REVIEW of FRAMED

Now there's lovely. No-one actually uttered those words amid the wilful Welsh whimsy of Framed (8.30pm, BBC1). But they'll do as a pithy review. Frank Cottrell Boyce's sweet-hearted drama, adapted from his own book, fulfilled the terms of a small-print clause in the BBC's Royal Charter: we hereby pledge to show something nice on a bank holiday. And so it proved. Framed could have barely been more charming if they'd cut away periodically to footage of a kitten toying with a ball of wool, or lambs gambolling on a hillside dotted with daisies. Trevor Eve, an actor as dependable as daybreak, starred as Quentin, an emotionally-detached curator at the National Gallery, who prefers paintings to people. When the National is hit by flooding, he whisks his precious collection off for safe storage, in the mountain hideout the gallery used in the Second World War. Which sets us up nicely for the kind of gentle fish-out-of-water yarn familiar from Northern Exposure or The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain. You know the sort of thing: beautiful setting, uptight newcomer, nutty villagers. And you could probably hazard a guess at what happens next. The arrival of Quentin and the paintings in the Snowdonian village of Manod sparks a renewed vigour for life among the quirky locals, and brings happiness to the broken home of a kid called Dylan. (Looking back, I'm not entirely sure exactly how the paintings managed that, but not to worry). Quentin himself learns there's more to art than a prissy appreciation of composition and brush technique. And most importantly of all, he finds love, with Eve Myles' free-spirited teacher. It's a charming story, only marginally marred by the dawning of the queasy realisation that Trevor Eve is easily old enough to be Myles' father. But the BBC's timing seemed a little off. It was perfect for a bank holiday, of course. But Boyce's book is a children's story, and naturally there's a certain simplicity to the plot. That's fine at teatime, but we've grown to expect a little more substance at 8.30pm. Still: you'd have to be a complete curmudgeon to deny that Framed was a cheerful little tale.