Any Human Heart (2010) - Television Series

Found this four-parter thoroughly captivating when it was aired on Channel 4 around November 2010.

Played out like a dramatisation of a social experiment: the charting of one's entire lifetime. Intrigue was further reinforced by background reading up on it (on Wikipedia), which stated something along the lines of how 'the drama essentially explores the idea that throughout our lives, we may as well be played by different people, for while our innate sense of character and sensibility is always the same, our circumstances, situations, contexts and relationships are different, at different times in our life's progression' - or words to that effect...

I think the series was deliberately/strategically aired in the wake of Channel 4's recent 'Pillars of the Earth', capitalising on the exposure of the protagonists Matthew Macfayden (Frost/Nixon) and Hayley Atwell (Captain America [2011] and year above me at the same Sixth Form!), who feature prominently in Any Human Heart. And I have to admit that in the absence of Pillars, I was lured into this, still having an appetite for epic, ambitious drama productions.

There was also the exposure in the Radio Times Magazine that month, and Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge, Another Year) adding further credibility. I was sold.

Sure, alot of the situations of the primary protagonist Logan Mountstuart (played by Matthew Macfayden, Jim Broadbent amongst others) are unashamedly contrived: from the politics and anarchy of Thactcher's Britain, to encounters with Ian Flemming, the Duchess of York (with the Prince of Wales), and prominent writers of the 20th Century. But I identified alot with the character, the contexts and the situations which made it engaging viewing.

I would say the story breaks down into three primary sections (by the dramatisation anyway). The first felt like 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events', or unfortunate choices driven by hedonism. The second part, a heart-wrenching love story, the third part, a more contemplative revelatory episode.

Fascinating, captivating, fantastically ridiculous and contrived in parts (like any decent James Bond movie), yet consistently evocative, poetic, and thought-provoking - all at the same time. Stand-out turns from Macfayden, Atwell and Broadbent.

Definitely one for the DVD collection, loved it!