- Polls apart - 4th March 2026
- Repeating on you… - 4th March 2026
- History man - 3rd March 2026
During 23 years with BBC Cymru Wales (BBC CW), and 42 years in journalism (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, would often find he was doing the same kind of story time after time, as an identical issue returned repeatedly, and this is now highlighted by yet another remake hitting our cinema screens.
There’s nothing new under the sun.
The corrupt copper/politician/public official (fill in as required) is a staple for any investigative journalist like me.
I am hesitant to say they are the SAME stories, because they are all slightly different, but they do seem to follow the same format.
This is put centre stage for me by news of yet ANOTHER re-make to hit silver screens now.
These or franchises borrowed from comics or television (think Superman or Mission Impossible) make you believe that film producers can’t possibly come up with an original plot line themselves.
Now we have ‘How to Make a Killing’ where a minted but extremely dodgy Long Island family member has to bump off the relatives ahead of him in the queue to inherit a huge fortune.
He proceeds to do this in amusingly elaborate ways, crossing a name off his family tree with each hit.
This mordant romp is a remake of ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’—an Ealing Studios classic released in 1949 and set in Edwardian England, in which an outcast from a noble family schemes to inherit its title.
‘How to Make a Killing’ mimics some of its predecessor’s murder methods (such as an explosion in a photographic dark room) and adapts others (a victim drowns off a yacht, not a punt).
An alternative use is found for exactly the same weapon (a crossbow), rather than shooting down a hot air balloon.
The stories I do might have similar themes, but at least they are different circumstances.
These films though are EXACTLY THE SAME!
The memories of Phil’s, remarkable decades long award-winning career in journalism (during which the same stories came round all the time, but every one was slightly different) as he was gripped by the rare and incurable neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’ . Order the book now!
Tomorrow how during that career, for him sadly reporting violent scenes or court cases has always been central, but it was rare to report a terrible fatal fight which prompts an emergency government meeting, and rips apart the left.
