I recently posted a number of video excerpts from the UK that overtly have a go at religion that we are lucky enough in the UK to have I was watching season 2 of Line of Duty the other day and there was a glorious little comment that would go over the head of most people. Indeed, my partner was totally unaware of it, almost not hearing it.
The context was a policewoman being investigated and herself being held with bail refused. Whilst locked away, her mother dies in care. The wellbeing officer calls the policewoman in (Denton) and says, “Would you like me to get you a chaplain?” To which Denton replies in a flash, “You might as well get me a homeopath for all the good that’ll do.” Or something to that effect.
I thought this was a brilliant line and played into my views on both religion and homeopathy. There are no themes of religion and such in these series, but single lines like this are duly appreciated. Now, you could argue that the character is a dislikable person, and as such, her views could also be associated with being dislikable, but I see these examples of screenwriters getting in their own personal views in pieces that have no relevance to such views.
This could also be where I claim that American TV struggles to hold such views, but I would be misrepresenting. You could probably argue that there are proportionally fewer moments of religious skepticism in US TV due to a totally different demograpahic, and I am sure you would be right (see my comedy videos as example of this). I will one day watch The West Wing, since I loved Sorkin’s The Newsroom, but I do know of this excellent scene:
So here is my challenge. Find me, in the comments section below, some lovely little quotes and scenes from shows that steal away little moments of skepticism.