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Post by alece10 on May 23, 2019 19:41:41 GMT
Anyone watching this? Rather good and beautifully filmed.
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Post by learfan on May 23, 2019 20:07:43 GMT
Yep, high class affair, typical of a lot of Poliakoff' work. Typical, all of a sudden there's this, Gentleman Jack and Years and Years on.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on May 23, 2019 21:26:09 GMT
I'm watching - it's a bit of a grower and I wasn't sure until the end of ep 2 (don't worry, no spoilers.) I'm finding the dialogue extremely stilted and, maybe the Tower awaits, but Mr Stephens is making a giant oak tree of the main part.
However, yes, it's beautifully shot, gorgeous frocks and manor houses, Timothy Spall giving a master class every time he opens his mouth, new girl Lily sacofsky is wonderful, small boy actor, Toby Woolf is terrific, a cute Doberman (yes, it's actually possible! And it's got a curly tail!) and it's wonderful to see Zoe and Harry from Spooks reunited, not to mention Lindsay Denton and DCC Dryden. Keeley must be struggling to remember who she's speaking to most of the time!
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Post by waybeyondblue on May 24, 2019 20:08:29 GMT
Made it to the end. Won’t get that time back. If you liked Fairly Secret Army then stick to it. Donkeys were great and deserve the inevitable BAFTA for providing only entertainment in an otherwise slow and worthy waste of license fee.
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Post by learfan on May 26, 2019 15:29:13 GMT
Btw lovely to see Claire Bloom, i bet most people thought she was dead! Linus Roache too, he had the makings of being a big star of the stage 20 odd years ago but went to the States.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on May 26, 2019 22:28:48 GMT
Well, I made it to the end and wasn't entirely sure I totally understood what was going on. I did love most of the cast, which is what kept me watching. But I have seen better dialogue written by 9 year olds. I found it unbelievably stilted and unnatural. I also found the storyline after they found Anthony/David totally ridiculous - the dialogue here was so awful that even Keeley and Linus couldn't rescue it. I would also like everyone to spare a thought for Guy, the sweetest Doberman in the universe and one of the better actors on set! He did 'cute' so brilliantly and I hope they throw a Woofta his way. RIP Gorgeous Guy.😭 |
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5,159 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 2, 2019 13:41:27 GMT
Finished watching last night. 6 hours 20 minutes in total, and it was only after 6 hours that we learn it was actually about BREXIT No wonder it got green-lit by the BBC!
At least everyone lived happily ever after, with no apparent consequences for anyone. Even Lord Wallington lived, unlike the dog.
Incidentally, the programme website describes this as the "first series". |
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Jul 2, 2019 16:40:20 GMT
First series?!
I found it very slow going till episode 4 or 5 when I then wanted to finally find out what was going on. Lovely cast but quite bonkers, the final episode pushing plausibility firmly out the window.
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Post by xanady on Jul 2, 2019 17:13:27 GMT
Like a cryptic conundrum trapped inside a puzzling maze...more baffling than a Steven Moffat Dr Who-episode...and that is saying something! Who commissioned this gibberish?Are we sure it wasn’t written by the Beecham House writer?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2019 17:44:31 GMT
Poliakoff really excels in worlds where things move serenely, whilst blind to the social upheaval that is about to engulf it, and this is another beautifully done example, He writes excellent period dialogue, catching phrases and rhythms that I remember from childhood or am reminded of when watching TV shows or movies of yesteryear. What some claim is stilted dialogue is positively Rattigan-esque; it is the way that people spoke, especially those of an elevated social class. Lost to us now, of course.
Anyway, this positions Poliakoff as a curio among contemporary writers - out of his time perhaps.
The moral greyness and internally focused clashes of ideas as opposed to overt action and a manichean world view is also something that is missing from much contemporary drama. I loved its slowness (a common theme, recently, for me), its contemplative mood, its sheer difference to what seems to be ‘the way things are done now’. To be honest, I preferred this to Years and Years, whose lack of grey and Davies’ on the nose dialogue seemed like fast food TV in comparison.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2019 20:27:57 GMT
I was baffled by the idea that {Spoiler - click to view}
at one time you had to run away from home to become vegetarian. Really?! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2019 8:26:40 GMT
I was baffled by the idea that {Spoiler - click to view} at one time you had to run away from home to become vegetarian. Really?! {Spoiler - click to view} That isn't why he left, though the family might have wanted it to be instead of the truth. He appears to have been at odds with their privilege and lifestyle and, quite likely, their politics.
On the subject of vegetarianism, even in the seventies it was looked on as a suspect trait in an individual. Maybe no longer as 'dangerous' as it used to be but still an indicator of radicalism and weakness. Long seen as akin to socialism (high profile vegetarians in the UK had often been on the radical left, such as George Bernard Shaw) it also had (and still has) a link with the far right and the idea of 'purity', with Hitler famously being vegetarian.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2019 11:56:37 GMT
I was baffled by the idea that {Spoiler - click to view} at one time you had to run away from home to become vegetarian. Really?! {Spoiler - click to view} That isn't why he left, though the family might have wanted it to be instead of the truth. He appears to have been at odds with their privilege and lifestyle and, quite likely, their politics.
On the subject of vegetarianism, even in the seventies it was looked on as a suspect trait in an individual. Maybe no longer as 'dangerous' as it used to be but still an indicator of radicalism and weakness. Long seen as akin to socialism (high profile vegetarians in the UK had often been on the radical left, such as George Bernard Shaw) it also had (and still has) a link with the far right and the idea of 'purity', with Hitler famously being vegetarian.
Interesting. And yes, I had expected them to make more of the political element - so maybe that just wasn’t overt enough for me. I was mildly amused at the idea Peter Firth’s headmaster character was fine with basically torturing kids but drew the line at harming animals! |
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999 posts
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Post by Backdrifter on Jul 5, 2019 16:52:04 GMT
As is usually the case with SP's stuff I really enjoyed it. I actually do get the naysayers above, I understand what they mean but didn't have a problem with the series. There's a sort of other-worldliness to most of his work which I really like, and always find it well-served by Adrian Johnstone's plaintive music.
To back up the comments on vegetarianism, it definitely was seen as a major aberration and some sort of indication the person was unhinged, hence the vegetarian chain ironically calling itself Cranks. I went vegetarian in the 80s and was met with a mixture of bafflement, pity, derision and mocking. And some of those reactions were from friends and even family.
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Post by nick on Jul 6, 2019 19:35:10 GMT
To back up the comments on vegetarianism, it definitely was seen as a major aberration and some sort of indication the person was unhinged, hence the vegetarian chain ironically calling itself Cranks. I went vegetarian in the 80s and was met with a mixture of bafflement, pity, derision and mocking. And some of those reactions were from friends and even family. My grandparents were vegetarian in the 30s. Mind you they also met at a nudist camp so you're probably right. |
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