Truth Seekers

 

Truth Seekers is a comedy-horror TV series in which Nick Frost and Simon Pegg once again team up. They have become as much a double act as Laurel and Hardy, for example see: http://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-worlds-end-ultimate-hp-movie.html. However in most of the scenes, the two are not together. Pegg is usually seen in an office wearing a wig so bad that it becomes a fourth wall joke later in the eight part season. Frost plays Gus Roberts, a man with a huge beard who lives a double life. By day he is a domestic communications engineer and by night a paranormal investigator. When he is teamed up with a young trainee with the unlikely name of Elton John, the story begins. In the first episode there is a touching scene where the two men visit an old lady who is so lonely she has been sabotaging her own television so she has reason to summon an engineer, just so she has somebody to talk to. However there are strange noises coming from the upper floor and that leads to the first ghost hunt by the duo. Elton is at first hesitant and frightened of joining his colleague in his extracurricular activities, but eventually he becomes Gus' sidekick. We soon realize that both Gus and Elton have secrets. Gus was married, but his wife died. He lives with an eccentric old man he calls "dad" played excellently by Malcolm McDowell who turns out to be his father-in-law instead of his father. Elton seems to have done multiple different jobs in his past, so many that it doesn't make sense for somebody his age. There is a single story spanning all episodes, yet each episode has its own theme. Later on it turns out that a conspiracy/paranormal/spiritual guru is hypnotizing people and implanting them with microchips. It is reminiscent of the Resident Evil films, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2017/02/resident-evil-final-chapter-film-review.html, and there's some truth behind that plot that makes me wonder where the writers got the idea. There are a lot of laughs at the expense of people like me; conspiracy/paranormal/UFO alternative thinkers, but I detected no malevolence, or maybe I've just developed a thick skin for that sort of thing. The only element of the humour I found inappropriate was to do with Elton's sister Helen who suffers from agoraphobia and social anxiety. Her condition was ridiculed in a way that I found facetious. Interestingly Helen is played by Susan Wokoma who was Frankie in Porters, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2019/07/porters-series-2.html. When I saw that the series had the typical "enriched" cast I was bracing myself for a woke-bashing, but I'm pleased to say it never came. Perhaps TV producers are learning the same lesson as their colleagues behind the big screen, that continuously demeaning white straight males gains you nothing except reduced viewing figures. I really enjoyed Truth Seekers and binge-watched the whole season on Halloween night. Apparently there was originally going to be a second season, but it's been cancelled. Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7907922/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt.
See here for more information: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2014/01/all-people-to-be-microchipped-within.html.