The Stephen Tomkinson verdict brings two thoughts to my mind. Firstly, it once again demonstrates why the jury system is a good one. The jury looked at the evidence and decided that he acted in self-defence when confronted with two drunken louts on his property. The outcome was the right one.
The second thought that comes to to mind is to do with his profession and the art of storytelling.
‘It doesn’t get easier the older you get,’ he said. ‘Once you get past 40 the roles aren’t as prevalent as they used to be.’
Usually it’s women who make this statement, but it is generally true across the spectrum. Television and film worships the young. The world is always saved by the under thirties. The old are merely there as supporting characters or for comedic effect. Occasionally a production such as Vera with have an older lead character, but it is not the norm. It was something the late Mrs L used to bemoan. It would be nice to see some older leach characters on television. Of course, these days, I don’t watch it. I do occasionally catch up with old shows on streaming sites, but gave up on the overt wokery a while back.
In my own small way, I have older characters in my writing. The current novel is another about my French detective, Pascale Hervé. She’s in her mid fifties, widowed and struggling with the effects of getting older, while still working as a PI. She is surrounded mostly by colleagues who are of a similar age. It’s my own small pushback on behalf of those of us who are not quite over the hill yet.
His other failing is his Pantone rating. Not good in the Andoh spectrum.
I wish him well.
Yeah, he is terribly white, so won’t get a role in Robin Hood, for example.
“Television and film worships the young. The world is always saved by the under thirties.”
Unless you’re Tom Cruise, who will very soon be saving the world again in the latest Mission: Impossible film at the age of 60. (I think Cruise should stop dyeing his hair, and accept that he’s not in his thirties any more. Besides, you can pretty much tell his age in his face when the camera goes in for a close-up on him.)
By the way, Mr LR, was something wrong with the proofreading on this post? One of the paragraphs was littered with typos.
Oops. Missed those.
It took two years to come to court in which time his acting roles dried up. As has been said, “The punishment is in the process.”