KA
Katherine
Founding member
Just wondering how many of you here saw this show, and if so, what did you think about it?
It takes something special to make me sit down and watch any 'acted' show like drama, soap or sitcom, but this one had the right ingredients. I have had an interest in Stephen Hawking's life and work for a long while, along with an interest in astronomy and science in general. It had the 'special something' and I'm glad it did, because Benedict Cumberbatch (who played Stephen Hawking) put in an awesome performance. Benedict definitely has a gift for acting and it showed. I noted with some amusement that Hawking himself had only one gripe about Cumberbatch's performance: "I was more scruffy than you!"
I am usually against able-bodied people playing disabled roles on TV, but I concede in this instance as it would have been virtually impossible to find someone with the level of disability of motor neurone disease. Hearteningly, it didn't appear that Hawking's motor neurone disease was made the focal point of the drama, which might have unbalanced the drama. My personal favourite scene was the one where an elated Hawking realises his theory works, hurriedly gets off a train he had only just boarded, runs as best he can towards colleague Roger Penrose and feverishly chalks his workings onto the station platform supported by his walking cane. Workings that eventually led Dennis Sciama, played by John Sessions, to say that Hawking had 'made Einstein beautiful'.
A truly great bit of television that had me hooked from the off. Respect to Benedict Cumberbatch......
It takes something special to make me sit down and watch any 'acted' show like drama, soap or sitcom, but this one had the right ingredients. I have had an interest in Stephen Hawking's life and work for a long while, along with an interest in astronomy and science in general. It had the 'special something' and I'm glad it did, because Benedict Cumberbatch (who played Stephen Hawking) put in an awesome performance. Benedict definitely has a gift for acting and it showed. I noted with some amusement that Hawking himself had only one gripe about Cumberbatch's performance: "I was more scruffy than you!"
I am usually against able-bodied people playing disabled roles on TV, but I concede in this instance as it would have been virtually impossible to find someone with the level of disability of motor neurone disease. Hearteningly, it didn't appear that Hawking's motor neurone disease was made the focal point of the drama, which might have unbalanced the drama. My personal favourite scene was the one where an elated Hawking realises his theory works, hurriedly gets off a train he had only just boarded, runs as best he can towards colleague Roger Penrose and feverishly chalks his workings onto the station platform supported by his walking cane. Workings that eventually led Dennis Sciama, played by John Sessions, to say that Hawking had 'made Einstein beautiful'.
A truly great bit of television that had me hooked from the off. Respect to Benedict Cumberbatch......