Bert and Dickie - TV review

Before we start thinking about Bert and Dickie (BBC1, 8.30pm), we need to address two things,

writes Thom Kennedy

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First, there's Matt Smith's hat. The current Doctor Who has something of a penchant for unusual headgear, so slinging on a peaked sailor's cap and looking like a Popeye impersonator is hardly going to help prevent Mr Smith becoming typecast.

Then there's that terrible name, which sits uncomfortably above the 90-minute drama before it even begins. Once you get beyond it, the show centres on the lives of two rowers preparing for the 1948 Olympics in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Doctor Who (sorry, Matt Smith), plays working-class Bert, a solo sculler forced to partner with privileged, wealthy Sam Hoare, whose existing partner was deemed unable to row his way into the nation's hearts with a glint of Olympic gold.

Of course, they're ill-matched, and quickly set about antagonising one another. But the tension doesn't hang around long. There's a bit of shouting, a quick pint of beer and then jolly camaraderie. It's the average night at the pub.

The sub-plots are more interesting. Both are heavily influenced by the relationships they share with their dads. Bert's old man lives his Olympic dream through his son, while a harrumphing Geoffrey Palmer is steering his own lad in his own Olympian footsteps.

Meanwhile, Bert's love affair with his Scottish sweetheart is taking off, but his dad is putting the skids on things – all for his lad's benefit, of course.

Some things never change. The organising committee is here, blundering about in a last-minute panic under the watchful eye of trade minister Harold Wilson, who looks suspiciously like George Osborne, and is praying the games will provide a windfall for the empty national coffers.

The committee has only managed to acquire underpants as a kit for the basketball team, while the court is built at the last minute thanks to Finland sending over a supply of wood.

Only 19,500 tickets are sold. Matt Busby's on the phone hoping to get hold of some footballs. Hundreds of pigeons lined up for use in the opening ceremonies were left out in the sun and cooked alive. Weightlifters keep passing out because of rationing. They don't mention G4S, but they're probably knocking about somewhere. It's a really nice comic counterpoint to the action.

The first half of the film involves a lot of standing on riverbanks staring through a ticking stopwatch as our heroes pant up and down the Thames.

The build-up to the games was probably too long. There's not quite enough interest in the plot, which is based on the real story of the 1948 medal winners, to sustain the tension.

The whole show could have comfortably sat in a shorter slot. Tactics talk and training can only keep going so long. Inevitably, the pair overcome pre-final nerves to land the big medal for Britain. The national anthem plays over tears of joy.

The schedules have been filled with pre-Olympic fodder competing for attention in recent weeks, some of which have been outstanding, and some of which have been rather opportunistic attempts to capitalise on the atmosphere of the games.

Bert and Dickie is neither. It's certainly not crashing out in the first round, but it's not competing for anything more than a bronze medal.