BBC Suggestions

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
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knitwit45
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Re: BBC Suggestions

Post by knitwit45 »

As I said previously: "Michael **sigh** Kitchen".

Foyles War is a great series, I only wish it had gone another 5 years or so.
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JackFavell
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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Oooh. What a great topic. Glad it got bumped up or I would never have seen it.

You might like Wodehouse Playhouse... it was like Jeeves and Wooster on an incredibly small budget, and all the main characters in the half hour long stories are played by Pauline Collins and John Alderton. I haven't seen it in years and years.

Sorry if it's been mentioned... I just stumbled across this and I have to go back and reread the thread now...
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knitwit45
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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Wendy, this is a great thread, glad you found it, and really glad Chris bumped it up again!

did I say Michael **sigh** Kitchen? oh, sorry....
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movieman1957
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Re: BBC Suggestions

Post by movieman1957 »

Nancy.

When I watched the second installment of "House of Cards" (somewhere above) I mentioned Michael played the part of the King. To listen to him and Richardson debate was wonderful. They hated each other but they were respectful of the office each held and that made it all the more interesting.

Wendy:

I have heard of "Wodehouse Playhouse" but never seen any of them. I did love "Jeeves and Wooster" though. (I probably mentioned it before as well.)
Chris

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Re: BBC Suggestions

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Another exciting production from the BBC is a great miniseries called "State Of Play." I got it as I knew Russell Crowe had made a movie of it last year. I haven't seen the movie but you might get hold of this 2003 production. Great detailed writing is put together by a first rate cast.

To give you a plot would be hard but it essentially involves the murder of an employee and mistress to a Member of Parliament. But there is more stuff going on than you could imagine. You really have to pay attention. We almost couldn't stop watching it. It runs at six hours.

Great work.
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movieman1957
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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Another for all who like British drama you might consider "Downton Abbey." I watched the first three episodes with "TheBride" and have enjoyed it so far. One enormous mansion and its staff of some twenty service people makes for more drama than you might imagine. (4 more episodes to go.)

Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern play a titled married couple whose life is thrown into disarray when his heirs are lost on the Titanic. Their estate now goes to some distant relative they've never met. That is not good. Meanwhile the servants are having their own drama that is every bit as important to them as what is going on upstairs. Maggie Smith also stars.

We're watching it on Netflix streaming but I believe it is also available at pbs.org.
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knitwit45
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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Downton Abbey is an amazing series, with incredible production values. The stories are well written and very interesting, and the actors are quite good. The House itself is another character, and it is lovely. I am rather impatient to see the next season. (Michael *sigh* Kitchen isn't it, sure wish he was...) Hugh Bonneville is wonderful, the only other thing I can remember with him is NottingHill and he was such a befuddled soul in that one. Not here, he is 'master of all he surveys' in a quiet, understated way. Great series.
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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I remember Bonneville from "Iris." He played the younger version of Jim Broadbent's character opposite Kate Winslet's young Judi Dench.

The production values and detail to the time are exceptional but then BBC things always are. (or whoever the production company is.) My bride can't wait for the next set either. She loved this when she first watched in on her own but required I see it. I actually did want to but it was a matter of time.

There will be more tonight I think.
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knitwit45
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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is it on tonight???
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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No. Just through Netflix.
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knitwit45
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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:cry:
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Re: BBC Suggestions

Post by stuart.uk »

The new Upstairs Downstairs is very popular in the UK, so another series being made with with Jean Marsh again as Rose. The new one has tackled issues like Facism, mental health and the Abdication

Here's how it starts

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: BBC Suggestions

Post by moira finnie »

The new Upstairs Downstairs began broadcasting on Masterpiece Theater on PBS last night. I only had time to see a few minutes, but it looked great. I was delighted to see Jean Marsh is part of the new show, and her co-creator of the original series, Eileen Atkins, appears a very amusing, eccentric character too. The story opens just before the abdication of Edward VIII (Mrs. Simpson pops up as a character too) as Rose (Jean Marsh), who is running a domestics agency, puts together a household of servants for a young and frisky couple.

You can see more about the current show and the first episode here at PBS.
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stuart.uk
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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About a yr ago I mentioned the up and coming BBC movie United with David Tennant and Dougray Scott. It's about Manchester United's Busby Babes and how 8 of the players died in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster. I also remember saying how survivor Bobby Charlton, who went onto be an all-time great player, would be a good subject for a film, well Bobby's strongly featured here, as is Duncan Edward's, who was the best young player in Britain, when he survived, but died of his injories days after the crash.

The film will be aired in the UK on Sunday, but I've found a trailor. It's not much, but the film is getting a great preview



I've also added an interview with Tennant and Scott about the film



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JackFavell
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Re: BBC Suggestions

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I am in the middle of watching a series I only saw the end of years ago.

Love for Lydia moves at a snail's pace compared to the movies or Masterpiece Theatre selections we get now, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth watching. It's based on a story by H.E. Bates, and is available at Netflix. Watching it is like eating hard, chewy taffy - you know you should stop, it's difficult to chew without ripping out your fillings, and yet you keep on with it because it's tasty and you want to get to the end. Love for Lydia is slow, frustrating, painful, beautifully acted, and ultimately engrossing.

The story follows dreamy middle class Edward Richardson (Christopher Blake), a young writer-in-the-making who can't make a go of his job on the local newspaper, the Evensford Star, because he wants to write what HE wants, not the assignments his crusty but fairly understanding boss gives him. As all young people do, he thinks he knows best, and his parents are at a loss to understand, or help him find a career he can take seriously.

Richardson is handed an assignment to go and interview the Aspens, an elderly, wealthy family (all of Evensford seems to be elderly) on the edge of town. The Aspen sisters (beautifully played by Beatrix Lehmann and the phenomenal Rachel Kempson) are eccentric, polite, and bewildered as to what to do with their young niece, Lydia, whose father has recently died. He was the black sheep of the family, and there is a lot of mystery about Lydia's mother, who some say is dead, and others say is living in Paris under mysterious circumstances. The father also had a mistress, whom Lydia has seen kissing her father in a most indecorous way. The sisters have inherited Lydia, and are woefully ill-equipped to take care of the "sheltered" girl.

In an attempt to get Lydia out into what little society there is in Evensford, the sisters send her off with Richardson, who immediately becomes smitten with the shy seeming, but decidedly strong-minded young woman. She realizes his attraction, and demands his total fealty. He quits his job to be with her, then, takes another less demanding one at his parents request. He falls deeper and deeper under her spell, getting up parties of his friends in order to find more and more daring pursuits to win Lydia's heart. The girl is mad to find new and ever more dangerous recreations, testing his love for her by leading him literally onto thin ice. She insists on going into the poorer sections of town, blackmailing him emotionally into doing anything she wants. Finally, she seduces him in the house after sending the aunts and creepy uncle (Michael Aldredge)off to church. One feels that she loves Edward, but in her own way, and that way is to constantly test him with worse and worse behavior.

Christopher Blake is super at playing the young, shy puppy, and makes you feel every slight, every pang of want or love that Richardson feels. When she is introduced to Edward's friends, Lydia takes advantage of her beauty and different-ness, and noting their obvious interest in her, makes a game of Edward's jealousy (which is written all over his face). Frankly, there are times when I want to shake Edward myself... but he is young and in love, and we have all done foolish things when we were young. It's painful to watch though. Edward himself begins to use his friends as a tool to shake up or win Lydia, and in the tussle, one feels instinctively that something bad is going to happen.

Standouts in the cast are the aforementioned Rachel Kempson, who commands attention by her least utterance - her dry line readings are charmingly kind and alternately cutting. I'd like to grow up to be just like her in my later years. Beatrix Lehmann is given the weaker role, but fills it admirably, floating in and out of scenes with a feeling of vague noblesse oblige.

Jeremy Irons is a pip in this one, full of sparkle and dash as Alex Sanderson, Edward's very modern, alcoholic friend. He seems impossibly young and a little too too, but he fits the bright-young-thing role perfectly. One can definitely see why he became a star.

Peter Davison has always been a favorite of mine, here he is relaxed, healthy and bland as Tom the farmer, out of his league with these cruel friends. His sister is played by Sherrie Hewson and she breaks your heart as the foolish Nancy, who is awkwardly in love with Edward - she gives the role a little Shelley Winters spin, making you see how pathetic and ugly she is - she feels entitled to Edward, because he has come around to visit from time to time. You feel sorry for her anyway. She simply can't help her own nature.

Lydia is perfectly played by Mel Martin, who said that after this series, she couldn't walk down the street without someone berating her for being such a callow young woman. I think that's a testament to her acting ability. :D

Probably my favorite performance is by David Ryall as Bretherton, the bullying, caring newspaperman who berates Richardson for his own good. He gives a great performance, making the most of his role, there's a subtle sad sweetness underlying the brusque, nasty cynical exterior.

If you want to remember the pain of being young, this is the show for you. It isn't easy going, but I think it's going to be worth watching to the end. And there are always the great costumes, sets and cars to look at if you get bored.
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