardup says he's sticking with their offer. Sean and Girl arrange to meet for a date. She is unperturbed by his past as a sex offender.

The police arrive and DI Wonderwoman wants to speak importantly to Amy's mum. Amy's mum finally gets round to opening the package. It contains a huge photo of an unconscious Amy with the kind of graze of the cheekbone that is TV shorthand for Kind Of Sexy Beating Up Of Women.

Lenny helpfully points out to anyone who hasn't noticed that Amy is hurt. There is a ransom demand for £1 million and an instruction not to tell the rozzers.

Amy's mum collapses. Baron Hardup calls for smelling salts. Yes, he really does. Who in the past 120 years has had smelling salts handy?

Lenny mentions the photo but Amy's mum doesn't want to show it to DI Wonderwoman in case it fucks up the deal with the kidnappers.

Cook slyly kicks her handbag over it. Amy's mum mutters 'nothing, nothing' to DI Wonderwoman, who takes this bizarre scenario at face value.

She reveals that they've found Amy's horrible boyfriend. Da, da, daaaa!

I like it.

Arkengarthdale · 17/06/2015 12:27

limitedperiodonly that is completely brilliant and much better than watching it! Will you do that every week please? Grin

limitedperiodonly · 17/06/2015 13:10

Thanks Arkengarthdale.

I love good telly but there are some things that are so bad they're good.

I used to love threads from a year or so ago about a Sky One or Sky Living show called Revolution about a post-apocalyptic America that had gone back to horse and cart days with a bit of dictatorship thrown in.

The programme was bollocks but the threads were fantastic so I had to watch it to keep up with the ridicule. In the end I had to go cold turkey because my planner was getting so full of garbage it was starting to delete the good stuff.

thisismadness77 · 17/06/2015 13:18

I think Baron Hardup is Sarah (the housekeepers daughter's) father....

limitedperiodonly · 17/06/2015 13:53

No! You could be right though.

I thought it was James McAvoy as Sean. I thought he'd come down a bit. Last time I saw him he was co-starring with Angelina Jolie.

Luckily, it's a lookylikey.

Geoff0409 · 17/06/2015 15:26

Lovely synopsis there limitedperiod . I liked the first series, second was pretty good. This series I am not so sure but have stuck with it (the horse riding scene last night made me and wife both cringe and laugh a bit). Am sure now that the whole "Amy Missing" situation is going to be a hoax.

holdonaminute · 17/06/2015 15:47

Brilliant limitedperiod ! More next week, please please please!!!!

FailingMyDegree · 17/06/2015 15:54

I think Baron Hardup is Sarah (the housekeepers daughter's) father....

I thought this from the first episode too.

MissBattleaxe · 17/06/2015 16:01

I hope she is his daughter- that would be lovely.

wowfudge · 17/06/2015 19:16

I think Lord Hazelwood is fooling them all....

oneowlgirl · 17/06/2015 19:18

I thought that from the start too! Does she & her mum live in the house?

AnthonyPandy · 17/06/2015 19:19

I think they have a flat on the top floor.

hollyisalovelyname · 17/06/2015 19:40

Limitedperiod thank you Grin
I alao think cook had a fling with Lord Hardup and the daughter resulted.
I think Kay Mellor was told to 'keep it simple for the stupids'
Caricatures not characters in it.
I'll still watch though.
But it could be soo much better.

limitedperiodonly · 17/06/2015 19:58

It's a very nice flat that the girl has. I know they said it had no central heating but heat rises.

I've never been to Scarborough but it looks lovely.There was a scene where Amy's mum and brother were handing out leaflets on a pavilion that I've seen in some other film. Possibly something with Helena Bonham Carter.

Do they shoot grouse in Yorkshire?

hollyisalovelyname · 17/06/2015 20:38

Shoot grouse in Norfolk.
Is that the only nit you can pick GrinGrin

woodhill · 17/06/2015 22:01

the pavillion was used in the bbc Michael Palin drama recently

MarionHaste · 17/06/2015 22:05

The pavilion place was in that Michael Palin spooky thing last year.

limitedperiodonly · 17/06/2015 22:20

Of course. It was called Remember Me. Thanks.

I've never been to Scarborough. It looks really nice.

MarionHaste · 17/06/2015 22:24

I actually stayed in a flat just above the shop where they bought the lottery ticket. We had a lovely few days there.

Arkengarthdale · 18/06/2015 10:35

The pavilion thingy is called The Winter Gardens and also played a part in Rik Mayall Presents Dancing Queen with Helena Bonham Carter (that's going back a bit!).

And yes they do shoot grouse in Yorkshire!

limitedperiodonly · 18/06/2015 12:13

Dancing Queen. I was sure that's where I saw it Arkengarthdale but I couldn't remember the name. I loved that play. Before then I thought Helena Bonham-Carter could just do things in bonnets and bodices.

limitedperiodonly · 18/06/2015 12:21

Not nit-picking about Yorkshire grouse. I thought they were confined to the Highlands of Scotland.

That's not my most embarrassing animal husbandry faux pas. I once really annoyed a Norwegian by asking if they farmed sheep in his country.

I just thought it would be a bit cold for them. Obviously their woolly coat would be a bit of a help in that matter Blush.

It was one of those gormless things that come out of your mouth before you've thought it through. He did over react a bit. You'd think I'd accused Norwegian menfolk of shagging them.

Arkengarthdale · 18/06/2015 13:04

Dancing Queen is still one of my favourites. 'Doncaster, tra la la' and 'you selfish southern bastard'.

Scotland is where the really good (and expensive) grouse shooting is. Yorkshire does a fine line in pheasant and other game birds though, if you're that way inclined Grin

Arkengarthdale · 18/06/2015 13:05

And do they farm sheep in Norway? Ah yes, think of the jumpers. And hats...

limitedperiodonly · 18/06/2015 14:38

I'm not proud. It was one of those moments where everyone stares at you and you think: 'Did I say that out loud?'

Anyway, I think the people of Norway should be clad in furs like the Wildlings in Game of Thrones. Though if he really was a Wildling, he would have shot me with an arrow to express his contempt, which I wouldn't like much.