Published at 10:53, Saturday, 15 September 2012

There were so many loose ends to tie in the finale of The Newsroom (Sky Atlantic), it’s amazing it didn’t come with a free knitting pattern.

Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy

Will and Mac – would they or wouldn’t they? Irritatingly they didn’t.

The hacking scandal – would the guilty muck-rakers receive their punishment? Well, nearly.

Jane Fonda – could she possibly get to look any younger? Yes. And she did.

And, talking of Will (Jeff Daniels), principled news anchorman with chiselled good looks, a hidden soft heart and the sensitive super-intelligence Americans would vote for, if only they could ever find it... why don’t we Brits get news presenters like him?

Ah well, all over now. Tuesdays just won’t be the same without this smart, slick, impossibly elegant crew of shouting, dashing, pontificating TV journalists. I’m missing them already – and still gasping at the pace of the last chapter of series one.

Thankfully there were clues to a forthcoming series two – when we must hope for a happier conclusion to the will-they-won’t-they question. So, all is not completely lost.

Critics of this well-polished series made the mistake of speaking too soon, rather assuming they were smarter than its exceptionally smart creator Aaron Sorkin.

They should be eating their words now. It may not have been anything close to what we’re used to here – The Thick Of It is probably its nearest relative – and more’s the pity.

Heavily political, unashamedly bold and sometimes subversively preachy, this was a series for grown-ups.

Will McAvoy’s Newsnight monologue on the insidious threat of right wing politics in the United States – naming names, shaming candidates, exposing iniquities – would have had Jeremy Paxman weeping into his cocoa... or laughing all the way to the green room.

The Newsroom is nothing like we have on British TV because freedom to report, comment and expose in this country is not a patch on what is enjoyed in the US. This series has made full use of its freedom to editorialise greedily. A culture shock initially to the average Brit – but very quickly delicious.

All that politicking and shouting a breathtakingly clever dialogue never fully overwhelmed because Sorkin never forget to sugar it all up a bit with servings of unapologetic sentimentality and teasing love interest.

He was teasing to the end. Mackenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer) never did find out what the end of Will’s voicemail message had been – the one in which he admitted he’d never stopped loving her – and he was too proud and too scared to repeat it.

Shucks. What a let down. And what a great point at which to pick up in a second series.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk