tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37372351399941902282024-02-19T04:47:47.167+00:00Cathode Ray TubeFrank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.comBlogger742125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-84253194779942640372022-11-30T14:52:00.016+00:002023-01-11T12:31:24.889+00:00DOCTOR WHO - THE BLACK ARCHIVE #62: KINDA - BACKGROUND NOTES<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnCd1x9RDmRkZNqBnxrMYB7HMc9FrRkXOP9bkNAxLXyFDodhF6g95Ms3RA9vh2AxZejMAQm3BTj8qRj-9TDuzCoMGbMskKgBnJ8SkzJwmBlIwPFeRzVOcgtt35GDw0BNnBrkx0zbdOs9Tzm11uriuz0TPb5Sck5HAqBjddAMqPn7PiNhuDlu82EwtYg/s570/Kinda-Front.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="400" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnCd1x9RDmRkZNqBnxrMYB7HMc9FrRkXOP9bkNAxLXyFDodhF6g95Ms3RA9vh2AxZejMAQm3BTj8qRj-9TDuzCoMGbMskKgBnJ8SkzJwmBlIwPFeRzVOcgtt35GDw0BNnBrkx0zbdOs9Tzm11uriuz0TPb5Sck5HAqBjddAMqPn7PiNhuDlu82EwtYg/w250-h357/Kinda-Front.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p>I have great pleasure to announce that my latest book <span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Black Archive #62: Kinda</b></span> is now up for pre-order from <a href="https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/62-kinda/" target="_blank">Obverse Books</a>.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;">"‘<b>Wheel turns, civilisations arise. Wheel turns, civilisations </b><b>fall.’</b></span></p><p>With new input from writer Christopher Bailey, this archive examines how <b>Kinda </b>(1982) emerged from his background as a counter-cultural arts activist, a theatre and television writer, and his formative encounter with Buddhism. Searching the Dark Places of the Inside, <b>Kinda </b>is a richly layered allegory, inextricably linked, through the history and evolution of Buddhism’s teachings, with nineteenth-century European colonialism, fin de siècle literature, heritage cinema of the 1980s, Gauguin’s ‘noble savage’, acid trips and cutting-edge neuroscience."</p><p>I started work on this book back in December 2019, with a pitch to those good folks at Obverse Books who had published my exploration of the Season 18 story <i><a href="https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/31-wg/">Warriors' Gate</a></i> previously in May the same year. I was keen to tackle another story that I felt had several layers that could be peeled back and examined. So, I was swapping Taoism, quantum theory, Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard for Buddhism, Christian symbolism and Joseph Conrad (and Kate Bush). Plus drugs, primitivist painting, and the Vietnam War. Looking back at the proposal and the book that it generated I'm confident that it has managed to achieve the following broad points<span style="font-size: small;"><b>:</b></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: small;">- an examination of <i>Kinda</i>’s development by Christopher Bailey relative to the very different visions of script-editors Christopher Bidmead, Antony Root and Eric Saward.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: small;">- director Peter Grimwade’s approach to a story he found worked counter to the Doctor Who serial format. He saw the format’s ‘adventure story’ linearity in contradiction to Bailey’s Play for Today 'artiness', intellectualism and realism.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: small;">- coverage of the themes and symbolism of <i>Kinda</i>: highlighting the layering of Buddhist, Christian, shamanistic and pagan meanings in the story; the Freudian and Jungian interpretations of self and other; and the articulation and interrogation of concepts of imperialist expansion and colonialism in the story.</span></b> </p><p>Within those aims lay other questions, nuances and contexts. How do you deal with <i>Kinda</i> as a case study in a structuralist, media studies reading published in 1983? What on earth does the heritage television and cinema of the 1980s, science fiction feminist writer Ursula K. Le Guin and Joseph Conrad have to do with all of this? And where do T.S. Eliot and Tahiti fit into the story? Would <i>Kinda</i>'s elusive, reclusive writer Christopher Bailey even speak to me?</p><p>By March 2020, the world was turned upside down. Although I'd started writing, my first aim was to get to BBC Written Archives and sift through the production paperwork, the writer's file and any other associated documentation to provide some foundations for the details. My April 2020 appointment was alas the victim of the pandemic shut down. My employer also put me on furlough for six months. I barely went anywhere. </p><p>So, desk research - plowing through scripts, videos, various magazines, online newspaper archives, several books about Buddhism - took over. And, yes, Christopher Bailey did speak to me. Well, we wrote to each other, mindful of the issues that Covid-19 would add to any meeting in person, and because I understood he wanted to protect his privacy. Intermittently, for a period of two years, it began with our first conversation in September 2020 and took us to the most recent of November 2022. It provoked some interesting tangents in the book and I'm so grateful for his input. <br /></p><p>The BBC Written Archives appointment finally came through in July 2021 but even that was fraught with difficulty. The BBC's Covid-19 policy was very stringent at the time. No one was allowed into the building unless they'd had a negative <span>polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 24 hours of the appointment date and time. Lateral flow tests did not cut the mustard. After a false start, where I didn't get the appropriate test result in time, I was finally able to sift through the files. The team at BBC Written Archives were very supportive as they knew how long I'd had to sit on the waiting list.</span></p><p><span>Therefore, this book also takes in the span of major, life-changing decisions and events. It was the hardest thing I've ever attempted to write. I had retired by the time I submitted the first draft in 2022. When my husband caught Covid and was also back and forth with hospital appointments for an entirely unrelated matter, I had also turned sixty as the final edits were wrestled into shape in October and November this year. One to tick off on the 'things to do when you're 60' bucket list.<br /></span></p><p><span>So, I'll leave it there for you to judge what I've made of <i>Kinda</i>. Enjoy the book.</span></p>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-82655618745168798302022-06-01T11:02:00.002+01:002022-06-03T16:10:03.780+01:00UPDATE 2021-22: THE BLACK ARCHIVE: KINDA, ROBIN HOOD AT HAMMER, CAPTAIN CLEGG, and DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE <p>Friends, firstly apologies for not keeping the updates coming. </p><p>The last two and a bit years have been turbulent and distressing for everyone and I hope this message finds you all well. While Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine have surely impacted on us all, I have been keeping myself busy working on several freelance commissions and thought it was time for an update.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrqv7YiSmKDUdQtCHA4FNbTAt4tiAxmnwM_NCPZDrBKUrLse2y5aqyq6PQvMX6Whr1aDViJmwN5hltnJfkFvv6M1ei2hwljKrsjN2Ae-NXF-5g_WSRs4l5fR3zPzQPJg9PKBcXsmtGRMOwhnU0UWKUawwecGWPzH5Rx7U9wELHJQXd9hL0E1YvSfPzw/s3521/Kinda.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3521" data-original-width="2481" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrqv7YiSmKDUdQtCHA4FNbTAt4tiAxmnwM_NCPZDrBKUrLse2y5aqyq6PQvMX6Whr1aDViJmwN5hltnJfkFvv6M1ei2hwljKrsjN2Ae-NXF-5g_WSRs4l5fR3zPzQPJg9PKBcXsmtGRMOwhnU0UWKUawwecGWPzH5Rx7U9wELHJQXd9hL0E1YvSfPzw/w201-h286/Kinda.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><b>THE BLACK ARCHIVE: KINDA (Obverse Books - forthcoming. Due December 2022)<br /></b><br />Just as Covid restricted us all to working from home or furlough or no job at all, I was in the middle of researching and writing for the forthcoming Obverse Books <a href="http://obversebooks.co.uk/theblackarchive/"><b>Black Archive</b></a> on <i>Kinda</i>. It's a particular favourite of mine from Season 19 of <i>Doctor Who</i>. After publishing the book about <i>Warriors' Gate</i> in 2019, I fancied the challenge of writing about what has come to be regarded, despite its flaws, as one of the most intriguing stories in the canon. At this stage, I don't want to say much about the book. The research at BBC Written Archives, after much delay because of Covid, was completed in August last year but that was the icing on a particular cake in terms of where this book led me and the new insights I've been provided with. <p></p><p>With Obverse switching back to a bi-monthly publication schedule after the book was commissioned, I had a generous amount of time to write and I hope the results will have been worth it. The current manuscript is now with my editor at Obverse and I have no doubt we'll be going through that in due course as we hit the run-up to publication this year. I'm quietly excited for this one.<b></b></p><p><b><br /><br /><a href="https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/robin-hood-at-hammer-two-tales-from-sherwood-forest-le">ROBIN HOOD AT HAMMER: Two Tales From Sherwood Forest </a>(Due for release in August 2022)<br /></b><br />I'm currently putting the final touches to an essay for the book that will accompany Indicator's forthcoming Blu-ray release of Hammer's <b><i>Sword of Sherwood Forest</i> </b>and <b><i>A Challenge for Robin Hood</i></b>, the two films featuring the quintessentially British character that the studio made in the 1960s.</p><p>From Indicator's site: <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx-bhW1ctE3tTXp45PJwOy8GN0IXNA-XCEGuqlE0uylC8Ib9ejCWcj-cSMzFE5lLmnF09b3wlRJe3DJG7iKuoMeJm3wlmeI0ut5c1JN0lfy9bqXiRNL9vdFEa3aI9U5mV9TLZtw_xaP0UbcuCZeZPRf-IPhymUQ1VJl7bwlIH-FS866xCdJrV0R9gJ7Q/s900/270_ROBIN_HOOD_slipcase_3D_72dpi_RGB_transp_720x.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="720" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx-bhW1ctE3tTXp45PJwOy8GN0IXNA-XCEGuqlE0uylC8Ib9ejCWcj-cSMzFE5lLmnF09b3wlRJe3DJG7iKuoMeJm3wlmeI0ut5c1JN0lfy9bqXiRNL9vdFEa3aI9U5mV9TLZtw_xaP0UbcuCZeZPRf-IPhymUQ1VJl7bwlIH-FS866xCdJrV0R9gJ7Q/w232-h290/270_ROBIN_HOOD_slipcase_3D_72dpi_RGB_transp_720x.png" width="232" /></a></div>"For 1960’s <i>Sword of Sherwood Forest</i>, Richard Greene (<i>The Blood of Fu Manchu</i>, <i>The Castle of Fu Manchu</i>) reprises the role he made famous in the classic television series <i>The Adventures of Robin Hood</i>. Directed by Terence Fisher (<i>The Gorgon</i>, <i>The Revenge of Frankenstein</i>), and starring Peter Cushing (<i>The Devil’s Men</i>, <i>Corruption</i>)
as the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham, the film sees Robin Hood thwart
a plot to assassinate the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jack Gwillm, <i>Jason and the Argonauts</i>, <i>The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb</i>). The film also boasts an uncredited early role for Oliver Reed (<i>The System</i>, <i>The Damned</i>). <br /><br />In 1967’s <i>A Challenge for Robin Hood</i>, Barrie Ingham (<i>The Day of the Jackal</i>) dons the Lincoln green as he and his merrie men hide out in Sherwood Forest after his cousin (Peter Blythe, <i>Frankenstein Created Woman</i>) frames him for murder. This action-packed adventure features acting support from Gay Hamilton (<i>Barry Lyndon</i>, <i>The Duellists</i>) and Leon Greene (<i>Adventures of a Private Eye</i>, <i>Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate</i>).<br /><br />This
2-disc Limited Edition set contains a double-sided poster, an 80-page
book, and extensive new and archival extra features, including the
much-loved Children’s Film Foundation film <i>Robin Hood Junior</i> (1975), starring Keith Chegwin (<i>Multi-Coloured Swap Shop</i>, <i>Cheggers Plays Pop</i>) as the diminutive hero."<p></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p><b><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaNE9EfK-DfWWuhTzija3Ze3GahR2k8gQatPbkTya0f_2uoFmzZ6PGrPg4e-AjY2RRgqvJLsWdTf66kpv3k9Oz_bh6LT5cJFmS-F7IsENaI1zgrt3pfRkFDPrGIW9ig8WdMMdDKpK1ILdYZ94k0a9oKCuTJu0NRGt0Dxy8MgIcsNcx66PXbp1xZH6VA/s2036/000_D570_Polybag_RGB_150dpi.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2036" data-original-width="1335" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaNE9EfK-DfWWuhTzija3Ze3GahR2k8gQatPbkTya0f_2uoFmzZ6PGrPg4e-AjY2RRgqvJLsWdTf66kpv3k9Oz_bh6LT5cJFmS-F7IsENaI1zgrt3pfRkFDPrGIW9ig8WdMMdDKpK1ILdYZ94k0a9oKCuTJu0NRGt0Dxy8MgIcsNcx66PXbp1xZH6VA/w155-h237/000_D570_Polybag_RGB_150dpi.jpeg" width="155" /></a></b>DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE</b><br /> <br />Back in September 2021 it was also a pleasure to be asked to review BBC Studios Blu-ray release of the animated <i>The Evil of the Daleks</i> for <a href="https://doctorwhomagazine.com/doctor-who-magazine/doctor-who-magazine-570/"><b>DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE</b></a> issue 570, which hit the stands last October. </p><p>My
thanks to the team for asking me to contribute to a magazine I've been
reading since it first appeared as a Marvel weekly in 1979. <i>The Evil of the Daleks</i> is also a firm favourite so it was serendipitous that my first contribution was an opportunity to review its animated reincarnation. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p><p></p><b></b><p><b><a href="https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/products/hammer-volume-six-night-shadows-le?variant=39270560366655&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-05-18&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnNyUBhCZARIsAI9AYlGD2rkveQHLbZmpwJfakOOHmx_em3HsyGE7-EGJacDdcJ04KTNdu8IaAjrNEALw_wcB">HAMMER VOLUME SIX: Night Shadows - Limited Edition </a>(Released June 2021)<br /></b><br />I completed a further commission for Indicator's box set release last summer and wrote the essay for the booklet accompanying the Blu-ray edition of Hammer's <b>Captain Clegg</b> for this release. It was a great opportunity to write about a Hammer film I had such a soft spot for and I spent some time researching the life and times of Russell Thorndyke, the author of the original books that Hammer's <i>Captain Clegg</i> was inspired by and to understand where the character of Clegg originated.</p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8xRgPP5Bqu-a8Bd7T2m8pFevDCv_QUY_zglZV1rhNsnxI59khZzGrM7JzFB4-LvRa0qaMSAnlW7DzaO1LtS8T5bSdnhNxBh9Gl47ZmT2MEmflbgdopjDWTPy4XGZQvKDQn8Tf4Tk-KtWXnSq5CLasjZV_wRU_mznxNwBX1VGEnekj4e5qBGIFSbhPQ/s600/5060697921441.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="528" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq8xRgPP5Bqu-a8Bd7T2m8pFevDCv_QUY_zglZV1rhNsnxI59khZzGrM7JzFB4-LvRa0qaMSAnlW7DzaO1LtS8T5bSdnhNxBh9Gl47ZmT2MEmflbgdopjDWTPy4XGZQvKDQn8Tf4Tk-KtWXnSq5CLasjZV_wRU_mznxNwBX1VGEnekj4e5qBGIFSbhPQ/w229-h261/5060697921441.png" width="229" /></a></div>"<b><i>Hammer Volume Six: Night Shadows</i> </b>revives four consummate
Hammer classics from the early sixties, exemplifying some of Hammer's best work in the horror and thriller genres. Edgar Allan Poe
looms large in <i>The Shadow of the Cat,</i> a macabre ‘old dark house’ tale of feline revenge, starring André Morell (<i>Cash on Demand</i>) and Barbara Shelley (<i>The Camp on Blood Island</i>); Peter Cushing (<i>The Gorgon</i>, <i>Corruption</i>) and Oliver Reed (<i>The Scarlet Blade</i>) star in <i>Captain Clegg</i>, which sees Hammer fuse horror and adventure in an eighteenth-century-set tale of smugglers and marsh phantoms; Herbert Lom (<i>Mysterious Island</i>) stars as <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i> in Hammer’s acclaimed production of Gaston Leroux’s Gothic classic, whilst Freddie Francis (<i>Torture Garden</i>) directs <i>Nightmare, </i>a spooky psychological thriller in the <i>Les Diaboliques</i> vein, which benefits from full-blooded central performances by Moira Redmond (<i>Jigsaw</i>) and Jennie Linden (<i>A Severed Head</i>).
<p></p><p>
This collection contains a wealth of new and archival extra features,
including documentaries and appreciations, interviews with actors and
crew members, audio commentaries, and extensive booklets. Strictly
limited to 6,000 numbered units." </p><p></p>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-66579103222996844802021-01-14T13:43:00.008+00:002021-01-14T17:05:01.307+00:00FATHERLAND: LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY - NOTES ON AN ESSAY<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh44h2FkrZYlgFgOmnlOZWXlIZ6KsWezbMKloqPt6Dnr5OYggykuc69G5We58q8Oy1vbLQZJIYKz41bOk4lW5BNe8yU_pkqjbasxE_js1kZvU5G0T1656xTo68fdPQE4Hu4NzJhlS2KjwBa/s936/136_FATHERLAND_BD_packshot_72dpi_1000px_transp_720x.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh44h2FkrZYlgFgOmnlOZWXlIZ6KsWezbMKloqPt6Dnr5OYggykuc69G5We58q8Oy1vbLQZJIYKz41bOk4lW5BNe8yU_pkqjbasxE_js1kZvU5G0T1656xTo68fdPQE4Hu4NzJhlS2KjwBa/s320/136_FATHERLAND_BD_packshot_72dpi_1000px_transp_720x.png" /></a></div>Due for release by Indicator on 19 April 2021, this limited edition Blu-Ray of Ken Loach's <b>Fatherland</b>(1986) features my new essay on the film in the booklet that accompanies the first pressing.<p></p><p></p><p>Loach's film, which was released after a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s where he found it difficult to get work commissioned and financed, is all the more intriguing in that it was his only collaboration, to date, with the much admired writer Trevor Griffiths. Griffiths a successful theatre playwright had, like Loach, moved from television and into cinema. Both had a formidable creative and political sensibility running throughout their work and my essay, 'Third Man', chronicles their interweaving, parallel careers through to the development and writing of <b>Fatherland</b>.</p><p>My own interest in Loach's and Griffiths' work has grown since I first watched <b>Fatherland </b>on Channel 4 (who had co-funded the film) in the late 1980s. I was happy to revisit their careers to fulfil the essay brief to contextualise their work and its political drive. With a particular focus on Griffiths, the essay discusses each of <b>Fatherland</b>'s collaborators, their shared politics of the left, their work for theatre, television and cinema and the way each has developed their own voice through their respective techniques in directing and writing. It also underlines their differences, coming into sharp relief in the many compromises that both had to make during the making of <b>Fatherland</b>. Each had something to say in the film, often from different perspectives, about media, culture and history, Europe and political struggle in a decade where the left was in retreat, particularly in Britain.</p><p>As this essay was researched and written last summer, during the lockdown in May and June 2020, it was a challenge to complete it while voluntarily shielding and on furlough. The impact of the coronavirus also prevented me from looking through Loach's and Griffiths' papers held at the BFI national archive. This was particularly upsetting as it would have been very rewarding to look more closely at the development of <b>Fatherland</b>'s script and the correspondence between Loach and Griffiths. Fortunately, David Archibald's article on Loach's approach to acting, written for <i>The Drouth</i> in 2018, offered some of those insights from the archive.<style>@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:Times;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1342185562 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}</style></p><p>I also had some familiarity with Griffiths' television work when I had first researched and reviewed his superb political drama <b><a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2011/11/bill-brand-complete-series-dvd-review.html" target="_blank">Bill Brand</a></b>, made for Thames in 1976 and released on DVD in 2011. The material gathered for that review was then extended through a deep read of several texts on Griffiths and Loach as well as newspaper and magazine research (thanks to the access provided by Manchester Central Library's online newspaper archives and to <i>Film Comment</i>'s invaluable online archive during the first lockdown) to uncover contemporary interviews with Loach and Griffiths when <b>Fatherland</b> was released in 1986. </p><p>I am particularly indebted to the work, published since the 1980s, of Graham Fuller, Stanton B. Garner, John Hill, Stephen Lacey, Jacob Leigh and John Tulloch whose chapters and books on the work of Loach, Griffiths and producer Tony Garnett were extremely helpful in the writing of the essay. </p><p>The initial draft originally came in at 3600 words and through about three further drafts this came down to 3185 (still over the word count) in the final edit. Although a large chunk of about 145 words was cut without too much consequence during that last edit, the loss of an extended section on Barry Hines' two-part television play <i>The Price of Coal </i>(1977) was somewhat unfortunate. It was a pleasure writing this essay while re-visiting the politically prescient <b>Fatherland</b>, a somewhat neglected Loach film. I hope it offers the relevant context to those who may be unfamiliar with much of Griffiths' work in theatre, television and film prior to his collaboration with Loach.<br /></p><p><b>FATHERLAND</b><span><b> - INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES<br /></b></span></p>
<ul><li>
<span>High Definition remaster</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>Original mono audio</span><br />
</li><li>
<i>Language Barriers</i><span> (2021): new interview with editor Jonathan Morris</span><br />
</li><li>
<i>Talk About Work</i><span> (1971): Ken Loach’s documentary for the
Central Office of Information, photographed by Chris Menges,
interviewing young people about their work</span><br />
</li><li>
<i>Right to Work March</i><span> (1972): documentary film of a
five-week protest march from Glasgow to London that saw the
participation of a number of cultural figures, including Loach and other
filmmakers</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>Image gallery: publicity and promotional material</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Frank Collins, an archival interview with Ken Loach, an extract from </span><i>Loach on Loach</i><span>, an overview of contemporary critical responses, new writing on the short films, and film credits</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>UK premiere on Blu-ray</span><br />
</li><li>
<span>Limited edition of 3,000 copies<br /></span> </li></ul>
<p><span>#PHILTD136<br /></span><span>BBFC cert: 15<br /></span><span><b>REGION FREE<br /></b></span><span>EAN: 5060697920192</span></p><p><br />It's good to see some of Loach's less regarded work on Blu-ray with Indicator's release of <b>Fatherland</b> alongside their limited edition of Loach's <b>Carla's Song</b> (1996) in April 2021. Both are available to <a href="https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">pre-order</span></b> </a>from their website.</p>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-63971675692599582852019-08-16T13:52:00.000+01:002019-08-16T14:09:24.393+01:00BIRDY: Limited Edition Blu-Ray - Notes on an essay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73sHhEl6jdQNRDWKKwKfBvO3_qBMd0FG83DR97pgH5DNg70RXq3lJdHx9tIFSw9RvGD9dtznfM17PYUcRHZs5e0A7_oMLjBoStz5kvaGI2VAAOn9o25UzQHJrlZD-UJQC_Krn6kniMSLR/s1600/BIRDY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="719" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73sHhEl6jdQNRDWKKwKfBvO3_qBMd0FG83DR97pgH5DNg70RXq3lJdHx9tIFSw9RvGD9dtznfM17PYUcRHZs5e0A7_oMLjBoStz5kvaGI2VAAOn9o25UzQHJrlZD-UJQC_Krn6kniMSLR/s320/BIRDY.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
Due for release on 28 October 2019 by Indicator, this limited edition Blu-Ray of Alan Parker's film <b>Birdy </b>(1984) features my new essay on the film in the booklet that accompanies the first pressing.<br />
<br />
<b>Birdy</b> remains one of my favourite films of the 1980s and the commission to write the new essay from Powerhouse was an opportunity to not only revisit a film I had seen on release and revisited on VHS and DVD but also to return to the original novel by William Wharton.<br />
<br />
The essay, ‘In a dream, I'm trying to decide what I am’, attempts to track the development of the script prior to Parker's involvement and how Wharton's strange, often abstract, narrative about the transformation of two friends in the aftermath of the Second World War (it was altered to the Vietnam conflict for the film) was brought to the screen by Parker. <br />
<br />
<b>Birdy</b> is another iteration of Wharton's personality, one forged through his participation in the War, his relatively poor background and his childhood obsessions.Tracing the numerous avatars of Wharton involved a close re-reading of the novel <i>Birdy</i> and Wharton's posthumous war biography <i>Shrapnel</i>, tracing Wharton's double life - as abstract painter and author - through numerous interviews, in documents on Parker's own website, and then trying to tie those in with a delve through Parker's papers, donated to the BFI archives.<br />
<br />
The papers at the BFI provided a fascinating insight into how Parker shaped Sandy Kroopf and Jack Behr’s script and attempted to retain as much of the ‘the “one person” schizophrenia of the book’ and remain true to the author's identity or identities.<br />
<br />
Thanks to Nigel Good and Carolyne Bevan of the BFI Special Collections team I was able to access the draft scripts, Parker's letters and memos about the script, the notes on use of Garrett Brown's Skycam to shoot some of the flying sequences, technical notes about canaries, and his correspondence with Michael Reidenback. Reidenback, hoping to secure a role in the film, eventually provided Parker with a lot of research into army psychiatric units and their treatments of mental patients in the post-Vietnam era. This material left the impression that Parker clearly wanted to get the details right about what we eventually saw on screen. It also shed some further light on Wharton's own elusive personality and reclusive life.<br />
<br />
The original draft of the essay was approximately 4600 words by November 2017. By the time I delivered the final draft, in December 2017, this had been reshaped and edited to approximately 3000 words. Finally, this release of <b>Birdy</b> has been a little while coming but it is heartening to know that this was not only down to Indicator's desire to secure Parker for a commentary and produce a number of relevant special features but also to go the extra mile and commission a new 2K remaster of the film.<br />
<br />
But here it is at last. Enjoy.<br />
<br />
<b>INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>New 2K remaster supervised and approved by director Alan Parker</li>
<li>Original stereo audio</li>
<li>New and exclusive audio commentary with director Alan Parker and the BFI’s Justin Johnson</li>
<li>
<i>Learning to Fly</i> (2019): new and exclusive interview with screenwriters Jack Behr and Sandy Kroopf</li>
<li>
<i>Keith Gordon on William Wharton</i> (2019): the actor and filmmaker shares his experiences of adapting Wharton for the screen</li>
<li>
<i>No Hard Feelings</i> (1974): Alan Parker’s early film is an unsentimental view of wartime London through the eyes of a troubled young man</li>
<li>Original theatrical trailer</li>
<li>Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography</li>
<li>New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing</li>
<li>Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Frank Collins,
an overview of contemporary critical responses, archival articles, and
film credits</li>
<li>Limited Edition of 5,000 copies</li>
<li>All extras subject to change</li>
</ul>
#PHILTD028<br />
BBFC cert: 15<br />
<b>REGION FREE</b><br />
EAN: 5037899071083<br />
<br />
Purchase directly from the <a href="https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/products/birdy-le">Powerhouse website</a>. <br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-50642593555811658292019-04-19T12:47:00.001+01:002019-04-19T12:50:58.633+01:00THE BLACK ARCHIVE #31: WARRIORS' GATE - Publication Announcement <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRCJFrsgYRBGcG2_5iX_sXJHWruLmSlERbUVw-W-EnyuNNUzuN_V4qeKcu0pcnqIs0_FP9Z8MrFL6yScmMVzp28_HakGxvueAqN9hzln64TXlDbmyiMoIDc3syWMwT9vMbLWzSNgaA9_e/s1600/WARRIORSGATE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRCJFrsgYRBGcG2_5iX_sXJHWruLmSlERbUVw-W-EnyuNNUzuN_V4qeKcu0pcnqIs0_FP9Z8MrFL6yScmMVzp28_HakGxvueAqN9hzln64TXlDbmyiMoIDc3syWMwT9vMbLWzSNgaA9_e/s400/WARRIORSGATE.jpg" width="276" /></a>I know, it's been a long time since I posted here. However, that's with good reason.<br />
<br />
For about eighteen months I've been busy on two writing projects.<br />
<br />
In November 2017, one of those took me to the BFI National Archives in Berkhamsted on the trail of a British director's archived papers. However, I can't say more at this point as the results are awaiting publication. You'll have to wait and see.<br />
<br />
However, I had to juggle this in the middle of research for another project. This started with a pitch to Obverse Books in August 2017 for a volume in their ongoing book-length studies of single <b>Doctor Who</b> stories. It was a proposal to write a book about Stephen Gallagher's season 18 story, <b><i>Warriors' Gate</i></b>. With interesting stories about its production and a narrative and visual presentation ripe for interpretation, Gallagher's four-part serial offered something of a challenge. Obverse were willing to let me take that on.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I knew there was already a lot written about <i><b>Warriors' Gate</b></i> and there was plenty of material out there to wade through. After establishing a reasonably accurate outline of the production and its problems through desk research, it was off to the BBC Written Archives for a good delve through the production paperwork. This was in hope of turning up new information and also confirming some nebulous details about the dates and stages of production.<br />
<br />
At the same time, I was fortunate enough to start a correspondence with Stephen Gallagher and the director of <i><b>Warriors' Gate</b></i>, Paul Joyce. Gallagher and Joyce were both very supportive of the book and, having received their blessing, I was confident enough to sound them out on a regular basis about certain matters. Several friends directed me to other material and I trotted off to University of Hull Archives at the Hull History Centre to sift through Stephen's archives, intent on tracing his radio drama career and the development of the scripts for <i><b>Warriors' Gate</b></i>. This research gobbled up about six months and took far longer than I expected and yielded an overwhelming amount of material. <br />
<br />
The first draft sputtered into life around April 2018 after I'd returned from Hull. Writing continued for a sustained period until August. You may have seen quite a few tweets about this process. I was then more prepared to arrange to meet with Paul Joyce and spent a hot August afternoon in Ramsgate chatting to a fiercely intelligent man, bursting with stories and anecdotes about his career. Eventually, some of this material fed into the draft manuscripts. A further intense burst of writing took me to the end of 2018 and, as it gave way to 2019, a completed manuscript emerged. <br />
<br />
Now, after much editing and reshaping over the last three months, <b>The Black Archive: Warriors' Gate</b> has escaped from E-Space and is up for<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="color: black;"><b><a href="https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/31-wg/">pre-order</a>. </b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
Here's the book blurb:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>'The shadow of my past and of your future.'</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Representative of <b>Doctor Who</b> at its most experimental, narratively and visually, <b>Warriors’ Gate </b>(1981) was the rich by-product of a producer seeking to modernise the series for the 1980s, a radio writer and novelist who had never written for television, and a film director with one television drama to his credit. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Examining television authorship in the 1980s, and using archive research and new interviews, this Black Archive traces the development of writer Stephen Gallagher’s scripts and their onscreen realisation by producer John Nathan-Turner, script editor Christopher Bidmead, and director Paul Joyce. Similarly, it explores the story’s complex blend of absurd tragicomedy, quantum theory, randomness and entropy, within the context of British New Wave SF, the philosophy of science, modernist theatre, film and television, German Romantic painting, pop video, and the development of electronic video effects.</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Many ‘authors’ contributed to the transmitted version of <b>Warriors’ Gate</b> and the book also considers whether it can be claimed as the work of a single author given the collaborative nature of its troubled production. This is examined in relation to the director’s approach to television style and authorship and the significance of writer-producer-director hierarchies in the evolution of television drama since the 1980s.</i></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
</style>
<br />
Enjoy. I hope I've done it justice. <br />
<br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-34061791857480789602018-03-31T13:02:00.001+01:002019-04-19T12:54:34.208+01:00FUTURE TENSE: British Science Fiction Television - Part One / 1938–1969: ‘Bring Something Back’ - From R.U.R to The Prisoner<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdZSeXeptXoHUI-eygLoRS3HS4apOWq0lUPaL0X7k9vWr7PL6gG6Tkf2u9QLfpJrkcOxf-1TbRIYXxmKL40Qmo1LX-vwgI4vzh8eZcBFJDZiKKPAMQrJKpUoA_K2_udzD43RDh6GvCvPy/s1600/RUR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="907" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdZSeXeptXoHUI-eygLoRS3HS4apOWq0lUPaL0X7k9vWr7PL6gG6Tkf2u9QLfpJrkcOxf-1TbRIYXxmKL40Qmo1LX-vwgI4vzh8eZcBFJDZiKKPAMQrJKpUoA_K2_udzD43RDh6GvCvPy/s400/RUR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R.U.R ©BBC 1938</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Originally posted on the original <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Moviemail</i>
website (now sadly revamped and no longer providing the same opportunity to write such pieces), this was a series of blogs tracing the
apocalyptic themes of British science fiction television. It was
published between August and December 2014 to tie in with the BFI’s
major retrospective and celebration of the science fiction genre <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sci-fi-days-fear-wonder" href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sci-fi-days-fear-wonder" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder</i></a><i class="markup--em markup--p-em">.</i><br />
<br />
<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">These are the longer, uncut versions of the original posts with minor additions and corrections.</i><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="bd18" name="bd18">
<span class="graf-dropCap">T</span>he earliest examples of British science fiction television, two adaptations of Karel Čapek’s 1920 stage play <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">R.U.R </i>(aka <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Rossum’s Universal Robots)</i>,
from which the word ‘robot’ entered the language, bookended the span of
the Second World War. Jan Bussell’s thirty-five minute version was
produced for BBC’s fledgling television service in 1938. Experimental in
nature, the Radio Times advertised it as “a play that should lend
itself very well indeed to television from the point of view of
effects.” It was remade ten years later, again by Bussell, and featured
future <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Doctor Who</i> Patrick Troughton as one of the robots leading a revolution against their human creators.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="bd18" name="bd18">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2aa4" name="2aa4">
<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">R.U.R</i>
touched on major themes about dehumanisation through technology and the
failures of a technologically driven utopia. It seemed entirely apt to
revisit such themes in 1948 as British society emerged from the
privations of the Second World War, rejected the imposed austerity of
the 1950s and set about considering the future.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2aa4" name="2aa4">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="c5c9" name="c5c9">
The play traversed the technocratic idealism and scientific romance of H. G. Wells’ <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Shape of Things to Come</i>, published in 1933, and its extension into dystopian, totalitarianism in George Orwell’s novel of 1949, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>.
Both were part of a British science fiction literary tradition that
included Arthur Conan Doyle, E.M Forster, Rudyard Kipling, John Wyndham,
Aldous Huxley, Olaf Stapledon, C.S. Lewis, John Christopher and Arthur
C. Clarke.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="c5c9" name="c5c9">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
They
epitomised the then key elements of the British science fiction
tradition, one quite different to the pulp American form of the 1930s
and 1940s. British insularity, isolation, anxiety and apocalypse were
state of the nation tropes and they would be manifested in literature,
theatre, cinema and, most effectively, on television.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
Both versions of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">R.U.R </i>were
also televisual experiments that expanded upon the innovations of radio
and theatre. Their creative use of limited resources established another
tradition of British science fiction television where the visually and
audibly strange were presented in the ordinary, intimate, domestic
environment of the viewer.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="f3cb" name="f3cb">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupXi0NEMPSABnmQZWjYe5VJxOK1pNC7eEb7nsJ-uRsOENEYvI9Cm40Uiel3uMwADHvy3naKthQFNFY4hWj2O-GWFm2S_8mkHGKKg8rOPlCUfcSK9u_rqJgTTH77G_l14dIqdR_8UtU7fD/s1600/timemachine2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="600" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupXi0NEMPSABnmQZWjYe5VJxOK1pNC7eEb7nsJ-uRsOENEYvI9Cm40Uiel3uMwADHvy3naKthQFNFY4hWj2O-GWFm2S_8mkHGKKg8rOPlCUfcSK9u_rqJgTTH77G_l14dIqdR_8UtU7fD/s400/timemachine2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Time Machine ©BBC 1949</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="graf-dropCap">T</span>his was developed further with Robert Barr’s 1949 adaptation of Wells’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Time Machine</i>,
transmitted in January of that year, which ambitiously employed back
projection, live cross fading, mixing between cameras, models and
telecine inserts to depict the Time Traveller’s journey through time.
Barr established the medium’s future form and gradually introduced
documentary techniques into drama.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
In this period, several BBC plays embraced science fiction and horror concepts.These included the alternate history of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Take Back Your Freedom</i> (1948) and J.B. Priestley’s vision of post-apocalyptic Britain in <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Summer Day’s Dream </i>(1949); an adaptation of Stevenson’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde</i> (1950) and Wells’s little-known satire <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Wonderful Visit </i>(1952), where an angel attempts to adapt to human society. The children’s serial <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Stranger From Space</i>, where a young boy befriends a marooned Martian, also ran for two series from 1951. <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Time Slip</i>, screened in 1953, was the intriguing story of a man 4.7 seconds ahead in time from the rest of the world.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fac6" name="fac6">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--pullquote" id="8168" name="8168">
Writer
Nigel Kneale, a key figure in the development of science fiction on
British television, captured a sense of Britain’s changing fortunes in
the 1950s as it was increasingly dominated by science and technology and
its culture became heavily influenced by American consumerism. Kneale cut his teeth adapting 1952’s psychic alien possession drama <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Mystery Story</i> and nuclear thriller <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Number Three</i>
in 1953 after joining the new Script Unit at the BBC in 1951. Both
plays critiqued the pursuit of scientific knowledge and coincided with
the optimism of the Festival of Britain, the debut of the Comet jet
aircraft and the imminent completion of Britain’s first nuclear power
station.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘A countless host… with one single consciousness’ </blockquote>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="4e1b" name="4e1b">
Viennese cinema director Rudolph Cartier arrived at the BBC in 1950 and worked with Kneale adapting <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Arrow to the Heart</i>
in 1952. The urgent need to fill a Saturday night slot in the BBC
schedule gave them an opportunity to push the technical and stylistic
potential of television with their ‘thriller in six parts’, 1953’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Quatermass Experiment</i>.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="4e1b" name="4e1b">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="556c" name="556c">
Cartier
eschewed the intimacy of previous BBC dramas and brought his cinematic
vision to bear upon Kneale’s human story of an astronaut who returns to
Earth possessed by an alien entity. The exploits of the
anti-establishment scientist with a conscience, Bernard Quatermass,
gripped an audience of five million viewers and a British science
fiction legend was born.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="21fd" name="21fd">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fac6" name="fac6">
<span class="graf-dropCap">C</span>artier and Kneale next confidently tackled an adaptation of Orwell’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>
and its broadcast in 1954 caused complaints and questions in
Parliament. Cartier again sought a broader scale, using over twenty sets
and pre-filmed inserts, to adapt Orwell’s austere, totalitarian science
fiction polemic.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fac6" name="fac6">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fac6" name="fac6">
It tapped into the still raw emotions about the darkest days of the
Second World War and the fresh anxieties about the Cold War. The play’s
final scenes, the torture of hero Winston Smith played by Peter Cushing,
in Room 101 proved to be too graphic for BBC viewers. Yet, despite the
protests about its 12th December debut the BBC repeated the play on the
16th December.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fac6" name="fac6">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="1a9b" name="1a9b">
Simultaneously, when the makers of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>
were described as ‘sadists and readers of Horror comics’, this
reflected concerns about a creeping Americanisation of British culture
through its SF and horror magazines and comic books. Hollywood’s own mix
of paranoia and spectacle in the era’s science fiction film boom saw
the genre gradually becoming a mass medium entertainment.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ffb2" name="ffb2">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ffb2" name="ffb2">
The
arrival of the BBC’s commercial rival ITV in 1955 merely added fuel to
the debate about high and low culture. Kneale and Cartier returned in
the same year with <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Quatermass II</i>,
a deeply paranoid, pessimistic alien possession thriller that, as James
Chapman noted, said a great deal more about ‘national impotence’ as
Britain struggled to come to terms with its fading global influence. <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Quatermass and the Pit</i>
in 1958 upped the ante with a claustrophobic tale about humanity’s
violent ancestral Martian legacy, fashioning an SF allegory from
Britain’s colonial past and the race riots of that summer.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ffb2" name="ffb2">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b55f" name="b55f">
With his characteristic conservative pessimism, Kneale produced further plays in the genre in the decade that followed. <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Creature</i>, another starring vehicle for Peter Cushing and made prior to <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Quatermass II</i>,
was about an expedition to find the legendary Yeti. After a period
working on film scripts, Kneale provided a ghost story with a twist
about 18th century villagers haunted by a future nuclear apocalypse in
1963’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Road</i>. Sadly, the
play does not survive in the archive. He also worked with director
Michael Elliott in 1964 on ATV’s nuclear thriller <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Crunch</i>.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b55f" name="b55f">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7691" name="7691">
Another Kneale-Elliott collaboration <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Year of the Sex Olympics</i>
in 1968, a psychedelic expression of what Adam Curtis noted as ‘the
paranoia that was beginning to seep into the left at the end of the
1960s’, was a chillingly prescient satire about the influence of mass
media and reality television that continues to resonate today.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Jtq5NoBX701IRLuKBSKbP0ktCY56qdsqBO9T5J6dLurqyAzwic0epnHRXlWL3CohG8Zw0MYveRbt7yHLr_qj1DuLYGyopHY9dykjdS9ASKKIDyBA19Z45P3UBjasd73ffZgZoSpEu3lr/s1600/quatermassx1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="620" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Jtq5NoBX701IRLuKBSKbP0ktCY56qdsqBO9T5J6dLurqyAzwic0epnHRXlWL3CohG8Zw0MYveRbt7yHLr_qj1DuLYGyopHY9dykjdS9ASKKIDyBA19Z45P3UBjasd73ffZgZoSpEu3lr/s400/quatermassx1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Quatermass Experiment ©BBC 1953</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e259" name="e259">
By the start
of the 1960s the BBC’s commercial rivals ITV had captured the ratings
with mass market, popular programmes, not only filling their schedules
with slickly made imports but also with indigenous plays, series and
serials. Associated Rediffusion and ABC produced many SF themed dramas
in this period, primarily obsessing about misguided scientists and their
failed attempts to launch rockets, encroaching apocalypse and its
consequences.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e259" name="e259">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="dcfb" name="dcfb">
David Karp’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">One </i>(1956), Priestley’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Doomsday for Dyson </i>(1958), Lester Fuller’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Before the Sun Goes Down</i> (1959), <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Murder Club</i> — an adaptation of Robert Sheckley’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Tenth Victim</i> — and Giles Cooper’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Loop</i> (1963), about an invasion via outside TV broadcasts, and his adaptation of John Lymington’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Night of the Big Heat </i>(1961) were just a few of the plays from this period.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="dcfb" name="dcfb">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="c520" name="c520">
<span class="graf-dropCap">O</span>ne
of the key figures responsible for the radical reshaping of drama at
ITV franchise ABC was Canadian drama producer Sydney Newman. With the <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Armchair Theatre</i>
drama anthology he produced a series of plays that drew audiences of up
to 12 million viewers and brought realism and new writers to the fore.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="c520" name="c520">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="439d" name="439d">
He also supervised children’s drama and in 1960 commissioned Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice’s six part Sunday afternoon serial <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Target Luna</i>,
about Buchan Island’s experimental rocket group headed by Norman
Wedgewood, his children Geoff, Jimmy and Valerie, journalist Conway
Henderson and a hamster called Hamlet.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="439d" name="439d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="c5a5" name="c5a5">
It was so successful it spawned three equally popular sequels, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Pathfinders in Space</i>, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Pathfinders to Mars</i> and<i class="markup--em markup--p-em"> Pathfinders to Venus</i>.
The various exploits of Wedgewood, the children and Henderson took them
to Mars and Venus in fast paced, positivist adventure serials that
blended science fact with the wonders and terrors of space exploration.
While the production values were primitive, the <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Pathfinders</i> trilogy set an ambitious template for popular children’s science fiction television in the 1960s.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="dcfb" name="dcfb">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b547" name="b547">
Newman also reinvigorated ABC’s Saturday night schedule when he developed <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Avengers</i>,
a Cold War espionage thriller that gradually transformed into a quirky
escapist fantasy, its reassuring traditionalism and sophisticated
modernity becoming the epitome of 1960s meritocratic pop. Many episodes
of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Avengers</i>, particularly
when it moved from a studio VT to all film production, embraced science
fiction concepts as suave British spy John Steed set out to foil
diabolical masterminds of all inclinations.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="markup--strong markup--pullquote-strong">‘Twenty robots… whirling through the universe with a sense of evil.’</span> </blockquote>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e6d" name="7e6d">
1962’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Dumb Martian</i>,
an adaptation of John Wyndham’s short story and allegory about racism
and domestic abuse that featured a space pioneer purchasing a mute
Martian wife for company, was shown in the <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Armchair Theatre</i> strand. Its story editor Irene Shubik had joined ABC in 1960, commissioning a number of fantasy themed scripts for <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Armchair Theatre</i> and used the adaptation to launch her science fiction anthology series <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Out of this World</i>. The only surviving episode, her adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Little Lost Robot</i>, exploring the ethics of creating a race of artificial intelligences, received a welcome DVD release by the BFI in 2014.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e6d" name="7e6d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e6d" name="7e6d">
She established contact with agent John Carnell, who had founded science fiction magazine <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">New Worlds</i>
and had many SF writers on his books, and together they selected the
short stories for adaptation. Its range of literate, thought-provoking
adaptations demonstrated that American and British science fiction were
contemporary bedfellows, with stories by Asimov, Clifford Simak and
Philip K Dick rubbing shoulders with new scripts from Terry Nation and
Richard Waring. These were connections Shubik would exploit when she and
Newman moved to the BBC.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e6d" name="7e6d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e6d" name="7e6d">
<span class="graf-dropCap">T</span>he BBC had, meanwhile, scored another success with the seven part serial <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">A For Andromeda</i>
in 1961. Noted astronomer and cosmologist Fred Hoyle and producer John
Elliot created an eerie story about a group of scientists who receive
extra terrestrial instructions to design and build an advanced computer
and create a life form, Andromeda. Once again, it was a drama focused on
Cold War suspicions and paranoia, fears of technological advancement as
well as the moral and ethical conflicts between idealistic science and
government bureaucracy. Its sequel <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Andromeda Breakthrough</i> in 1962 developed the themes further into a critique of the degradation of science under capitalism.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Sih5DCMgrkNz61CiOqBjujQY8DkNQ3waIr8VIU-nZRgZYKpW488xu6833XRyxO1RQ4tAEVwgV-aODWTtWutp-OHRiOLwL4uU69Gdik255MdEfFrcOeCOgR86ktUOpyKXWWN08avxkBID/s1600/Daleks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1236" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Sih5DCMgrkNz61CiOqBjujQY8DkNQ3waIr8VIU-nZRgZYKpW488xu6833XRyxO1RQ4tAEVwgV-aODWTtWutp-OHRiOLwL4uU69Gdik255MdEfFrcOeCOgR86ktUOpyKXWWN08avxkBID/s400/Daleks.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doctor Who ©BBC 1963</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
When Sydney Newman moved to the BBC in December 1962, he set about
reorganising the Drama department. Prior to this Alice Frick, Donald
Bull and John Braybon of the BBC Survey Group had compiled internal
reports about science fiction, drama and audiences, referencing <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">A for Andromeda</i> and <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Out of this World</i>.
The reports would stimulate Newman’s desire to create a new series for
Saturday tea time. He recruited his former ABC production assistant
Verity Lambert to produce what would become the longest running science
fiction series in the world, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Doctor Who</i>.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
In November 1963 a British cultural phenomenon made its debut and <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Doctor Who</i> then cemented its success when Lambert convinced Newman that Terry Nation’s seven-part story <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Daleks</i> (aka <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Mutants</i>)
did not violate his rule against ‘bug-eyed monsters’ or his remit for
the series to be scientifically and historically educational. The
series’ longevity was assured when the Daleks made their first
appearance in December 1963. Since then, its format has embraced hard
science fiction, historic adventure, fantasy, Gothic horror and satire.
Its appeal to generations old and new continues unabated by dint of the
production team’s remarkable decision in 1966 to 'regenerate' its leading
man.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
Nation’s renewed affinity for science fiction also inspired Irene
Shubik, who also moved with Newman to the BBC, and she asked him to
adapt Isaac Asimov’s novel <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Caves of Steel </i>for drama anthology <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Story Parade</i>
in 1964. Starring Peter Cushing as detective Elijah Bailey, the play
concerned itself with his investigation of the murder of an eminent
scientist and the developing relationship with his partner on the case,
the robot R. Daneel Olivaw. A detective mystery, it also provided Shubik
with a social commentary on xenophobia, over-population and the impact
of technology on human behavior.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="c5dc" name="c5dc">
<span class="graf-dropCap">D</span>uring production of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Story Parade</i>,
Shubik proposed a science fiction anthology to Newman and commissioned
the first 13 scripts for what became the landmark BBC2 series, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Out of the Unknown</i>.
Shubik produced a daring, provocative and ambitious showcase of British
and American writers, resolutely using science fiction as a vehicle to
examine contemporary anxieties and concerns through allegory, metaphor
and satire.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPWUark-a9Kd1_SmzQMGZau7C7QqLt0X-M0FB2aCXlfyZpDZwv7PwcjRtM7orPQqGj_EgbQ4vFrkrhQ63dybVX6xgjBM1MXQrRpAYGqOCEGgXzYQBtLfClC0U_usytkKOOxdAAGnWwotR/s1600/ootu2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="1000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPWUark-a9Kd1_SmzQMGZau7C7QqLt0X-M0FB2aCXlfyZpDZwv7PwcjRtM7orPQqGj_EgbQ4vFrkrhQ63dybVX6xgjBM1MXQrRpAYGqOCEGgXzYQBtLfClC0U_usytkKOOxdAAGnWwotR/s400/ootu2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out of the Unknown ©BBC 1966</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--hasDropCapModel graf--hasDropCap graf-after--figure" id="c5dc" name="c5dc">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="92a7" name="92a7">
Stories
by Pohl, Ballard, Asimov, Simak, Brunner were adapted by the cream of
British scriptwriters and, later, new scripts were commissioned from
Nigel Kneale, Brian Hayles and Michael J Bird. As Mark Ward eloquently
notes within the BFI DVD release of the 20 surviving episodes, its space
age, swinging sixties currency may be passé but the series’
examinations of ‘the individual, the state, human identity, law and
order, education, consumerism, medicine, war and so on, still concern
us.’</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="92a7" name="92a7">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="af7a" name="af7a">
While <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Out of the Unknown</i> engaged intellectually with the genre, ABC’s <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Undermind</i> in 1965 offered more of the same with its post-<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Quatermass</i>
alien conspiracy theme about an anarchic alien fifth column threatening
Britain’s security. The BBC attempted to emulate the stylish heroics of
<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Avengers</i> and ITC’s action adventure series with displaced Edwardian crime fighter <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Adam Adamant Lives!</i> and Bondian alien secret agents led by Simon King, thwarting alien invasions in <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Counterstrike</i>.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
ITV’s schedules were also dominated by American imports from the Irwin Allen stable including <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Lost in Space</i>, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Land of the Giants</i> and <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea</i>.
Homegrown series for ITV were primarily the responsibility of Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson who scored enormous success with their filmed
Supermarionation puppet series.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Supercar</i>, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Fireball XL5</i>, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Thunderbirds</i> and <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons</i>,
made for ITC during the 1960s, captured the essence of the space age
and the post-war utopian ideal man working in harmony with technology.
Crucially the blend of action and adventure with innovative visual
effects, transnational settings and instantly recognisable signature
music secured lucrative international sales and broadcast.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<span class="graf-dropCap">S</span>imilarly ITC film series such as <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Champions</i> and <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">Department S</i> featured many episodes with a science fiction flavor but their jewel in the crown was surely <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Prisoner</i>.
Like Kneale, its star Patrick McGoohan anticipated the ‘fall out’ from
the swinging Sixties and the consequences of the culture wars between
the establishment and the counterculture. His strange, surreal series
about a secret agent who resigns and is interned in a bizarre Italianate
detention centre to have his mind scoured for valuable information, was
full of moral and ethical questions about freedom and conformity.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e972" name="e972">
<i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Prisoner</i>
expressed something of the postmodern qualities of British science
fiction literature as it underwent a radical transformation under
Michael Moorcock’s editorship of <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">New Worlds</i> magazine. It had become a medium of ideas and styles and the sounding board for great social and cultural changes.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e972" name="e972">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3a42" name="3a42">
Television
and film iterations also attempted to reflect the counterculture
movement’s determination to put issues about environmentalism, poverty,
racial and sexual equality on the mainstream agenda. By the 1970s,
science fiction offered an opportunity for producers, writers and
directors to comment on the unfulfilled utopian promises of the 1960s
and explore many alternate coming of age realities.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3a42" name="3a42">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing" id="40ca" name="40ca">
Next time: <b class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Part Two / 1970–75: ‘Waiting for the collapse’ — From Doomwatch to The Changes</b></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f4fa" name="f4fa">
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="92a7" name="92a7">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="ee4d" name="ee4d">
</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2aa4" name="2aa4">
<br /></div>
Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-22622410866188236962016-12-17T14:42:00.001+00:002016-12-17T14:52:23.618+00:00WHAT CATHODE RAY TUBE DID NEXT...Yes, my lovely readers I am still here. I know the <b>Cathode Ray Tube</b> site has been silent for well over a year but I just thought you might like to know that I haven't been idle. I've just been out and about writing for other sites and publications in the brief pauses I can find during my full-time job.<br />
<br />
I'd love to write more and, in fact, I'd like nothing better than to write every day and earn a living from it but my job is all-consuming of my time and energy at the moment. However, more paid work would be lovely and I remain, as always, a writer for hire.<br />
<br />
So... by way of promoting my wares here's a brief run down of where you can find my latest keyboard twiddlings.<br />
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqd9kE0XEgs-oZxIeAEhxu4M9-UPSoiWYjCIdK9QBSJRPj6o5gaHsFUMsfX54ZQ8SOrZCndsTvqrt7MPDbfyiploIbzHEFAtJluXDzi9B73dqQCXO72XWXqG5TQ7NQDbqoNXw8yf8svatG/s1600/FR-main-image.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqd9kE0XEgs-oZxIeAEhxu4M9-UPSoiWYjCIdK9QBSJRPj6o5gaHsFUMsfX54ZQ8SOrZCndsTvqrt7MPDbfyiploIbzHEFAtJluXDzi9B73dqQCXO72XWXqG5TQ7NQDbqoNXw8yf8svatG/s200/FR-main-image.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/tag/doctor-who-s9/"><u><b>Doctor Who - Series 9 and Christmas Special: The Husbands of River Song</b></u></a><br />
Click above for ALL of the Series 9 episode and 2015's festive special coverage at the splendid film and television review site <b>Frame Rated</b> posted between September and December 2015. Plus there's a three-part overview of <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/tag/doctor-who-s8/">Series 8 </a></b>too! More <i>Doctor Who</i> soon.<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>Other television reviews at Frame Rated</b></u></i><br />
<a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/tag/outlander/"><b>Outlander</b> </a>Seasons One and Two, <a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/tag/penny-dreadful/"><b>Penny Dreadful</b> </a>Seasons Two and Three and <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/man-high-castle-season-one/">The Man in the High Castle</a></b> Season One and <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/sherlock-abominable-bride/">Sherlock: The Abominable Bride</a></b> are just some of the other shows I've covered in the last year. Latest <i>The Man in the High Castle</i> and <i>Sherlock</i> reviews are forthcoming. <br />
<br />
<i><u><b>Film reviews at Frame Rated</b></u></i><br />
You'll also find my reviews (including Blu-ray releases) of <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/spectre-2015/">Spectre </a></b>(2015), <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/man-who-fell-earth-1976/">The Man Who Fell to Earth</a></b> (1976), <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/one-million-years-bc-1966/">One Million Years B.C.</a> </b>(1966) and <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/kes-1969/">Kes </a></b>(1969). Plus you can also read a brief tribute article about David Bowie and his work on screens big and small: <b><a href="http://www.framerated.co.uk/cracked-actor-david-bowie/">Cracked Actor </a></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnHY6dgBtVBc_aA0-jTjnnoc8FLyajnqkO5giheAl4HGxcDKNJ9bfrkYT1wslsjrMZAMZuH7CVTg56pY_gTQGJS-2LjjY_C4OJc_c9_g-Et-EdBZebQ9MYjtuR05pAU36liq8HchlDTXC/s1600/WOODY_ALLEN_1986-1991_SLIPCASE_3D-500x500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnHY6dgBtVBc_aA0-jTjnnoc8FLyajnqkO5giheAl4HGxcDKNJ9bfrkYT1wslsjrMZAMZuH7CVTg56pY_gTQGJS-2LjjY_C4OJc_c9_g-Et-EdBZebQ9MYjtuR05pAU36liq8HchlDTXC/s200/WOODY_ALLEN_1986-1991_SLIPCASE_3D-500x500.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
For those avid Blu-ray watchers out there I was also commissioned to write essays for a number of <b>Arrow Film and Video</b> releases this year, including:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=count+yorga&product_id=829"><u><b>The Count Yorga Collection</b></u></a> <br />
For the first pressing of the Blu-ray of <i>Count Yorga, Vampire</i> and <i>The Return of Count Yorga</i>, released in August 2016, the enclosed booklet featured my essay about the films: <a href="http://absolutelyfrank.tumblr.com/post/150863488284">A Tale of Unspeakable Cravings. </a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=wood&product_id=897"><u><b>Woody Allen: Seven Films 1986 to 1991</b></u></a><br />
Due out in February 2017, this Blu-ray box set containing <i>Hannah and Her Sisters</i>, <i>Radio Days</i>, <i>September</i>, <i>Another Woman</i>, <i>Crimes and Misdemeanors</i>, <i>Alice</i> and <i>Shadows and Fog</i> features a book of new writing about the films. I've completed an essay 'The air is full of electricity' about <b>September </b>(1987), which will also gain a standalone Blu-ray release in March 2017.<br />
<br />
<b>Cathode Ray Tube</b> remains blessed with visitors even though nothing new has been posted for some time and I remain ever grateful many of you still enjoy the material archived here. If I can overcome a few personal obstacles I hope I can be back here with new posts in 2017. Until then, I wish all readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-31255714245933504402015-09-13T14:43:00.000+01:002016-12-17T14:43:23.160+00:00BERNARD WILKIE - A PECULIAR EFFECT ON THE BBC / Book Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnZ4JZFJbLDoCCxL58D2B-JH5Qp2gV63UZ0kp56ZP9ILScNX3D6Sx8Zu6eUcxizzszvs_Lr8OQhHzCm7IBAwae1e9m-nGmmyAPf9JkM7jvxqVkad-HUWLfNp80E9DGL1aAapcqtd83EWB/s1600/Bernard+Wilkie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrnZ4JZFJbLDoCCxL58D2B-JH5Qp2gV63UZ0kp56ZP9ILScNX3D6Sx8Zu6eUcxizzszvs_Lr8OQhHzCm7IBAwae1e9m-nGmmyAPf9JkM7jvxqVkad-HUWLfNp80E9DGL1aAapcqtd83EWB/s400/Bernard+Wilkie.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
Two names synonymous with the pioneering days of creating visual effects for television are Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine. Back in the 1950s, they <i>were</i> the Visual Effects Department of the BBC even though at the time it wasn't even known as that, BBC Television Centre was yet to be built and neither of them had created effects for television before. <br />
<br />
Bernard Wilkie's previously unpublished memoir, written in the 1990s, arrives from <a href="http://www.miwkpublishing.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=104">Miwk Publishing</a> this September. Although Wilkie wrote <i>The Technique of Special Effects in Television</i> in 1971 (considered the effects industry bible by many) and his notes and diaries were accessed for Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker's excellent <i>BBC VFX: The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department</i> published in 2010, this book provides an in depth, illuminating and often hilarious account of his profession directly from the horse's mouth, as it were.<br />
<br />
He takes us, via some amusing detours, from his inauspicious introduction to fibreglass techniques during his first interview with Richard Levin, the BBC's Head of Television Design, in 1954 to his retirement from the BBC in 1978 shortly after overseeing the Visual Effects Department's move to Western Avenue in Acton. <br />
<br />
As he told the <i>Radio Times</i> for its Doctor Who 10th Anniversary Special in 1973: "Special effects are a combination of engineering and artistry, with a spot of conjuring thrown in." Conjuring is from whence Wilkie's inventive and creative impulses seem to have sprung. The trouble is, he wasn't terribly good at it.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
He was clearly passionate about showmanship and stagecraft (regular family visits to the Lewisham Hippodrome inspired a love of comedy and variety acts) and as an eight year old had already decided he was going to be a stage magician. However, a disastrous performance at the school Christmas concert, where all his tricks conspired against him, taught him a valuable lesson: "a performer should always rehearse with his props before going on stage."<br />
<br />
This rule certainly applied to the testing of effects that he and Jack Kine undertook at the BBC but even then the pair of them were asking for trouble when certain effects got out of hand. But we're jumping the gun.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"do you know anything about fibreglass?" </blockquote>
He spent the Second World War as a draughtsman and engineer at the Air Ministry before
joining the Royal Air Force. Towards the end of the war he worked for Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force and then in Germany was part of an Air Force entertainment group. Here, he was set designer, scene painter, carpenter and stage manager for shows mounted at a former health spa with a 300 seat theatre. Talking of guns, he provides an amusing anecdote about a prop gun which underlines his edict about rehearsing before going on stage.<br />
<br />
The BBC's relocation of their Engineering Research Department to Kingswood in Surrey proved fortuitous. His family had moved there after being bombed out of London and Wilkie discovered the BBC were about to move into a nearby manor house, Kingswood Warren. A prompt letter to them asking for a job secured him six years of employment "drawing wiring diagrams and component layouts." <br />
<br />
His eventual restlessness resulted in a mountain of job applications, for many positions way beyond his experience, to the BBC television service. Despite his local manager getting rather frustrated with him, the BBC granted him a special interview after showing such determination. It's when he is interviewed by Richard Levin that the book plays to one of its great strengths.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BvasNGRbY_eoJSvz5Go1OirN1jcGtjKJHpqgiAMyD2CYztHm4kmKZW3QWHTK9iDTHS0bIKrv0frrcjIbqs21a43-WOeMH_hdpHAR9NoIveS7G96IL3JY2XoyT1LvRvIsdofIFDZuYKux/s1600/scenery+block.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BvasNGRbY_eoJSvz5Go1OirN1jcGtjKJHpqgiAMyD2CYztHm4kmKZW3QWHTK9iDTHS0bIKrv0frrcjIbqs21a43-WOeMH_hdpHAR9NoIveS7G96IL3JY2XoyT1LvRvIsdofIFDZuYKux/s320/scenery+block.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Tuh2vqhxco4T5AMvxg3BBJ1eOVNCl_KIm10auqLlZq8fFf1hVk-Kt1Bd3INEbsNIfIHqFO2guV9VA-APLrn0fjosZS7z-ICMVXxPwi0xPCFUxaSifNYsFBPK-eabmfQbNptKNKsIniL_/s1600/tvc+under+construction2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Tuh2vqhxco4T5AMvxg3BBJ1eOVNCl_KIm10auqLlZq8fFf1hVk-Kt1Bd3INEbsNIfIHqFO2guV9VA-APLrn0fjosZS7z-ICMVXxPwi0xPCFUxaSifNYsFBPK-eabmfQbNptKNKsIniL_/s320/tvc+under+construction2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Y01IIyhyphenhyphen59hKrctzwdtc5JakTdmLVbesjnXzjTfvuP3dMSzAO-1l6mxG_nCJ4BWgo12D_49Ud1mWByiMIwwNC2R-s5AqdKKXOfjyWtDg1GoR9PhU4xDhqvECP8Xs74hsULXv2YjNV11Q/s1600/j+and+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Y01IIyhyphenhyphen59hKrctzwdtc5JakTdmLVbesjnXzjTfvuP3dMSzAO-1l6mxG_nCJ4BWgo12D_49Ud1mWByiMIwwNC2R-s5AqdKKXOfjyWtDg1GoR9PhU4xDhqvECP8Xs74hsULXv2YjNV11Q/s320/j+and+b.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Wilkie captures the sense of place extremely well, whether it be his journey to Television Centre, not even built when that fateful day he got the bus to White City, or his later wanderings around the subterranean studios at Lime Grove and Ealing. There is a palpable sense that Wilkie was going to be part of television's future in 1954, a witness to the modern television facility that would rise from the White City rubbish tip. It is an evocative recollection of the period. <br />
<br />
Levin's question of, "do you know anything about fibreglass?" was the catalyst for a completely new career. Wilkie bluffed his way in by claiming he did, by swotting up in a public library on the subject and then impressing Levin in a meeting with a sales rep.<br />
<br />
A three month secondment to create a fibreglass unit making lightweight scenery in the workshops eventually led to his encounter with Jack Kine, a scenic artist working at the BBC's Scenery Block, and the creation of the Visual Effects Department. When Wilkie was disposing of a bucket of smoking resin, Kine spotted him and tried to help, ending up with burnt fingers and ruined shoes for his trouble.<br />
<br />
Just as Wilkie had struck upon the idea that the BBC needed such designers he again met Jack Kine, this time sitting in Levin's office. Kine had had the same thoughts and now Levin was bringing them together to create the Effects Department. Over a couple of pints at the White Horse, they put any differences aside and plunged headlong into the unregulated world of television production. There's a wonderful chapter devoted to Kine, where Wilkie's mutual respect and shared humour shines off the page about a colleague who claimed "if it can be imagined, it can be made." He recalls Kine's background as a model maker, Slade trained artist and as a draughtsman at Alexandra Palace and when, in his late seventies, Kine underwent corneal surgery to partially regain his sight. <br />
<br />
What would seem to be simple tasks - creating spiral captions (deemed the very first television visual effect they created for a 1954 edition of the arts programme <i>Mobiles</i>), generating dry ice with tin baths (there's a whole chapter devoted to the perils of working with the stuff), smoke effects and simulating snow - paled into insignificance when it came to organising their workshops and setting up their first office. They painted their long workbench with a maroon paint that refused to dry and it almost ripped the seat out of David Attenborough's pants and they blew up most of their office with an advertising gimmick designed to promote their skills.<br />
<br />
However, he also illustrates the hazards and hard lessons they learned. They pulled their workshop apart to retrieve a chip of yellow phosphorous that could explode and start a fire that would have gutted Television Centre and, at an effects demonstration, a Thermos of dry ice exploded and covered the front row of the audience with glass shards. Wilkie constantly iterates that, despite the lax regulations, he and staff were safety conscious, especially when it came to involving artistes in effects and stunts. <br />
<br />
These 'experiments' and 'accidents' formed the backbone of their Heath Robinson expertise and they slowly accrued work on various productions. However, inadvertently setting off very loud explosions in the Design Block or interrupting the Buying Department's lunch hour football with a ricocheting pyrotechnic gained them a less than respectable reputation.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It can't be easy to act out naked fear while peering at two gay rats having it away like knives." </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXb7zW7imuk1xyGpVwLqwz0bMlwRKkxgvDrJpnzyTK8nn0oAZAl2Mmjq8zIt-iJeBp487LFmJWow5aPktNmdgvSW_ynAxhEa-NWyZ4B5Y3nhTO_U4wMW50aOyrKUdd48EuW_IYiUT5x1R/s1600/morecambeandwise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXb7zW7imuk1xyGpVwLqwz0bMlwRKkxgvDrJpnzyTK8nn0oAZAl2Mmjq8zIt-iJeBp487LFmJWow5aPktNmdgvSW_ynAxhEa-NWyZ4B5Y3nhTO_U4wMW50aOyrKUdd48EuW_IYiUT5x1R/s320/morecambeandwise.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hd0kCVDI9M722JfvEj1_tHHjbBPy-AYJQA3ptV3HPClhQBG-HAakuwZeszQDPuj5vFQvz7p-Cp3QtF-S37QJq89x7nGfVsx4h4K2s1yJgkYRpkLjWV5oGa1p2DwuZ5IznkMWbd5waMPV/s1600/1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hd0kCVDI9M722JfvEj1_tHHjbBPy-AYJQA3ptV3HPClhQBG-HAakuwZeszQDPuj5vFQvz7p-Cp3QtF-S37QJq89x7nGfVsx4h4K2s1yJgkYRpkLjWV5oGa1p2DwuZ5IznkMWbd5waMPV/s320/1984.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONd2JIAh9PGTPDw3iLb1Pjh8v5v8KRfjUnyGlz6NwKYP7W-LIDOfB4er_eoOIelTQdUumEnFubceLJvSVBLUKwY573lP-AUncckXHnKNH0UA75TTfnU07xIb39xghin6orZ8n03ubZ7wn/s1600/wilkie+and+kine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONd2JIAh9PGTPDw3iLb1Pjh8v5v8KRfjUnyGlz6NwKYP7W-LIDOfB4er_eoOIelTQdUumEnFubceLJvSVBLUKwY573lP-AUncckXHnKNH0UA75TTfnU07xIb39xghin6orZ8n03ubZ7wn/s320/wilkie+and+kine.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Despite this they were involved in some of the key television programmes of the 1950s. Wilkie's love of comedy and variety found him rigging props and effects and sharing the Shepherd's Bush Empire stage with Morecambe and Wise as they recorded their television <span data-dobid="hdw">bête noire</span> <i>Running Wild</i> (BBC, 1954). Their first show for television was a disaster, eliciting that infamous newspaper review: "Definition of the week:- TV Set: The box they buried Morecambe and Wise in."<br />
<br />
It's a fascinating account of Eric and Ernie's growing sense of insecurity as the recording of the show progressed. They would ask Wilkie and Kine their opinions of the jokes and sketches, whether they felt their director was competent and apparently started losing confidence in their own partnership. This was exacerbated by certain effects not working on cue when water syphons refused to work and exploding amplifiers were miscued.<br />
<br />
If you are looking for chapters on their work with Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Kneale then you'll not be disappointed. Wilkie provides some lovely detail about working on <i>Nineteen Eighty Four</i> (BBC, 1954), <i>Quatermass II </i>(BBC, 1955) and <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> (BBC, 1958).<br />
<br />
Using tiny budgets they created the props for <i>Nineteen Eighty Four</i> out of scrap, including the surveillance Telescreens which were made from salvaged roadside oil lamps and pocket torches attached to the spindles of wound up gramophones. These had to be cued in live on air and you mislaid the winding handle for the gramophones at your peril.<br />
<br />
They were also responsible for the props and effects in the infamous closing scenes of Kneale's adaptation of Orwell's book. Winston Smith (Peter Cushing) is tortured by O'Brien (<span class="st">André</span> Morell) with rats enclosed in a cage strapped to Smith's face. The sewer rats used for the scene acquired stage fright and wouldn't perform and the tame rats they used were more interested in sex. As Wilkie recalls: "How Peter Cushing and <span class="st">André</span> Morell didn't collapse with laughter I shall never know. It can't be easy to act out naked fear while peering at two gay rats having it away like knives."<br />
<br />
<i>Quatermass II</i> saw them using rocket effects, which escaped from a test launch and flew down Wood Lane, designing space suits, and making a brief appearance on TV as white coated technicians helping John Robinson and Hugh Griffith into their suits. Any book that mentions Hugh Griffiths' private parts getting crushed in a space suit deserves your attention. Finally, Wilkie fondly remembers the appearance of the tentacled monster as "merely a toilet cleaner's glove being waggled about by a bloke in a wet shirt, pissed off and smelling of cocoa."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4QCRl0P9M6Anvdh4gkXzJZi0Y8_ToGFTSyrmmFLw2XHUB9GxizwYm87SHlCCkbbxwFEiX7-qNcpEIrb0e1w08c7L_wRykYFBlhjX5gVXRbNMysJz6t7vs-lUHUCj1pP1Y56J_aqBGwVI/s1600/wilkie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4QCRl0P9M6Anvdh4gkXzJZi0Y8_ToGFTSyrmmFLw2XHUB9GxizwYm87SHlCCkbbxwFEiX7-qNcpEIrb0e1w08c7L_wRykYFBlhjX5gVXRbNMysJz6t7vs-lUHUCj1pP1Y56J_aqBGwVI/s320/wilkie.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDZ2QSAobATSyvPDpTOfPO_itYWZeQ8AmcvRxQcuo2McLj3py3PQrEoMyILHYZy4QduRoPVNtnKtRwGO7FGsZk-toEBRuQJqOQffdeF1HgFhsUDU53RxaieaU13Rrk_qqL6sjuze3j7XQ/s1600/bbc+bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDZ2QSAobATSyvPDpTOfPO_itYWZeQ8AmcvRxQcuo2McLj3py3PQrEoMyILHYZy4QduRoPVNtnKtRwGO7FGsZk-toEBRuQJqOQffdeF1HgFhsUDU53RxaieaU13Rrk_qqL6sjuze3j7XQ/s320/bbc+bar.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
When the BBC bought Ealing Studios in 1955 for the princely sum of £350, 000, Wilkie and Kine were instructed to audit the studio's assets. It's a remarkable account of how they wandered through the abandoned studios and recalled the glory days of filmmaking at the facility, noting the workshops, the lots, the cutting rooms, and saw a bright future for a visual effects unit based there. As well as working at Ealing, he and Kine were also given use of the Puppet Theatre space in Television Centre, which became known as the Model Stage, as one of their bases near the television studios.<br />
<br />
Wilkie recounts the purchase of his first car and taking his driving test alongside his effects work on <i>The Sky at Night</i> (BBC, 1957-), getting lost in the fog on a remote Scottish Loch while providing model effects on location, suffering sea sickness as he worked with Michaeljohn Harris on simulating a fire on a coastal cargo carrier and designing a huge rubber fish for Cartier's television opera <i>Tobias and the Angel</i> (BBC, 1960) that shed its iridescent paint over all and sundry.<br />
<br />
In 1958, Wilkie worked with Kine at Ealing Studios on <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> and they were required to provide a melting spaceship, three legged Martian bodies and disturbances of the ground. Nigel Kneale's brother Bryan inspired the design of the tripod Martians with one his paintings and they were duly created in fibreglass. One of the scariest moments in the serial came about totally by accident. Hanging up the Martian corpses with nylon lines, Kine broke a thread and one of the creatures suddenly dropped. Cartier immediately saw the potential that this sudden, dramatic movement would have on the audience and incorporated it into the episode.<br />
<br />
Other effects for the serial unfortunately ostracised them from sharing the tea trolley and a lunch time drink with colleagues. The serial's rout of the Martian civilisation had to show several Martian heads breaking open and they simulated the splattering contents with spaghetti and tomato sauce. But the effects were prepared two weeks in advance and under the hot studio lights they decomposed further. The melting spaceship was achieved with covering the model with lashings of Golden Syrup. It got everywhere. The studios not only stank to high heaven but were now also covered in a sticky residue. <br />
<br />
Reorganisation at the BBC in 1964 took Wilkie and Kine to premises in Woodstock Grove and they had several effects staff under their auspices, including Peter Day and Ron Oates, covering a wealth of children's programmes, documentary, comedy and drama. At Television Centre, Wilkie amusingly recalls their invite to the opening of the BBC Club, that began as a refectory dinner table set for twelve people in a single room on the fourth floor and eventually became the legendary bars and roof garden where, in an era long gone, it was famous as the meeting place for actors, producers, technicians, composers and writers.<br />
<br />
In his witty and unpretentious style, Wilkie traces the development of Television Centre and his encounters with bosses such as Richard Levin and Michael Mills. Mills epitomised the upper echelons in charge of production back in the day, an ex-seaman who equated programme making with the chain of command in a major military operation. If you weren't ex-Navy then your time in the services would count for little in the pecking order he established, especially if you were on a boat filming an inflatable Loch Ness monster being dragged across a stretch of water in the Highlands. <br />
<br />
Nothing seemed to phase Wilkie, whether it was the eccentric joys of working with a fibreglass whale for Michael Bentine's <i>It's A Square World</i> (BBC, 1960-64), almost burning Eric Porter in the house fire set up at Ealing Studios for an episode of <i>The Forsyte Saga</i> (BBC, 1967), trying to create a water filled ice wall for <i>Doctor Who</i> (BBC, 1963-89, 1996, 2005-) which promptly leaked all over the studio floor, preventing John Scott Martin from falling off a cliff in his Dalek, or travelling up to Scotland to film <i>Monty Python's Flying Circus </i>(BBC, 1969-74) in the company of Eric Idle and, en route, enjoying the hospitality of the Loch Lomond annual junket held by the Scottish Whisky Distillers' Association.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"like a rogue elephant with a bee up its bum" </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZMaTfJkp_JXZx7B__H9XzzxUSFwwS_ji_CJNAl5aSIdX54p4lcTbXE30UBNACYrojRZ5xho7f-RfiPqP0modVNFDxwUEXfI8MfMExTx7VbmUGb1kvN_ewuLPznxm2LP-Pjb-sxXbpAEQ/s1600/tardis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZMaTfJkp_JXZx7B__H9XzzxUSFwwS_ji_CJNAl5aSIdX54p4lcTbXE30UBNACYrojRZ5xho7f-RfiPqP0modVNFDxwUEXfI8MfMExTx7VbmUGb1kvN_ewuLPznxm2LP-Pjb-sxXbpAEQ/s320/tardis.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CgfoJM0Gt1p2n6vbI5P4Znh7WloOCPb3-k-qlsGnsN17NtgX0bbJ8B1fMsz4n_oVUVKDLiiiTR4xy1XkFT9MetaqihmVhxjIwT6lO3FQ4_QJ3Dp8Xza3eL_fU-GBvxKiqVVnBXJCQWEr/s1600/wilkie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CgfoJM0Gt1p2n6vbI5P4Znh7WloOCPb3-k-qlsGnsN17NtgX0bbJ8B1fMsz4n_oVUVKDLiiiTR4xy1XkFT9MetaqihmVhxjIwT6lO3FQ4_QJ3Dp8Xza3eL_fU-GBvxKiqVVnBXJCQWEr/s320/wilkie2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5UQwFkb1iSL0bAOY9qwU5gaeNsADXrslNV2gDK2afDwztY9FmiFEKkq2f1G41ZAOKC50fK3zivcI7cKn9x0hgu_bx_RYmZSwS1U3LGgKPAzFuF1aAuOT-xstXoNGX0Va8ZvJFjssT6q-/s1600/western+avenue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5UQwFkb1iSL0bAOY9qwU5gaeNsADXrslNV2gDK2afDwztY9FmiFEKkq2f1G41ZAOKC50fK3zivcI7cKn9x0hgu_bx_RYmZSwS1U3LGgKPAzFuF1aAuOT-xstXoNGX0Va8ZvJFjssT6q-/s320/western+avenue.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The sense these were happy days and that he couldn't believe he was getting paid to blow things up or set things on fire, so obviously an extension of his misspent youth making his own fireworks and roping in his younger brother to set them off or inspired by his father's use of gunpowder to clear the flue of the kitchen copper boiler, permeates these memories.<br />
<br />
Of <i>Doctor Who</i>, there are particularly strong recollections as he and Kine were there from the beginning and advised Ray Cusick about realising his designs of the Dalek. To meet the deadline for construction, Wilkie suggested faceting the skirt section in case they needed to make them from plywood rather than fibreglass. <br />
<br />
They tackled the demarcation disputes about who was responsible for assembling and operating the TARDIS console, created authentic looking giant spiders, and wrangled the recalcitrant radio controlled K-9 prop, which often behaved "like a rogue elephant with a bee up its bum."<br />
<br />
Even the strange beauty of the waterlogged clay pits used in filming 'Colony in Space' for <i>Doctor Who</i> were a delight to him and his effects assistants Ian Scoones and Colin Mapson. Mind you, Scoones suffered when he had to carry the full weight of the IMC robot prop on his shoulders when one of its castors malfunctioned. <br />
<br />
The closing chapters focus on much of the work he did for comedy shows such as <i>Not Only... But Also</i> (the utter madness of filming the title sequence on Tower Bridge in 1970 would send the Health and Safety Executive in a spin today), <i>The Dave Allen Show</i> (BBC, 1968) and <i>Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em</i> (BBC, 1973-78). The latter two shows featured exploding outside toilets, a Stonehenge and a chicken house both set to collapse on cue and dangerous stunts launching cars into the sea or off the edge of cliffs.<br />
<br />
Working on <i>Some Mothers</i> with the martinet producer/director Michael Mills appeared to be more stressful than anything that the BBC had previously thrown at Wilkie and his team. How to stop a Morris Minor from bouncing up and down on the roof of a coach and do it in your lunch hour epitomised "the fate of everyone who worked in Visual Effects". There also appeared to be little thanks from the likes of Mills as Wilkie, Scoones and Rhys Jones had to suffer for their art putting together and testing a cupboard, eventually containing Michael Crawford, that was required to topple down a set of stairs. <br />
<br />
This delightful book is rounded off with Wilkie's thoughts on the Department's move to Western Avenue in Acton in 1977. Here, the facilities and space were greatly expanded to meet the increasing demand for visual effects and would incorporate improved workshops, a dedicated model stage, offices and car parking. However, Jack Kine was unhappy that the Department was to be administered by former scenic designer John Cooper (also uneasy about his own promotion over Wilkie and Kine) and opted instead to take early retirement.<br />
<br />
New techniques and processes had superseded the "string and elastic philosophy" of the original founders of the Department and Wilkie himself was planning his own retirement. Kine and Wilkie would meet up again. most memorably for the closure of Lime Grove studios in July 1991, celebrating with a sherry in Studio E. It was the end of an era.<br />
<br />
Martin Wilkie, Bernard's son, and effects designer Mike Tucker, now supervisor at the award winning The Model Unit, provide suitable afterwords. Martin sums up his father's immense contribution to the development of television and visual effects and Mike heaps appropriate praise on that effects bible written by Bernard, <i>The Technique of Special Effects in Television</i>, that inspired his own career.<br />
<br />
Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine pioneered what became the largest TV Visual Effects Department in the world, where art and engineering combined to produce magic. Martin reflects on Bernard's humble recollections of "just another day at the office", and outlines his father's post-BBC activities writing for Russ Abbott and the Grumbleweeds, providing effects expertise for West Deutsche Rundfunk and assisting Lorne Martin with <i>Doctor Who</i> exhibitions. It's a suitably moving coda to this hugely enjoyable tribute to one of television's genial magicians. <br />
<br />
<b>A Peculiar Effect On the BBC</b><br />
Bernard Wilkie<br />
Foreword by Mat Irvine<br />
Afterword by Martin Wilkie and Mike Tucker <br />
<a href="http://www.miwkpublishing.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=104">Miwk Publishing Ltd</a><br />
29th September 2015 <br />
Hardcover<br />
288pp<br />
ISBN-10: 1908630221<br />
ISBN-13: 978-1908630223<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: I am indebted to Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker's <i>BBC VFX: The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department </i>for some of the images used to illustrate this review. No copyright infringement is intended. Thanks also to http://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk for background information and images of the Scenery Block and TV Centre under construction.</span> Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-17746123379491158382015-08-14T10:12:00.000+01:002015-09-13T14:47:03.726+01:00SOLDIER AND ME - The Complete Series / DVD Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNz_wjZ87niMiv_WOoiBBUiytBiwsmwYmSo8kAPVYlI53a7QHqLnr51R3P01qd76NvSGdZbStFG46dgB79sZbNoDi2mXqH-zRXFrNOlwGXU1R-ekGCeugahaSvVVd27xYTQ0j2XjUrcVMA/s1600/soldier-and-me-the-complete-series.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNz_wjZ87niMiv_WOoiBBUiytBiwsmwYmSo8kAPVYlI53a7QHqLnr51R3P01qd76NvSGdZbStFG46dgB79sZbNoDi2mXqH-zRXFrNOlwGXU1R-ekGCeugahaSvVVd27xYTQ0j2XjUrcVMA/s320/soldier-and-me-the-complete-series.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
<b>Soldier And Me</b>, Granada's 1974 BAFTA award-winning children's drama, comes to DVD this month courtesy of Network.<br />
<br />
The nine half-hour episodes, broadcast in a Sunday tea-time slot between 15 September and 10 November 1974, were made by producer Brian Armstrong and directed by<i> </i>Carol Wilks<i>, </i>both formerly producer and researcher respectively on Granada's hard-hitting documentary strand<i> World in Action.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Soldier and Me</b> was an adaptation by writer David Line of his own best selling book 'Run For Your Life', originally published by Jonathan Cape in 1966. Line was the pseudonym of thriller writer Lionel Davidson.<br />
<br />
As Jake Kerridge noted Davidson, born in Hull in 1922 and who died in 2009, was perhaps the last of the great adventure writers of the 1950s and 1960s, casting his unwitting heroes in the tradition of the ripping yarns spun by writers such as John Buchan. He was referred to as "today’s Rider Haggard" by Daphne du Maurier and his early novel 'The Rose of Tibet' was praised by Graham Greene as a "genuine adventure story." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span><br />
<br />
Davidson's career as a writer started with him as an office boy opening the post at <i>The Spectator </i>(it published his first story when he was 15 after he smuggled one of his own pieces into the submissions he forwarded to the
literary editor), writing syndicated features for children and an agony column and, after the Second World War, working at Fleet Street's Keystone press agency. As a freelance writer he travelled to Czechoslovakia in 1947, smuggling himself aboard a lorry deporting Slovaks from Hungary back to Czechoslovakia as per Stalin's diktat for Eastern Europe. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(2)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>By 1955, he was the fiction editor of short story and serial magazine <i>John Bull</i> and his first novel, 'The Night of Wenceslas' in 1960, was a Gold Dagger thriller award winner and was inspired by his experiences in Czechoslovakia. The rights to the book were sold to British producer Betty Box who transformed it into a limp comedy <i>Hot Enough for June</i>
(1964). Dirk Bogarde turned down the lead role but was instructed by his agent to take it because he needed the money. He played the innocent British writer Nicholas Whistler who becomes embroiled with agents in Czechoslovakia after inadvertently 'spying' for British Intelligence while employed as a trainee executive for a glass company. Davidson's brush with the film world was financially lucrative but creatively not an entirely successful one.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="storyTop ">'... this may reflect his own
position as something of an outsider in English society'</span></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPuvQs2h80V91yP6tB5GSvuq8aO-xyTU3UebgTbFCuzrzZh7C7NufWVe7PD8YnWFtim3dpFsKqNFGIKJf8W9jZV0jvAh0HBsZ1k8mr24ZwoAFI4QZhVjvVWVBzm4y9NynBxa9dBa4A3tm_/s1600/run+for+your+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPuvQs2h80V91yP6tB5GSvuq8aO-xyTU3UebgTbFCuzrzZh7C7NufWVe7PD8YnWFtim3dpFsKqNFGIKJf8W9jZV0jvAh0HBsZ1k8mr24ZwoAFI4QZhVjvVWVBzm4y9NynBxa9dBa4A3tm_/s320/run+for+your+life.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
Two further Gold Dagger awards were bestowed upon 'A Long Way to Shiloh' (1966) and 'The Chelsea Murders' (1978). The former novel, a thriller dealing with the race between a Professor of Languages, Caspar Laing, the Israelis and Jordanians to locate a holy relic in the burning Negev desert signalled a growing preoccupation with his Jewish heritage and he moved to Israel with his family in 1968. After a decade he returned to Britain to publish 'The Chelsea Murders' and a final novel, the highly praised 'Kolymsky Heights', in 1994.<br />
<br />
<span class="storyTop ">As Michael Carlson noted in his 2009 obituary for the writer: "Davidson's novels generally involved multiple
protagonists working together for different reasons, with hidden motives
and potential betrayal at their core. Some of this may reflect his own
position as something of an outsider in English society." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(3)</span></span> <br />
<br />
'Run for Your Life', a novel for teenagers published in 1966, seemed to reflect this too and returned to his experiences in Czechoslovakia for its post-Hungarian revolution tale of two boys, one a refugee, who uncover a plot to murder dissidents in London. The murderers give chase and follow the two boys from their escape on a Liverpool Street train across the wintry landscape of the Norfolk fens. When Granada producer Brian Armstrong decided to adapt the book, he suggested updating the background to post-1968 Prague Spring, after the Soviets invaded to halt the democratic liberal reforms proposed by First Secretary Alexander Dubček.<br />
<br />
Educated at Heaton Grammar school and Wadham College, Oxford, Brian Armstrong joined Granada in 1958 as an assistant transmission controller. He became a researcher, writer and producer, and between 1963 and 1969 worked on <i>The World Tomorrow</i>,<i> World in Action</i> as well as <i>Nice Time</i>, <i>Cinema</i> and <i>All Our Yesterdays</i>. He eventually went on to produce <i>Coronation Street</i> and became Head of Comedy at Granada.
<br />
<br />
Clearly, the changes he suggested to Lionel Davidson when it came to adapting his own book for television had been born out of Armstrong's own near-death experiences in Prague making a film, without the Russians' knowledge, for the <i>World in Action </i>team in 1968. Talking to the <i>TV Times</i>, he recalled filming in Prague and turning to see a Russian soldier taking aim at his bead: "Looking back, I remember not being frightened, just embarrassed, like a naughty school-boy who'd been caught breaking school rules. As I moved, he followed my head with his rifle. Then, for no apparent reason, he lowered it and turned away. I'll never know why." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(4)</span><br />
<br />
The difficulties of reporting from Czechoslovakia were not without their humorous side: "I had thought I might have to appear on Intervision with a live, to-camera report - so I borrowed a little number from Granada's wardrobe department before I left Manchester. I had been in the middle of mayhem for three days when the phone rang in my hotel room. It was a call from Granada. It was May, Head of Wardrobe: "Can I have Albert Tatlock's best jacket back immediately?"<span style="font-size: x-small;">(5)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxlWpaZZTbVivCa7yhKiD-CKTJbcC0x_nfTsIlEqlBfsGIok_E_2WjEnmjFy13lUDPCZOjlYGmqF2n_WV4zKB_XH3zH5WMr85VLgPVeer9EaQHPTsHxkSAo6GohBJozfQQqIVXb3C_A7W/s1600/soldier1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxlWpaZZTbVivCa7yhKiD-CKTJbcC0x_nfTsIlEqlBfsGIok_E_2WjEnmjFy13lUDPCZOjlYGmqF2n_WV4zKB_XH3zH5WMr85VLgPVeer9EaQHPTsHxkSAo6GohBJozfQQqIVXb3C_A7W/s320/soldier1b.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8vIIG1R_9cN9LXCtrkKwG5yetaTsNaWHFHZUrGdFp9dJr-3o0Yl3AK0Gd_O1v3AhqmsP0ARa1y3ZSuiUpvlWTtPU8Wyy6ebC5kCpYeZ_BEAAI2NswFC07_IuJPwVlpudgh9tU5HAAsHd/s1600/gsundquist.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH8vIIG1R_9cN9LXCtrkKwG5yetaTsNaWHFHZUrGdFp9dJr-3o0Yl3AK0Gd_O1v3AhqmsP0ARa1y3ZSuiUpvlWTtPU8Wyy6ebC5kCpYeZ_BEAAI2NswFC07_IuJPwVlpudgh9tU5HAAsHd/s320/gsundquist.jpeg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufyVim4HJ0VyH1WUp7bLIwVdJGduORnSi4NU9ZBGu0eStWr7XSZIu9-IZfdRGDxChuSvvDlMzWW-HLeaeypbUigl68v0C5-QAWGxZ4PvHDTDp8FDG9-OwYuQBCWEIFUnHmm1D3FCW3JoG/s1600/rwillis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufyVim4HJ0VyH1WUp7bLIwVdJGduORnSi4NU9ZBGu0eStWr7XSZIu9-IZfdRGDxChuSvvDlMzWW-HLeaeypbUigl68v0C5-QAWGxZ4PvHDTDp8FDG9-OwYuQBCWEIFUnHmm1D3FCW3JoG/s320/rwillis.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVFD-68bE2GP1xM241ncjDSri_XMmLNYdFYGIHxsb0kkWm0vsvSyAlItzl_tMJeFMJBc-GwL2g8tof455oDdku56YaYwWKyoB24rIuhH2ZmB7V3qcScdUhEG0pL0vAD1UmozC5mxaZabP/s1600/soldierandme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVFD-68bE2GP1xM241ncjDSri_XMmLNYdFYGIHxsb0kkWm0vsvSyAlItzl_tMJeFMJBc-GwL2g8tof455oDdku56YaYwWKyoB24rIuhH2ZmB7V3qcScdUhEG0pL0vAD1UmozC5mxaZabP/s320/soldierandme.jpg" width="270" /></a>
</div>
Carol Wilks, who directed <b>Soldier and Me</b>, came from a similar background. She joined Granada on a production training course after graduating from Bristol University and became a researcher on drama and on <i>World in Action</i>. She researched, produced and directed a number of documentaries, completed Granada's directors' course and also worked on <i>Coronation Street</i>. In 1970, she directed <i>The Sinners</i>, a drama set in Ireland and produced by Brian Armstrong. She continued to direct for ITV and BBC, helming episodes of <i>Grange Hill</i>, <i>Hazell</i>, <i>The XYY Man</i>, <i>Juliet Bravo</i>,<i> Emmerdale Farm</i> and <i>Strangers</i> before moving on to produce <i>The Bill</i> and <i>Heartbeat</i>.<br />
<br />
To play the two juvenile leads, Jim Woolcott and Pavel Szolda (nicknamed 'Soldier' and hence the title of the series), Granada cast two newcomers to television. Gerry Sundquist, who was born in Manchester and grew up in Chorlton, caught the acting bug at primary school and developed his interest at the Stretford Children's Theatre while attending Grammar School in Wythenshawe. He left school at 16 to work the night shift at the Kellogg's factory in Old Trafford but soon headed for London to pursue his acting career. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(6)</span><br />
<br />
After a supporting role in <i>Crown Court</i>, <b>Soldier and Me</b> was Sundquist's professional television breakthrough and his success as Jim Woolcott lead to another children's drama, <i>The Siege of Golden Hill</i> and an episode of <i>Space: 1999</i>. Film roles in <i>The Black Panther</i> (1977) and <i>Meetings with Remarkable Men </i>(1979)<i> </i>and a number of theatre productions swiftly followed, including a memorable appearance in 'Equus' at the National Theatre in 1976. He met and fell in love with Nastassja Kinski when they were filming <i>Passion Flower Hotel</i> in 1978.<br />
<br />
He continued to make television appearances, best remembered for his roles in <i>The Mallens </i>and Barry Letts' 1981 BBC adaptation of <i>Great Expectations</i>. However, his career and personal life collapsed in the late 1980s and it took a number of years, with support from his family, for him to recover from heroin addiction and resume his career. He returned to television in an episode of <i>The Bill</i> in 1992 but his career never recovered and it was his last appearance as an actor. Tragically in 1993, at the age of 37, he committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(7)</span><br />
<br />
His co-star Richard Willis, like Gerry and many other young male actors of the period, became a familiar face in children's television drama. His role as Pavel 'Soldier' Szolda came at a time when Willis' career was taking off. He was fifteen when he played Pavel and had just completed two West End appearances, as East in the musical 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' and as Tom (chosen from 2000 hopefuls) in 'The Water Babies', co-starring with musical legend Jessie Matthews.<br />
<br />
From there, he secured a role in the ill feted Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan film <i>Ghost in the Noonday Sun</i> (1973). Even though Willis got on very well with him, Sellers lost confidence in the film and, after the director refused his request to shut the film down, he set out to deliberately scupper the production. It was never released theatrically. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(8)</span><br />
<br />
Willis notched up many television appearances after <b>Soldier and Me</b>, including a co-starring role as Tozo in Thames' wonderful Aztec drama <i>The Feathered Serpent </i>and roles in the naval science fiction thriller <i>The Doombolt Chase </i>and ITV's <i>A Bunch of Fives</i>. He is also remembered for his appearance in <i>Doctor Who</i> as Varsh, Adric's brother, in 'Full Circle'. He subsequently moved to America and now lives in Canada and successfully tours in theatre there to this day.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I latched on to Gerry at the audition. I
knew instinctively he was going to get the part.' </blockquote>
In an interview with <i>Look-In</i> about <b>Soldier and Me</b> both actors described how they were chosen for the roles. Willis said, "I auditioned through my agent. The auditioning went on for a couple of months, from early February to the end of March, when I went for a screen test and got the part of Soldier."<br />
<br />
Sundquist explained his casting: "The actual part came through an amateur theatre company that I'm with in Manchester, 'cos they'd been looking round for the right character and hadn't managed to find him, so they came along to our company, and I in turn went along for an audition, and then back for the screen test, where I first met Richard. About a fortnight later, I heard I'd got the part of Jim." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(9)</span><br />
<br />
Many years later, on his personal blog Willis reflected on the series: "The story revolved around a 12 year old Czech boy in glasses and short
trousers Szolda and his reluctant Manchester friend, played by a
newcomer, Gerry Sundquist. I hated my character's short trousers, his short haircut
and his ugly glasses. But I was immediately at home in his inner life -
the awkward outcast, Szolda. I latched on to Gerry at the audition. I
knew instinctively he was going to get the part. We became good
friends." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(10)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM8ReOvDtCu0mHBMuaG47TyQ2yhr3DK_oUGqf3KghEvxnHKZQRww_NRkhdLkYAHfynlKOl9vJnES2qmSEjDSzS3j8etq2IEeUSQj2Xs909HKuvE0bC9AdDB4B_gOz8PzCzA-sJvRptdZN9/s1600/soldier1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM8ReOvDtCu0mHBMuaG47TyQ2yhr3DK_oUGqf3KghEvxnHKZQRww_NRkhdLkYAHfynlKOl9vJnES2qmSEjDSzS3j8etq2IEeUSQj2Xs909HKuvE0bC9AdDB4B_gOz8PzCzA-sJvRptdZN9/s320/soldier1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzCW4yr9Yg_YVQlFu1JSdpscSCPr6dCe-fUYhjfkvNU-QbILxqXKjx3W3mlaHr4iQYejZas0wlpkOUYyay_25si7WMOnvTBu4Y6JBzs2PRZldaA8TO_Ir_zlNR3OoIMxBEJZl3iQnu4HG/s1600/soldier2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzCW4yr9Yg_YVQlFu1JSdpscSCPr6dCe-fUYhjfkvNU-QbILxqXKjx3W3mlaHr4iQYejZas0wlpkOUYyay_25si7WMOnvTBu4Y6JBzs2PRZldaA8TO_Ir_zlNR3OoIMxBEJZl3iQnu4HG/s320/soldier2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqEyq-WJMkqQBP4dOeOOfapLoC0DOIPd3ptYj6gDNcVkG7EzUuw9AflgYXZ5SIgqZl6CB-mkvDa-oVnPeWOZBaTQrm6yL9-WOTyZlH2m_2_aqONNNyMNIEOs1w7weFBvfYoa571-U8dRVv/s1600/soldier3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqEyq-WJMkqQBP4dOeOOfapLoC0DOIPd3ptYj6gDNcVkG7EzUuw9AflgYXZ5SIgqZl6CB-mkvDa-oVnPeWOZBaTQrm6yL9-WOTyZlH2m_2_aqONNNyMNIEOs1w7weFBvfYoa571-U8dRVv/s320/soldier3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiEWirVj_G9dzNDbkGGmxy22HIYMohNDq2q4G1RnxYFMaWP7aLQUIj-lGaTpAoaAY4E5rbEGZvqK0dof0i-JxiF9Cg1ugKGCBzZkBHUnOQWrryyPOW_t0deT8OiFO2UXTCsgCuTz8-iI1/s1600/soldier4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiEWirVj_G9dzNDbkGGmxy22HIYMohNDq2q4G1RnxYFMaWP7aLQUIj-lGaTpAoaAY4E5rbEGZvqK0dof0i-JxiF9Cg1ugKGCBzZkBHUnOQWrryyPOW_t0deT8OiFO2UXTCsgCuTz8-iI1/s320/soldier4.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The setting of the novel - London and Norfolk - was also changed to Stockport and the Lake District. As Armstrong indicated at the time: "We've altered the setting from a white Christmas in East Anglia to Spring in the Lake District, because you can't rely on snow when you're filming. We've also changed the title to <b>Soldier and Me</b> - that was the book's title in America, where it was a best-seller." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(11)</span><br />
<br />
The arduous shoot took a twenty-five strong crew four months to film in the Spring of 1974. Granada had scored some success with filmed children's drama made by producer Peter Plummer in the much admired and deeply strange <i>The Owl Service</i>, adapted by Alan Garner from his own book and shot in April 1969, and <i>The Intruder</i>, adapted by Plummer and Mervyn Haisman from John Rowe Townsend's novel in 1972.<br />
<br />
Together with <b>Soldier and Me</b>, they indicated the shift towards a contemporary milieu in children's drama and, beyond the fantastical and supernatural, a search for realism in counterpoint to the period adaptations of classic texts that had become the stock in trade during the 1960s. Armstrong confirmed the series would be "Gritty... [and] we're opting for rugged realism." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(12)</span><br />
<br />
The opening titles certainly<b> </b>denote this difference immediately - Derek Hilton's pulsing funk soundtrack plays over stylised silhouettes of the two
main characters running toward the camera. This is abruptly intercut
with action scenes from the series featuring guns being fired and
cocked, Pavel leaping off a wall, close ups of the sleazy looking
villains, car chases, kidnapping and then the two main characters
rolling down a hillside straight into the camera. Everything signifies
'action'. <br />
<br />
However, <b>Soldier and Me</b>'s opening episode 'Conspiracy' is dominated by its school setting and spends most of its running time establishing the social background of Jim Woolcott and Pavel Szolda, beginning with the two main characters becoming friends after Jim recuses Pavel from his bullying class mates.<br />
<br />
Jim is a senior boy and Pavel, grateful for his help, clearly sees him as a protective older brother. Wilks uses the camera subjectively too and we often see events from Pavel's point of view, especially during the opening sequence with the bullies. <br />
<br />
Much to Richard Willis' annoyance at the time Pavel is the only boy in the school who does wear short trousers. It singles out his immaturity (in contrast to Sundquist's Jim who smokes and moans about Pavel's attentions) and that he comes from a low wage family who can't buy him long trousers. His status is as 'other', an outsider who must be bullied because he's "a little dark skinny kid with glasses." Outsiderdom, cultural difference and bullying would have been familiar scenarios through 1970s children's fiction such as Rumer Godden's 'The Didakoi' and Susan Hill's 'I'm The King of the Castle'.<br />
<br />
The other striking thing is that the social and cultural aspects of this setting are narrated in voice over, mainly by Gerry Sundquist. He relates not only the background details of working class life in the back streets of Stockport, in familiar narrow back alleys that have long since gone, but also his and Pavel's status at school and home.<br />
<br />
This inner monologue tells us about Pavel's Czech refugee and one-parent family status before the boys' partnership is established and Jim nicknames him 'Soldier'. Willis' Czech accent was given some authenticity by fellow cast member Milos Kireck, an actor-director in Prague until 1968, and here playing the gang boss who orders his henchmen to execute a dissident. "He 'Czechs' my dialogue, so to speak," joked Willis, at the time. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(13)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Stockport's answer to Einstein" </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FAwt-Rj1C4MEtQGpWmcrajb64gw4r6QiZsEKB5ZysqDag2TIYqTkEMJ2gi9Gq77FSnCS8jd8M7SzaOi4cPvXSOGJnEKSTG0S6jjMn1toK8C4ho2gqAwPpcmZKmx_UyNjsWmWJ44xs3ZR/s1600/soldier6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FAwt-Rj1C4MEtQGpWmcrajb64gw4r6QiZsEKB5ZysqDag2TIYqTkEMJ2gi9Gq77FSnCS8jd8M7SzaOi4cPvXSOGJnEKSTG0S6jjMn1toK8C4ho2gqAwPpcmZKmx_UyNjsWmWJ44xs3ZR/s320/soldier6.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPmY5U7NF7L9t6pGOZCsRIgh1ggUKVi-00ulzujKYTdIjI-_KXlawKUQObypZ2o8aaCqdNkTumArHvcNshuSwHzzJALXgEqY90ArRuwJfPbRLp1_NeNlW3cMktxD75U_l55Cm82ksZYNI/s1600/soldier8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPmY5U7NF7L9t6pGOZCsRIgh1ggUKVi-00ulzujKYTdIjI-_KXlawKUQObypZ2o8aaCqdNkTumArHvcNshuSwHzzJALXgEqY90ArRuwJfPbRLp1_NeNlW3cMktxD75U_l55Cm82ksZYNI/s320/soldier8.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYkLs8bfiTw4eYMSWVlE4ETiILoObv0DIAhBrHfrbeaukVo6fcgs23v0YOFqNYMvoEKfMT4z1nXPNhh2eQiPZnvSSYHBIfFuJmg9_5_kN1lPMv-_AR8VQrkpq85Cs6xXbqVTYJULnF64G/s1600/soldier9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEYkLs8bfiTw4eYMSWVlE4ETiILoObv0DIAhBrHfrbeaukVo6fcgs23v0YOFqNYMvoEKfMT4z1nXPNhh2eQiPZnvSSYHBIfFuJmg9_5_kN1lPMv-_AR8VQrkpq85Cs6xXbqVTYJULnF64G/s320/soldier9.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCioV-k0cqya9SsWWzlVUJ6_2C4C9fNQabDsjOh7u6a-aY_3SnI-_n7sd1P71ywTlawRC6qhqHf3Bp5z6wKwWZP3sY8LDNcG00rCYlYX_il-9puoytgtRQVLa4wjsFy8Bb6c5ss_9MOOn/s1600/soldier10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCioV-k0cqya9SsWWzlVUJ6_2C4C9fNQabDsjOh7u6a-aY_3SnI-_n7sd1P71ywTlawRC6qhqHf3Bp5z6wKwWZP3sY8LDNcG00rCYlYX_il-9puoytgtRQVLa4wjsFy8Bb6c5ss_9MOOn/s320/soldier10.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The school milieu depicts the recognisable allegiances (Jim's concern is that his friendship with the kid 'Soldier' will jeopardise his status and he won't be asked by his friend Ron Nixon on holiday to Cumberland) and tropes of the day (Richard Wilson's drama teacher Dr Nixon is spot on). Some of it is reminiscent of Ken Loach's observational approach in <i>Kes </i>(1970). According to the <i>TV Times</i>, "Armstrong was so meticulous in his pursuit of authenticity that he was to be seen skulking around school playgrounds, picking up ideas for the most up-to-date junior expletives for inclusion in the script."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> (14)</span><br />
<br />
Only when Pavel visits the library ("Stockport's answer to Einstein" as Jim sneers in voice over) does the thriller element start to develop. Director Carol Wilks makes this the centre piece of the episode, her camera roving through the bookshelves while two Czech executioners (Greasy and Smiler played by Richard Ireson and Constantin de Goguel) plot their forthcoming murder over the newspapers as their victim, a crippled old man (Armitage Ware), arrives to the noisy tapping of his stick.<br />
<br />
Here, both Pavel and Jim relate to the viewer their thoughts and observations about the encounter in the library through a running commentary that Wilks then extends into a scene after school where Pavel is relating all this to a disbelieving Jim. The police aren't exactly impressed either and dismiss the story.<br />
<br />
His holiday plans scuppered, there's an amusing scene where Jim ends up working in a dress shop full of customers "grabbing stuff like they were going out of fashion." The uneasy friendship threatens to dissolve when Pavel insists they break into a school where the villains are due to carry out their execution. However, as Jim again acknowledges in voice over, Pavel "had this knack of getting you to do things you didn't want to know about really."<br />
<br />
Episode two, 'The House of Secrets' concentrates entirely on the thriller element. Shot at night, Wilks uses the location and school interiors to generate a great deal of claustrophobic tension and introduces some stylish touches. Low angle shots, expressionistic lighting and Jim's inner monologue describing his fears provide a suitable ambience as Jim and Pavel struggle to find a place to hide as the executioners arrive and they witness the murder of the disabled old man. The meeting becomes a bleak interrogation scene as the heavily breathing old man struggles up the stairs and meets his fate. It has an uncompromising, gritty edge to it that would not be out of place in more adult dramas of the time. <br />
<br />
The interrogation descends into chaos when the old man is shot after he denies betraying the list of Czechs read out to him. Some rapidly cut sequences punctuate the murder, Jim and Pavel's dash from their hiding place and the chase through the house as they attempt to escape. There's a montage that's particularly accomplished: as Jim and Pavel are pursued Wilks drops in a series of effective, silent shots: a close up of a broken plaster bust, the old man's hand, a head and shoulders shot of one of the Czech executioners and a final close up of the old man's head slumped on a desk.<br />
<br />
These are aesthetics that mix the dispassionate realism of the documentary (the way the interrogation is set up looks like something from <i>World in Action</i>) with the stylistic qualities of film noir - strange angles, chiaroscuro lighting, uncanny sound and distorted narrative through editing and voice over. The climax develops as an unresolved conspiracy and paranoia narrative when the police arrive after Jim and Pavel alert them to the shooting and find the old man is apparently alive and well in his own home. <br />
<br />
This twist in the narrative reflects contemporaneous political thrillers (ironically Jim is seen reading Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' at the breakfast table) and the tone shifts when the boys are confronted by the old man who Pavel now realises is one of the Czech gang in disguise (Derrick O'Connor in an early role, playing a character credited as 'Driver', and who would pop up in a vast amount of British television crime dramas including <i>The Sweeney</i>, <i>The XYY Man</i>, <i>Out </i>and <i>Fox</i> during the rest of the decade) as a set up to fool the police.<br />
<br />
The comic potential of the 'odd couple' relationship between Pavel and Jim is exploited in episode three 'Alibi' with some simple physical comedy: Jim smuggles toast out to Pavel who has been squeezed into a dustbin to hide him from Jim's suspicious mum and, later, they both hide in the discarded remains of farm produce on the back of a lorry and make fools of themselves with several train commuters.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Could we have a shot of you looking as if you are in pain, please?'</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8nTTrtXDj5KmOGbhtmMLp4cQ6j3YutNn4htkM-JzgOcd3RLJZ9bYrvVZ6oX_v1aRxg-FGdjjnI1TQUzuszrgwdDlo0cfEYqxnlGwURJgA3tOCOz5IrRYCFTlg1PzQwU4PQa2h-hQBElJ/s1600/soldier11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8nTTrtXDj5KmOGbhtmMLp4cQ6j3YutNn4htkM-JzgOcd3RLJZ9bYrvVZ6oX_v1aRxg-FGdjjnI1TQUzuszrgwdDlo0cfEYqxnlGwURJgA3tOCOz5IrRYCFTlg1PzQwU4PQa2h-hQBElJ/s320/soldier11.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFgtqU76bAliogtMCOfEe9fxc2S3tqnVL-X749g1CEdWshthdau32UahLAgakgW2310c1po2_rHu2BUpljQlXKNU_37Gux0M-_JfSnDIJLCOk87bpLZGlp_CzXVQ1tezz_wn30MnknBYo/s1600/soldier15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFgtqU76bAliogtMCOfEe9fxc2S3tqnVL-X749g1CEdWshthdau32UahLAgakgW2310c1po2_rHu2BUpljQlXKNU_37Gux0M-_JfSnDIJLCOk87bpLZGlp_CzXVQ1tezz_wn30MnknBYo/s320/soldier15.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIxT8qnxGalvs1_SjDJzSza7Og0CQDoGDY9FNkZkL8MpS9zH3MtcJm8muxnf1QeqFKbkjVh9_nOUAWx8J5YDt4Hs2fiFVvhNckyCEM2yfi6HMVuHTiN4Wa3v1QHIpYABbNtpR-CE2SCY2/s1600/soldier18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIxT8qnxGalvs1_SjDJzSza7Og0CQDoGDY9FNkZkL8MpS9zH3MtcJm8muxnf1QeqFKbkjVh9_nOUAWx8J5YDt4Hs2fiFVvhNckyCEM2yfi6HMVuHTiN4Wa3v1QHIpYABbNtpR-CE2SCY2/s320/soldier18.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyYtcwbuVlLAKfrw6wRvooDbGLDtBdBePctaLDW4kEivSfpgSaQTZQUxiMd5iA7-BIvhQ3UDjwDb0_f-1aRV9j9OLK2t7LtANiLIkzkiTKUidNuRetKM52pPcEf5X729RoFJXCB5iGx1Z/s1600/soldier19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyYtcwbuVlLAKfrw6wRvooDbGLDtBdBePctaLDW4kEivSfpgSaQTZQUxiMd5iA7-BIvhQ3UDjwDb0_f-1aRV9j9OLK2t7LtANiLIkzkiTKUidNuRetKM52pPcEf5X729RoFJXCB5iGx1Z/s320/soldier19.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Now under the watchful eyes of the gang and pursued by Smiler (a wonderfully sinister turn from Constantin de Goguel sporting a deformed lip), the friendship begins to disintegrate. However, after Smiler chases them through Stockport cemetery on a very small motorbike, Jim realises that Pavel's suggestion to go on the run to get to Nixon's farm in Cumberland isn't so ridiculous. The boys are then chased through the centre of Stockport (Market Place, the market hall and market are very recognisable as is the now demolished Portwood cooling tower).<br />
<br />
This opens the drama up from the confined and claustrophobic opening episodes and affords Wilks an opportunity to tighten the pace and throw in some more physical comedy as market stalls and shoppers go flying in all directions and there's some great visual incongruity as a cascade of displaced oranges tumble down a street as Pavel and Jim make their escape.<br />
<br />
Armstrong underlined this approach in <i>TV Times</i>: "We've tried to inject realism into the proceedings by filming many of the chases in live locations - like Stockport market in full swing - and by adding a wry, mature humour. This comes in the narration by Jim, constantly bemoaning the fact that he is saddled with little 'Soldier'."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> (15)</span><br />
<br />
The chase is a central trope of the espionage adventure thriller and of children's literature and Line uses this to shape the psychological progression of his two characters. Thrown together, they must make sense of the chaos let loose in their normal urban surroundings, a stressful situation that forces them to grow up, and they must team up and seek a solution. Jim's inner monologue therefore is useful in making the connection between what the reader feels emotionally in the book to what is translated into action on screen. <br />
<br />
There is a tense game of cat and mouse on the train journey they take to Carlisle, offset by some further comedy featuring <i>Coronation Street</i>'s Fred Feast as a friendly drunk, which reaches a climax when the only way to escape from Smiler's clutches is to risk jumping off the moving train.<br />
<br />
As Willis noted this was frowned upon by parents watching at the time: "We caused some controversy because the opening titles involved us
jumping from a moving train - a stunt that we did ourselves. A warning
had to be given before the programme telling the kids watching about the
danger of jumping from trains." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(16)</span><br />
<br />
Stunts and physical hardships were clearly a badge of honour for both actors, as they told <i>Look-In</i> in 1974 where Sundquist described the perils of location shooting: "Jumping from a wall on one occasion I snapped the ligaments in an ankle. That was the day a Press photographer came and asked me, while I was lying in agony in the back of a Land-Rover: 'Could we have a shot of you looking as if you are in pain, please?' That didn't please me too much."<br />
<br />
Of the second episode 'House of Secrets' he remembered: "Another time I was trying to lock a door which wouldn't, while there were two villains on the other side who were trying to kick it down. They managed that... and as it landed, it banged me in the eye and knocked me out cold." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(17)</span><br />
<br />
Willis, struggling to keep his dignity in those short trousers throughout the shoot, added: "For one scene we were told to row across one of the deepest lakes in England, in the Lake District, which was pretty rough at the time. I wouldn't have fancied a dip in that water. Still, we pulled through, and the scene was a success." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(18)</span><br />
<br />
Their escapades and injuries falling off a bicycle, with Willis sat on the crossbar, during filming for 'Cross Country' were also reported by the <i>TV
Times</i>. Mindful of children possibly copying the stunts this piece came with a
warning that "ill-used and ill-kept bikes can be a real danger.
Children should be made fully aware of their responsibilities when on
the road." Strangely, while publicising the national Cycling Proficiency Scheme the <i>TV Times </i>made no mention of falling foul of
Czech villains with guns, jumping off trains or near drowning in lakes. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(19)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-kRsP-IbbKJ6CsOc7BmF2Xpeeq-7QbQs5C9_kv2nNHtjXY3VG2e9tA7qkwWnC4b14Z46QATa_zp0fxT4PqTf4ddMHKkBnbdo4cpxrRRBx61IIH7TBJuygUEuqZArSeFRW3i1l1jW2FOF/s1600/soldier21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-kRsP-IbbKJ6CsOc7BmF2Xpeeq-7QbQs5C9_kv2nNHtjXY3VG2e9tA7qkwWnC4b14Z46QATa_zp0fxT4PqTf4ddMHKkBnbdo4cpxrRRBx61IIH7TBJuygUEuqZArSeFRW3i1l1jW2FOF/s320/soldier21.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFggeyoBrVOUPRbRdXw7BaNpdPCRgqh-nuuhFBqXGVZxmgkl9YXc_Z6qM7lr8Ci2Pq5P2HwvJChLgKLZz3Y8t2tT0FVFFnaXaayLpvI25ud6qaoTtNNAquDn3c0H37zbZWJdARX7PTkTQ5/s1600/soldier22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFggeyoBrVOUPRbRdXw7BaNpdPCRgqh-nuuhFBqXGVZxmgkl9YXc_Z6qM7lr8Ci2Pq5P2HwvJChLgKLZz3Y8t2tT0FVFFnaXaayLpvI25ud6qaoTtNNAquDn3c0H37zbZWJdARX7PTkTQ5/s320/soldier22.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipI2gIfcY_V7K3bLtEizJJeaCMwUwiWF74NOIxwR8ikvQY4AglclGQyZ63xdHxkBs5n3iep-kFNWQy2CxmrDBlseuA_Ut-h7VbweW0LTuLfLjE_evdGKJWrMUlXJe4UuCrWP3YT_pZUhhU/s1600/soldier23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipI2gIfcY_V7K3bLtEizJJeaCMwUwiWF74NOIxwR8ikvQY4AglclGQyZ63xdHxkBs5n3iep-kFNWQy2CxmrDBlseuA_Ut-h7VbweW0LTuLfLjE_evdGKJWrMUlXJe4UuCrWP3YT_pZUhhU/s320/soldier23.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Landscape replaces the urban, market town milieu of Stockport and Jim and Pavel are reduced to tiny figures stumbling across the quarries and fells of the Lake District while the villains continue their pursuit and eventually lodge at Eskdale (breakfasting at the King George Inn). Clearly, Sundquist and Willis suffered for their art as they - not their
stunt doubles - can be seen climbing over sheer drops, scaling fences,
navigating streams and rowing across lakes. <br />
<br />
Ray Goode, one of Granada's top lighting cameramen who would go on to BAFTA success with <i>Brideshead Revisited</i> and <i>The Jewel in the Crown</i>, wonderfully captures the bleak beauty of the area and his stunning views from the hills of Scafell above Wastwater, a three mile long lake, bring a real sense of scale to the chase in 'Cross Country' and 'Alone'.<br />
<br />
One of the advantages of regional television's contribution to children's drama was to bring regional identities and culture to the screen and <b>Soldier and Me</b> makes a virtue of its stunning locations. By the same<b> </b>token the series not only took viewers beyond the towns and cities and into the countryside - just
as Line had originally taken his characters out of London and into the
Norfolk fens in 'Run For Your Life' - but it also expresses something of Pavel's struggle to integrate into urban life in Northern England and places Jim's Mancunian accent at the heart of the drama through his voice overs.<br />
<br />
In a sense rurality is used to indicate class and social mobility. Great British character actor Jack Woolgar appears as a gruff, shotgun
wielding irate chicken farmer. He's fondly remembered for <i>Doctor Who</i> 'The Web of Fear' and his regular role as diamond-in-the-rough Carney in <i>Crossroads</i> among a string of character roles in most of the major drama series of the 1960s and 1970s. Lancashire actor Harry Markham also appears as a well-meaning farmer who believes the Czech gang's story the two boys have absconded from a
reform school. <br />
<br />
Markham appeared in key British films of the 1960s and 1970s such as <i>A Kind of Loving</i> (1962), <i>This Sporting Life</i> (1963), <i>Kes</i> (1969) and was a television regular, popping up in <i>A Family at War</i>, <i>Follyfoot</i>, <i>Sam</i>, <i>Village Hall</i>, <i>Survivors</i>, <i>Crown Court</i>, and as Handel Gartside he took Minnie Caldwell away from <i>Coronation Street</i>. Two Alan Bennett plays at the end of the 1970s <i>All Day On The Sands</i> and <i>Sunset Across the Bay</i> sealed his reputation as a warm, sensitive actor.<br />
<br />
It's worth comparing Woolgar and Markham's performances - connoted as working class characters through accent, appearance and surroundings - to that of Richard Wilson as Dr. Nixon. Nixon resolves the crisis
in the last two episodes and is clearly an educated, middle class man
situated in the markedly more affluent looking farmhouse he uses for his
holidays. Rurality encompasses social and spatial differences in the
story and the countryside is presented as both idyllic and threatening
from the various perspective of the farmers, Dr. Nixon, Jim and Soldier. <br />
<br />
The climax of the story is gripping, returning to the espionage tropes of the opening episodes and extinguishing the bright daylight scenes in the Lake District with cramped, low angle point of view shots from Jim and Pavel, tied and gagged in a car, directed at their mysterious abductors. The final episodes 'Trapped' and 'No Escape' also reveal a different interpretation of what we know thus far about the gang. There are some interesting moral complexities layered into the conclusion, underlining an aspect of Lionel Davidson's thrillers, where his "speciality is showing what it feels like for peaceable men to make their first forays into violence."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> (20)</span>
<br />
<br />
This transforms the resolution to the standard chase narrative in <b>Soldier and Me</b> into a meditation on ideology, morality and violence that makes Jim pause for thought in the final episode. Jim and Pavel's experiences in the wilderness cast a shadow over the celebratory appreciation of the landscape in 'No Escape'. Much of this is reflected in the value of the bond between them, strengthened through adversity and tenacity over the course of the series, one far stronger than the fair-weather friendship that Ron Nixon attempts to court in the final scene.<br />
<br />
Sundquist and Willis are remarkably good at capturing this and their performances, accompanied by the realism injected into the script by Armstrong, Wilks and Davidson's literary double David Line, help create a sympathetic, realistic double act, depicting a friendship put under immense physical strain but one that ultimately embraces difference and otherness. <br />
<br />
<b>Special Features</b><br />
Sadly, not much additional content to speak of.
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i> </i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Gallery</i></b> </span><br />
A selection of colour stills from the Rex Features ITV archive <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Booklet</i></b></span><br />
Featuring Richard Willis' personal reminiscences of making the series. This wasn't made available for review.<br />
<br />
<b>Soldier and Me</b><br />
Granada Television Production 1974<br />
9 episodes (216 mins approx)<br />
Transmitted 15 September to 11 November 1974<br />
Network DVD 7954354 / Region 2 /
Released 17 August 2015 / Subtitles: None / Sound: Mono -
English / 1.33:1 / Colour /
Classification: PG<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Jake Kerridge, 'Lionel Davidson, the best spy novelist you might never have read' in The Telegraph 07/03/2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/11451620/Lionel-Davidson-the-best-spy-novelist-you-might-never-have-read.html (accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(2) Dennis Barker, 'Lionel Davidson obituary' in The Guardian 02/11/2009, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/02/lionel-davidson-obituary (accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(3) Michael Carlson, 'Lionel Davidson: Crime and thriller writer celebrated for his intricate plots and tongue-in-cheek humour' in The Independent 02/11/2009, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lionel-davidson-crime-and-thriller-writer-celebrated-for-his-intricate-plots-and-tongueincheek-humour-1832168.html (accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(4) Brian Armstrong interview 'We'll be seeing some tough times on Sundays' in Stewpot Calling, TV Times 14/09/1974. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(5) Brian Armstrong, 'A base occupation' in Granada Television: The First Generation (Manchester University Press, 2003)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(6) Matt Finnegan, 'Magical fable that masks a tragedy' in Manchester Evening News 03/11/1997 http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/actors-actresses/89861-gerry-sundquist-15.html (accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(7) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(8) Richard Willis, Strolling Player An English/American actor's search for character, in 'Beauty, Certainty and Quiet Kind' 12/04/2007. http://richactor.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/beauty-certainty-and-quiet-kind.html (accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(9) Richard Tippett, 'Soldier and Me' interviews with Richard Willis and Gerry Sundquist, Look-In 26/10/1974.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(10) Richard Willis, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Strolling Player An English/American actor's search for character, in</span> 'Beauty, Certainty and Quiet Kind' 12/04/2007.
http://richactor.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/beauty-certainty-and-quiet-kind.html
(accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(11) Brian Armstrong interview 'We'll be seeing some tough times on Sundays' in Stewpot Calling, TV Times 14/09/1974. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(12) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(13) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(14) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(15) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(16) Richard Willis, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Strolling Player An English/American actor's search for character, in</span> 'Beauty, Certainty and Quiet Kind'
12/04/2007.
http://richactor.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/beauty-certainty-and-quiet-kind.html
(accessed 12/08/2015)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(17) Richard Tippett, 'Soldier and Me' interviews with Richard Willis and Gerry Sundquist, Look-In 26/10/1974.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(18) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(19) 'Two into one may be fun but no copying please! in TV Times 12/10/1974</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(20) Jake Kerridge, 'Lionel Davidson, the best spy novelist
you might never have read' in The Telegraph 07/03/2015,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/11451620/Lionel-Davidson-the-best-spy-novelist-you-might-never-have-read.html
(accessed 12/08/2015)</span> </span>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-10100254506281984462015-07-26T10:00:00.000+01:002015-08-14T12:29:59.230+01:00Nigel Kneale's QUATERMASS - The Complete Series / Blu-Ray Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjfRnW5EMN5SZ_e7fh4hKOOFdmAZd5WZUtTT0eTFeRkdEGaeQMMAqgZ2Y1jXafEXMX7HE_7y4ih5zLVOReknQW7ndZv31pdEWSxLwZCtqGWooQ47LaqbZnY7CkBWdwcUBILAnTy9wdWgi/s1600/quatermass-blu-ray-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjfRnW5EMN5SZ_e7fh4hKOOFdmAZd5WZUtTT0eTFeRkdEGaeQMMAqgZ2Y1jXafEXMX7HE_7y4ih5zLVOReknQW7ndZv31pdEWSxLwZCtqGWooQ47LaqbZnY7CkBWdwcUBILAnTy9wdWgi/s320/quatermass-blu-ray-.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>
After successfully adapting the three Quatermass television stories of the 1950s and with the box office tills ringing from the well-received cinema version of <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2011/09/quatermass-and-pit-blu-ray-review-and.html"><i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> </a>(1967), Hammer Films approached creator-writer Nigel 'Tom' Kneale for an original film script featuring the titular scientist with a view to continuing the franchise.<br />
<br />
The studio announced another film but nothing developed beyond an outline and preliminary discussions with Kneale. Hammer had faced delays getting <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> to the screen after their partnership with Columbia faltered and it was perhaps disinterest from distributors, Hammer's struggle to adapt to changing audience tastes and the slow decline of the industry as a whole that stalled their fourth Quatermass outing.<br />
<br />
Kneale remained busy. His relationship with the BBC strengthened in the late 1960s and early 1970s and he succeeded in getting several key plays to the screen in this period. This was after he had refused overtures from the BBC to contribute a one-off drama to their <i>Theatre 625</i> strand on BBC2. He felt he had never really been properly recompensed for the Quatermass serials he had made in the 1950s, something he made quite clear to the BBC's Director General Hugh Carleton Greene. A one off payment was duly agreed and Kneale undertook his new assignment. This would become 1968's celebrated play about television's Orwellian future potential, <i>The Year of the Sex Olympics</i>. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span><br />
<br />
He followed this with 1970's 'Wine of India' for <i>The Wednesday Play</i>, which centred on a
100-year old couple who must make plans for their funeral in a future where advances in medicine have resulted in a need for
population control and where those reaching the age of 100 must submit to a
government controlled euthanasia program. He contributed 'The Chopper' to <i>Out of the Unknown</i> in 1971, a ghost story about a dead motorcyclist haunting his wrecked machine, and followed this in 1972 with <i>The Stone Tape</i>, in which scientists researching new recording technologies at an old mansion investigate a haunting. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4NBQsdiqCNh0h9h2AjK_6mKzJWJg7L3HEP8vz_skOYOeSo8gbzLjqadED8XZQB3mlCV269Ygif7XrT6zfuv6bcnXH8Fy1CtzOiDtVzz0zrXWRnon0aRyRWMXAROszmoYpqMcn5JPVTN4/s1600/kneale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4NBQsdiqCNh0h9h2AjK_6mKzJWJg7L3HEP8vz_skOYOeSo8gbzLjqadED8XZQB3mlCV269Ygif7XrT6zfuv6bcnXH8Fy1CtzOiDtVzz0zrXWRnon0aRyRWMXAROszmoYpqMcn5JPVTN4/s320/kneale.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDo9_Xxx0njcSVpBX11S36jAYwH-HrF_XkAtYIhUtBINKaSS1Ev7u20RLe8wGrW_ZjHz0_XM4Ub5B3ic8qK5mmnn3nR7hQjU5496NOruS4g0r7C-aNSiN9InE3L8uSn7gcWCbR7AergU2y/s1600/stonetape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDo9_Xxx0njcSVpBX11S36jAYwH-HrF_XkAtYIhUtBINKaSS1Ev7u20RLe8wGrW_ZjHz0_XM4Ub5B3ic8qK5mmnn3nR7hQjU5496NOruS4g0r7C-aNSiN9InE3L8uSn7gcWCbR7AergU2y/s320/stonetape.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnu1ZuwHnZfQTCwJUDEytlF5FpUB33HjM6x4jYnxyxPGPDSjcMFKUJ55-BUhxQIPltPPXtmZlTyrxp7Z21PfsmJ7LbdpQk2vOw4osRYmzi-5GSzcui9PWr1XNigtTOPVbwTsaj1rgNHhq6/s1600/qmass+72+wilkie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnu1ZuwHnZfQTCwJUDEytlF5FpUB33HjM6x4jYnxyxPGPDSjcMFKUJ55-BUhxQIPltPPXtmZlTyrxp7Z21PfsmJ7LbdpQk2vOw4osRYmzi-5GSzcui9PWr1XNigtTOPVbwTsaj1rgNHhq6/s320/qmass+72+wilkie.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Weeks prior to the excellent audience and critical reception for <i>The Stone Tape </i>BBC Head of Drama Ronnie Marsh commissioned Kneale to write a new four part Quatermass serial in November 1972 known then as <i>Quatermass IV</i>. Work commenced under the aegis of <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i>'s producer Joe Waters with some preliminary visual effects filming at the BBC's Ealing Television Film Studios. Ealing had previous form for Quatermass, filmed inserts of the pit containing the Martian spacecraft had been shot there in 1959 for the television version of <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i>. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(2)</span><br />
<br />
While Kneale completed re-writes with Joe Waters, BBC effects men Bernard Wilkie, Ian Scoones and Rhys Jones set up production at Ealing in June 1973. Linking two stages - 3A and 3B - to provide a longer line of sight they completed test filming of the Soviet-American space station featured in Kneale's new story and carried out tests using the foreground miniatures process. This combined models of the station and miniature astronaut figures with filmed live action of actors costumed as astronauts climbing over black covered rostra and ladders. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(3)</span><br />
<br />
An early intention had been for the BBC to make the series as a co-production, mirroring the funding partnership formed with 20th Century Fox to produce the <i>Colditz</i> series in 1972. Waters had even mooted which composers he might opt for - Malcolm Williamson or Joseph Horowitz perhaps - but there were growing concerns about the mounting costs for the four part series. With the production already spiraling toward a budget of £200,000, the BBC rejected the further expense of building a studio or location based version of Stonehenge and cancelled the project after they were refused permission to film on location at the ancient site. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(4) </span><br />
<br />
As Kneale reflected in 1979, "I had lightly written in Stonehenge because my last visit to it had seemed to make it very possible. What I hadn't realised was that, in the interim, it had become Big Business and the place was like a factory with tourists there from dawn to dusk. It was the pride of the Department of the Environment and they weren't going to let anyone go near it." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(5) </span><br />
<br />
Although the BBC held the rights to Kneale's scripts until 1975 the option to produce <i>Quatermass IV</i> was never taken up. Kneale was commissioned to include a new play he had developed with director Michael Elliott, 'Cracks', for the next series of <i>Play for Today</i> but it also remained unproduced after some disagreements with producer Irene Shubik. Shubik had, coincidentally, asked Kneale for a new Quatermass story for her <i>Out of the Unknown</i> anthology's first series back in 1965. His last work for the BBC was a modern version of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' he contributed to Innes Lloyd's anthology <i>Bedtime Stories</i> in 1974. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(6)</span> <br />
<br />
ITV franchise ATV came calling and Kneale commenced a similarly frustrating relationship with commercial television. It was one that would, ironically, bring about the return of Quatermass.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>Kneale's evocative 1975 play about witchcraft, <i>Murrain</i>, inspired ATV to commission his anthology series <i>Beasts</i> in 1976 but he was bitterly disappointed when the company cancelled his play about Manx slavery, <i>Crow</i>, due to cost reasons.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...a fantastically interesting idea, something that would be really good to do." </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtx3QMbJi1nVGCfD3nAAknIZgzogdrCmEi1C625hEowDJ2CQtgvW_IxwY-nPRlOm51fFNPih-ClbPXDxWH7oZ_FOg0P4LqmqTHEY68dNX-JBGaFexB5bN6O166_CA7F3NVxFb9ql2PnL2F/s1600/Thames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtx3QMbJi1nVGCfD3nAAknIZgzogdrCmEi1C625hEowDJ2CQtgvW_IxwY-nPRlOm51fFNPih-ClbPXDxWH7oZ_FOg0P4LqmqTHEY68dNX-JBGaFexB5bN6O166_CA7F3NVxFb9ql2PnL2F/s320/Thames.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JA0OaxhbR7C4z8aFRek-uLvREvQJL38GpFvO-johG5MNBJFX5ZDYkplwJDGkPURQyyhXdJfk8NHUE7qV8iDakAIo-9MAB3H3G3wFzz0TWUBuWjeR1c_xFPj4CzvuZMX8cYhY08KV-K3F/s1600/verity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JA0OaxhbR7C4z8aFRek-uLvREvQJL38GpFvO-johG5MNBJFX5ZDYkplwJDGkPURQyyhXdJfk8NHUE7qV8iDakAIo-9MAB3H3G3wFzz0TWUBuWjeR1c_xFPj4CzvuZMX8cYhY08KV-K3F/s320/verity.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6c1fDKAir9EM0jynxFNXqkij2L571eTgDKY5Ee-PlJMWJJK-cskr6hl5uSCXpRDguEQxUwa7EQHve0KBOByjzshsnQCTdCUF4BIRXjKD1C6hVbn0PFXNRlAIo0X7vRnmz0q3qmvD7AjQ/s1600/piershaggard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6c1fDKAir9EM0jynxFNXqkij2L571eTgDKY5Ee-PlJMWJJK-cskr6hl5uSCXpRDguEQxUwa7EQHve0KBOByjzshsnQCTdCUF4BIRXjKD1C6hVbn0PFXNRlAIo0X7vRnmz0q3qmvD7AjQ/s320/piershaggard.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Enter producer <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/drama-and-delight-life-of-verity.html">Verity Lambert</a>, then an executive at Thames Television but now given the responsibility for its Euston Films subsidiary, bringing its input under the overall remit of Thames' drama production. As Euston's new chief executive, with a very different outlook from its previous executives Lloyd Shirley and George Taylor, she hired Linda Agran as script executive and Johnny Goodman as executive in charge of production to work with her and producer Ted Childs. She immediately started looking for projects that would expand Euston's portfolio. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(7) </span><br />
<br />
Lambert had already locked horns with Kneale on a 1965 edition of <i>Late Night Line-Up</i> when he had criticised her for frightening children with <i>Doctor Who</i>, of which she had been producer from 1963.<br />
<br />
This didn't deter her when the <i>Quatermass IV </i>scripts duly arrived from Kneale's agent in 1978: "I just thought it was a fantastically interesting idea, something that would be really good to do." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(8)</span> Hammer's Michael Carreras must have been having similar thoughts about the prestige of <i>Quatermass IV</i> and was pipped at the post by Euston in securing the scripts for his now ailing film company.<br />
<br />
When Lambert rescued Jack Gold's troubled television film <i>The Sailor's Return</i>, she believed one way of potentially recouping the production costs, having struck a co-production deal with National Film Finance Corporation, would be to then release the film theatrically prior to its television broadcast. Negotiations prevented this at the time but when <i>Quatermass</i> went into production she was determined to similarly amortise its hefty £1.2 million budget.<br />
<br />
She set Kneale the task of re-shaping his scripts as four episodes filmed on 35mm to be broadcast on ITV and as a separate, shorter 100-minute version intended for theatrical distribution in America and Europe as <i>The Quatermass Conclusion</i>. As Kneale told John Fleming in 1979, "but that was as far as one could guess. Because, as none of it had been shot, one couldn't tell what would work out best; some things paid off better than we'd ever thought." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(9)</span><br />
<br />
"I think it was the most expensive thing we had attempted at Euston Films at that point. And we felt the only way we could justify the expense was to make sure we could re-edit it into a film which could possibly have theatrical release," Lambert recalled. Childs simply saw it as a way for Lambert and Agran to put their own stamp on Euston and move the company away from its association with drama such as <i>The Sweeney</i>. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(10) </span>Euston's May 1977 announcement of the production also anticipated the popularity of screen science fiction and fantasy that would grow after the release of <i>Star Wars </i>(1977) and <i>Close Encounters of the Third Kind</i> (1977).<br />
<br />
The major change that Kneale made to his script was to re-locate the climactic sequence of the third episode, originally the budget-busting scenes at Stonehenge that scuppered the BBC production, to the more accessible and affordable Wembley Stadium. A thirteen week shoot around London, Hertfordshire and near Pinewood Studios commenced on 26th August 1978 under the auspices of director Piers Haggard.<br />
<br />
Haggard was an experienced film and television director, and had recently received high praise for his work on the celebrated BBC Dennis Potter drama <i>Pennies From Heaven</i> (its first episode was broadcast 7th March that year). Prior to this he notched up numerous television credits on series such as <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2010/02/callan-monochrome-years-review.html"><i>Callan</i></a>, <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2010/01/man-at-top-complete-first-series-review.html"><i>Man At The Top</i></a>, <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-man-alone.html"><i>Public Eye</i></a> as well as single plays in the <i>ITV Playhouse</i>, <i>The Wednesday Play</i>, <i>Thirty Minute Theatre </i>and <i>Armchair Theatre</i> strands. Among his first film credits was the highly regarded horror film <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2010/03/british-cult-classics-dr-terrors-house.html"><i>Blood on Satan's Claw</i></a> (1971).<br />
<br />
He came recommended to Verity Lambert by agent Jenne Casarotto, who had originally sent her the <i>Quatermass IV</i> scripts. Lambert had already worked with Haggard on 'The House of Men', a Catherine Cookson play within the anthology strand <i>Romance</i> she produced for Thames Television in 1977. With <i>Quatermass</i> Haggard recalled: "I had some meetings with her. I've always liked science fiction and there were ideas in it - it was ambitious and well-budgeted. The fact that this particular script had been around for a while was manifest because it was about a hippy movement which he'd spotted as current a few years earlier." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(11)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKo6n6sbc2QwE6QepajiGiMUspQHtaf90-qCMp0ptmtB1ycwKTmIqi1WtCz1jLQCl2JpiSyNtRd5_O5Kq4eWyK5Gdh-xWZ0n_3JVONpIe_4YqiiO5oaYPNt6Hv-cte-ZDisgqO-91Z2Ji/s1600/Q+Mills+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKo6n6sbc2QwE6QepajiGiMUspQHtaf90-qCMp0ptmtB1ycwKTmIqi1WtCz1jLQCl2JpiSyNtRd5_O5Kq4eWyK5Gdh-xWZ0n_3JVONpIe_4YqiiO5oaYPNt6Hv-cte-ZDisgqO-91Z2Ji/s320/Q+Mills+1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUhUmNAtNpHlkWvgE7EDYRouYZszWPMfhZxvuaYc6_IVHOjzmKLTTw93xcNGM9izWOL9A6zeMbfgMV4Z17YotWdpS_7lVoD5zmvARrJiojkvIHEKtDDFeS3eVduj4gfa3GzDtQOKkaxKD/s1600/Q+Wembley+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUhUmNAtNpHlkWvgE7EDYRouYZszWPMfhZxvuaYc6_IVHOjzmKLTTw93xcNGM9izWOL9A6zeMbfgMV4Z17YotWdpS_7lVoD5zmvARrJiojkvIHEKtDDFeS3eVduj4gfa3GzDtQOKkaxKD/s320/Q+Wembley+2.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEBbZ_LeBAZKKAcU_QjNHPmjAF2PgAf8b51xOcaGdvU9wwT_ZWz8COuHd6F_3hSQ4rsaufNNmbMySwmalQbp_YWVJfmYLde2PKNH0QYKpN9oZR3gyeM6OLiEJuHf_xUfFvVMzyPXAY4QQ/s1600/Q+Cast+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEBbZ_LeBAZKKAcU_QjNHPmjAF2PgAf8b51xOcaGdvU9wwT_ZWz8COuHd6F_3hSQ4rsaufNNmbMySwmalQbp_YWVJfmYLde2PKNH0QYKpN9oZR3gyeM6OLiEJuHf_xUfFvVMzyPXAY4QQ/s320/Q+Cast+1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
To give the series and film some clout internationally,
Euston approached Sir John Mills to play the aged Bernard Quatermass.
Mills was reluctant to take the role but was persuaded by his wife.
Kneale wasn't entirely happy with the casting either: "He didn't have
the authority for Quatermass... I think he was very uneasy because it
wasn't the sort of thing he had made his name with. He didn't reckon
science fiction was his thing." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(12)</span><br />
<br />
The demands of filming for Mills were reported in TV Times. It took an hour for the make-up artists to prepare Bernard Quatermass for the scenes shot at Wembley Stadium for the alien attack. Mills claimed: "I'd have preferred a supporter's scarf and a rattle but they insisted on painting me with a gallon of glue and covering me in chalk and powder. I could hardly walk when they'd finished but I think that the stiffness of the suit helped me portray a man who had just witnessed the extinction of thousands of his fellow beings." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(13)</span><br />
<br />
Mills was joined by Simon MacCorkindale and Barbara Kellerman playing the astronomer Joe Kapp and his wife Clare. MacCorkindale had previously worked on Kneale's terrifying 'Baby', one of the best of ATV's <i>Beasts</i> anthology and had carved out a respectable television acting career with roles in <i>Hawkeye The Pathfinder</i>, <i>Sutherland's Law</i>, <i>I Claudius</i>, <i>Jesus of Nazareth</i> and <i>Within These Walls</i>. Kellerman was recently known for her role as Delly Lomas in Wilfred Greatorex's dystopian political drama <i>1990</i>. Kneale was just as disparaging about their casting, lamenting that Kellerman "just smiled all the time" and that MacCorkindale "should never have been cast as the last, rational, intelligent man in the world. We had him in <i>Beasts </i>playing an idiot and he was very good at that."<span style="font-size: x-small;">(14)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Bond producer Cubby Broccoli probably spent more on cigars every week.</blockquote>
Whereas <i>The Sweeney</i> had operated from its base at Colet Court, using standing sets for the Flying Squad's offices, and filmed other interiors and exteriors largely on location in London, <i>Quatermass </i>was, as noted by producer Norton Knatchbull, Euston's first 'art department' production. This meant that production designer Arnold Chapkis was responsible for building many sets from scratch, including an 18th Century observatory and its accompanying impressive radio telescope dishes, the various stone circles erected in the surrounding countryside and dressing Wembley Stadium with crystalised bodies, chalk dust and smoke for the climactic scenes depicting the alien harvest of the gathered Planet People. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(15)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqf0Eayrer93iuKh33JIwz9B5Ad6kglgrRlZjKshtN98vbRV3Mnt0ZFICHdZszwwwqUJYCaOtF-hoBM5G9JnkweLzAJnXL2h8ekivr4nZRdYq1jBDxJkMtv5897hWSSItORyrnHsOIV97r/s1600/Q+Wembley+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqf0Eayrer93iuKh33JIwz9B5Ad6kglgrRlZjKshtN98vbRV3Mnt0ZFICHdZszwwwqUJYCaOtF-hoBM5G9JnkweLzAJnXL2h8ekivr4nZRdYq1jBDxJkMtv5897hWSSItORyrnHsOIV97r/s320/Q+Wembley+1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHmKos5a_Lea16TYLAwCW_RQ96KCtsJdyOGMwyFwaYJ4ZLukefwUsVT6mw1spt1SMMxFqdOj3W2CA3LduzeHn8MN-yleNwNFzo91HHnMiD9epGbe-xXarCtRFYriLWGYhPrjNzM5tyqBz/s1600/Q+Stone+circle+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHmKos5a_Lea16TYLAwCW_RQ96KCtsJdyOGMwyFwaYJ4ZLukefwUsVT6mw1spt1SMMxFqdOj3W2CA3LduzeHn8MN-yleNwNFzo91HHnMiD9epGbe-xXarCtRFYriLWGYhPrjNzM5tyqBz/s320/Q+Stone+circle+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHghi6z-HREJrzeH99m0DzaYtJJe_tmyj5DHeiDH-HV-eLl8ROUU6D3YCDOo_dJz3An0GVBedz-fNoWhK_ZVhEQMg61aXVyEHsQmhR3id_eIp-7JzEUxKmV9IGR3Z1ZGVaBWoaGZCX27C/s1600/Q+Shuttle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHghi6z-HREJrzeH99m0DzaYtJJe_tmyj5DHeiDH-HV-eLl8ROUU6D3YCDOo_dJz3An0GVBedz-fNoWhK_ZVhEQMg61aXVyEHsQmhR3id_eIp-7JzEUxKmV9IGR3Z1ZGVaBWoaGZCX27C/s320/Q+Shuttle.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Interiors and exteriors were also filmed and some post-production completed at Harefield Grove Farm and Harefield Hall, a small studio complex near Pinewood that had been home to the first season of <i>The Professionals</i> in 1977. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(16)</span> Visual effects for the American-Soviet space station link up and the space shuttle sequences were completed at the Battersea studios of Clearwater Films, a company established by former Gerry Anderson alumni Ken Turner and David Mitton in the mid-1970s. Mitton was originally a member of Derek Meddings' effects team working on <i>Thunderbirds</i>, <i>Captain Scarlet</i>, <i>Joe 90 </i>and <i>UFO</i>.<br />
<br />
Johnny Goodman joked about the budget for the effects being so low that Bond producer Cubby Broccoli probably spent more on cigars every week. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(17) </span>However, Clearwater gained a reputation for stop-motion animation that would lead to a successful period co-producing ITV's <i>Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends</i> television series until the company's closure in 1990.<br />
<br />
Kneale was impressed with the scale of the production and briefly visited the shoot, acknowledging the effort Haggard and the crew were expending on the series: "They shot it in mid-summer 1978, a hot, hot year. I found them all practically stripped down to their boots on the lot, shooting under fierce sun. It wasn't easy. I think Piers was very ready for a rest at the end of it but he got through it all right." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(18)</span><br />
<br />
Shooting completed in December 1978 with a number of bridging shots that would be important when it came to editing the four episodes down, covering the removal of certain sections of the narrative to create the 100-minute feature version of the series, <i>The Quatermass Conclusion. </i>With editing, post syncing, scoring and effects completed, <i>Quatermass </i>was ready for transmission by February 1979. Euston and Thames' promotion for the series began in the summer, promising its arrival on screens in September.<br />
<br />
However, a national ITV technicians' strike in August 1979 blacked out the entire network for 75 days in support of the electricians' industrial action at Thames Television, taken after rejecting a pay increase and then being given an ultimatum by management to return to work or risk losing their jobs. As the strike dragged on, Euston completed the remaining work on <i>The Quatermass Conclusion</i> and prepared it for its theatrical debut in Europe. When ITV returned to the air on 24 October 1979, 'Ringstone Round', the first episode of the much delayed <i>Quatermass</i> was broadcast at 9.00pm.<br />
<br />
By November <i>The Quatermass Conclusion </i>had premiered, with Kneale and lead actor MacCorkindale present, at the 9th Annual Festival of Fantastic Cinema and Science Fiction in Paris. There was little interest from American distributors and the film had a limited release in North America the following Spring.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7U6Cyfsld1L2xoQBLL7UmbvcBhAcLPrhmLt9FIyi_fJ0UiyGuAoXr3A9HxAFgXTc9KnBO0vitju-crx4qtmaEVWTA1e2p95B0LL-HZ7qpiVRF-S40RLhIssG6fslqH8V9aBoBX7yJJ0c1/s1600/Q+Badders+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7U6Cyfsld1L2xoQBLL7UmbvcBhAcLPrhmLt9FIyi_fJ0UiyGuAoXr3A9HxAFgXTc9KnBO0vitju-crx4qtmaEVWTA1e2p95B0LL-HZ7qpiVRF-S40RLhIssG6fslqH8V9aBoBX7yJJ0c1/s320/Q+Badders+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz99FcQPu5K-m88Jo0y9AyfRshYlnvDsE9qGTfRVj3_QQQmw4-8jNtwMMyuVS-pPlBqBD8-1tsfzh_X2BP97dg7Wclz9vh5G8sefRrzVtCChs6DMnXGaXZYL5XLlewpoapsLlx6ovdx7Iv/s1600/Q+TV+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz99FcQPu5K-m88Jo0y9AyfRshYlnvDsE9qGTfRVj3_QQQmw4-8jNtwMMyuVS-pPlBqBD8-1tsfzh_X2BP97dg7Wclz9vh5G8sefRrzVtCChs6DMnXGaXZYL5XLlewpoapsLlx6ovdx7Iv/s320/Q+TV+1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJj7KAclLB0XfAM3xuw56vRxcMZBRO87bBRWY60MLj5WOTo9Q5CF45VPgKILq-ilsp88G7eBCOIPs590qM5Wofbf5tqDVhKCu8d5m6dUyZIZomanNVjHeqR9AgfzWyvI797E54M35huJw/s1600/Q+Planet+P+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJj7KAclLB0XfAM3xuw56vRxcMZBRO87bBRWY60MLj5WOTo9Q5CF45VPgKILq-ilsp88G7eBCOIPs590qM5Wofbf5tqDVhKCu8d5m6dUyZIZomanNVjHeqR9AgfzWyvI797E54M35huJw/s320/Q+Planet+P+1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The press and audience reaction to <i>Quatermass</i> was rather mixed at the time. Many wondered what had happened to the bullish Quatermass they'd seen in the 1950s and 1960s. The simple truth was that the character was older and Kneale used this to reflect back his generation's bewilderment at the declining social mores of the 1960s and the harsher realities of the 1970s. He was certainly forthright about the subject: "One of the more horrific and offensive things I found about the '60s was the 'let it all hang out' business. Inhibitions are like the bones in a creature, and if you pull the bones out all you're left with is a floppy jelly." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(19)</span><br />
<br />
Kneale's concerns, about the generation gap, the
population explosion, old age and euthanasia and the
impact of the end of Empire, the continuation of the Cold War and
intractable economic recession, all fed into <i>Quatermass</i>. "As I had done with <i>Quatermass II</i>, I looked at the alarming aspects of contemporary trends. Since then we'd seen 'flower power' and hippies, so all I did was bring them into the story." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(20)</span><br />
<br />
Kneale was also of the pre-baby boomer era where the concept of the
teenager had not existed and in maturity he had become wary of the youth
sub-cultures that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s and the counter-culture of the 1970s. <br />
<br />
The hippy became his
folk-devil in <i>Quatermass</i>, with the Planet People cult analogous to the demonised youth movements that allegedly contributed to the collapse of morality, law and
order and social stability in the post-war generation. In 1979, this perspective in <i>Quatermass</i> seemed out-of-step, perhaps a symptom of the long delays to the project since it was originally written in 1972, and Britain was by then already a post-punk nation on the brink of a significant shift to the political right. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It’s the only show that anybody watches anymore. Don’t they realise?" </blockquote>
In <i>Quatermass</i>, the retired Professor returns
to London to participate in a television programme celebrating a joint American-Soviet space project, but also
looking for his lost granddaughter. He finds a society on the brink of
collapse, the city a battleground for gangs, patrolled by a privatised
police force and weakened by power cuts (an ironic touch given the fact that the series was delayed by a strike that knocked ITV off the air).<br />
<br />
The ITV strike seemed to foreshadow, as Dave Rolinson and Nick Cooper noted, that in <i>Quatermass </i>"the
state of television is
symptomatic of society’s decline" and Kneale "uses television as a
framing device, with an alienated Quatermass
seeing many events only through screens." The series opens with
Quatermass denouncing the American-Soviet spacelab on air and hijacking
the broadcast to appeal for help finding his granddaughter Hettie. It is also a moment where Kneale reiterates the importance of reclaiming humanity in the midst of chaos: <span class="st">"that's all I'm interested in now - a human face."</span> <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yApJ1Il0V5WkGZ4rN304p1H6YIcZF5Ib1NrDb3AGut3i_UwF33PxMgowlYfxEI3qSAaNmD-wNfYrpKhgsFFI9zBFVXzCz0ISlFzqDrQH6SrxTB7O2KGYwI9DAzoZ5_OONn9be8TM5M2K/s1600/Q+Titupy+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yApJ1Il0V5WkGZ4rN304p1H6YIcZF5Ib1NrDb3AGut3i_UwF33PxMgowlYfxEI3qSAaNmD-wNfYrpKhgsFFI9zBFVXzCz0ISlFzqDrQH6SrxTB7O2KGYwI9DAzoZ5_OONn9be8TM5M2K/s320/Q+Titupy+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6J2r8kZMnEbSJRVbFcCcHjgBt4y6OBT-SyBavxgKkEvG4XHbbfx8KT0PkG3LBRRhfDW-EzqhqO827m_dtn6M1a6MKo1sa5nRb5-2eyMX5HrJ3jtMrH-XvrcgXIUnYbPiiLicDTO264W-N/s1600/Q+Britain+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6J2r8kZMnEbSJRVbFcCcHjgBt4y6OBT-SyBavxgKkEvG4XHbbfx8KT0PkG3LBRRhfDW-EzqhqO827m_dtn6M1a6MKo1sa5nRb5-2eyMX5HrJ3jtMrH-XvrcgXIUnYbPiiLicDTO264W-N/s320/Q+Britain+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbEgwp-eAwd0SUYKLNh8gyUZUZOyDQ1bPFrTtBCd1EZvISIZd2VOLMiWtaD9fVgCkmJKmhDnnoe0SlFK6mNuVUn8jWtOA4qaHB7JE8MFfHDvuRUNv4beZWRJ0F53WblfyaNWj6pSG2wiZH/s1600/Q+Britain+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbEgwp-eAwd0SUYKLNh8gyUZUZOyDQ1bPFrTtBCd1EZvISIZd2VOLMiWtaD9fVgCkmJKmhDnnoe0SlFK6mNuVUn8jWtOA4qaHB7JE8MFfHDvuRUNv4beZWRJ0F53WblfyaNWj6pSG2wiZH/s320/Q+Britain+4.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Later, Kneale invokes Swiftian satire when Quatermass returns to the TV studio and halts the transmission of the soft porn 'Titupy Bumpity' entertainment show, as prescient a sequence about lowest common denominator broadcasting as the exploration of state regulated reality television in <i>The Year of the Sex Olympics</i>. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(21) </span>This is helped immeasurably by choreographer Tudor Davies' performance as the camp, neurotic television director aggrieved that his show has been dragged off the air: "It’s the only show that anybody watches anymore. Don’t they realise?"<br />
<br />
Mark Duguid also connected the wrecked future Britain of <i>Quatermass</i> with events closer to home in 1978-79 and "the 'Winter of Discontent', in which Britain was crippled
by strikes and power cuts, rubbish was piled high in the streets, and
unemployment reached levels not seen since the 1930s (with worse yet to
come)." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(22)</span><br />
<br />
Kneale elaborated on his 'state of the nation' depiction of Britain in
the TV Times: "There are some clues already in the most obvious place:
the streets. Pavements littered with rubbish. Walls painted with angry
graffiti. Belfast, black with smoke and rage. Gang fights. Worst of all,
the mindless violence." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(23)</span><br />
<br />
The opening episodes of <i>Quatermass</i>
are full of often prescient details that relay his vision of "the Great
Urban Collapse". He was in good company because a great deal of British
science fiction television of the time - <i>Doomwatch</i>, <i>The Changes</i> and <i>Survivors</i> - was exploring and depicting the symptoms of British decline. <br />
<br />
Indeed, producer Ted Childs picked up on this: "I was impressed by the prophetic elements he'd included. We had to acquire vans and Landrovers to serve as police vehicles, and adapted them with moveable grills fitted over the windows - now a standard fitting on much police transport. Similarly the police armour evolved as per Tom's text which we now see all too frequently on our streets." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(24)</span><br />
<br />
Kneale's prescience could also be applied to the promise of North Sea Oil as the salve to all of Britain's ills so enthusiastically promoted by government in the late 1970s. <i>Quatermass</i> suggests it would be a promise never kept as Quatermass and Joe Kapp drive away from London through an abandoned refinery. What was "going to put everything right" clearly hasn't in this Britain of the near-future and any oil wealth generated seems long since squandered.<br />
<br />
Many commentators noted that when Thatcher came to power in May 1979 she oversaw a boom in revenue from oil production. Yet, Britain's infrastructure crumbled when, as Guy Lodge pointed out in 2013, "Thatcher missed a trick in not diverting some of
the proceeds of oil revenue into an oil fund, like Norway and others did.
Instead she used the lot to support current spending, including covering the
costs of large-scale industrial restructuring and funding expensive tax cuts to
woo middle England". <span style="font-size: x-small;">(25) </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2oFl6hJkRtxLdl7KlPN1hger7jFrhR0YG7sNWgoerRqwCJ7K_t45CPxfM_3bQh4d6qHgKzOI3NCHQCAa_X4gJa-zQ1_N-y5OH55pMIltBhpTulJ8VK-AlPjjkslRPIcna85m4OyCi8yB/s1600/Q+Britain+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2oFl6hJkRtxLdl7KlPN1hger7jFrhR0YG7sNWgoerRqwCJ7K_t45CPxfM_3bQh4d6qHgKzOI3NCHQCAa_X4gJa-zQ1_N-y5OH55pMIltBhpTulJ8VK-AlPjjkslRPIcna85m4OyCi8yB/s320/Q+Britain+7.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFpSljQSsg2gN8SZS_CrqgPCpzPDfm4zv1FHsHVdGfBT6tfGUiEMG6pGVwPBHpMAN3RZLns5-Wn816VW0s6oHIkFfNpfnpCxKKIZpz1NgFHPfV3thqslVLxtmALch58Y5wQR_OOvJfIHD6/s1600/Q+Planet+P+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFpSljQSsg2gN8SZS_CrqgPCpzPDfm4zv1FHsHVdGfBT6tfGUiEMG6pGVwPBHpMAN3RZLns5-Wn816VW0s6oHIkFfNpfnpCxKKIZpz1NgFHPfV3thqslVLxtmALch58Y5wQR_OOvJfIHD6/s320/Q+Planet+P+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9P3tgrd9QlYzFkPaodzUTBWXfc-p6pCANife2sfj4k5KTntGArY5tJoDnn4ESx9Is1uKWV4GByMQfaQRZwcdH8R1G_s15HnrjSh9QtCmm2kloDOkpwpBid08WCETSpWsKomJaOJkccdUr/s1600/Q+Stone+circle+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9P3tgrd9QlYzFkPaodzUTBWXfc-p6pCANife2sfj4k5KTntGArY5tJoDnn4ESx9Is1uKWV4GByMQfaQRZwcdH8R1G_s15HnrjSh9QtCmm2kloDOkpwpBid08WCETSpWsKomJaOJkccdUr/s320/Q+Stone+circle+1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The
counter-culture is represented on the one hand by the Planet People, a mass youth
movement and messianic cult seemingly brainwashed to believe that they will
be transported away from this dystopian Britain to a utopian life on another planet, and on the other by violent gangs - the Badders and Blue Brigades - as an extemporisation of the nationalist-separatist and urban terrorisms of the period.<br />
<br />
When Quatermass is set upon by well spoken Badder gang members Kneale wryly reflects the notion that in the 1970s "the German RAF (aka Baader Meinhof) and Italian Red Brigades were exclusively composed of middle-class terrorists who had dropped out of high schools or universities" and that many affluent young people from West Europe were attracted to the ideologies of radical groups because they felt powerless. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(26)</span><br />
<br />
Dave Rolinson and Nick Cooper also tie the anger and frustrations of the youth cults in <i>Quatermass </i>to "the neotribalism of early-1970s football hooliganism" and this is given a further twist by not only setting the climax of episode three at Wembley Stadium but also in Quatermass's conversation with Kapp as they drive past the Stadium in episode one where the role of the Stadium is described as a 'killing ground', an area used for the containment of malcontent youth in televised fights. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(27)</span><br />
<br />
The gangs and the Planet People seem to be an extension of the violent 'racial' purges seen in the climax of <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> and the notion of violent spectacle as entertainment resurfacing from the concerns about reality television in <i>The Year of the Sex Olympics</i> and a restatement of themes about teenage suicides in 1965's unproduced <i>The Big, Big Giggle</i>.<br />
<br />
The depiction of The Planet People disappointed Kneale: "I wanted them
to be more
crazy, aggressive, dangerous and out of control but as they came across
in the film they were rather pretty and harmless, a bit like the flower
people. I'd imagined a sort of cross between super-punks and whirling
dervishes; people who had been driven mad by the gods who were to
destroy them..."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> (28) </span>However, further connections can be made today through <i>Quatermass</i>
beyond the simple premise they were a representation of the hippy
generation.<br />
<br />
What were anachronisms in <i>Quatermass</i> suddenly resonate again as Gavin Burrows suggests. The battles between the Planet People and the police at the stone circle "strangely foreshadow the conflicts over Stonehenge in the late Eighties. The Stonehenge Festival had begun in 1972, but was then a small affair known only in marginal and counter-cultural circles. It wasn’t propelled into the popular consciousness until it was banned with the ensuing ‘Battle of the Beanfield’ in 1985 - six years after transmission." There is also, as Burrows notes, an analogue between the Planet People and the same decade's depictions of 'new age' travellers, ravers, and environmental protestors. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(29)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Old magic" </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSZP0jzTvowS0uJnX0E4_GfJM4jCGUGGOD4ojZ7GIagaHZcHm_Ro2HRalea6l56OzZMW-aa9NeZN8GK8QPKlfjBCgLMIN5qekwlfBNpe9iuSDx0bPhoFZuAKnxqDyvmxkPand6r-fi9Kg/s1600/Q+Planet+P+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSZP0jzTvowS0uJnX0E4_GfJM4jCGUGGOD4ojZ7GIagaHZcHm_Ro2HRalea6l56OzZMW-aa9NeZN8GK8QPKlfjBCgLMIN5qekwlfBNpe9iuSDx0bPhoFZuAKnxqDyvmxkPand6r-fi9Kg/s320/Q+Planet+P+3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBceLoD5rTQyIDWTlCJWwAe37HowspZDJrGto-sp35YOI3GMFM3_CrYe65SoaolYY0Gsvify4w5G611U6C3JayEoNSyX871VzMNxClg1tMkf-9JldiDZtar9n4_TiGWN-A-HTmtlsJpX_/s1600/Q+Landscape+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBceLoD5rTQyIDWTlCJWwAe37HowspZDJrGto-sp35YOI3GMFM3_CrYe65SoaolYY0Gsvify4w5G611U6C3JayEoNSyX871VzMNxClg1tMkf-9JldiDZtar9n4_TiGWN-A-HTmtlsJpX_/s320/Q+Landscape+3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYE9Jmod2lmj2rOPrlyXXOvkWKy3RP5IfSHn6FeOdV5ahls8KAR9AWqvy7qjKpmNj6ZmgB1BZXG5v-9NIA9og0ukve6S0a3mSgLVU59pJJTaRQITPufc5t70sei3CYiqwLM-er-zmindrP/s1600/Q+Old+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYE9Jmod2lmj2rOPrlyXXOvkWKy3RP5IfSHn6FeOdV5ahls8KAR9AWqvy7qjKpmNj6ZmgB1BZXG5v-9NIA9og0ukve6S0a3mSgLVU59pJJTaRQITPufc5t70sei3CYiqwLM-er-zmindrP/s320/Q+Old+5.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
As the Planet
People gather at stone circles, Quatermass is asked to comment from the
sidelines on TV as the Soviets and Americans plough their resources into
a space station project. Disaster strikes as the station and its
astronauts are destroyed by an unknown force and simultaneously,
hundreds of youths are vapourised by an intense beam striking the Earth. Quatermass takes shelter with astronomer Joe Kapp and his young family and as more and more youths are slaughtered by the extraterrestrial force, he returns to London hoping to find a solution. The answer lies in an extraordinary community of old people, living in a car scrapyard, who rescue him from a gang attack.<br />
<br />
It is this older generation, and their rigid application of science and knowledge as elders and betters, who must now prevail and preserve the younger. This aspect of the story was much more than a sideswipe at the hippy generation. As Kneale himself put it: "The theme I was trying to express was a last ditch use of logic and
dwindling technological resources against suicidal mysticism, and the
idea of the old trying to redress the balance of the young - to save the
young, a nice paradoxical, ironical idea, a sort of inversion of the
'60s..." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(30)</span><br />
<br />
The character of Joe Kapp provides something of a devil's advocate between these two view points as a rational scientist in the mold of Quatermass but also as a man connected, albeit fleetingly at the start of the story, to his Jewish faith, to an ancient belief system. At first, as a scientist, he rejects their irrational beliefs but as events unfold he begins to doubt the evidence of his eyes. <br />
<br />
Kapp slowly begins to understand that his own lapsed belief occupies the same spectrum where the Planet People believe in an extraterrestrial utopia. Religious faith and ritual is another facet to <i>Quatermass</i> that seems to get somewhat overlooked. It's clearly an element that director Piers Haggard picked up on, overlaying orthodox faiths (both religious and technological) with the "old magic" practiced by the processions of Planet People.<br />
<br />
Mystical indoctrination was a theme he exploited well in the folk horror of <i>Blood on Satan's Claw </i>and its marriage to the British countryside and pre-industrial folklore is continued here. The Planet People converge on the stone circles in the story through their interaction with ley lines, connecting to sacred sites beneath the ground using the plumb bob as a symbol of their anti-rationalist, pre-industrial belief system.<br />
<br />
<i>Quatermass</i>, written in 1972, also now appears to be following on the coattails (rather being the actual coat) of a particular period when there was a huge revival of the occult through popular culture in the 1970s. There was a growing counter-cultural interest in
alternative faiths and religions as orthodox beliefs struggled to
survive the secularism that dominated the 1960s. Everything Atlantean
and Crowleyan was popular and was reflected in books, films, music,
comics and television of the time.<br />
<br />
In particular, Tom Lethbridge, an academic, archaeologist and honorary Keeper of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, was a memorable figure in the world of parapsychology in the 1960s and 1970s, and Kneale would have picked up on his notoriety after he had postulated the Stone Tape theory in 1961. This suggested ghostly hauntings were as a result of emotional and traumatic events stored or recorded in the environment. His successful use of the pendulum bob for dowsing and divination and adherence to the von Däniken theory that extraterrestrials visited the Earth and affected man's evolution must also have informed Kneale's depiction of the Planet People. <br />
<br />
The plumb bob is in fact the equivalent of Kapp's telescopes, scientific
instruments firmly planted in this green and pleasant land, that he
uses to trace the skies in search of the unknowable extraterrestrial.
Kapp's wife is also an archaeologist, unearthing a prehistoric Beaker
folk grave in the grounds of the estate, gaining an intimate
relationship with the land and the basic technology ancient communities
used. <br />
<br />
Kneale forges connections across time, through various periods of pre-industrial development (folk belief in ley lines, the Beaker folk building Ringstone Round as a prototype of Stonehenge, old Jewish faith) to the industrial and scientific developments of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Kapp's observatory was built then). Kapp and Quatermass are, like M.R James's antiquarians, setting out to rediscover the true function of myth and folklore in a world that has long abandoned them. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(31) </span>The ancient lore, in a typical inversion of Kneale's and with shades of <i>Quatermass and the Pit</i>, is revealed as markers of an advanced technology belonging to a long distant alien race.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhFbZL3SlNJpb_06ps3SwI_9VfALJDQZ7XYOuX16WNqcMICVuFkrObt2QYpouBcK_x_97OZ4v9bt-a1vmD1NJpPE00aZWao-Kifu9Bg1L_NCQ8-FCSVrNq6JCcJH1d4KVrEygqI6RhPBB/s1600/Q+Candle+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhFbZL3SlNJpb_06ps3SwI_9VfALJDQZ7XYOuX16WNqcMICVuFkrObt2QYpouBcK_x_97OZ4v9bt-a1vmD1NJpPE00aZWao-Kifu9Bg1L_NCQ8-FCSVrNq6JCcJH1d4KVrEygqI6RhPBB/s320/Q+Candle+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtodyyKxbehrr72iVjFJ_vIecg6OmfLpnTtJlRDH47eXE5NXu-1cQQ3zN-34eA4EwY3sENL3v7Ev_S6v2BUjU8HuyCE9H-eE9I8ZQp5YJXB3caS1zNAfH2SfVJSS0zzkMh4bzw-_WCZRQ/s1600/Q+Candle+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtodyyKxbehrr72iVjFJ_vIecg6OmfLpnTtJlRDH47eXE5NXu-1cQQ3zN-34eA4EwY3sENL3v7Ev_S6v2BUjU8HuyCE9H-eE9I8ZQp5YJXB3caS1zNAfH2SfVJSS0zzkMh4bzw-_WCZRQ/s320/Q+Candle+3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCquwSQZL83qn6PgriAeAP1ZSgiLPNnfRiSBfSUxYa0_yXudU-p64Pu5Ieo1cFyK3CPHKCB3mlxsXvIYkvaHt97AUMXAITTK_oc3_-vZdwLI4YQxThbm6wb8lBvrNzYEsHKdAO3SmVvEQa/s1600/Q+Wembley+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCquwSQZL83qn6PgriAeAP1ZSgiLPNnfRiSBfSUxYa0_yXudU-p64Pu5Ieo1cFyK3CPHKCB3mlxsXvIYkvaHt97AUMXAITTK_oc3_-vZdwLI4YQxThbm6wb8lBvrNzYEsHKdAO3SmVvEQa/s320/Q+Wembley+6.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yjUzMrYyAeuQUYYFSZiFsDQt4LwlQFEjGnI00vY8MzSCWdqDT6-kP501_zsLXg1mxVDv1TIpGWhgfe81nUy3ZoAUFaxN9r1rQVD4i93U3nMclHWzlBQwva8fUhTSdfbxM8GJpn08ocEH/s1600/Q+Cast+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yjUzMrYyAeuQUYYFSZiFsDQt4LwlQFEjGnI00vY8MzSCWdqDT6-kP501_zsLXg1mxVDv1TIpGWhgfe81nUy3ZoAUFaxN9r1rQVD4i93U3nMclHWzlBQwva8fUhTSdfbxM8GJpn08ocEH/s320/Q+Cast+3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwXux-w5Af2e-EdoRTOFMd4V9V9EP3au5-PXoq3izD9Unm1ZmiL2gBCZ0zt8utDmiVr90sDYY6Vv_TgInLqlnCQiK-HLDUE70c6M5VAVl1eAe_G6f_q5Owj9A8Fk-PbuTsSVehMBhNwJs/s1600/Q+End.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwXux-w5Af2e-EdoRTOFMd4V9V9EP3au5-PXoq3izD9Unm1ZmiL2gBCZ0zt8utDmiVr90sDYY6Vv_TgInLqlnCQiK-HLDUE70c6M5VAVl1eAe_G6f_q5Owj9A8Fk-PbuTsSVehMBhNwJs/s320/Q+End.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The older Quatermass attempts to
understand the Planet People after he and Joe meet a group of them when
they first escape from the chaos of London. The procession of Planet People, much like the similar pagan congregations in both <i>Blood on Satan's Claw</i> and <i>The Wicker Man</i>, is framed against or enclosed within the rural landscape.<br />
<br />
As Derek Johnston notes, folk horror often uses landscape as a return to "the 'hippy' ideals of reverence of nature, sexual openness, rejection of the military industrial complex and its influence on society." Kneale, as with many other proponents of folk horror, warns that this has its consequences, a punishment if you will. Maintaining his conservative stance, he also shows the Planet People as dangerously violent when they attack a farm in search of food. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(32)</span><br />
<br />
The Planet People accompany their tracing across the landscape with a chant of "ley" or "leh" - a prayer for the mystical traces beneath the ground and a call to the extraterrestrial force. Clare's rarely used Jewish prayers and candle ritual are reinstalled when she is traumatised after witnessing their wholesale slaughter at Ringstone Round and the lapsed Joe also returns to the ritual when his wife and children are incinerated. This aspect of the story may have been influenced by Kneale's wife Judith Kerr, a German Jew who escaped from Berlin and the Nazis after her father Alfred had openly criticised them.<br />
<br />
Holocaust iconography is also present: several characters express their revulsion when they realise, in the aftermath of the human harvesting at the stone circles and Wembley, the air they breathe is full of ashes composed of human remains or the rubble they stand in is powdered human flesh and bone. Even the Nazi purges are brought to mind as Quatermass drives past a stall piled high with books in a ramshackle London market, a sign exclaiming: 'Guaranteed to burn well'.<br />
<br />
Rituals of faith that bind together families and communities run through <i>Quatermass</i> - whether their members are young or old, rational or superstitious. The nursery rhymes that Kapp's children recite become a rallying cry for the gangs converging on the "sacred turf" of Wembley Stadium while Quatermass assembles a group of scientists and associates from the older generation to analyse the attacks after he realises they are immune. Joe Kapp tries to recall his family through the candle ceremony of his Jewish background. <br />
<br />
The "old magic" then is also the community of knowledge that Quatermass
gathers together, finding a solution with the science of the
establishment rejected by the Planet People and that they replaced with a return to
Dark Ages superstition, a realm where you must "stop trying to know things". This is Kneale at his most reactionary, where
his own faith in the institutions that saw Britain through the Second
World War - the research scientists, the code breakers, the army, the
police, the government - will eventually be seen to bring an uncontrolled younger generation to heel.<br />
<br />
As Peter Hutchings suggests, the Quatermass stories all seem to "show Britain still bound to the experience of the Second World War... as a pervasive ideal of national identity... and the function of the aliens is to reveal and clarify something that is already there, with their subsequent destruction a means of dealing, if only temporarily, with internal social tensions." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(33)</span><br />
<br />
The binding together of the two generations only comes at the end when Quatermass lures the alien force to Kapp's observatory with a manufactured human pheromone, a honey trap to deter it with the simultaneous detonation of a nuclear device. His missing granddaughter Hettie emerges from the Planet People gathering to help him, in the throes of a heart attack, to set the device off. The nuclear device is the ultimate symbol of the post Second World War generation's transition into modernity. It ended that conflict but it also was the catalyst for the emergence and domination of the superpowers that Quatermass blames for Britain's economic and social collapse. <br />
<br />
<i>Quatermass</i> teems with great ideas and the sum of the individual parts are as good as anything Kneale produced at the time, albeit they are a more reactionary, conservative expression of those ideas. However, beyond the discovery of the alien's purpose the story loses focus. Even Kneale acknowledged this: "I was never really happy with a lot of it in fact I was never really happy with my original idea. The setting, the country fallen into social disaster, was hugely interesting to write and go into detail about but the force from outer space was really a bit ordinary and once it was revealed what it was it could not carry any further surprises or interest. All you had left then was how they'd try to deal with it."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> (34)</span><br />
<br />
Mills, MacCorkindale and Kellerman may have come in for some opprobrium from Kneale but their performances are certainly the least embarrassing ones. Mills is rather good, humanising Quatermass and distinctively performing the character's development from concerned old man to reinvigorated, rational scientist. MacCorkindale is affecting as a father suffering the loss of wife and children and doubting his own rationality and beliefs.<br />
<br />
Kellerman is fine given she had the thankless task of portraying Joe Kapp's slightly neurotic and paranoid wife. Margaret Tyzack is great as District Commissioner Annie Morgan, a relic of Empire nostalgically recalling bobbies on the beat and minding your Ps and Qs. The worst offenders are probably Brewster Mason as Quatermass' Russian colleague Gurov, a performance which simply relies on stereotype and the rather overwrought tone used by Tony Sibbald as Chuck Marshall, the American television anchor and astronaut.<br />
<br />
Haggard directs effectively if not as pacily as the material might demand and, as suggested, he manages to provide some startling contrasts between a derelict London and the rolling countryside. His sense of scale is rewarding, giving <i>Quatermass </i>an epic quality, ensuring the substantial budget is on screen when it comes to the set pieces at Ringstone Round and Wembley. He understands Kneale's concepts and ensures they are clearly presented. Whereas the four part series has its longeurs, <i>The Quatermass Conclusion</i> is tighter but removes a huge chunk of material relevant to Kneale's major theme about old age in the scenes where Quatermass is cared for by the scrapyard community. There are other, smaller moments that the feature version elects to trim or remove that make the series more satisfying as a viewing experience. <br />
<br />
<b>About the restoration</b><br />
<i>Quatermass</i> has never looked better. Network have done a splendid job in returning to the 35mm film elements for their presentation. The four episodes, which all come complete with the ad-bumpers, are full of detail and depth with consistently good rendering of colour and contrast. There is plenty of fine detail in faces, costumes and settings and, as it should be, film grain is present. There are a few instances were the picture becomes a little soft but for the most part this is a long awaited, very accomplished high definition picture upgrade.<br />
<br />
The 106 minute <i>The Quatermass Conclusion </i>is presented in the theatrical aspect of 1.78:1 and therefore the picture crops some information at the top and bottom of the screen but gains slightly at the sides. Again, it has been restored and while it may be slightly softer in detail on occasions, it looks very good. <br />
<br />
<b>Special Features</b><br />
Sadly, not much to get excited about on this release. Creating value added material is expensive but for an interesting title from such an undervalued writer this release could have at least ported over the Sci-Fi Channel interview with Kneale that made it onto the previous Clear Vision DVD release. <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>5.1 mix for episodic version</i></b></span><br />
For the purists there is the original mono but Network also provide this serviceable 5.1 mix. <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Music-only tracks for all four episodes</i></b></span><br />
An option to hear Marc Wilkinson and Nic Rowley's doom laden electronic scor<b>e.</b><b><i> </i></b><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Episode recaps</i></b></span><br />
The original 'story so far' sequences that accompanied the television transmissions (Episode 2's recap is mute) (4:26)<b><i> </i></b><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Textless titles</i></b></span><br />
Mute opening titles (1:59) and end titles for <i>The Quatermass Conclusion</i> (2:53)<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>Trailer</b></i></span><br />
Mute trailer for <i>The Quatermass Conclusion</i> (4:33)<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Image Gallery</i></b></span><br />
Good selection of colour and black and white publicity materials including some behind the scenes shots<i><b>.</b></i><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>Booklet by TV historian Andrew Pixley</b></i></span><br />
This wasn't made available for review but no doubt it is up to Andrew's usual standard.<br />
<br />
<b>Quatermass / The Quatermass Conclusion</b><br />
Thames Television / Euston Films 1979<br />
4 episodes (210 mins approx)<br />
Transmitted 24 October to 14 November 1979<br />
Theatrical version (106 mins) <br />
European theatrical premiere November 1979<br />
Network Blu Ray 7958026 & DVD 7954328 / Region B & Region 2 / Released 27 July 2015 / Subtitles: English / Sound: Mono and 5.1 - English / 1.33:1 (four episodes) 1.78:1 (feature version) / Colour / Classification:15<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006)<br />(2) Andrew Pixley, The Quatermass Collection Viewing Notes (BBC DVD 1478, 2005)<br />(3) Mat Irvine & Mike Tucker, 'Quatermass' in BBC VFX - The Story of the BBC Visual Effects Department (Aurum Press, 2010) <br />(4) Andrew Pixley, Fantasy Flashback: Quatermass in TV Zone No 161 (Visual Imagination, 2003)<br />(5) John Fleming, The Starburst Interview: Nigel Kneale in Starburst No.16 (Marvel Comics, 1979)<br />(6) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006) <br />(7) Richard Marson, Drama and Delight, The Life of Verity Lambert (Miwk Publishing, 2015)<br />(8) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006)<br />(9) John Fleming, The Starburst Interview: Nigel Kneale in Starburst No.16 (Marvel Comics, 1979)<br />(10) Manuel Alvarado & John Stewart, Made for Television: Euston Films Limited (BFI, 1985) <br />(11) Richard Marson, Drama and Delight, The Life of Verity Lambert (Miwk Publishing, 2015)<br />(12) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006) <br />(13) Inside Television, TV Times (IPC, 27 October 1979)<br />(14) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006) <br />(15) Andrew Pixley, Fantasy Flashback: Quatermass in TV Zone No 161 (Visual Imagination, 2003) and Ian Garrard & Richard Houldsworth, Fantasy Flashback: Quatermass in TV Zone No.15 (Visual Imagination, 1990)<br />(16) Andrew Pixley, Fantasy Flashback: Quatermass in TV Zone No 161 (Visual Imagination, 2003)<br />(17) Ian Garrard & Richard Houldsworth, Fantasy Flashback: Quatermass in TV Zone No.15 (Visual Imagination, 1990)<br />(18) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006) <br />(19) Jonathan Rigby, Ancient Fears: The Film & Television Nightmares of Nigel Kneale in Starburst No 265 (Visual Imagination, 2000) <br />(20) Marcus Hearn, Rocket Man in Hammer Horror No.7 (Marvel, September 1995)<br />(21) David Rolinson and Nick Cooper, Bring Something Back: The Strange Career of Professor Bernard Quatermass in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Taylor & Francis, Autumn 2002)<br />(22) Mark Duiguid, Quatermass (1979) BFI Screenonline http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/442672/ Accessed 25/07/15<br />(23) Nigel Kneale, Quatermass: on the streets of fear when the world falls apart, TV Times (IPC, 27 October 1979)<br />(24) Andy Murray, Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (Headpress, 2006)<br />(25) Guy Lodge, 'Thatcher and North Sea oil – a failure to invest in Britain’s future', Newstatesman, April 2013, http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-%E2%80%93-failure-invest-britain%E2%80%99s-future Accessed 23/07/15<br />(26) Building Terrorism Resistant Communities: Together Against Terrorism (IOS Press, 2009) <br />(27) David Rolinson and Nick Cooper, Bring Something Back: The Strange Career of Professor Bernard Quatermass in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Taylor & Francis, Autumn 2002)<br />(28) Julian Petley, The Quatermass Conclusion, in Primetime No.9 (WTVA, Winter 1984/5)<br />(29) Gavin Burrows, Quatermass IV, October 2014, http://lucidfrenzy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/quatermass-iv-1979.html Accessed 23/07/15<br />(30) Julian Petley, The Quatermass Conclusion, in Primetime No.9 (WTVA, Winter 1984/5)<br />(31) Derek Johnston, Time and Identity in Folk Horror, paper presented at A Fiend in the Furrows, Queen's University Belfast, 19 September 2014<br />(32) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(33) Peter Hutchings, 'We're the Martians now': British sf invasion fantasies of the 1950s and 1960s in British Science Fiction Cinema (Routledge, 1999)<br />(34) Julian Petley, The Quatermass Conclusion, in Primetime No.9 (WTVA, Winter 1984/5)</span>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-31960264897036516542015-06-20T12:41:00.000+01:002015-07-26T12:52:23.701+01:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - Beyond the police: From The Professionals to Life on Mars<b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
This entry concludes the re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b>
blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains
additional research material and information on the various crime and
spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to
celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March.<br />
<br />
I hope you enjoy this final post. <br />
<br />
<b>6: Beyond the police - From The Professionals to Life on Mars</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rcbij0hiuCyk2x1507H-pGlbUDhBX9Uift3sxgtQrWiSr9u3xuLyk4-RuBrStT1QNCTxHllXMZuMxX9gIAbKSDYmpWtfCB6rBWQunQjPSkmbKcqz8Xxp_G3444yVkR5qoFROwc5eM2gK/s1600/brianclemens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rcbij0hiuCyk2x1507H-pGlbUDhBX9Uift3sxgtQrWiSr9u3xuLyk4-RuBrStT1QNCTxHllXMZuMxX9gIAbKSDYmpWtfCB6rBWQunQjPSkmbKcqz8Xxp_G3444yVkR5qoFROwc5eM2gK/s320/brianclemens.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubuZGOqFovfPNTYeY4bgmhn3Hh9Sj1E5d_Lv8N2RSZuCUsJteJGjkaABw4T1w7NBtMETzZ5OHQNYOhE038a7rH9Xml5Js5zlb-e37KQYoNZ9tgUXIOZU2zLlt0MU-a6yKfm4A0LD5AJbq/s1600/newavengers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubuZGOqFovfPNTYeY4bgmhn3Hh9Sj1E5d_Lv8N2RSZuCUsJteJGjkaABw4T1w7NBtMETzZ5OHQNYOhE038a7rH9Xml5Js5zlb-e37KQYoNZ9tgUXIOZU2zLlt0MU-a6yKfm4A0LD5AJbq/s320/newavengers.jpg" width="270" /></a>Creator of <i>The Professionals</i>, writer-producer-director Brian Clemens, boasted a six-decade career making iconic crime and adventure drama. In the 1950s, as staff writer, he scripted many half-hour crime series for the Danzigers production company. He wrote the pilot episode for <i>Danger Man</i> in 1960 and a year later provided the same for <i>The Avengers</i>, the series with which he is forever associated.<br />
<br />
While he and producer Albert Fennell oversaw ABC television’s international success with John Steed and Emma Peel in <i>The Avengers</i>, Clemens also contributed to ITC’s <i>The Baron</i>, <i>The Champions </i>and <i>Man in a Suitcase</i>. He created ATV’s anthology series <i>Thriller</i> and, with Fennell, revived <i>The Avengers</i> in 1976 as <i>The New Avengers</i>.<br />
<br />
As the second series of <i>The New Avengers </i>completed filming in October 1977 it was clear to Clemens that his co-production company The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd, formed with Fennell and composer Laurie Johnson, was running into financial difficulties. After French finance failed to materialise, the final three episodes of the series were cancelled and the prospect of making a third series evaporated. Four episodes, then being completed in Canada, provided an underwhelming coda to a troubled production. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<b>Recruiting The Professionals</b><br />
<br />
During this unsettled period the managing director of London Weekend Television, Brian Tesler, approached Clemens and Fennell to pitch ideas for a rival drama to Thames Television's hugely successful <i>The Sweeney</i>, made by Euston Films. Clemens devised <i>The A Squad</i> about a fictional British law enforcement agency - CI5 - operating ‘beyond the police’ and ordered by the Home Secretary to combat specific crimes by any means necessary. An elite unit led by the uncompromising George Cowley, two of his top operatives were William Bodie, an ex-paratrooper, mercenary and SAS sergeant, and former detective constable Ray Doyle.<br />
<br />
Clemens and Fennell created a subsidiary company, Avengers Mark 1 Productions, and hired director Sidney Hayers, often behind the camera on <i>The Avengers</i>, ITC's <i>The Persuaders! </i>and <i>The New Avengers</i>, to produce the first series of <i>The Professionals</i>. Echoing <i>The Sweeney</i>'s use of a former school as an independent production base, Mark 1 established their operations at Harefield Grove, an estate just outside Pinewood Studios. Its grounds and buildings offered filming locations, offices and editing facilities and kept production costs manageable.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvCdOAQlaN78jj9lzbWN8p9xCmfLrB3btLFsWurWFMbsNb8_2KnehmaD5YsuIcGCbl4iSWOfo4rVrEvGaglBeefBk4ol08EZ2CS4TcRWrRog1HiOPTqoU7tKD500cj1mt04j418glrikg/s1600/shaw+andandrews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvCdOAQlaN78jj9lzbWN8p9xCmfLrB3btLFsWurWFMbsNb8_2KnehmaD5YsuIcGCbl4iSWOfo4rVrEvGaglBeefBk4ol08EZ2CS4TcRWrRog1HiOPTqoU7tKD500cj1mt04j418glrikg/s320/shaw+andandrews.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7EmKARMbrI3zZJQw6Fh_P3pyKujpmO6FYcDZhhEppU5OP32dX9n87KoFXHPKuJeFJ6nwgJW0WXtbgIyckdEUw15nQb3N50GYtaLypGicUDqPn6qimDsp3gPIWxg566LlHF9vItw57RPl/s1600/obsession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7EmKARMbrI3zZJQw6Fh_P3pyKujpmO6FYcDZhhEppU5OP32dX9n87KoFXHPKuJeFJ6nwgJW0WXtbgIyckdEUw15nQb3N50GYtaLypGicUDqPn6qimDsp3gPIWxg566LlHF9vItw57RPl/s320/obsession.jpg" width="270" /></a>Original casting was not without its problems. Clive Revill was offered the role of Cowley but his unavailability eventually took Fennell to Gordon Jackson, an example of casting against type after his success as the buttoned up butler Hudson in <i>Upstairs Downstairs</i>.<br />
<br />
A number of British actors were tested for Bodie and Doyle, including Oliver Tobias, Ken Hutchinson and Simon Oates. Jon Finch successfully tested for and accepted the role of Doyle but changed his mind about playing the character. Martin Shaw, best known to audiences for appearances in popular series such as <i>Coronation Street</i>, <i>Doctor in the House</i>, <i>Helen: A Woman of Today</i>, <i>Z Cars</i>, <i>Villains </i>and<i> The Duchess of Duke Street</i>, tested at the same time and was second choice.<br />
<br />
Anthony Andrews was signed as Bodie, but as filming commenced it was evident his chemistry with Shaw failed to deliver the required relationship between Bodie and Doyle. Lewis Collins, contracted to play a minor role in the first episode, was then approached about replacing Andrews. Shaw and Collins were wary of each other after appearing together and not quite hitting it off in 'Obsession', an episode of <i>The New Avengers</i>, but the producers believed their off screen animosity had potential for the on screen partnership. The two actors developed their characters and, in the process, became good friends.<br />
<br />
The emphasis in <i>The Professionals </i>was on action. Tesler admired how Euston had used hand held cameras, location filming and pacy editing to transform crime dramas such as <i>Special Branch</i> and <i>The Sweeney</i>. After completing the final series of <i>The Sweeney </i>in 1978, many members of Euston’s crew were hired by LWT for <i>The Professionals</i>’ second series, produced by Raymond Menmuir. Filming on 35mm switched to 16mm to allow for the use of lighter, more portable cameras on London locations and production moved to Lee International Studios. <br />
<br />
<b>Facing the critics</b><br />
<br />
These changes brought a welcome sense of realism to a series that clocked up 57 episodes between 1977 and 1981. Hugely popular as it was, <i>The Professionals </i>was criticised as a brash, violent, reactionary hybrid of recent crime adventure and police dramas, one decorated with the conspicuous consumerism of the latest fashions and cars. An unsubtle extension of <i>The Sweeney </i>and its BBC clone <i>Target,</i> it eschewed the charm and sophistication of <i>The Avengers </i>and the secret agent travelogue tourism of the ITC days.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBRBfal54vON3yA0YWFi6WWXKJt-RqY_wz5hkjd8x1gSGLjsQigK59t-30tmUU9xrXSRMbZWOye1h0GI-s2Rj3Q-aQhoMEbQfZckZkI-sL0HKHKULm_vLXIdNl-bKW5b3eLsjxCimL0Ff/s1600/professionals3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBRBfal54vON3yA0YWFi6WWXKJt-RqY_wz5hkjd8x1gSGLjsQigK59t-30tmUU9xrXSRMbZWOye1h0GI-s2Rj3Q-aQhoMEbQfZckZkI-sL0HKHKULm_vLXIdNl-bKW5b3eLsjxCimL0Ff/s320/professionals3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcg6sITHCtT-GFEQ6Fk0DxwTYF411Kyy8rvNXVtGJfS6WzDHnF6CyNs4xzp0MV_4-m77fvbshiKU_kK_GUlG4rMKd9LciiRyY4WKi4u-WQlqJsfs6GhzBlq237x7xke-uJ24Q8eagafRjY/s1600/martinshaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcg6sITHCtT-GFEQ6Fk0DxwTYF411Kyy8rvNXVtGJfS6WzDHnF6CyNs4xzp0MV_4-m77fvbshiKU_kK_GUlG4rMKd9LciiRyY4WKi4u-WQlqJsfs6GhzBlq237x7xke-uJ24Q8eagafRjY/s1600/martinshaw.jpg" width="270" /></a>Mary Whitehouse vilified it as ‘violent, uncouth and unsavoury’ and LWT withdrew ‘Klansmen’, the last episode of the first series from British screens for not entirely clear reasons other than citing its discomfort about a story that, rather crudely, exposed Bodie’s racism. This signalled the series’ emergence during a period of social and political upheaval, its characters and format both reflecting and contradicting these changes. <br />
<br />
Permissive, misogynistic and pathologically insolent, Bodie and Doyle maintained a macho fantasy just as ‘traditional’ masculinity itself was undergoing a major reconfiguration via feminist and queer critiques. Indeed the ‘rough’ and ‘sensitive’ of the Bodie and Doyle pairing played into a homoerotic re-coding of the relationship, something not lost on both the Comic Strip’s own satire of the series in 1984, <i>The Bullshitters</i>, and female writers who erotically reinterpreted this bond in stories produced for fan communities in the 1980s.<br />
<br />
Perhaps responding to Martin Shaw's own disenchantment with the role, Clemens and his writing team attempted to deflect the pervasive hypermasculinity of the series with the more sensitive characterisation of Doyle.
Gradually, and particularly when Raymond Menmuir took over as producer, there was an effort to inject more characterisation into the three leads and develop a sense of realism to some of the storylines.<br />
<br />
It was not entirely successful and <i>The Professionals </i>always seemed to sit uneasily between the glamorous and stereotypical machismo of <i>Starsky and Hutch</i> and the grittier world of its predecessor <i>The Sweeney</i> or spy thrillers such as <i>Callan</i>. Menmuir took a less fascistic tone with the series' depiction of the extreme methods employed
by CI5 to deal with terrorist plots, assassinations, police corruption,
miscarriages of justice, inner city racism and drug smuggling. <br />
<br />
If <i>The Sweeney</i> exposed the tensions between ‘old’ and ‘new’ policing during the 1970s, with Inspector Jack Regan symbolising these painful changes, <i>The Professionals</i> offered tough remedies for a dysfunctional Britain perceived as ‘the sick man of Europe’. Occasionally this 'fight fire with fire' attitude was leavened with stories that attempted to question or expose CI5’s morality as it defended the British way of life and Cowley himself often spoke up for civil rights.<br />
<br />
<i>The Professionals</i> was a power fantasy mirroring the harder law and order agenda of a newly elected centre right Conservative government under Thatcher. Britain experienced IRA bombings, the Iranian Embassy siege, the Falklands and the Operation Countryman investigation into police corruption while <i>The Professionals </i>was on air. To emphasise this connection TV Times promoted <i>The Professionals </i>with a sobering article about its inspiration, the real trouble-shooters of the SAS and the Metropolitan Police Special Patrol Group whose single aim was ‘to crush terrorism’.<br />
<br />
However, the BBC eventually challenged Bodie and Doyle’s violent escapism with <i>Shoestring</i>, a drama about a sensitive private investigator recovering from a nervous breakdown. Layers of characterisation replaced kicking down doors and impressive ratings saw off ITV’s competitive scheduling of <i>The Professionals</i> fourth season. The ITV strike of 1979, which caused financial problems for LWT, also disrupted the transmission and production of the series.<br />
<br />
<b>Life after The Professionals</b><br />
<br />
The SAS affected Collins’ subsequent career after the series finished in
1981. While Shaw successfully returned to the stage in Alan Bleasdale’s
acclaimed ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ in the mid-1980s and has since
enjoyed a stable television career, Collins enlisted with the
Territorials, gained the coveted Red Beret and joined the Parachute
Regiment.<br />
<br />
He applied to the SAS, passed the initial selection stages but was
rejected because senior officers believed his public profile made him a
security risk. Ironically, he then played SAS Captain Peter Skellen in
the film <i>Who Dares Wins</i>. Made by former <i>Professionals</i>
alumni Ian Sharp and Raymond Menmuir, and inspired by the SAS assault of
the Iranian Embassy in 1980, it emulated the hawkishness of the series.
Collins was briefly considered as a possible James Bond in 1982 but
producer Albert Broccoli thought him ‘too aggressive’.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZImTtmomdoeqlHWP1cMXp8tBaI6Z-E-PA9x1y5d0vRFQRXEqLZFtUCjQbQlVUW-cVj4HP3HHSx2A-c8swCV2rUyozPfjsBhX9m0bhXsbfXvBXoNS8HOi5rJXnEN-DPe-Kwg41E8daBfa/s1600/whodareswins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZImTtmomdoeqlHWP1cMXp8tBaI6Z-E-PA9x1y5d0vRFQRXEqLZFtUCjQbQlVUW-cVj4HP3HHSx2A-c8swCV2rUyozPfjsBhX9m0bhXsbfXvBXoNS8HOi5rJXnEN-DPe-Kwg41E8daBfa/s320/whodareswins.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQS62Tec2PDWWCTZCWarVf5fv6Dcja363dLBN7pv6BiwNkNV-wzy2RHthQ5mKgAnJIxWiWnnNRGl2a2bPyh_Z4yxsA4G0tcO0xzmpw9sRXvp-FhQOYrSqr1XJcVywh0IpDTKy5RUS4e4a/s1600/Spooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQS62Tec2PDWWCTZCWarVf5fv6Dcja363dLBN7pv6BiwNkNV-wzy2RHthQ5mKgAnJIxWiWnnNRGl2a2bPyh_Z4yxsA4G0tcO0xzmpw9sRXvp-FhQOYrSqr1XJcVywh0IpDTKy5RUS4e4a/s320/Spooks.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBOrP8R8vOeh9h21QGAAfTwAOt15MFIZOF2NPy03-OCfrSL-Y1xOqGkySMDGe7boyE-dsPQFhlomKle8are_DqJKZM55mVU8j68N2XPkErr2qreUxhFnamrnOxZSvAYqx9ibdH-4_5PFL/s1600/lifeonmars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBOrP8R8vOeh9h21QGAAfTwAOt15MFIZOF2NPy03-OCfrSL-Y1xOqGkySMDGe7boyE-dsPQFhlomKle8are_DqJKZM55mVU8j68N2XPkErr2qreUxhFnamrnOxZSvAYqx9ibdH-4_5PFL/s320/lifeonmars.jpg" width="270" /></a>After <i>The Professionals</i> the crime adventure format endured with <i>Dempsey and Makepeace </i>and <i>C.A.T.S Eyes </i>but police procedurals and private investigators dominated television during the 1980s and 1990s.<br />
<br />
It was a sign fictional representations of crime and security were reflecting the shift in crime control attitudes and equal opportunities within the occupational culture of policing. <i>Prime Suspect</i> and <i>Between the Lines</i> became the template for realistic explorations of operational issues, police corruption and institutional sexism and racism. <br />
<br />
The 1990s saw a revival, by dint of baby boomer nostalgia, of the crime adventure genre. <i>The Saint</i> and <i>The Avengers </i>underwent dubious, uninspiring Hollywood film adaptations and the BBC produced a short-lived return of the quirky detective series, <i>Randall and Hopkirk</i>. After satellite channel Granada Plus achieved high ratings with their re-screening of <i>The Professionals</i> and the series was fondly referenced in an ad for the Nissan Almera in 1997, David Wickes, who directed episodes of the series, and creator Brian Clemens felt it was ripe for a return. <br />
<br />
However, they struggled to sell the independently financed series to terrestrial broadcasters. Despite expanding the format of the series to encompass global terrorism and international crime, audiences did not embrace <i>CI5 - The Professionals</i> and UK investor and broadcaster Sky One heavily cut episodes for violent content. A mooted second series was cancelled. <br />
<br />
In 2002 <i>Spooks</i>, a BBC drama firmly set in the post-9/11 global terrorism age and branded ‘MI5 not 9 – 5’, debuted. A fast paced thriller intertwining the personal lives of agents with the unrelenting ‘war on terror’ it echoed Wickes’ and Clemens’ attempts to globalise and update their franchise. Unlike <i>The Professionals</i> and the glossy ITC spy series of the 1960s, <i>Spooks</i> determined to depict male heroes making difficult choices between domestic responsibilities and maintaining the secret state. As an index of their millennial masculine insecurities, male characters sacrificed their personal lives for the public good. <br />
<br />
These developments in crime adventure and police dramas connect with issues raised by Arthur Ellis’s 1988 play <i>The Black And Blue Lamp</i>. It wittily unpacked the changing television depictions of community policing and modern crime control and examined the darker side of public perceptions of crime professionals. Ellis’s deconstruction of the nostalgic but illusory yearning for a more direct way of tackling crime would be influential on <i>Life on Mars</i>, a series conceived in 1998 but not produced and broadcast until 2006. <br />
<br />
<i>Life on Mars</i>, and its sequel <i>Ashes to Ashes</i>, interrogated the questionable, fictionalised views of crime and police via its unreconstructed central male character Gene Hunt. Television depictions of the police were, it suggested, nostalgic, memorialised constructions belonging to a television afterlife. <br />
<br />
Hunt symbolised our desire to constantly resurrect and reinstate the ideal crime fighter on television, where such figures help us reconceptualise the past and render order in a chaotic modern world. A post-credits shot of George Dixon in the final episode of <i>Ashes to Ashes</i>, a policeman shot dead in <i>The Blue Lamp</i> but revived for the eponymous television series, visually acknowledged Ellis’s theme and Gene Hunt’s origins.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alvarado, Manuel, and Stewart, John, Made For Television: Euston Films Limited (BFI Publishing / Thames Television, 1985).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brunsdon, Charlotte, ‘Structure of anxiety: recent British television crime fiction,’ in Screen (Volume 39, Issue 3, Oxford Journals, Autumn 1998).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapman, James, Saints & Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cornell, Paul, Day, Martin and Topping, Keith, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing, 1996).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feasey, Rebecca, Masculinity And Popular Television (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hunt, Leon, ‘“Drop everything… including your pants!”: The Professionals and ‘hard’ action TV,’ in Osgerby, Bill and Gough-Yates, Anna (eds), Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks, (Routledge, 2001).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leishmann, Frank, ‘From Dock Green to Life on Mars: Continuity and Change in TV Copland,’ inaugural lecture at University of Gloucestershire on 7 May 2008 (The Cyder Press, 2008). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mason, Bernard, ‘The quiet killers who wage war on terror,’ in TV Times, (IPC, 28 January 1978).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Matthews, Dave, ‘Modus Operandi’, ‘Headquarters’, ‘Episode Guide’, ‘Lewis Collins’, The Authorised Guide to The Professionals (1996), available at http://www.mark-1.co.uk, accessed between February and June 2014.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Robert Reiner, ‘The Dialectics of Dixon: The Changing Image of the TV Cop’, in Mike Stephens and Saul Becker (eds), Police Force, Police Service (MacMillan, 1994)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rogers, Dave, The Ultimate Avengers (Boxtree/Channel 4, 1995). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolinson, David, ‘The Blue Lamp to The Black and Blue Lamp: The police in TV Drama’, 24 April 2011, British Television Drama (2009), available at http://www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=1429, accessed 3 March 2014. </span> </li>
</ul>
<b>Penultimately: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/05/coppers-spies-revisited-jack-or-knave.html">The Sweeney</a> </b><br />
<b>Earlier: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-man-alone.html">Callan and Public Eye</a> </b><br />
<b>Last time: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-we-want.html">ITC and The Prisoner</a></b><br />
<b>Previously: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">The Avengers and Z Cars</a></b><br />
<b>Originally: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-evenin-all-from.html">Fabian of the Yard and Dixon of Dock Green</a></b>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-28747528465743400852015-05-23T15:31:00.000+01:002019-03-22T14:50:52.139+00:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - Jack or Knave: From Special Branch to The Sweeney<b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
Continuing with the re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b>
blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains
additional research material and information on the various crime and
spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to
celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March. <br />
<br />
<b>5: Jack or Knave - From Special Branch to The Sweeney</b><br />
<br />
Euston Films, the subsidiary of Thames Television founded in 1971 by
executives Lloyd Shirley (Controller of Drama), George Taylor (Head of
Film Facilities) and Brian Tesler (Director of Programmes), set out to
make television faster and cheaper. It swapped studio taping for lighter
film cameras, ten-day turnarounds with minimal rehearsal, non-union
crews, and all-location filming. Affectionately described by the crew of
<i>The Sweeney</i> as the ‘kick, bollock and scramble’ approach, Euston’s operation transformed television drama in the 1970s.<br />
<br />
Prior to Euston’s formation, directors Jim Goddard and Terry Green and
writer Trevor Preston had already proposed to ABC the creation of a
small group to produce work on 16mm film, a gauge normally used to film
inserts on location for video taped drama but not considered as a format
for an entire drama's production. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2tgmTTHW8Tn5DtJlMJ47uY0IvdrneaFCbN-s_s1yOwz60lZuVJ1usroXOdK8YEZdIFfe8pAX4IKr02yJYcSiJCqybGk5hdaGz8fz8KbNzOzCMc9pjXvraeCzE9XQ-dz1oV9rz7ew4Y3s/s1600/Special+Branch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2tgmTTHW8Tn5DtJlMJ47uY0IvdrneaFCbN-s_s1yOwz60lZuVJ1usroXOdK8YEZdIFfe8pAX4IKr02yJYcSiJCqybGk5hdaGz8fz8KbNzOzCMc9pjXvraeCzE9XQ-dz1oV9rz7ew4Y3s/s320/Special+Branch.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7XRxvfVea2ODntvwOxL9-t0g9AuG23OuVPkeekt_piX6C8GoDHeyIjUwmugOl-BQRIo-fvkbmhT1J0X2IYdVdgHS5CJyKZB76RULkJBT6Jo_Hgoms51iuAuhDQEjPaBtqz6ZLuUzBZSQ/s1600/specialbranch2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7XRxvfVea2ODntvwOxL9-t0g9AuG23OuVPkeekt_piX6C8GoDHeyIjUwmugOl-BQRIo-fvkbmhT1J0X2IYdVdgHS5CJyKZB76RULkJBT6Jo_Hgoms51iuAuhDQEjPaBtqz6ZLuUzBZSQ/s320/specialbranch2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
Over at Thames Television George Taylor also believed there was potential to make drama on film rather than tape. The first production to test the water was director Mike Hodges’ all-16mm shoot on Preston’s 1968 children’s drama <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2011/11/tyrant-king-complete-series-dvd-review.html"><i>The Tyrant King</i></a>. Hodges had worked with Preston, Goddard and Green on ABC’s arts documentary series <i>Tempo </i>and their influence on Euston’s drama output would be significant. <br />
<br />
Shirley, impressed by Hodges’ work, commissioned him to direct two filmed television plays, ‘Suspect’ and ‘Rumour’, for the <i>ITV Playhouse</i> strand in late 1969. Their success convinced Shirley, Taylor and Tesler that moving to film not only made economic sense but also shifted drama towards greater realism and authenticity. The challenge for Euston was to make a complete series on film using freelance crew and equipment. <br />
<br />
<b>Retooling Special Branch</b><br />
<br />
To put this into practice Thames’ crime drama <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2008/05/special-branch-series-one.html"><i>Special Branch</i></a> underwent an overhaul. Edited by former journalist, script editor of <i>Danger Man</i> and <i>The Prisoner</i> George Markstein, it featured a British police unit, affiliated to the Metropolitan London Police and responsible for national security. Markstein ruled out consultation with the real Special Branch due to the secret nature of its work and asked his writers to use their common sense and available research. <br />
<br />
He observed, “I regard fussy authenticity as questionable… I am against expert advisers. They tend to concentrate on small, unimportant details so that their ex-colleagues in the police won’t criticise them.” Writers such as Preston, Roger Marshall and Peter Hill, a former detective in Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, brought their considerable knowledge and experience to the series. <br />
<br />
The series, first made in 1969 and 1970 with the standard mix of tape and film inserts, focused on cat and mouse Cold War espionage, featuring various threats to international security from terrorists, dissident students, assassins and Russian diplomats. Markstein was concerned with <i>Special Branch</i>’s efforts to “prevent the erosion of freedom” and felt the series was a reflection of current news headlines. Lead actor Derren Nesbitt made such an impact as DI Jordan he was guest of honour at a Special Branch dinner. Dubbed the ‘copper with a kipper tie’ by TV Times, he was the dandyish foil to co-star Wensley Pithey’s supremely grouchy DS Eden. <br />
<br />
In 1973 <i>Special Branch</i>’s third series switched to shooting on 16mm film and utilised direct sound recording. Actors George Sewell and Patrick Mower, playing the harder, cynical duo of DIs Craven and Haggerty, replaced the original leads. The stories gained a grittier, realistic patina, more socio-political insights and showcased the ambiguous relationship between police and villains. <br />
<br />
Producer Ted Childs recalled the changes to the series, “… Although I felt that <i>Special Branch</i> as a television film format left something to be desired, I learnt a great deal. I brought in directors I’d worked with, some with a documentary background, and really what we tried to do was incorporate the ‘wobbly-scope’ techniques of 16mm documentary film-making into a drama situation.”<br />
<br />
The move onto film did not go smoothly. Opposed to Euston operating as a freelance film unit, the Film Production Branch of technicians’ union the ACTT disrupted filming of <i>Special Branch</i>, concerned that television’s move into film production would exacerbate the collapse of the UK’s old film studio system. This dispute was a catalyst to policy reform but union issues about television film production affected <i>Van der Valk</i> in 1976 when it graduated from taped studio production at Thames to an all-film series made by Euston.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZMrl4IECiZ3hghYjexcxtbbNwajBvYUsC1OfOdsHI13pmpqFRm8i2VP9sTPc9ryA11sa2I5oEtgwFeyTsCA9I5F61D_-DJpdGG3dVvBTqe-oT8TVcjb8dNrFVquEP38h9mFheanYM8JE/s1600/parkinpatch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ZMrl4IECiZ3hghYjexcxtbbNwajBvYUsC1OfOdsHI13pmpqFRm8i2VP9sTPc9ryA11sa2I5oEtgwFeyTsCA9I5F61D_-DJpdGG3dVvBTqe-oT8TVcjb8dNrFVquEP38h9mFheanYM8JE/s320/parkinpatch1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH55slC0Ximz4ZI5Lcu1pNXOfbpdXUABsjGhJiDo5Ub0hmx1icnDCNZbQeBkzCV7Eo6bxSQX-543I2O9L8l1hbe81oU_QqiPjCTWprcSE_IYSsJYgwqeUj2MsBlEMeitqDfQG4nNNqHqcF/s1600/parkinpatch2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH55slC0Ximz4ZI5Lcu1pNXOfbpdXUABsjGhJiDo5Ub0hmx1icnDCNZbQeBkzCV7Eo6bxSQX-543I2O9L8l1hbe81oU_QqiPjCTWprcSE_IYSsJYgwqeUj2MsBlEMeitqDfQG4nNNqHqcF/s320/parkinpatch2.jpg" width="270" /></a>Simultaneously writer Ian Kennedy-Martin, who had written for <i>The Troubleshooters</i>, <i>Hadleigh</i>, <i>The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes</i>, <i>The Onedin Line</i>, story edited <i>Redcap </i>and created <i>Parkin's Patch</i>, was discussing a new police drama with Thames. <i>Parkin's Patch </i>was ostensibly a variation of the <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i> and <i>Z Cars</i> community policing theme. This early Yorkshire Television drama transmitted in 1969, was, no surprises given the theme, the brainchild of Elwyn Jones (see the <b>Coppers and Spies</b> entry on <i><a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">Z Cars</a></i>).<br />
<br />
Again, the series recruited an 'expert' on the unit beat policing of the time in the form of Yorkshire copper Detective Chief Superintendent Arnold Robinson. This policing, which had influenced the development of <i>Z Cars </i>and <i>Softly, Softly Task Force</i>, was distinguished by the introduction of technological changes such as patrol cars, two way radios and the introduction of intelligence-led policing where constables were briefed about crime trends and wanted suspects. <br />
<br />
Jones recruited a number of writers from his previous police dramas, including Robert Barr, Allan Prior and Ian Kennedy-Martin. Ian also persuaded his brother Troy to contribute to the series. To describe it today as the precursor to <i>Heartbeat</i> is to do it some disservice and, while it didn't quite qualify as some halfway house between <i>Softly Softly</i>, <i>Special Branch</i> and <i>The Sweeney</i>, there were some fine episodes directed by the likes of Michael Apted and Stephen Frears and the contributions from Ian and Troy Kennedy Martin were particularly noteworthy.<br />
<br />
Euston was open about being not particularly fond of <i>Special Branch</i>, despite its popularity, and Ian Kennedy-Martin, who thought it was unrepresentative of crime and policing in 1970s London, was asked to devise its replacement. He was inspired by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Mark's attempts to clean up a seriously corrupted Scotland Yard with his new department A10. The Flying Squad had cultivated unsavoury connections with criminals and Mark wanted to oust corrupt officers and ensure working with informants was legitimate. Several scandals about bribery, evidence planting and corruption broke before 1978’s internal investigation, Operation Countryman.<br />
<br />
After police officer Dave Wilson introduced him to the internecine worlds of Flying Squad coppers and East End villains, Kennedy-Martin developed a script titled <i>McLean</i>. Featuring a tough, alcoholic police officer drowning in bureaucracy, criminals and informants, he retitled it <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2011/10/armchair-cinema-regan-pilot-for-sweeney.html"><i>Regan</i></a><i> </i>and wanted actor John Thaw, a good friend since working together on <i>Redcap</i>, for the lead. <br />
<b><br />A not so Flying start</b><br />
<br />
However, during <i>Regan</i>’s production Kennedy-Martin had a major disagreement with Childs and its original director, Douglas Camfield, over their changes to his script. He was also unhappy about Euston’s management of writers and how his honest depiction of the Flying Squad was being diluted in the name of entertainment. He soon left the production after negotiating a severance deal. <br />
<br />
Director Tom Clegg replaced Camfield and cast the key characters. Clegg originally preferred Stanley Baker for DI Jack Regan but changed his mind when Kennedy-Martin arranged for him to meet John Thaw. Having worked with him on <i>Special Branch</i>, Clegg cast Dennis Waterman as DS George Carter. Respected character actor Garfield Morgan was signed as Regan’s bureaucratic boss DCI Frank Haskins, originally named Thomas Laker in Ted Childs’ writers’ brief. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wJDZiWVfAGpkQ6u-13aieTZYPfc9cJL749CEhbg0w6oljUAg3R4oajFFwPrgjQY_K-vOYhk21ldj0C0iHi2JRNacy2B9veNWvMcygAISMrVpw2oL6cBKnofuyya6Cj7vzNAci-iXlWHH/s1600/sweeney2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wJDZiWVfAGpkQ6u-13aieTZYPfc9cJL749CEhbg0w6oljUAg3R4oajFFwPrgjQY_K-vOYhk21ldj0C0iHi2JRNacy2B9veNWvMcygAISMrVpw2oL6cBKnofuyya6Cj7vzNAci-iXlWHH/s320/sweeney2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G_CzWmuePS53CSFP-Ho5k3EHxdExl7I_sXKqlkANf5aL9dOMN9CmbNk5wW1HipwBuGTcbqHFAftPHoE_yA_S9cM7kBO5VxL0_L7KE563JqEbcAjjpDjGKDH5n4YSpSG13nGL0nDwgvNf/s1600/sweeney1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G_CzWmuePS53CSFP-Ho5k3EHxdExl7I_sXKqlkANf5aL9dOMN9CmbNk5wW1HipwBuGTcbqHFAftPHoE_yA_S9cM7kBO5VxL0_L7KE563JqEbcAjjpDjGKDH5n4YSpSG13nGL0nDwgvNf/s320/sweeney1.jpg" width="270" /></a>Euston, confident about <i>Regan</i>’s success, started production on <i>The Sweeney</i> under the working title of <i>The Outcasts</i> before the play’s June 1974 <i>Armchair Cinema</i> transmission. Like <i>Special Branch</i>, it was filmed at Colet Court’s old Hammersmith school buildings (where Montgomery planned the D-Day landings) and used local London locations. Made by a committed cast and crew on tight budgets and deadlines, <i>The Sweeney</i>, with its iconic titles developed by director Terry Green and pounding Harry South theme, debuted January 1975.<br />
<br />
Troy Kennedy Martin, co-creator of <i>Z Cars</i>, joined core writers Trevor Preston, Ranald Graham and Roger Marshall to develop his brother Ian’s format for <i>The Sweeney.</i> The series was a study of cynical police officers, a witty, acerbic view of their criminal nemeses and an unflattering exposé of modern policing. Its tough world and ambiguous characters were a far cry from <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i> and <i>Z Cars</i>.<br />
<br />
Although, like <i>The Professionals</i>, it has been somewhat eclipsed by the Comic Strip’s metafictional parodies, nostalgic references in a Nissan Almera ad and ironic reconstruction in BBC series <i>Life On Mars</i>, <i>The Sweeney</i>’s original appeal lay in the realistic relationships between the criminals and the Regan-Carter-Haskins trio and the keenly felt deleterious effects of the job on their life-work balance. The post-modern accrual of unreconstructed masculinity, the reshaping of its music, fashion sense and production modes does not diminish <i>The Sweeney</i>'s core appeal - characters.<br />
<br />
Regan, smoking and drinking himself to death, separated from his wife and child. Eventually, Carter’s wife Alison was murdered and Doreen Haskins suffered a breakdown. Women were victims in this violent, corrupted male dominated world and female officers were conspicuous by their absence. Equally, stories did not ignore the traumatised relatives and innocent victims of the criminal classes.<br />
<br />
The hierarchies between villains, henchmen, informants and sympathetic police officers provided structure. Villains evading capture, failed operations and lapses of judgement were a backdrop to Regan’s clashes with Haskins and A10 over their demands for his accountability and fierce criticism of his old school policing methods. <br />
<br />
Before the third series went into production Euston made a spin-off cinema film in partnership with EMI. David Wicks, who directed <i>Sweeney! </i>in the spring of 1976, compared the film to William Friedkin’s gritty 1971 police thriller <i>The French Connection</i>, which had partly inspired Childs, Lloyd and Shirley to set up <i>The Sweeney</i> in 1973. Writer Ranald Graham had the daunting prospect of transferring the series to the big screen and his script referenced 1973’s oil crisis and featured corrupt deals between UK government officials and multinational oil cartel OPEC. <br />
<br />
The film was such a success EMI bankrolled a sequel, <i>Sweeney 2</i>, made in 1977 prior to filming on the final Thames series. Troy Kennedy Martin provided a script that, in spirit, was much closer to its television inspiration. The plot focused on armed robbers abandoning a seedy, economically depressed Britain for the sunny bolthole of Malta, reflecting Troy's cult caper film <i>The Italian Job</i> (1969) and anticipating films such as <i>The Long Good Friday </i>(1980) and <i>Sexy Beast</i> (2000).<br />
<br />
More humour, best defined by the Morecambe and Wise escapades in the episode ‘Hearts and Minds’, was incorporated into the last series of <i>The Sweeney</i> but there was a very tangible sense Regan’s fall from grace was imminent and Carter had become as disenchanted as his ‘guv’. In the final episode ‘Jack or Knave’ a weary Regan, cleared of bribery charges but bitterly disillusioned with his job, climbed into a taxi and disappeared into the traffic, his resignation an acknowledgement perhaps of the public perception of the police’s tarnished reputation in 1978. <br />
<br />
<b>From Regan to Morse</b><br />
<br />
<i>The Sweeney</i> influenced <i>The Professionals </i>and the less successful <i>Target</i>, one of the BBC’s first attempts at all-film crime drama series. Starring Patrick Mower, it endured a difficult production journey, hastily reformatted from a gentler, character-based drama, created by Roger Marshall and intended for actor Colin Blakely, into a hardnosed, humourless, violent series. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigiYH0_QdbUS6jx6Y8d3ckQt6W0ASjAhBx9LRBDsvbI7MMcbklWS_Iy3lut1DBwg12wZw4ulsEaz8xtQvt_LBIjacUp3TmPWHN5MtyOyaeN9QmMRfNdkxg0vAmjFqGhamZvMO0YzrPB3G3/s1600/laworder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigiYH0_QdbUS6jx6Y8d3ckQt6W0ASjAhBx9LRBDsvbI7MMcbklWS_Iy3lut1DBwg12wZw4ulsEaz8xtQvt_LBIjacUp3TmPWHN5MtyOyaeN9QmMRfNdkxg0vAmjFqGhamZvMO0YzrPB3G3/s320/laworder.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL005NSoXlyYU0IJiaWEUkiHwC-QIq3KnjfSgHGWgYr7-3gWd2zupO3redyDJIQe4x9J_g015TuDSxr0GT6_wbu4RDko7MO-825TxXRzaIEW7WmMH8IYrl43OJLkTDYhWzF1XB9Uh7Szkm/s1600/julietbravo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL005NSoXlyYU0IJiaWEUkiHwC-QIq3KnjfSgHGWgYr7-3gWd2zupO3redyDJIQe4x9J_g015TuDSxr0GT6_wbu4RDko7MO-825TxXRzaIEW7WmMH8IYrl43OJLkTDYhWzF1XB9Uh7Szkm/s320/julietbravo.jpg" width="270" /></a>Many of <i>The Sweeney</i>’s writers and crew worked on <i>Target</i>, including director David Wickes who helped its BBC film unit overcome some familiar union restrictive practices. Despite toning down violence for the second series, <i>Target</i>’s unsympathetic characters misfired with viewers. Writer Robert Banks Stewart’s redevelopment of <i>Target</i>’s third series was dropped in favour of his pitch for <i>Shoestring</i>. <br />
<br />
G.F. Newman’s controversial <i>Law & Order</i> plays, transmitted in April 1978, went where <i>The Sweeney</i> feared to tread. They were an excoriating view of the judicial system from the viewpoints of the police, the criminal, the barrister and the prisoner. Their bleak, low-key, documentary realism, based on stories told to Newman by detectives, criminals and lawyers, generated a debate about the format of drama, whether such realism blurred the line between fiction and fact, and how this reflected the BBC's public service remit.<br />
<br />
According to Newman, at a time when Thatcher was championing a new law and order agenda, uncomfortable questions about the terrible state of the criminal
justice system were asked in the House of Commons and pressure applied
to the BBC not to repeat or sell the series again (BBC Four did
eventually repeat it and it was released on DVD in 2008). <br />
<br />
In order to distance the plays from <i>The Sweeney</i> and <i>The Professionals</i>, producer Tony Garnett emphasised "we knew we didn't want to do a squealing tyres show" and <i>Law and Order </i>eschewed, as Charlotte Brunsdon notes, the social aspect of previous police dramas and preferred to unpack, with forensic detail, the operations of the police and the criminal justice system in relation to one criminal's life and his involvement in a crime. The central character of Detective Inspector Fred Pyall (a remarkable
performance from Derek Martin) was seen as simply one amongst many
individuals who brutally twisted the system in their favour. <br />
<br />
However Regan’s bitterness, the conservatism of <i>The Professionals </i>and the corruption of Newman’s DI Pyall were juxtaposed with the BBC’s likeable Eddie Shoestring, Jim Bergerac and Euston’s own replacement <i>Minder</i>, Leon Griffiths’ light-hearted crime drama starring Dennis Waterman and George Cole. Ian Kennedy-Martin developed the genre further with <i>The Chinese Detective</i>, dealing with institutional racism, and <i>Juliet Bravo</i>, a revival of the community policing of <i>Z Cars</i>.<br />
<br />
Like <i>The Gentle Touch</i>, the latter’s strong, sympathetic female police officer was placed at the centre of a male dominated profession. Indeed Stephanie Turner, who played Inspector Jean Darblay in the first three series of <i>Juliet Bravo</i>, indicated she had auditioned for the lead in <i>The Gentle Touch</i>. She saw Jean as "a career
policewoman - fair, honest and with good humour. It was unusual to have
this woman in authority, because previous TV police dramas were male
dominated."<br />
<br />
Both<i> Juliet Bravo </i>and <i>The Gentle Touch</i> attempted to overturn gender stereotypes and reflect the popularity of American series such as <i>Cagney and Lacey</i>. <i>Juliet Bravo</i> was also seen by the BBC as an antidote to the excessive violence of previous police dramas. These were dramas of social and cultural transition and yet were instrumental in pioneering the depiction of female police officers that would eventually lead to the critically acclaimed <i>Prime Suspect</i>.<br />
<br />
Colliding together the worlds of <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i> and <i>The Sweeney</i>, Arthur Ellis also explored the changes in policing and on screen dramatisations since the 1950s in his 1988 <i>Screenplay</i> ‘The Black and Blue Lamp’. Ellis’s observations paralleled John Thaw’s transformation from Regan into Morse in 1987. <i>Inspector Morse</i>’s contemporary ‘heritage’ setting of Oxford was in vast contrast to <i>The Sweeney</i>’s gritty London. Yet, Morse and Regan were not dissimilar in melancholic temperament and no-nonsense attitude and, as Charlotte Brunsdon observed, ‘the two series share the invocation of what is presented as an old-fashioned integrity.’<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alvarado, Manuel, and Stewart, John, Made For Television: Euston Films Limited (BFI Publishing / Thames Television, 1985).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brunsdon, Charlotte, ‘Structure of anxiety: recent British television crime fiction,’ in Screen (Volume 39, Issue 3, Oxford Journals, Autumn 1998).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brunsdon, Charlotte, Law and Order, BFI TV Classics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cornell, Paul, Day, Martin and Topping, Keith, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing, 1996).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fairclough, Robert and Kenwood, Mike, Sweeney! The Official Companion (Reynolds & Hearn, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feasey, Rebecca, Masculinity And Popular Television (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gilbert, Pat, Shut It! The Inside Story of The Sweeney (Aurum Press, 2010).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hill, Peter, ‘Murder was my business,’ in TV Times, (IPC, 17 October 1970).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leishmann, Frank, ‘From Dock Green to Life on Mars: Continuity and Change in TV Copland,’ inaugural lecture at University of Gloucestershire on 7 May 2008 (The Cyder Press, 2008). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Padman, Tony, 'Whatever Happened to Juliet Bravo's Stephanie Turner?' interview in Daily Express (16 March 2013) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Potter, John Deane, ‘Why they invented the copper with a kipper tie,’ in TV Times, (IPC, 8 August 1970).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Robert Reiner, ‘The Dialectics of Dixon: The Changing Image of the TV Cop’, in Mike Stephens and Saul Becker (eds), Police Force, Police Service (MacMillan, 1994)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolinson, David, ‘The ‘Appening: Parkin’s Patch (1969-70)’ 31 December 2012, British Television Drama (2009), available at http://www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=3250</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolinson, David, ‘The Blue Lamp to The Black and Blue Lamp: The police in TV Drama’, 24 April 2011, British Television Drama (2009), available at http://www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=1429, accessed 3 March 2014. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Next time: <a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/06/coppers-spies-revisited-beyond-police.html">The Professionals and beyond </a></b><br />
<b>Earlier: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-man-alone.html">Callan and Public Eye</a> </b><br />
<b>Last time: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-we-want.html">ITC and The Prisoner</a></b><br />
<b>Previously: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">The Avengers and Z Cars</a></b><br />
<b>Originally: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-evenin-all-from.html">Fabian of the Yard and Dixon of Dock Green</a></b><br />
<br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-58885426526559957472015-04-26T18:08:00.001+01:002019-03-22T14:48:29.226+00:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - A Man Alone: Callan and Public Eye <b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
Continuing with the re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b>
blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains
additional research material and information on the various crime and
spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to
celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March. <br />
<br />
<b>4: A Man Alone - Callan and Public Eye</b><br />
<br />
In February 1967 ABC transmitted an <i>Armchair Theatre</i> play entitled ‘A Magnum For Schneider’ and introduced viewers to writer James Mitchell’s volatile, ill-natured and cynical spy David Callan. Disgraced from the Section, an anonymous branch of the British security services run by a boss code-named Hunter, he was recruited again to eliminate Schneider, a gunrunner posing as a German businessman. <br />
<br />
Mitchell embarked late on a successful career as a novelist in 1957. Previously a teacher, actor, civil servant, shipyard worker, barman, officer cadet and travel courier, he claimed, “Even the idea of writing fiction didn’t occur to me till I was over 30.” In 1960 Sydney Newman, Head of Drama at ABC, asked him to adapt his novel <i>A Way Back</i>, about a former Communist blackmailed to steal the blueprints of a new bomb, into a play ‘A Flight From Treason’ for <i>Armchair Mystery Theatre</i>. <br />
<br />
<b>Birth of an existential hero</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfvsJi_vNGJiDg0uyyovaHE5v-igJvUQDdUHhBj2w2C_C7kmUo79SqzWi3klpp1AQ4sf4LRCb6Upc6Gewc59n9goXusMutPGx-JrvD4yatGqiwuSiEBtTvFHkT-IsQYYwc9QlyxlSkjfM/s1600/callan0.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfvsJi_vNGJiDg0uyyovaHE5v-igJvUQDdUHhBj2w2C_C7kmUo79SqzWi3klpp1AQ4sf4LRCb6Upc6Gewc59n9goXusMutPGx-JrvD4yatGqiwuSiEBtTvFHkT-IsQYYwc9QlyxlSkjfM/s1600/callan0.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4eAW5lkIOkVvmoYrjX6DA9HBmc5c8Z6hyphenhyphenwhv5nHBdsXBrlXDKuzA8etOFGFFZAaSzi0BJqffShGfyqcQUWm9x3N584xYmomZPuCQvBJC8iNcnQ0_XDfEL8pu__gV5KcFy-sWNy2H9B2I/s1600/callan3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4eAW5lkIOkVvmoYrjX6DA9HBmc5c8Z6hyphenhyphenwhv5nHBdsXBrlXDKuzA8etOFGFFZAaSzi0BJqffShGfyqcQUWm9x3N584xYmomZPuCQvBJC8iNcnQ0_XDfEL8pu__gV5KcFy-sWNy2H9B2I/s1600/callan3.jpg" width="270" /></a>
Mitchell, a full-time writer in 1965, sold the script for Callan’s debut, ‘A Magnum For Schneider’, to BBC’s <i>Detective</i> but it languished unproduced. He bought the play back and offered it to <i>Armchair Theatre </i>story editor Terence Feely. Feely saw its potential and, with producer Leonard White and casting director Dodo Watts, considered actors for the key roles of reluctant spy Callan, his antagonistic boss Hunter and the informant with the personal hygiene problem, Lonely. <br />
<br />
White’s casting suggestion for Callan was Edward Woodward. Woodward was impressed with the script, personally delivered to him by Watts, and cancelled his family holiday to play the role. He drove his wife and children to Devon but then immediately returned to London by train to attend his first rehearsal in the part.<br />
<br />
Watts also admired actor, former shipyard worker and stand up comedian Russell Hunter for his Shakespearian talents and recommended him for Lonely. Played by a series of actors, like the ever-changing Number 2 in <i>The Prisoner</i>, the character of Hunter was first realised by White’s choice Ronald Radd and joining him in the play was Peter Bowles as his bright but sadistic young acolyte Toby Meres. <br />
<br />
Sensing ABC was looking for a replacement for <i>Redcap</i>, the series about military police starring John Thaw, Feely worked with Mitchell and paid him £150 to develop a series pitch for Brian Tesler, Director of Programmes, and Lloyd Shirley, Controller of Drama, at ABC. In December 1966, on the strength of ‘Schneider’ and the pitch, they commissioned six episodes of what would become <i>Callan</i> before the play’s transmission.<br />
<br />
In <i>Callan</i>’s world, the pitch offered, ‘the reality doesn’t come from atomic fountain pens or poisoned wall-paper: it comes from people. And some of them are very ordinary people, caught up in extraordinary situations.’ This was the antithesis of the onscreen escapades of James Bond and John Steed. Callan was a killer vulnerable to mixing the personal with the professional in a series that embraced the gritty, unglamorous twilight world of Len Deighton and John le Carre’s spy fiction.<br />
<br />
Speaking to the <i>TV Times</i> in 1972, Mitchell indicated Callan possibly originated in a Spaniard, Paco, he encountered while teaching English in Spain during the 1950s: "He spied, I learned later, against the regime in Spain. There was no doubt in his mind that the revolution would come, and when it did, everyone had to be ready, with weapons,<b> </b>training, information. And information meant spies like Paco.
He had contacts everywhere, even in the police."<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>Hunter and the hunted</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtyC_10GVErDNWYHrAXk3kEbPhkyr5Uy3fcrbNtRgeb5RPqMc7AVVlvGumr_JG4oDgvf1Y4ZnmAdr5hTJErqXmnhKppp7tS2sWYWDjZ0uv0WaYRSDBkVYfnUZzTqM6R0KS9FuH_ealjnX/s1600/Callan1jpg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtyC_10GVErDNWYHrAXk3kEbPhkyr5Uy3fcrbNtRgeb5RPqMc7AVVlvGumr_JG4oDgvf1Y4ZnmAdr5hTJErqXmnhKppp7tS2sWYWDjZ0uv0WaYRSDBkVYfnUZzTqM6R0KS9FuH_ealjnX/s1600/Callan1jpg.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCRH0_9dhFCeGzEyApjGIgmuGUjYE-z6GABPpPeGRDan7U1jFIloQm7hM0gURDt7b-0JDj2eyqRbzfTrfxL6sVQLKzc3Fysk2kyIdenL2dOl1otKOfaomo26h2MkS-QYCK9w3vyT3wHNM/s1600/callan6.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCRH0_9dhFCeGzEyApjGIgmuGUjYE-z6GABPpPeGRDan7U1jFIloQm7hM0gURDt7b-0JDj2eyqRbzfTrfxL6sVQLKzc3Fysk2kyIdenL2dOl1otKOfaomo26h2MkS-QYCK9w3vyT3wHNM/s1600/callan6.jpg" width="270" /></a>Woodward, Radd and Hunter returned for the series but the
part of Toby Meres was re-cast. Jeremy Lloyd was chosen to replace
Bowles as Meres but was dropped in favour of Anthony Valentine. Jack
Trombey’s lugubrious theme music also established the tone of the series
and it augmented a memorable title sequence featuring a swinging light
bulb extinguished by a gunshot. <br />
<br />
Over four series of <i>Callan</i>, made by ABC and its ITV franchise replacement Thames, Hunter was played variously by Radd, Michael Goodliffe, Derek Bond and William Squire and his agents used any means necessary to maintain the balance of Cold War power, tangling with war crimes, germ warfare, rogue diplomats and politicians, assassins and defectors. <br />
<br />
Callan’s hobby, tabletop war re-enactments, became a recurring symbol of his internal conflicts and his relationship with Lonely reflected the self-loathing and remorse when his assignments for Hunter corrupted innocent lives. Raymond Williams, writing in <i>The Listener</i>, described this as ‘an overwhelming, inescapable but unaccepted alienation’ in which the conflicted, contemptuous Callan is trapped. <br />
<br />
After ‘Death Of A Hunter’ was shown in 1969, Thames’ switchboard was jammed with calls from viewers concerned about Callan’s demise. Brainwashed by the KGB, Callan killed Hunter but was then shot down by Meres. Planned as the final episode, producer-director Reg Collin taped two different endings, one open-ended and one where Callan was killed. Thames opted for the former and a year later brought the series back in colour.<br />
<br />
Callan gained a new partner in the arrogant Cross, played by Patrick Mower. Hunter’s boss, the enigmatic but powerful Bishop, became a regular character and one episode explored the background of Hunter’s secretary Liz. Later, Callan briefly became the new Hunter, placed under different pressures and making decisions to kill people from behind a desk rather than out in the field. <br />
<br />
After <i>Callan</i> ended in May 1972, a 1974 cinema adaptation of ‘A Magnum For Schneider’ followed and Mitchell developed the character in a series of novels and short stories. For ATV’s somewhat lacklustre single play, 1981’s ‘Wet Job’, Callan was brought out of retirement by the Section’s latest Hunter to target a man writing a tell-all book about the Department, naming Callan as a killer. <br />
<br />
The series influenced later espionage dramas <i>The XYY Man </i>and <i>The Sandbaggers</i>. Woodward established an accomplished film career with <i>The Wicker Man</i> and <i>Breaker Morant</i>. In 1977, as journalist Jim Kyle, he also battled against a totalitarian state in the BBC’s dystopian drama <i>1990</i>. He returned to the crime adventure TV genre in 1985 for his award-winning role of anti-hero Robert McCall, a part first offered to Martin Shaw of <i>The Professionals</i>, in the popular <i>The Equalizer</i>. <br />
<br />
<b>Marvin to Marker</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacRA5VnDuFG8nRC83v_icoRCmX_jAQr2Zp9VKLxex4znjz5ps5-_Hf1XTSj8IAI1eqNJ5I3dw81Z4ryzSJLQyRjllo1r8INBe6SwOs7KAQDyCsO3Dv4AfH7aOH4ow9kwSBkUNHXXjWC8w/s1600/publiceye0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacRA5VnDuFG8nRC83v_icoRCmX_jAQr2Zp9VKLxex4znjz5ps5-_Hf1XTSj8IAI1eqNJ5I3dw81Z4ryzSJLQyRjllo1r8INBe6SwOs7KAQDyCsO3Dv4AfH7aOH4ow9kwSBkUNHXXjWC8w/s1600/publiceye0.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxasK17wc4K6DilBIFZwf8Ab5Apw276Fhg_x5nUPr2yKZJKlRTHGLGoubH0VkUermIioCRQ7TMw-KJ9IiCYh-BNyEJ8AUp1J55rQR-F0HOqpUlJPk3gezc7sfHG7TO9_JcETnKc437MMR/s1600/publiceye1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxasK17wc4K6DilBIFZwf8Ab5Apw276Fhg_x5nUPr2yKZJKlRTHGLGoubH0VkUermIioCRQ7TMw-KJ9IiCYh-BNyEJ8AUp1J55rQR-F0HOqpUlJPk3gezc7sfHG7TO9_JcETnKc437MMR/s1600/publiceye1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcMCOWo2iqFdJe_635l36Jma4KsEeW9LStCdpMspv6HxUSVm1nT_vYyRxT_tlQDCzs4GaDhfz1YM4rbMB8xMJfDzbMFjjAmLnE0Fr-VsfCI0H-SDQJ-EW_dOO8FIrbBhswJtxOQ1nbcFE/s1600/publiceye3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcMCOWo2iqFdJe_635l36Jma4KsEeW9LStCdpMspv6HxUSVm1nT_vYyRxT_tlQDCzs4GaDhfz1YM4rbMB8xMJfDzbMFjjAmLnE0Fr-VsfCI0H-SDQJ-EW_dOO8FIrbBhswJtxOQ1nbcFE/s1600/publiceye3.jpg" width="270" /></a><i>Callan</i> also matched the psychological realism of its fellow ABC series, <i>Public Eye</i>. Commencing in 1965, it featured an equally conflicted hero in private inquiry agent Frank Marker. Six guineas a day plus expenses saw Frank locate missing persons, gather evidence for divorce cases, clash with blackmailers and pimps and save the gullible from the seedier realms of the criminal underworld. <br />
<br />
Created by Roger Marshall and Anthony Marriott, <i>Public Eye </i>embraced hardboiled realism and eschewed the increasing fantasy of <i>The Avengers</i>. In 1962, Marshall’s initial idea for a drama about an inquiry agent, possibly played by Donald Pleasance, was elaborated on when Marriott told him about Chalky White, an inquiry agent he had just interviewed for the BBC.<br />
<br />
White, his approach and his cases informed their series pitch to George Kerr, ABC’s Head of Drama. A sceptical Kerr was persuaded by White’s anecdotes and, in the wake of restructuring <i>The Avengers</i> as an all-film series, he considered it a suitable project for former <i>Avengers</i> alumni John Bryce and Richard Bates to produce. Bates became story-editor on the series developed from Marshall and Marriott’s pitch and named it <i>The Public Eye</i>. <br />
<br />
Don Leaver, an established director on <i>Police Surgeon</i>, <i>The Avengers</i> and <i>Out of This World</i>, worked with Bates on Marshall’s pilot episode ‘Dig You Later’ and produced nine of the first series’ episodes. An untransmitted version of the pilot, with Marker looking for a police inspector’s missing daughter, was recorded at ABC’s Manchester studios in June 1964. A series was swiftly commissioned and the pilot was re-recorded when full production began in September. <br />
<br />
Alfred Burke was cast as Frank Marvin, the down-at-heel inquiry agent whose name was inspired by legendary actor Lee Marvin, star of the US police series <i>M Squad</i> then being shown on ITV. Chosen by Leaver and casting director Dodo Watts, Burke was a successful stage and television actor and had recently appeared in <i>No Hiding Place</i>, <i>The Saint</i>, <i>Armchair Theatre</i>, <i>The Human Jungle </i>and <i>Z Cars</i>. <br />
<br />
Marshall explained, “The reason Alfie was chosen for the part is that he doesn’t look like a private detective. If you saw him in a pub or a supermarket, you wouldn’t single him out for attention. He’s just another face in the crowd.” Burke immediately empathised with the pilot script but ironically, thinking the name Marvin was too American, changed it to Marker.<br />
<br />
He understood the character perfectly and told <i>TV Times</i>: “Marker doesn't want anything, except to be left alone.” A loner often exploited and manipulated by his clients, his ‘cynical incorruptibility’ in dealing with debt recovery, con men, failed marriages, missing girls, blackmail and theft was first established in the retitled <i>Public Eye </i>on 23 January 1965.<br />
<br />
The second series of <i>Public Eye</i>, commissioned by Drama Supervisor Lloyd Shirley on Bates’ recommendation, took advantage of mobile Outside Broadcast facilities to extend studio bound drama with more location recording. Marker’s trawl through organised and disorganised crime took him, the series’ mournful Robert Earley theme music, filing cabinet, instant coffee, mug and typewriter from London to Birmingham. <br />
<br />
ABC’s Manchester based OB facilities shot location inserts for <i>Public Eye</i> around Birmingham city centre while the interiors were taped in ABC’s Teddington studios. Producer Richard Bates handed over to Michael Chapman for the third series and during its production the Independent Television Authority’s franchise renewal of 1967 merged ABC and Associated Rediffusion to create Thames Television. <br />
<br />
Many series were inherited by Thames, including <i>Callan</i>, <i>Public Eye</i>, variety show <i>Opportunity Knocks</i> and drama anthology <i>Armchair Theatre</i>. However, when Thames started broadcasting in July 1968, it was uncertain they would continue with <i>Public Eye</i> when the third series came to a close.<br />
<br />
<b>On parole in Brighton</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHua2LKV4Bl8M5Htxw7g8Wb2UPVKcKF_CLG3eVFhDlBysOyHF4pCmm44js76aogmobbhL0MDdl3EpaHAK7JyjZlL1lAyr0Eg-RLJg0KdocEWZWfAp2kfgaePEu_wETvYTSIqK0F3oRfLD/s1600/publiceye5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZHua2LKV4Bl8M5Htxw7g8Wb2UPVKcKF_CLG3eVFhDlBysOyHF4pCmm44js76aogmobbhL0MDdl3EpaHAK7JyjZlL1lAyr0Eg-RLJg0KdocEWZWfAp2kfgaePEu_wETvYTSIqK0F3oRfLD/s1600/publiceye5.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi661ytrUdhyQBlUcB_K6DlIEdztKw6XFn7cncJm3o3OOE1eJ5XD6Xmf4si8kSfAWlP1Gmh-X-yjhLPIapKflpAGiGinwKall1m1zVcXmx_E6zVjlWxYQLbV6bsPXqDTZ0Ksyhj6Pu5ecRm/s1600/publiceye2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi661ytrUdhyQBlUcB_K6DlIEdztKw6XFn7cncJm3o3OOE1eJ5XD6Xmf4si8kSfAWlP1Gmh-X-yjhLPIapKflpAGiGinwKall1m1zVcXmx_E6zVjlWxYQLbV6bsPXqDTZ0Ksyhj6Pu5ecRm/s1600/publiceye2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Marker’s sympathies with the underdog eventually saw him fall foul of the law in the third series’ final episode. He was arrested for receiving stolen goods and sent to Winston Green Prison. The public reaction was immediate and in letters and phone calls they demanded to know Marker’s fate. At Thames, Lloyd Shirley prompted Roger Marshall to devise <i>Public Eye</i>’s return. He pitched a series of seven, self-penned episodes that formed a chronicle of Marker’s post-prison rehabilitation in Brighton. <br />
<br />
Prolific director Kim Mills, who had helmed episodes of <i>Public Eye</i>, <i>Armchair Theatre</i>, <i>The Avengers</i> and produced <i>The Mind of Mr J.G. Reeder</i>, oversaw series four’s complex psychological examination of Marker as an ex-con, on probation, putting his life back together and holding down a regular job. Marshall also developed Marker’s relationship with his sympathetic Brighton landlady, the widowed Mrs Mortimer played by Pauline Delany, to support this new dynamic.<br />
<br />
The fourth episode ‘My Life's My Own’ was also provided with a prequel, a year later, in the 1970<i> Armchair Theatre </i>play ‘Wednesday's Child’, and was a rare and early depiction of a lesbian relationship on television. Mills also oversaw the transition from monochrome to colour and ‘A Fixed Address’, the concluding episode of series four made in 1969, was test recorded in colour. <br />
<br />
The next three series, produced by Robert Love and Michael Chapman and with Marker’s inquiry agency now based in Windsor and Chertsey, introduced supporting characters like authority figure DI Percy Firbank of the local CID and fellow private agent Ron Gash. Both revealed new facets to Marker that enhanced Burke’s sublime performance as the ordinary man trying to “put things right when it’s all gone wrong.” <br />
<br />
Dodgy housekeepers, thieves, inept builders, a horse-doping racket and blackmailers all kept Marker occupied until the series ended after 87 episodes in April 1975. Marker was still charging the same fee in his shabby Chertsey office, one the <i>Daily Mirror </i>described as ‘cheap pegboard painted bilious green’. The series won the ratings challenge from the BBC’s <i>Churchill’s People </i>and coped with <i>Kojak</i>’s move into opposition when the former lost viewers in droves. <br />
<br />
<i>Public Eye </i>was also a contemporary to <i>Special Branch</i> and, similarly, Thames wanted it to continue in 1976 by transforming it into an all-film series made by their subsidiary Euston Films. This was dropped in favour of remounting <i>Van der Valk</i> but Roger Marshall was offered an option to revive <i>Public Eye </i>again in 1978 when <i>The Sweeney</i> had concluded. However, Marshall’s enthusiasm was cooled by Alfred Burke’s low opinion of Euston’s energetic style, one he felt was inappropriate for the introspective <i>Public Eye</i>. Marker was left walking the streets in his crumpled white raincoat.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapman, James, Saints & Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cornell, Paul, Day, Martin and Topping, Keith, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing, 1996).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Goodman, Anthony and Perry, Julian, ‘Callan – The Series’, ‘The Idea’, ‘The Characters’, ‘The Stories’, Callan (1999) available at http://www.digitaltapestries.com/callan/, accessed between February and July 2014.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mitchell, James, ‘The contented saint with a killer’s grace’, in TV Times (IPC, 25 March 1972)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pixley, Andrew, Public Eye: Six Guineas A Day, Plus Expenses (Network, 2012).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Williams, Raymond, Raymond Williams on Television: Selected Writings (Routledge, 2013)</span></li>
</ul>
<b>Next time: <a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/05/coppers-spies-revisited-jack-or-knave.html">Special Branch to The Sweeney</a></b><br />
<b>Last time: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-we-want.html">ITC and The Prisoner</a></b><br />
<b>Previously: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">The Avengers and Z Cars</a></b><br />
<b>Originally: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-evenin-all-from.html">Fabian of the Yard and Dixon of Dock Green</a></b>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-25385771604386630122015-04-19T16:24:00.001+01:002015-05-25T12:52:32.862+01:00DRAMA AND DELIGHT: The Life of Verity Lambert / Book Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlQ9NguK03uYffiVmruTurVQV555G7tgxHbbxju5u9qako56PWhOYWyG5w1SKfB8ZD0ijR9UOSMBX3lWobLxGRF07QYmQqg3UjkBJrpv9BI9ONxpNeWpausdYqiznWhd6BXx2RQjIBQTx/s1600/dramaanddelight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlQ9NguK03uYffiVmruTurVQV555G7tgxHbbxju5u9qako56PWhOYWyG5w1SKfB8ZD0ijR9UOSMBX3lWobLxGRF07QYmQqg3UjkBJrpv9BI9ONxpNeWpausdYqiznWhd6BXx2RQjIBQTx/s1600/dramaanddelight.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
If you're expecting some huge revelations about Verity Lambert's tenure as producer of <i>Doctor Who</i> in Richard Marson's new book <b>Drama and Delight - The Life and Times of Verity Lambert</b> then you'll probably be disappointed.<br />
<br />
As the author emphatically declares, Verity Lambert was so much more than the first producer of the legendary science fiction series, a fitting accolade in and of itself. Marson therefore traces her early upbringing, schooling and employment as a secretary at ITV before her move to the BBC and her continuing success as a producer and executive with London Weekend and Thames Television, Euston Films, Thorn-EMI and finally her own production company Cinema Verity.<br />
<br />
Just as the book essays her professional triumphs and disasters in the entertainment industry, producing a wonderful boardroom drama about the comings and goings of working at the BBC or ITV with plenty of anecdotes from friends and colleagues, so it also charts the choppy waters of her personal life and both the delight and disappointment she found in her friendships and relationships. You certainly get the sense that Verity enjoyed a challenge, dealing with rival producers or difficult writers or juggling a career with marriage, Great Danes and volatile friendships.<br />
<br />
As the television industry changed, from the technical and production developments at BBC and ITV to the launch of Channel Four and to the impact of John Birt's much criticised 'producer choice' at the BBC that ushered in the rise of the independent sector, Marson shows Verity taking on these upheavals with determination. The climate for making good drama radically alters between the 1960s and the 1990s but this woman always seemed to be in the thick of it, maintaining the quality of her productions until her demise.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Initially, the introduction of the book feels a little bit uncomfortable. While it sets the stage for the exploits of 'Hurricane Verity' (as she was known) it seems to end with a bit of a demolition job on Jessica Raine's portrayal of Verity in Mark Gatiss' <i>An Adventure in Space and Time</i>, the film that dramatised the troubled birth of <i>Doctor Who</i> in 2013.<br />
<br />
Raine's performance is demoted to one which has 'no presence' compared to the firebrand that, quite rightly, Marson then goes on to profile and offers as proof that the version of Verity Lambert we saw on screen didn't quite live up to her inspiration. It's a shame this contrast has to be brokered by various colleagues of Verity Lambert being rather unfair to Jessica Raine but pulling no punches is the thrust of Marson's book and opinions from Verity's fellow travellers are honest and direct. Much like the revered producer herself.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... her ongoing and remarkable ability to manage a crisis </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnyQ1AH0N9v4NJ5mKngmS_yY8jjSyFPyanyrdf1_7DWYDrTi-4fueMCGgD-XzRe2oCsOIEUSklVPA8btPE7zOfrrH_YYCu0x7vhZz00MAcxCsX8ym_ZNzT-5kY1U30CC-HG_QlqG5yFPRf/s1600/mw12069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnyQ1AH0N9v4NJ5mKngmS_yY8jjSyFPyanyrdf1_7DWYDrTi-4fueMCGgD-XzRe2oCsOIEUSklVPA8btPE7zOfrrH_YYCu0x7vhZz00MAcxCsX8ym_ZNzT-5kY1U30CC-HG_QlqG5yFPRf/s1600/mw12069.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The book briefly traces her childhood and teenage years up to 1955 when at the age of sixteen she left Roedean, the girls school with which she was often associated in various press profiles. She took her six O Levels, her Jewish faith and her sense of being an outsider with her to pursue her education on a six-month course at the University of Paris (not the Sorbonne as often originally attributed), much to her father's relief.<br />
<br />
There's a sense here that Verity embraced her own independence and did things very much her own way despite an unimpressive academic record. Her achievements in the entertainment industry and the energy behind them indicate she was always determined to make up for this deficiency. Her Doctor of Laws honorary degree from the University of Strathclyde in 1988 must have gone a long way to repairing that old wound. <br />
<br />
After typing up menus for a hotel restaurant and several secretarial jobs, she worked in the Granada Television press office, acquiring the job after her father, who knew the chief executives Sidney and Cecil Bernstein, put a word in the appropriate ears.<br />
<br />
Eventually sacked from Granada, she also ended an engagement, much to her father's dismay, and instead transferred her considerable efforts into securing a job at ABC television. It was here that her potential was recognised and Marson describes her progress through the corridors of ABC, including a riveting recollection of the production of the <i>Armchair Theatre</i> nuclear holocaust play 'Underground' (transmitted live 30 November 1958) directed by Canadian Ted Kotcheff at their Didsbury studios in Manchester.<br />
<br />
This was clearly Verity's baptism by fire in television production and it is evocatively retold by the play's director Kotcheff and one of the actors, Peter Bowles. Taking the directorial reigns on a live production, when actor Gareth Jones had just collapsed and died, showed her ongoing and remarkable ability to manage a crisis - something she would tenaciously apply again and again to rescuing scripts, editing and producing television and films. While she was in a relationship with Kotcheff, the book suggesting both Verity and Ted regretted it never achieved its true potential, she was also introduced to ABC's wunderkind Head of Drama Sydney Newman.<br />
<br />
She would eventually follow Newman to the BBC but prior to this she spent a formative year in New York working as a secretary with noted television producer David Susskind. There's an indication that Susskind had an influence on Verity's career development and she returned to England and ABC determined to be a television director. She had so impressed Newman with her 'piss and vinegar' attitude that, after he had been poached by the BBC, he rang her up and asked her to produce <i>Doctor Who </i>(after failing to persuade Don Taylor, Shaun Sutton or Richard Bates to take on the task)<i>.</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... her choice of William Hartnell for the role was 'fucking awful' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFrF6OnkpUgycDCzS8xZUBozbY-UxmxpNbS37pFvL0YB_UJU6mIUBLGeaN4RGUyJzBQCmRNfPW2oqlspw-UNTOSBOljKxrVtoIr42gu4pp76mEorZqN4w83GyQOT6a19tRl_CmmIsb04WH/s1600/Verity+Lambert+doctor+who.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFrF6OnkpUgycDCzS8xZUBozbY-UxmxpNbS37pFvL0YB_UJU6mIUBLGeaN4RGUyJzBQCmRNfPW2oqlspw-UNTOSBOljKxrVtoIr42gu4pp76mEorZqN4w83GyQOT6a19tRl_CmmIsb04WH/s1600/Verity+Lambert+doctor+who.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8txOXvqgRjSBbqUCGUoyDap25v1qbLBnBI0x8_xtaUJy5tDs15xZnRySVZQpni9qBBvy8BGQ2vdwFeU-5nih4isr_CB0Sju4JnFYf-QevMnE1ShUF1RuSRueUjB4Goj-1LQ5diQZPWdl7/s1600/sydneynewman2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8txOXvqgRjSBbqUCGUoyDap25v1qbLBnBI0x8_xtaUJy5tDs15xZnRySVZQpni9qBBvy8BGQ2vdwFeU-5nih4isr_CB0Sju4JnFYf-QevMnE1ShUF1RuSRueUjB4Goj-1LQ5diQZPWdl7/s1600/sydneynewman2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Marson's book spends some time unpicking the professional relationship between Verity and Sydney Newman against a background of gossip about whether they actually had a physical relationship. Director Herbert Wise claims they did and the book emphasises that, in the context of the times, it was common place for women to do so in order to move up the career ladder. As to whether this 'casting couch'
principle was the origin of her eventual promotion by Newman to producer at the
BBC remains unclear and even
on her death bed, Verity categorically refuted the suggestion.<br />
<br />
<i>Doctor Who</i>'s creation and production certainly ruffled feathers at the BBC when its female producer entered a battle of wills with designer Peter <span class="st">Brachacki </span> over the design of the TARDIS set and with original director Rex Tucker about casting the significant role of the Doctor. Herbert Wise, not one to mince words it seems, also believed her choice of William Hartnell for the role was 'fucking awful' even though she transformed him into an early television star. She also had something of a difficult relationship with director Richard Martin. His opinion of Terry Nation's scripting efforts is as equally disparaging as Wise's is of Hartnell. <br />
<br />
The familiar tales of Newman making her and director Waris Hussein (a fellow outsider), remount the pilot, his rejection of the Daleks as bug-eyed monsters, and the troubles with the outmoded production environment of Lime Grove studios have passed into legend. Marson captures the cut and thrust of these pioneering days of television and its inherent prejudice and snobbery. Verity's determination to make <i>Doctor Who</i> work enshrined her attitudes about shattering the glass ceiling that prevented many minorities and women from progressing in the business.<br />
<br />
After <i>Doctor Who</i>, this attitude saw her through something of a roller coaster ride through the mixed fortunes of working at the BBC and ITV and film production at Thorn-EMI. Her hopes of getting a Sexton Blake series off the ground were stymied by Newman's request she take the reigns on a new soap to replace <i>Compact</i> (BBC, 1962-65). The short lived <i>199 Park Lane</i> (BBC 1965) - so terrible she demanded her name be removed from the credits - eventually led to her producing the first eight episodes of Colin Morris and Anthony Coburns's twice-weekly drama serial <i>The Newcomers</i> (BBC, 1965-69) which reunited her with director Waris Hussein.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxnUSZb-nZjJfCPPNKPFBLeaDFX5wuF0dHrjp1cqCGtuWoj8_cMqXqQ9qiD15YGp9bzCyZgqZgPIcjaOLqdhl9fBCgBhEQjtgYwhcwI9BRYbo-e3T7fWX-2sD2KUiV2NSjKExtSBl-jWm/s1600/verity2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihxnUSZb-nZjJfCPPNKPFBLeaDFX5wuF0dHrjp1cqCGtuWoj8_cMqXqQ9qiD15YGp9bzCyZgqZgPIcjaOLqdhl9fBCgBhEQjtgYwhcwI9BRYbo-e3T7fWX-2sD2KUiV2NSjKExtSBl-jWm/s1600/verity2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
There is a fascinating account of the shambolic production of <i>Adam Adamant Lives! </i>(BBC, 1966-67) and Verity's
crisis of confidence about its scripts and direction. She was also very
unhappy about the lack of promotion and inconsistent scheduling of the
second series.<br />
<br />
Marson deftly interweaves the problems with <i>Adam Adamant Lives! </i>with
Verity's relationship with gay director David Sullivan Proudfoot. One
of many close friendships she formed with gay men during her career,
there was talk of an engagement with Proudfoot. However, this never
transpired and it seems he sought some security with her at a time when
being openly gay was difficult. <br />
<br />
She continued to work at the BBC on the 1968 revival of the anthology series <i>Detective</i>, which introduced her to a different calibre of writers, including Hugh Whitmore, and she formed a very strong friendship and working relationship with a young (and gay) script-editor Andrew Brown.<br />
<br />
He first worked with her on <i>W. Somerset Maugham </i>(BBC, 1968-70), a series of the writer's plays that consolidated Verity's determination to work with the best writers and directors, with adaptations by Simon Raven, John Bowen, Simon Gray and Julian Mitchell and directed by Moira Armstrong, James Cellan Jones, Michael Lindsay-Hogg and Christopher Morahan. Despite the series winning BAFTA awards, the BBC did not renew her contract in 1970 and London Weekend Television eventually gained the benefit of her hard working, no nonsense attitude and production experience.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'She could taste what was wrong with a script' </blockquote>
She made her mark with the fondly remembered <i>Budgie</i> (LWT, 1971-72), created by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall and starring Adam Faith and Ian Cuthbertson. Again she was working with good writers and directors and hired Mike Newell, Jim Goddard and Lindsay-Hogg to helm the series about a charming Cockney ex-con's involvement in rash, money-making schemes. The chapter on <i>Budgie</i> is very insightful about the casting and creation of the series. It also introduces another writer who would regularly work with her, Douglas Livingstone. Here, Livingstone indicates Verity's acumen for good taste: 'It was in every aspect of her life. Food, wine, furniture and particularly scripts. She could taste what was wrong with a script and, in my case, she was never mistaken.'<br />
<br />
Production on <i>Budgie</i> ushered in a new man in her life, film maker Colin Bucksey who had ambitions of his own in the business and was ten years younger than the 35-year-old Verity. A holiday in Portugal brought them together and, despite her friends' disapproval and prejudice, their relationship endured and after marrying Verity, Bucksey carved out a very successful career as a director on his own terms. <br />
<br />
She then made a brief return to the BBC to make <i>Shoulder to Shoulder</i> (BBC, 1974) and in 1975 worked at Thames on <i>The Naked Civil Servant</i>, both landmark dramas for very different reasons. Six 75-minute plays, <i>Shoulder to Shoulder</i> offered her an opportunity to channel many of her personal ambitions and feelings as a creative woman into an inspiring drama about suffrage which chimed with the rise of feminism in the early 1970s.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49tChkvcWyv7KaGLX0G9O3lwAbhmE9itm0HRpMQqrdZr6dtOMh9sI59qlCCt2AqhXFQBIKx9TR6Z1jdHEnl7aq9n4MbxFLnsbHTccdHJHdyfSgv7Pc87JXPSXprRRt1oAsQ0xnk1rzRop/s1600/verity3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49tChkvcWyv7KaGLX0G9O3lwAbhmE9itm0HRpMQqrdZr6dtOMh9sI59qlCCt2AqhXFQBIKx9TR6Z1jdHEnl7aq9n4MbxFLnsbHTccdHJHdyfSgv7Pc87JXPSXprRRt1oAsQ0xnk1rzRop/s1600/verity3.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lzsVCEIKMIFeL-VfXrfP0GAIsQzOa4KkzzdzTI2rVK-Jg5lQE72n94uwwWGq_bt9Olu_DwKwAVhkArnWQ4SyP_xo97a5xfsbaKvqBwcgEyMDebM9U1xRKTHYJuvJuiOx-tCR1qAlA-b8/s1600/eldorado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lzsVCEIKMIFeL-VfXrfP0GAIsQzOa4KkzzdzTI2rVK-Jg5lQE72n94uwwWGq_bt9Olu_DwKwAVhkArnWQ4SyP_xo97a5xfsbaKvqBwcgEyMDebM9U1xRKTHYJuvJuiOx-tCR1qAlA-b8/s1600/eldorado.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
A fascinating account is provided of the production, writing and casting of the series and shows Verity trying to please her partners in the production, Georgia Brown and Midge Mackenzie, despite the latter being determined that men should not be involved in the series at all according to Waris Hussein, and fulfilling the practicalities of production and scripting. Marson never lets us lose sight of her personal triumphs and disasters and tragically 1974 is also marked by her first encounter with the cancer that would ultimately cut short her life five days before her 72nd birthday in 2007.<br />
<br />
Her career at Thames and later with its subsidiary Euston Films provides an amazing roll-call of some of the best British television ever made. The aforementioned <i>The Naked Civil Servant</i>, Philip Mackie's highly regarded dramatisation of the life of Quentin Crisp, 'one of the stately homos of England', was a project she championed after it was turned down by the BBC. She empathised with Crisp's outsider status and battle for recognition and equality.<br />
<br />
She also confidently supported Trevor Griffiths when he pitched political drama <i>Bill Brand </i>(Thames, 1976) and worked again with Andrew Brown on the development of Howard Schuman's <i>Rock Follies</i> (Thames, 1976-77), a wonderfully experimental, award-winning musical drama that stretched the stylistic possibilities of studio production, and on the award-winning royal drama <i>Edward and Mrs Simpson</i> (Thames, 1978).<br />
<br />
The success of <i>Rock Follies</i> would, however, be tinged with bitterness when the originators of the idea for the series successfully sued her and Thames. Similarly, after 'poaching' <i>Rumpole of the Bailey</i> (Thames, 1978-92) from its producer Irene Shubik, she was caught up in the unfortunate recriminations when the BAFTA jury of 1991 chaired by Shubik awarded Best Drama Serial to <i>Prime Suspect</i> rather than, as the industry had expected, Verity's production of Alan Bleasdale's <i>G.B.H</i>. These are great stories about the internecine workings of show business and they elevate this book from being merely recollections about Verity's work on <i>Doctor Who</i> and offer a personal view of the changing fortunes of British television and those working in the industry. <br />
<br />
Working with Johnny Goodman, Linda Agran and Lynda la Plante at Euston was clearly fruitful for Verity.<i> Minder </i>(1979-94), <i>Quatermass</i> (1979), <i>Danger UXB </i>(1979), <i>Fox </i>(1980), <i>Reilly: Ace of Spies</i> (1983) and <i>Widows</i> (1983) all provide testimony she was a shrewd judge of quality and talent. A groundbreaking and challenging project was 1981's <i>The Flame Trees of Thika</i>, a seven-episode adaptation of writer Elspeth Huxley's book about her childhood in Kenya. There were the ones that got away too. She had within her sights the original scripts <i>The Paddy Factor</i> and <i>A Thoroughly Filthy Fellow</i> but uncharacteristically she passed on these and under other producers they were transformed into the films <i>The Long Good Friday</i> (1980) and <i>Scandal</i> (1989). <br />
<br />
As a counter to this extremely fruitful career then perhaps the period at Thorn-EMI as a film executive rather than a television producer was evidently less successful. She clearly struggled to adapt to a very different development and production ethos and only <i>Dreamchild </i>(1985) and <i>Clockwise </i>(1986) emerged as critical successes from the handful of films she produced, including 1985's ill-feted <i>Morons From Outer Space</i>. She brokered a deal with Cannon, the new owners of Thorn-EMI, and as an independent producer in 1988 put all her energies into producing <i>A Cry In The Dark</i>, an adaptation of John Bryson's book about the infamous Michael and Lindy Chamberlain 'dingo baby' case in Australia.<br />
<br />
The focus on <i>A Cry in the Dark</i> also emphasises how passionately she felt about Australia, the love of the country and the friendships she had made there. However, this also coincided with the breakdown of her marriage to Colin Bucksey which ended in divorce in 1984 and the damaging court case over the ownership of the idea for <i>Rock Follies</i>. But if there is one thing patently clear from the book, Verity always reappraised her life and career and simply got back into the fray. Out of the disappointments of working at Thorn-EMI, she had set up her own independent company Cinema Verity and would provide the BBC with sit-coms <i>May to December</i> (1989-94) and <i>So Haunt Me</i> (1992-94) and Channel Four with 1991's critically acclaimed Alan Bleasdale drama <i>G.B.H</i>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'The only real failure that she had. And my God, was that a failure...' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_IdnpobQWUKtV8DFHuIYKnhcDEpiwhJYis_Lyq9sXrtSJD7HUExafcHV71qCvO_brwLDhmaXHgrsS3Z5_LEqC5X7vwp-F02PmMGgD-3_tFaMSohO0Ard2mGfmnZxuZqHWlRxB4MUfJmj/s1600/veritylambert5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_IdnpobQWUKtV8DFHuIYKnhcDEpiwhJYis_Lyq9sXrtSJD7HUExafcHV71qCvO_brwLDhmaXHgrsS3Z5_LEqC5X7vwp-F02PmMGgD-3_tFaMSohO0Ard2mGfmnZxuZqHWlRxB4MUfJmj/s1600/veritylambert5.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Her greatest gamble and one that also damaged her reputation was Cinema Verity's co-production with the BBC of soap <i>Eldorado</i> (1992-3). Marson's sympathetic appreciation of the disastrous production of the soap about ex-pats living in Spain provides further incentive to read this book.<br />
<br />
From the clashes with formidable BBC producer Julia Smith, the debacles over casting inexperienced actors, the problems with the sets built in Coín, to the impossible transmission deadlines and script-editor Tony Holland's disappearing acts, <i>Eldorado </i>was clearly a project where Verity, also dealing with the harrowing and impending death of her friend Andrew Brown, took her hands off the steering wheel. Director Herbert Wise, one never to disappoint with his brutal honesty, offers: 'The only real failure that she had. And my God, was that a failure...' <br />
<br />
And yet, she emerged from the aftermath and carried on. In her last decade, she produced <i>She's Out</i>! (ITV, 1995), a sequel to <i>Widows</i>, Douglas Livingstone's adaptation of Elizabeth Jane Howard's 'The Cazalet Chronicles' as <i>The Cazalets </i>(BBC, 2001) and, from its second series onwards, David Renwick's <i>Jonathan Creek</i> (BBC, 1997-) and his comedy-drama <i>Love Soup</i> (BBC, 2005-8). It was during the production of <i>Love Soup </i>that it became clear she was gravely ill after the cancer she defeated in the 1970s had returned in 2005. The book concludes with a deeply touching and emotional recollection from writer David Renwick, featuring pages from his diaries that chronicle her last days and her funeral in December 2007.<br />
<br />
Richard Marson is to be commended for fashioning a gripping memoir of this woman's life and career, mapping the highs and lows with candid detail and providing us with a picture of a private but joyful individual who never suffered fools gladly but could also recognise and embrace similar strengths of character in those she would come to regard as friends.<br />
<br />
Beyond this the book provides an individual and tangible history of television and Verity's role in shaping it, from its haphazard, adrenaline fueled 'live' days in Manchester studios to multi-million pound filmed productions that demonstrated the real scope, relevance and power of British television drama. <br />
<br />
<b>Drama and Delight: The Life of Verity Lambert</b><br />
Richard Marson <br />
Miwk Publishing<br />
April 2015<br />
379pp<br />
Selection of black and white and colour plates <br />
ISBN: 978-1-908630-33-X (Hardback edition)<br />
ISBN: 978-1-908630-33-9 (Softback edition)Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-69923357362065230652015-04-05T15:05:00.001+01:002019-03-22T14:46:05.371+00:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - We Want Information: ITC and The Prisoner<b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
Continuing with the re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b>
blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains
additional research material and information on the various crime and
spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to
celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March. <br />
<br />
<b>3: We Want Information - ITC and The Prisoner</b><br />
<br />
Mention the acronym ITC to a certain generation and it conjures up memorable images: Gerry Anderson’s <i>Thunderbirds</i>
machines, Roger Moore and his saintly halo, Number Six being menaced by
a huge white balloon and Jason King’s outré wardrobe. Formed in 1954 by
Charleston champion and talent agent Lew Grade, Incorporated Television
Company was a subsidiary of ITV franchise ATV and first made an impact
in the 1950s with filmed period adventure series featuring Robin Hood,
William Tell and Sir Lancelot.<b> </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4pX-o8_SMgV2s2QAtgThXq2yGPcWOWJ3Z_aiusyj0xS7UgbLfCqG0I4kClid7QHmeP0aaJEYVhxNd47y2Ic0XD1CBbcRypuXPQ5xDFF-nrQ_QMgTS2E_tXNFIWy7uy9Q4arhfkogwhiM/s1600/itc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4pX-o8_SMgV2s2QAtgThXq2yGPcWOWJ3Z_aiusyj0xS7UgbLfCqG0I4kClid7QHmeP0aaJEYVhxNd47y2Ic0XD1CBbcRypuXPQ5xDFF-nrQ_QMgTS2E_tXNFIWy7uy9Q4arhfkogwhiM/s1600/itc.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5DWgakhQP2pxjjvNezpy6l0kciaLc6RdJx8hsAHVfJS746ELcmCRfWesw5RSbDxqmSO87BL6ul5ndwF4cDsJKUYHV7CkI8Lx_uhV7H5EM1tiLooBT6poAIlcl_k2YgJhW-ic_qdVhVY0/s1600/RobinHood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5DWgakhQP2pxjjvNezpy6l0kciaLc6RdJx8hsAHVfJS746ELcmCRfWesw5RSbDxqmSO87BL6ul5ndwF4cDsJKUYHV7CkI8Lx_uhV7H5EM1tiLooBT6poAIlcl_k2YgJhW-ic_qdVhVY0/s1600/RobinHood.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVhWsPcnKtC2UU2Aeu_82pM4bIZ4eyx5XV3qQR8VktL0yuZh0xutSZtMCvCiGF4cAFCeM-s54lwNsM9iYltYT4B5R2uMHkv_-A3tgq-ONINAS6A5pHngeaG7pYbCp7LaObACxWjx4m2hW/s1600/lewgrade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKVhWsPcnKtC2UU2Aeu_82pM4bIZ4eyx5XV3qQR8VktL0yuZh0xutSZtMCvCiGF4cAFCeM-s54lwNsM9iYltYT4B5R2uMHkv_-A3tgq-ONINAS6A5pHngeaG7pYbCp7LaObACxWjx4m2hW/s1600/lewgrade.jpg" width="270" /></a>Grade was ‘a shrewd judge of public taste’ and financed dramas and light entertainment series with an emphasis on mass popular appeal. 1955’s <i>The Adventures of Robin Hood </i>demonstrated his prowess for securing co-production deals and ensuring sales of British made television to the major US networks. It paved the way for the international success of Gerry Anderson’s puppet and live action series and ITC’s cult spy and crime adventure dramas of the 1960s. <br />
<br />
ITC’s major advantage was to shoot on film rather than record on tape, the industry standard adopted at the time by the BBC and other ITV commercial franchises. High quality, export-ready filmed productions shot on location and in technically sophisticated British film studios were more appealing to the lucrative US television market. ITC eventually generated $100 million for the UK economy and received a Queen’s Award for Export. <br />
<br />
The company became synonymous with its crime adventure series, beginning in the 1960s with <i>Danger Man</i>, <i>The Saint</i>, <i>The Baron</i>, <i>Man In A Suitcase</i>, <i>The Prisoner</i>, <i>The Champions,</i> <i>Department S</i>, <i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</i> and ending in the 1970s with <i>The Persuaders! </i>and <i>Jason King</i>.<br />
<br />
All predominantly featured male secret agents, freelance troubleshooters, private investigators and amateur sleuths and embellished this male dominance with an emphasis on style, production values and Britishness. Each series also had an iconic title sequence, often designed by Chambers and Partners, and memorable theme music composed by the likes of Edwin Astley, Tony Hatch, Ron Grainer or John Barry. <br />
<br />
Beneath the surface of what could now be viewed as conservative, misogynist and sexist male stereotypes lay Grade’s willingness to support the ‘questioning of taken-for-granted assumptions.’ This is perhaps best showcased by <i>The Prisoner</i>’s unique perspective on the genre, as a disquieting alter ego to the equally playful <i>The Avengers</i>, and the fantasy elements that delineated the formats of <i>The Champions</i> and <i>Randall and Hopkirk</i>. <i>Jason King </i>was itself, perhaps unintentionally, a satirical view of the format and one constructed entirely from the clichés of the ITC back catalogue. <br />
<br />
These programmes consolidated ITC’s export drive in the 1960s and on the back of this it promoted a wide range of male heroic types. Although they offered various performances of masculinity, which expressed certain changes in attitudes and values during the explosion of British popular culture in that decade, these series globalised the crime and action genre and created heroes with transnational appeal.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>Jet-set lifestyles</b><br />
<br />
<i>Danger Man</i> and <i>The Saint</i>,
broadcast from 1960 and 1962 respectively, began the cycle and were
influenced by international crime-fighting series of the late 1950s such
as <i>The Third Man</i>, <i>Interpol Calling </i>and <i>The Four Just Men</i>
and pre-war fictional gentleman adventurers like Richard Hannay and
Bulldog Drummond. Both series initially attempted a level of realism
before they reflected the arrival of pop aesthetics and fantasy
celebrated in rival series like <i>The Avengers</i>. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaXcun9CNq1V8uBZ1voG_59gETOC1GYySAWmsdc4rX30VKk6dsYaBOFquls8weK6nAPhVqW98pbMNd03j5RHOylR8JYMpSG1cci7hG9SJjCH-cZTntUA4ElL2hO8kQPQUDj-I1AibKurL/s1600/dangerman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaXcun9CNq1V8uBZ1voG_59gETOC1GYySAWmsdc4rX30VKk6dsYaBOFquls8weK6nAPhVqW98pbMNd03j5RHOylR8JYMpSG1cci7hG9SJjCH-cZTntUA4ElL2hO8kQPQUDj-I1AibKurL/s1600/dangerman.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjf3EwewRXHRYbUzAsFROcIm79I8tzuf2jH10SyKkOOJCP0mVsPnLXwFym-FgH4w2Y__CKavI1YeUvJ_8DdGBYkjzPf0Exx3BB0eS1yMxjj9r44R6aJGK-xKz0KACJlNxSbJARIW68qQB/s1600/dangermanpressbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjf3EwewRXHRYbUzAsFROcIm79I8tzuf2jH10SyKkOOJCP0mVsPnLXwFym-FgH4w2Y__CKavI1YeUvJ_8DdGBYkjzPf0Exx3BB0eS1yMxjj9r44R6aJGK-xKz0KACJlNxSbJARIW68qQB/s1600/dangermanpressbook.jpg" width="270" /></a><i>Danger Man</i>’s origins are credited to Ralph Smart, who had produced, directed and written on <i>The Adventures Of Robin Hood</i>, <i>Interpol Calling </i>and<i> The Invisible Man</i> for ITC. When Grade commissioned him to create a new series, Smart first had a number of meetings with Bond creator Ian Fleming with a view to bringing Bond to television but Fleming had already sold the rights to Eon. <br />
<br />
Smart developed a pitch for a series called Lone Wolf. It was an espionage thriller with a cool, no nonsense central character sorting out the assignments Interpol and the CIA wouldn’t touch. With writer Ian Stuart Black's input the original pitch made the character of John Drake an American (probably with a view to selling the series to the US market) working for NATO. <br />
<br />
Grade commissioned the pilot Smart co-wrote with Brian Clemens, who would shortly afterwards pen the opening episode of <i>The Avengers</i>. Patrick McGoohan was cast in the role of Drake after Smart saw him in a 1958 <i>Play Of The Week</i> television production, ‘The Big Knife’. McGoohan’s star was in the ascendancy and, as he started filming the first series of 39 half hours of <i>Danger Man</i>, he picked up an award for his role in ‘The Greatest Man In The World’ a 1959 play in ITV's <i>Armchair Theatre</i>. <br />
<br />
McGoohan demanded changes to the lead character before he would commit to the series. He was unhappy with the pilot's depiction of Drake as a man of violence and a womaniser. Gradually, as the series progressed McGoohan transformed him into a man who rarely carried a gun, treated women with utmost respect and only resorted to fisticuffs when necessary. Drake was a deeply moral man who often questioned the unforgiving nature of his profession. <br />
<br />
Before the cinematic Bond became notorious for his use of gadgets, Drake was already making ingenious use of tie-pin cameras, dart-firing umbrellas and electric shavers with built in recorders. When he was offered the role of James Bond in <i>Dr. No</i> at the end of <i>Danger Man</i>’s first series, McGoohan turned it down, citing the dubious morals of the character and the poor script as his reasons. <br />
<br />
Three years elapsed before <i>Danger Man</i> returned for a second series, during which McGoohan pursued a film career. ITC scored another hit with <i>The Saint </i>and the spy adventure genre was popularised by the success of the first two James Bond films. These factors initiated the return of John Drake and Sidney Cole took over as producer for a further 32 hour-long episodes. Filming commenced in March 1964 and the second series was transmitted just before the Christmas release of <i>Goldfinger</i>, the Bond film that firmly established the iconic franchise. <br />
<br />
The second series saw some changes. Drake now worked for a branch of the British Secret Service, M.9 and as Ralph Smart explained in the ITC press book: “John Drake is now less cold, clinical and perfect. He is less infallible. He behaves more humanely. He makes mistakes. And he is altogether more likeable.” The glossy aesthetics of the Bond films were also of greater influence. Drake was shown using more gadgets and, importantly, employing them while dressed in clothes created by the Fashion House Group of London. Yet, just as <i>Danger Man</i> increasingly represented the cultural and consumerist values of the decade, the series maintained its realistic approach to global politics, the Cold War and Britain’s role in international security. <br />
<br />
Joining Cole as story-editor at the end of the third series in early 1966 was ex-journalist George Markstein. Markstein was a major influence on the genre and worked with McGoohan again, later joined Thames Television as story editor on <i>Special Branch </i>and <i>Callan</i>, oversaw the development of <i>The Sweeney </i>at Euston Films and provided the original storyline for <i>Who Dares Wins</i>, the SAS embassy siege film starring Lewis Collins. <br />
<br />
Being one of ITC’s most successful exports, preparations were made to move <i>Danger Man</i> from black and white into colour for its fourth series. However, McGoohan was tired of the role and concerned the series was becoming repetitive. He was keen to develop a new project. In April 1966, after <i>Danger Man </i>had filmed two final episodes in colour, ITC announced the end of the series. McGoohan had already secured backing from Grade for a new series, created in partnership with Markstein and second-unit director David Tomblin, called <i>The Prisoner</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SQQvZcmeOZE5b3IHiD4Gee-jUlQ_BYq65_DdKT-eAeVYCs_iWpOCIn99fV-7BX5zDud2GBjoW73GYM-gA_br7vjT8GVvOwsNuDPABcMVoFFrVmwSTOecppwFtEBvPo2JTWWHxekk2Jvb/s1600/RogerMoore1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SQQvZcmeOZE5b3IHiD4Gee-jUlQ_BYq65_DdKT-eAeVYCs_iWpOCIn99fV-7BX5zDud2GBjoW73GYM-gA_br7vjT8GVvOwsNuDPABcMVoFFrVmwSTOecppwFtEBvPo2JTWWHxekk2Jvb/s1600/RogerMoore1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxSSboqBfl3k6XERZmPMCzT6kKh-WjR9odWbIBMHk-DsKABLb_Kj5sDmso1xIemeiOIt3TLHB2htg4ZD4vrxMixujNNpQ9ApJo2_FJdT8L8RiKUkKouZ3wZJ4Q4g1FdW0BREMjtG8in5b/s1600/thesaint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNxSSboqBfl3k6XERZmPMCzT6kKh-WjR9odWbIBMHk-DsKABLb_Kj5sDmso1xIemeiOIt3TLHB2htg4ZD4vrxMixujNNpQ9ApJo2_FJdT8L8RiKUkKouZ3wZJ4Q4g1FdW0BREMjtG8in5b/s1600/thesaint.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-U4zH3BhOmXPVQJCseBtFaKLkO0qlN2TI7QnJTDRJGGVf-dTO9gC4Y_20DP9BYYVmY0lNiVYMwdl8yBQOTOWeRC9c_UVMTkkJ6AAxrCv1XKEWLIUM_dtuYPjqr4v8210QRWxjitRYAihd/s1600/ThePersuaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-U4zH3BhOmXPVQJCseBtFaKLkO0qlN2TI7QnJTDRJGGVf-dTO9gC4Y_20DP9BYYVmY0lNiVYMwdl8yBQOTOWeRC9c_UVMTkkJ6AAxrCv1XKEWLIUM_dtuYPjqr4v8210QRWxjitRYAihd/s1600/ThePersuaders.jpg" width="270" /></a>Meanwhile, suave playboy Simon Templar of <i>The Saint </i>and based on the Leslie Charteris character introduced in 1929’s novel Meet The Tiger, set the tone on television for self-made amateur investigators living the jet-set lifestyle. Charteris’s Templar, a gentleman outlaw and crime-fighting crusader, has enjoyed an extended life in novels, magazine stories, radio, cinema and television adaptations since the 1930s. <br />
<br />
Charteris eventually sold the television rights to producers Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker. ITC financed the series and production commenced in June 1962. Originally, Grade wanted Patrick McGoohan to play Simon Templar when <i>Danger Man</i> went on hiatus after its first series in 1961 but Baker felt McGoohan did not have the romantic style or tongue-in-cheek panache the role demanded. Leading man of ITV’s <i>Ivanhoe</i> series, Roger Moore, was cast and for millions of viewers came to embody the charismatic, debonair Templar.<br />
<br />
A glossy, cosmopolitan adventure series which ‘elaborated a male fantasy of luxury and laid back cool’, it successfully ran for 118 episodes over seven years and sold to over 80 countries. It epitomised ITC’s production and sales ethos - particularly when the series moved into colour in 1966 - and through the figure of the immaculately tailored and coiffed Moore, it projected ‘a form of masculine identity that embraced a credo of affluent pleasure, narcissistic style and personal ‘liberation’ through consumption.’ <br />
<br />
Baker revised the format when he worked with producer Monty Berman on <i>The Baron</i>, featuring high life antiques dealer, part-time British intelligence operative John Mannering, and on <i>The Persuaders!</i>, the ultimate expression of these playboy investigator tropes. Simon Templar also reappeared, unchanged save for Ian Ogilvy replacing Moore, in Baker’s 1978 series <i>Return of the Saint</i>. <br />
<br />
Clearly targeted at an international audience, <i>The Persuaders!</i> was co-produced for ITC by Baker, Johnny Goodman and star Roger Moore through their own Tribune Entertainment subsidiary. They deliberately secured an American co-star to appeal to the US networks and Hollywood star Tony Curtis played rough diamond Danny Wilde as the foil, in the series' double act, to the sophisticated Brett Sinclair played by Moore.<br />
<br />
The series was a mixture of private investigation caper and spy thriller and was driven by the abrasive relationship between Wilde and Sinclair whose ‘form of friendly rivalry, light-hearted banter and constant oneupmanship’ dominated the narratives. It reflected the penchant in the 1970s for male buddy relationships in films and television, echoing the success of films like <i>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</i> and the partnership between that film’s stars Robert Redford and Paul Newman.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Persuaders! </i>consolidated its globetrotting credentials by consciously eschewing ITC’s standard use of stock footage to represent international locations in favour of actually filming the series on location in France and Italy. However, despite its lavish overtures to a male lifestyle fantasy and success in the UK and Europe, it failed to set the US market alight.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm7A9tg2kqgW3Piy3DvnZxH5YthiD2KRq0ziY1qMM3IOeyJoyZru-HJ1IJTfHOFeiyDi6-vQur5Pc2ZFBPJ5Eou9VlmeLnGpil91O2IEskTyaSbkP5eRyt-dPPCXd1i90FsstDOUHLD7A/s1600/maninasuitcase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm7A9tg2kqgW3Piy3DvnZxH5YthiD2KRq0ziY1qMM3IOeyJoyZru-HJ1IJTfHOFeiyDi6-vQur5Pc2ZFBPJ5Eou9VlmeLnGpil91O2IEskTyaSbkP5eRyt-dPPCXd1i90FsstDOUHLD7A/s1600/maninasuitcase.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRao1TYZ9TQkNN8zPd63n137M27xdG95aowo-RN-zP0x8Gv-jUJ0lRI-GK3p2iLs4BkqWYeHMt6IEAJPH-q8PE44KNUJM4LJl3xtz0K1GrKVB5sdVvks3QTyRw5Xwul41LX9zb3R_Nc4G/s1600/champions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRao1TYZ9TQkNN8zPd63n137M27xdG95aowo-RN-zP0x8Gv-jUJ0lRI-GK3p2iLs4BkqWYeHMt6IEAJPH-q8PE44KNUJM4LJl3xtz0K1GrKVB5sdVvks3QTyRw5Xwul41LX9zb3R_Nc4G/s1600/champions.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBmuBHCpkstXsrZbO6jz0wnUwY2LGclhOVH0k9fe9aqgl1q0WL3vM7UQqaI7tWL4Cy0gLUfzCKYYnfD09o1gk-R8BjHwadZV-bzWXOcNe_xMEuPN9CpRQuKULF0eLNqDuSnVToU5rP40t/s1600/department-s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBmuBHCpkstXsrZbO6jz0wnUwY2LGclhOVH0k9fe9aqgl1q0WL3vM7UQqaI7tWL4Cy0gLUfzCKYYnfD09o1gk-R8BjHwadZV-bzWXOcNe_xMEuPN9CpRQuKULF0eLNqDuSnVToU5rP40t/s1600/department-s.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaANSpn-e3TJfMDPhdaVqFoiRAfZ96RyZOWLKp5rKWOT16oZFhZ5SCHy1ogeBITAKYTfu1cerEOlbCisn8l-WiVKRbADn2dGjW43Lvw96o7p4coGHQoBPDRCaGLbDxjEea8jJsI4-UhQ4B/s1600/randallandhopkirk2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaANSpn-e3TJfMDPhdaVqFoiRAfZ96RyZOWLKp5rKWOT16oZFhZ5SCHy1ogeBITAKYTfu1cerEOlbCisn8l-WiVKRbADn2dGjW43Lvw96o7p4coGHQoBPDRCaGLbDxjEea8jJsI4-UhQ4B/s1600/randallandhopkirk2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhym_2r0Km6WVs_cwTYJ2zok1YlQqDfpH8yPJvfD9RU6-49h7Q0HDRpNljFLnJHZ5geHaCPibpSu-EuzWPFczyYQds3vQO_Vt2vNKdjYVDY30c351zpw9moEHLbn2_pAauoHQBO8DAWThSB/s1600/wyngarde3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhym_2r0Km6WVs_cwTYJ2zok1YlQqDfpH8yPJvfD9RU6-49h7Q0HDRpNljFLnJHZ5geHaCPibpSu-EuzWPFczyYQds3vQO_Vt2vNKdjYVDY30c351zpw9moEHLbn2_pAauoHQBO8DAWThSB/s1600/wyngarde3.jpg" width="270" /></a><b>Performances of masculinity</b><br />
<br />
When McGoohan
ceased being John Drake, former CIA agent Sam McGill firmly occupied the
realist male hero mode (Texan method actor Richard Bradford insisted
upon this approach) in <i>Man In A Suitcase</i>, co-created by writers Dennis Spooner and Richard Harris and produced by Sidney Cole.<br />
<br />
Like <i>The Baron</i>,
its American leading man diluted ITC’s inherent Britishness and
injected a dose of cynical, macho, no-nonsense virility. McGill was a
hard-boiled Chandler-esque figure who openly criticised
the establishment, shed light on the ills of post-colonialism and
offered ‘a distinctly jaundiced view of ‘Swinging London’.’<br />
<br />
Spooner’s work with <i>The Baron</i>’s producer Monty Berman led to the formation of Scoton, a partnership that had a major influence on the development of ITC’s adventure series. In <i>The Champions</i>, <i>Department S</i>,<i> Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) </i>and <i>Jason King</i>, all created and produced by Scoton, realism was eclipsed by science fiction, fantasy and comic elements.<br />
<br />
For instance, <i>The Champions</i> featured three secret agents whose abilities were augmented by telepathy, precognition, super hearing and strength through an encounter with a mystical Tibetan civilisation and, in the dark but whimsical <i>Randall and Hopkirk</i>, one of the private investigators was a ghost. <br />
<br />
While <i>The Champions</i>’ themes tapped into the Western vogue for joining the so called ‘hippy trail’ search for Eastern enlightenment in the late 1960s, its agents were fighting its very antithesis. Like all of their series produced within the confines of the Pinewood, Elstree and Borehamwood studios, ITC ensured their three ‘super heroes’ defeated communist threats from East Germany, Cuba, China and Russia and their modus operandi was to protect international security rather than a specific threat to Britain.<br />
<br />
<i>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) </i>was initially something of a departure for ITC. Originally a vehicle considered for comedian Dave Allen, the series begins as a whimsical, supernatural fantasy but jettisons these elements in favour of seedy crime narratives. <br />
<br />
Unlike many of the other ITC series in which the protagonists spend their time jetting around the world (mainly through the use of the aforementioned stock footage), Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk (the dead detective resurrected as a ghost) are more or less confined to the grubbier back streets and domestic fringes of London. The only exception was the studio recreation of Monte Carlo for the highly amusing episode 'The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo'.<br />
<br />
Becoming a mythology of conspicuous affluence and style, with stories forged in the ‘white heat of the scientific and technological revolution’, ITC crime and spy adventure also offered various performances of masculinity that spanned stoic Drake, gentlemanly flâneur Templar, hardnosed ex-CIA agent McGill and, by 1971, author Jason King, a character who redefined the male mystique. <br />
<br />
Appearing in <i>Department S</i> before headlining his own series, the foppish aesthete Jason King was a crime writer much happier to raise a glass of champagne than throw a knockout punch. King, played by Peter Wyngarde, took conspicuous affluence, style and notions of class to such exaggerated and contradictory levels in <i>Jason King</i> that his masculinity seemed to exist on the nexus of heterosexual and homosexual codifications. <br />
<br />
The hero in King’s novels was Mark Caine, a Bondian alter ego whose exploits were self-reflexively interchangeable with King’s own reluctant investigations of international crime. As Andy Medhurst noted: ‘this particular fop is also a stud, with women both on-screen in the episodes and off-screen in the audience finding King a sexual magnet of immense and irresistible proportions.’ While the series originally made King and Wyngarde into ‘a byword for potent heterosexuality’, seen in hindsight it provokes multiple, complex readings about gender, style and masculinity.<br />
<br />
<i>Jason King</i> may have mocked ITC’s macho clichés and stereotypes but its female characters were little more than window dressing. Scoton’s formula of teaming two men with one woman offered some progress but the equality of Steed and his female partners in <i>The Avengers </i>rarely troubled ITC’s male dominated world of spies and agents. Agent Sharron Macready in <i>The Champions</i> and <i>Department S</i>’s computer expert Annabelle Hurst were the closest ITC got to depicting emancipated female heroes. <br />
<br />
<b>The surveillance society</b><br />
<br />
McGoohan, having left <i>Danger Man</i>, created <i>The Prisoner </i>for ITC. It began in 1966 with a pitch to Lew Grade, including George Markstein’s 60-page treatment, art director Jack Shampan’s sketches and McGoohan’s photographs of the Italianate North Wales village of Portmeirion. It ended in winter 1968 with McGoohan hurriedly editing ‘Fall Out’, his stream of consciousness finale, two weeks before transmission. <br />
<br />
‘Fall Out’, the final episode of <i>The Prisoner</i>, left millions of viewers puzzled and angry when it was transmitted on 2nd February 1968. After 17 episodes, it was not the conclusion they expected to McGoohan’s latest series. <br />
<br />
Markstein’s original treatment incorporated his knowledge of Inverlair Lodge in Scotland where, during the Second World War, British Intelligence ‘managed’ recalcitrant agents, and his reflections on McGoohan’s resignation from <i>Danger Man</i>. <i>The Prisoner</i> was, for him, a continuation of Drake’s story. For McGoohan it was increasingly an expression of his own socio-political concerns. Markstein, unhappy with this direction, left in March 1967 when production concluded on the first thirteen episodes.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQtQuFkajXADb7rtOu3G8JrL9urhIZHxIS-_pwbg7omtk1Hmm2nuyoJoBFauCT8hDoA_dk0y8YX2nRRZCAplWpF5Wmq9KRq-lq9qrwRXu9JCBG-gVN-czvYgaxHrchn6PhKv2k2TKtMVd/s1600/prisoner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQtQuFkajXADb7rtOu3G8JrL9urhIZHxIS-_pwbg7omtk1Hmm2nuyoJoBFauCT8hDoA_dk0y8YX2nRRZCAplWpF5Wmq9KRq-lq9qrwRXu9JCBG-gVN-czvYgaxHrchn6PhKv2k2TKtMVd/s1600/prisoner.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8CUFVyt7fZ0HVgp8McO-6Y7BuGwU8oTfSdhmrq2n4hXIv3oMsO4kVL6LslrBTjJ5jEN7Zy4SJcwwgvJInP0J2ufo0FB1J8k3yq-103ptB9rfPZIrexUzQTn_ztAnLD3qu5llBwgSmj-4/s1600/prisonerpressbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8CUFVyt7fZ0HVgp8McO-6Y7BuGwU8oTfSdhmrq2n4hXIv3oMsO4kVL6LslrBTjJ5jEN7Zy4SJcwwgvJInP0J2ufo0FB1J8k3yq-103ptB9rfPZIrexUzQTn_ztAnLD3qu5llBwgSmj-4/s1600/prisonerpressbook.jpg" width="270" /></a>Expressing McGoohan’s own liberal but conflicted political
awareness in a decade of radical social transformation and
counter-cultural dissent, <i>The Prisoner </i>commented on and reused
the formulaic tropes of the series he had just resigned from. It
transformed them into a prescient, allegorical treatise on the
surveillance society and the democratic state’s mission to coerce
individuals into conformity. <br />
<br />
A hyperbolised, satirical version of many ITC spy adventure series, using the era’s pop iconography to startling and memorable effect, <i>The Prisoner</i> was unique. Its central, unnamed anti-hero, Number Six, battled to retain his identity and sanity in a mysterious Village where ‘retired' former agents were controlled with drugs and brainwashed to extract the valuable information in their heads.
<br />
<br />
The parochial, cheery, mock-Italian Village, an analogue of Markstein’s Inverlair Lodge and Marshall McLuhan’s idea of the global village created by advances in communication technology, belied its totalitarian purpose. <i>The Prisoner</i> was not only about Number Six’s desperate attempt to escape incarceration but also his Kafka-esque journey to expose Number One, the anonymous power controlling the Village. The series concluded pessimistically as Number Six discovered he was Number One and ‘we all eventually join the enemy against ourselves’ in the battle between the individual and authority. <br />
<br />
Subverting the James Bond conventions used in the episode, 'Fall Out' defied audience expectation the series would reveal the Village’s diabolical mastermind in its subterranean depths. Having escaped, Number Six returned home where, symbolically, his front door opened automatically with an electronic hum as the door to his Village cottage once did. McGoohan therefore intimated that, no matter how hard we try, we can never escape from the Village, or from ourselves. It was ultimately a rather conservative, pessimistic conclusion. <br />
<br />
<i>The Prisoner</i>, a costly gamble on McGoohan’s concept by Lew Grade’s ITC, seemed to say freedom is elusive, resignation and rebellion are futile and conformity is inescapable but, like the decade from which it emerged, it continues to defy convention and to this day remains radical, enigmatic and thought provoking.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapman, James, Saints & Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cornell, Paul, Day, Martin and Topping, Keith, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing, 1996).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Courtman, Matthew, ‘The Beginning’, ‘The Basics’, ‘John Drake’ and ‘The Turning Point’, The Danger Man Website (2001) available at http://www.danger-man.co.uk/ accessed July 2014.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fairclough, Robert, The Prisoner: The official companion to the classic TV series (Carlton Books, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feasey, Rebecca, Masculinity And Popular Television (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Langley, Roger (ed), ‘Who Is Danger Man?’ in Danger Man Magazine, (Six of One, Issue 1, September 1984).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Medhurst, Andy, ‘King and queen: interpreting sexual identity in Jason King,’ in Osgerby, Bill and Gough-Yates, Anna (eds), Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks, (Routledge, 2001).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Osgerby, Bill, ‘“So you’re the famous Simon Templar”: The Saint, masculinity and consumption in the early 1960s,’ in Osgerby, Bill and Gough-Yates, Anna (eds), Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks, (Routledge, 2001).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pixley, Andrew, The Prisoner: A complete production guide (Network, 2007)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rodley, Chris, ‘Degree Absolute: The production, destruction and afterlife of The Prisoner,’ in Primetime (Volume 1, Number 3, WTVA, March-May 1982)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Tibballs, Geoff, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, (Boxtree/ITC 1994).</span></li>
</ul>
<b>Next time: <a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-man-alone.html">Callan and Public Eye</a></b><br />
<b>Last time: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">The Avengers and Z Cars</a></b><br />
<b>Previously: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-evenin-all-from.html">Fabian of the Yard and Dixon of Dock Green</a></b>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-91371802663547867562015-03-22T11:53:00.003+00:002015-05-25T12:53:12.439+01:00SHERLOCK HOLMES - The Classic 1965 BBC TV Series / BFI DVD Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh45HRhhJgCWXG_4WtbeH7WeJqKGTkjQfXTKrIHdJM9xSD6UnOFwYyAT2hL0d4p5d7qe0kFVquqHcPCW0FgUBJelJbGGRUzqAhHLHV4l6tHnNlCvPLUgPK8H-0XiZgvZW12x6fc0CqxnCpp/s1600/sherlockbfi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh45HRhhJgCWXG_4WtbeH7WeJqKGTkjQfXTKrIHdJM9xSD6UnOFwYyAT2hL0d4p5d7qe0kFVquqHcPCW0FgUBJelJbGGRUzqAhHLHV4l6tHnNlCvPLUgPK8H-0XiZgvZW12x6fc0CqxnCpp/s1600/sherlockbfi.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
In the pantheon of celebrated Sherlock Holmes adaptations there is one BBC television series that tends to get overlooked. In 1965 the BBC produced a series of faithful adaptations of 13 Conan Doyle <b>Sherlock Holmes</b> stories starring Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock. The series is perhaps unfairly eclipsed by the colour series made by the BBC two years later starring Peter Cushing, fewer episodes of which survive, and the Granada series that consumed much of the 1980s and 1990s and the energies of actor Jeremy Brett.<br />
<br />
However, you can judge Wilmer's and Stock's celebrated interpretations for yourselves when the BFI release the remaining episodes of <b>Sherlock Holmes</b> on a 4-DVD set this month. Previously available as a Region 1 set, this new release features commentaries, interviews and using the remaining archive footage, the reconstruction of two episodes. <br />
<br />
Before and since Holmes has been reinterpreted many times on radio, film and television with the latest incarnations being the Guy Ritchie action films, the contemporary restaging of the characters and stories in Steven Moffat's hugely successful <i>Sherlock</i> and the CBS police procedural <i>Elementary</i> featuring Jonny Lee Miller. Holmes and Watson are a very prolific presence among the roll call of iconic British literary myths - including King Arthur, Robin Hood, Dracula - that have continued into the 21st Century, joining modern legends such as James Bond, Harry Potter and the Doctor. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Adapting the Holmes canon was not a new undertaking for the BBC. It had broadcast a six-episode <i>Sherlock Holmes </i>series in 1951, starring Alan Wheatley, and a series of radio adaptations with Carleton Hobbs in the lead role that spanned 80 episodes between 1952 and 1969. Bringing Holmes back to BBC television originated from staff director Vere Lorrimer's approach to Head of Light Entertainment Tom Sloan.<br />
<br />
Sloan discovered, rather remarkably, that the rights from the Conan Doyle estate were available and, by sheer coincidence, when he suggested a Holmes series to Head of Drama Sydney Newman, Newman revealed a Sherlock Holmes story was due to be included in a series of one-off drama pilots called <i>Detective</i>. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(1) </span>As the Radio Times of May 14 1964 exclaimed, 'No series with a title like <i>Detective</i> could possibly afford to ignore the father of all fictional detectives - the man with the deer-stalker and the 9.25 pipe, the Sage of Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes himself.' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(2)</span><br />
<br />
Newman's motive for producing <i>Detective</i> was to find a replacement for the highly successful <i>Maigret</i> series, starring Rupert Davies, which had concluded a run of 53 episodes in December 1963. <i>Detective</i>'s most successful try-outs would be considered for a full series and, underlining the <i>Maigret </i>connection, were each introduced by Davies 'in character' as Maigret.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I decided I would paint him warts and all' </blockquote>
<div style="float: left; margin: 0 10px 5px 0;">
<div class="issuuembed" data-configid="1213124/11950317" style="height: 400px; width: 283px;">
</div>
<script async="true" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div>
Prior to <i>Detective</i>'s production in late 1963 and early 1964, the BBC had secured the options on five Holmes stories and 'The Speckled Band', transmitted 18 May 1964, was chosen to represent the detective in the anthology. Newman and his producer David Goddard recruited Robin Midgley to direct and Giles Cooper as scriptwriter. Midgley had previous form, having produced and directed many of the Holmes radio adaptations featuring Carleton Hobbs, and Cooper had adapted the Maigret stories for television. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(3)</span><br />
<br />
Newman determined that each of the <i>Detective</i> instalments would be headed by a star actor and producer Goddard contracted established stage and screen actor Douglas Wilmer to play Holmes in 'The Speckled Band' with a view that he would continue in any series that developed from the pilot. Wilmer was described by the Radio Times as, 'a Conan Doyle enthusiast who has coveted the part since the start of his acting career' and who bore 'an uncanny physical resemblance to Holmes as drawn by Sydney Paget to illustrate the original Strand Magazine stories.' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(4)</span><br />
<br />
Wilmer had featured on the big screen in historical epics <i>Cleopatra </i>(1963) and <i>The Fall of the Roman Empire </i>(1964) but had also carved out a successful radio and television career. He was familiar with the Conan Doyle stories and, as he later expounded in his biography, felt that previous interpretations of the character had never fully embraced the darker side of Holmes: 'I decided I would paint him warts and all. He was a towering and commanding figure, often forbidding and silent. Such men cast great shadows. They can be intimidating and inspire fear.' However, Wilmer also acknowledged that, even though he thought the scripts should mention it, in 1964 the viewing public was not ready for a television series to describe 'anything so utterly depraved as a cocaine habit .' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(5)</span><br />
<br />
Joining Wilmer to play the redoubtable Dr John Watson was Nigel Stock, a recognisable British character actor fresh from supporting roles in<i> Brighton Rock</i> (1947), <i>The Dam Busters </i>(1955), <i>The Battle of the River Plate</i> (1956 with Wilmer), <i>Victim</i> (1961) and <i>The Great Escape</i> (1963). Stock managed to imbue Watson with many of the qualities of Doyle's 'old campaigner' and offered something of an antidote to the buffoonish Watson, despite the appeal of Nigel Bruce's performance, seen opposite Basil Rathbone's Holmes in the film series of the 1930s and 1940s.<br />
<br />
Anthony Read, who adapted 'The Red Headed League' and took over as script editor on the series in September 1964, further underlined to writer Duncan Ross, who had submitted what would be an unused adaptation of 'The Sussex Vampire' that he should: 'keep away from the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce interpretations which we firmly eschew.' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(6)</span><br />
<br />
Wilmer and Stock's immediate rapport with the characters, the atmospheric location filming in Dorking and BBC Birmingham's economic but effective studio production derived a suitably Gothic melodrama from Conan Doyle's story. A highlight of the pilot is the encounter between Holmes and poker-bending Dr Grimesby Roylott, featuring a volcanic performance from Felix Felton. Under Midgley's direction, Felton had previously appeared in a radio adaptation of the story with Liane Aukin as the heroine Helen Stoner. She also reprised her role in the television version. <br />
<br />
'The Speckled Band' was a notable success with viewers and the BBC optioned eight further Conan Doyle stories for the series that followed in 1965. However, negotiations with the Conan Doyle estate now came with an added pressure. They wanted to see the BBC make the series on film and, enthusiastic about Holmes's export potential, enter a co-production deal with an American network, and thus have a greater say in the selection of cast and crew. <br />
<br />
The BBC were not keen as a significant financial outlay would be required to shoot on film and complete the series before any guarantee of a sale and they rejected the idea that an American network should therefore be allowed to interfere with what original script editor John Gould saw as a quintessentially English series. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(7)</span><br />
<br />
Another issue, which would gradually have a significant impact on the writing of the series and Wilmer's decision not to continue when the BBC commissioned a second series, were the negotiations over rehearsal time, scripts and directors. The BBC originally agreed to Wilmer's request for scripts to arrive three weeks in advance of production and that the series would be handled by a small group of directors to maintain quality and style, including the pilot's Robin Midgley. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(8)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... he 'had not the smallest intention of appearing in such drivel' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9eYSevZWubpBuO6Y3j9p0N88ggyYDpZQpsqpmvHCX915oyLRaLU4pMaA9ixmz0eXiixQOlOPnoIDEGKzjZQG2iYYYfn5OF1Igu7JApIMsEjTjayEp2HuYtbM1jgEh-bgT3DH-rhBY3ZMy/s1600/Holmes7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9eYSevZWubpBuO6Y3j9p0N88ggyYDpZQpsqpmvHCX915oyLRaLU4pMaA9ixmz0eXiixQOlOPnoIDEGKzjZQG2iYYYfn5OF1Igu7JApIMsEjTjayEp2HuYtbM1jgEh-bgT3DH-rhBY3ZMy/s1600/Holmes7.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsCMrTDitHQWo71aqX_vJpYNSGWOypGALAekZcpqN1vMB8OQWhLeJictxM1nQeIvy376MfIyzfIJFK4YtfMRIidvmUcLcQck1xqX-IM22Gp6_IeKRG4AIsmWwlifGtM5f7cZjeJxqzP8y/s1600/Holmes8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsCMrTDitHQWo71aqX_vJpYNSGWOypGALAekZcpqN1vMB8OQWhLeJictxM1nQeIvy376MfIyzfIJFK4YtfMRIidvmUcLcQck1xqX-IM22Gp6_IeKRG4AIsmWwlifGtM5f7cZjeJxqzP8y/s1600/Holmes8.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCReDEO62cA2caGRiIrOXayaeyhxT_7Ry_V_FueHS2asLsdAIyVekQdBaK_nU3UxDdLyCllg7R6ZFsHIreAELMbArInY84og41wqzZBZyUn2TgEoOilMqxaDN_ZksFLNNn3gBHm5p3xSD9/s1600/Holmes9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCReDEO62cA2caGRiIrOXayaeyhxT_7Ry_V_FueHS2asLsdAIyVekQdBaK_nU3UxDdLyCllg7R6ZFsHIreAELMbArInY84og41wqzZBZyUn2TgEoOilMqxaDN_ZksFLNNn3gBHm5p3xSD9/s1600/Holmes9.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>Sherlock Holmes</b>'s 12 episodes were eventually made with the standard studio VT and location film inserts, although as restoration expert Peter Crocker explains in the notes accompanying this DVD set, the 405-line VT recordings were transferred to 35mm for editing and broadcast.<br />
<br />
The adaptations were divvied out to several writers, including Giles Cooper, Clifford Witting, Jan Read, Vincent Tilsley, Nicholas Palmer and Anthony Read (Read took over from original script editor John Gould and inherited a pile of scripts that would need revising or rejecting). Midgley was not amongst the directors hired to make the episodes and Wilmer was somewhat aggrieved that many of the episodes were handed to inexperienced youngsters. <br />
<br />
Jan Read's 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' commenced production in September 1964 with location filming in Wapping and studio recording at Television Centre. With production continuing on 'The Abbey Grange' in October, Anthony Read had to completely rewrite the script for 'The Red Headed League' two days prior to its November studio recording when Harry Green's version was rejected. Indeed, Wilmer recalled the problems with the script in <i>Stage Whispers</i> and told the BBC he 'had not the smallest intention of appearing in such drivel.' He strongly recommended the script editor simply 'have a good look at Doyle and just copy out the excellent dialogue, as written.' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(9)</span><br />
<br />
Further scripting problems affected 'The Devil's Foot'. Wilmer observed that Giles Cooper's script ran short of the 50 minute slot by some significant margin and he and Stock had to write additional material at the last minute. 'The Devil's Foot' boasted some excellent location filming in Cornwall, undertaken in December 1964, and the Radio Times recalled Nigel Stock entertaining the cast and crew with a bagpipe recital beneath Wilmer's bedroom window. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(10)</span><br />
<br />
The series opening episode, 'The Illustrious Client' was also completed in December and was the first episode to use the Baker Street exterior set specially built at Ealing Studios. Filming and recording continued into January and February 1965 on 'Charles Augustus Milverton' and 'The Copper Beeches' - where director Gareth Davies had to track down an Old English Mastiff to perform as the guard dog of the house and discovered there were only six of the breed left in the UK.<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (11)</span>The week prior to the 20 February transmission date of the series heralded a press launch at the Sherlock Holmes pub. <br />
<br />
As the series began on BBC One, the rest of <b>Sherlock Holmes</b> continued to be recorded through to April 1965, concluding with 'The Bruce-Partington Plans', 'The Retired Colourman' (negotiations with Boris Karloff to guest star as Barker unfortunately came to nothing) and 'The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax'. The latter's Swiss setting was provided by some extensive location filming in the French town of Montreuil-sur-Mer. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(12)</span><br />
<br />
'The Illustrious Client', boasting a Radio Times cover, received some mixed reviews. While the Sherlock Holmes Society of London praised the adaptation and Wilmer's and Stock's performances, the BBC's Director of Television Kenneth Adam informed Sydney Newman that the BBC Board and the Director General were disappointed that the episode had not lived up to the promise of the pilot.<br />
<br />
The format of the series, established so effectively in 'The Speckled Band', is certainly consolidated by 'The Illustrious Client'. Two very broad performances from guest stars Peter Wyngarde, providing a ripe German accent as the serial womaniser Baron Gruner, and Rosemary Leach, plunging into Cockney melodrama as the vengeance seeking Kitty Winter, tend to dominate over the quieter, subtler work from Wilmer and Stock. <br />
<br />
Far better is 'The Devil's Foot', despite the scripting problems, and it expands the series out of the often poky studio settings with its Cornwall location filming. Patrick Troughton is also a highlight as the poisoner Mortimer Tregennis hoist by his own petard by the scheming Dr. Sterndale. It's also here that Wilmer's adjustments to his performance as Holmes begin to emerge. He had rewatched his performance in 'The Speckled Band' and told the Radio Times in April 1965: 'when I saw it again five months later I thought my portrait of Holmes was incomplete and in places inaccurate; too smooth, urbane and civilised. I've realised that he is a much more primitive person, more savage and ruthless.' <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(13)</span><br />
<br />
Stock's chemistry with Wilmer isn't quite as well developed as the later relationship between him and Peter Cushing in 1968's colour series but as the series progresses both actors refine and define their characters. Their portrayals are appealing but very self-contained. Stock's Watson certainly paved the way for the excellent work that David Burke (who makes an early television appearance in 'The Beryl Coronet') and Edward Hardwicke would put into their portrayals of Watson in the Granada series. Wilmer offers a definitive portrayal of Holmes for the times, which now provides an antithesis to Jeremy Brett's own brilliant but often extravagant embellishments.<br />
<br />
The series is blessed with further outstanding guest roles. Patrick Wymark and Suzanne Neve are perfect casting in 'The Copper Beeches'. Wymark encapsulates Jephro Rucastle's snarling but suave cruelty as he forces Neve's Violet Hunter to stand in as his imprisoned daughter Alice. He uses her to convince the man watching from the road Alice is no longer
interested in seeing him and to prevent the couple from benefiting from her mother's will. Tucked away in the episode are lovely turns from Michael Robbins as the drunken servant Toller and horror icon-to-be Sheila Keith as employment agency owner Miss Stoper. <br />
<br />
Sadly, only the final reel of 'The Abbey Grange' remains in the archive (and this wasn't presented on the previous Region 1 DVD of the Wilmer series) and the first 25 minutes of the adaptation are here represented by Douglas Wilmer reading the opening half of the story to camera. What we do eventually see is a well made, atmospheric adaptation with Nyree Dawn Porter effulgent as the tormented Lady Brackenstall desperately waiting for lover Captain Croker to rescue her from a violent husband.<br />
<br />
As played by the hawkish Peter Madden, Inspector Lestrade makes the first of six appearances in the series with Giles Cooper's adaptation of 'The Six Napoleons'. It's notable how elements of light comedy flavour this, 'The Red Headed League' and 'The Retired Colourman.' In Cooper's version of the former James Bree provides a very appealing performance as Dr. Barnicot, the Napoleon enthusiast whose destroyed plaster bust of the French Emperor provides the catalyst to Holmes' investigations. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Wilmer did not return when a second series option was taken up.</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsW5cDJhC33cdEn5auxEXuXaJDNdmSuRlLuE100tnNPxRNGJMRQHyuoazdPkqGWLiPGbfqiFN9G2FEWGjtHdIeb0yZ8e1Dn060fX-V-px8g64cVXgeRvl6BjmmCtCgfnj5foSIOmfNF_6Q/s1600/Holmes4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsW5cDJhC33cdEn5auxEXuXaJDNdmSuRlLuE100tnNPxRNGJMRQHyuoazdPkqGWLiPGbfqiFN9G2FEWGjtHdIeb0yZ8e1Dn060fX-V-px8g64cVXgeRvl6BjmmCtCgfnj5foSIOmfNF_6Q/s1600/Holmes4.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTaZWZLwX9jJtuiLaAb9gRED6BHICQjsOoGNRFqhMPl3snd5kGT1kC4lU4vl5B7EWhIX7enO2F8PVdqVeJyEixXj1RNkQlGiIPL4Vxfyn0fOekKgYkYrwPT7FdBDgkFzdIQf3oVmpF5EE/s1600/Holmes6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTaZWZLwX9jJtuiLaAb9gRED6BHICQjsOoGNRFqhMPl3snd5kGT1kC4lU4vl5B7EWhIX7enO2F8PVdqVeJyEixXj1RNkQlGiIPL4Vxfyn0fOekKgYkYrwPT7FdBDgkFzdIQf3oVmpF5EE/s1600/Holmes6.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
'The Man With The Twisted Lip' establishes the series proper. It's an evocative and effective adaptation and Anton Rodgers provides a suitably sympathetic performance as business debtor turned beggar Neville St. Clair. There's some splendid location filming in Wapping photographed by Dick Bush, one of the best film cameramen working at the BBC at the time.<br />
<br />
However, viewers were more concerned about the correct depiction of an opium den, according to the Radio Times letters page, than what was then the common practice of asking a Caucasian actor (in this instance Danish-English Olaf Pooley) to 'black up' and play ethnic stereotypes like the Lascar. <br />
<br />
The series' growing confidence can also be seen in 'The Beryl Coronet' in which Leonard Sachs's (familiar to viewers as the tongue twisting MC of <i>The Good Old Days</i>) banker Alexander Holder, safe-keeping a beryl-encrusted crown, falls victim to David Burke's unscrupulous villain George Burnwell.<br />
<br />
Another incomplete episode in the archives is 'The Bruce-Partington Plans'. The first 25 minutes of the episode exist and are here supplemented by surviving audio and the shooting script. It works very well and the engrossing adaptation features a smashing performance from Derek Francis as Holmes' brother Mycroft and well-known television character actors John Woodnutt, Gordon Gostelow and Allan Cuthbertson add quality to director Shaun Sutton's ensemble casting. A shame we can only see half of it.<br />
<br />
'Charles Augustus Milverton' is dominated by Barry Jones' turn as the 'most dangerous man in London', the reptilian master blackmailer Milverton. He's definitely the highlight, as is Stephanie Bidmead as Lady Farningham, a former victim who is observed seeking her violent revenge by Holmes and Watson while they are breaking into Milverton's safe to destroy the blackmailer's evidence. <br />
<br />
In the last act, there's also some lovely comedy between Watson, Holmes and Inspector Lestrade when Holmes acknowledges that Lestrade's description of one of the 'burglars' seen trespassing on Milverton's estate matches that of Watson. Stock's comedy timing and reaction is particularly satisfying. <br />
<br />
The series concludes with two fine episodes, 'The Retired Colourman' and 'The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax' both of which benefit from excellent location filming. One of the best of the series, 'The Retired Colourman' features the legendary Maurice Denham as the supremely grumpy miser Josiah Amberley and the story refreshingly provides Stock with an opportunity to shine as Watson. The last episode of the series is also not without a superb supporting cast, including Ronald Radd, Joss Ackland and Roger Delgado, here playing the hotel manager Moser. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kqbMbW-oit3OaezGXvlWOaWnqLo6sZwBGc58GJ-1RVYWrrt27sltkPrknTfoXGFDx1qLdN1IfpMMFpq-WJ7beaoxxecYtsaWkhjOaAoBAISygJjLiHTIKWYiJcDUT6FtcY939qbUKRC3/s1600/Holmes+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kqbMbW-oit3OaezGXvlWOaWnqLo6sZwBGc58GJ-1RVYWrrt27sltkPrknTfoXGFDx1qLdN1IfpMMFpq-WJ7beaoxxecYtsaWkhjOaAoBAISygJjLiHTIKWYiJcDUT6FtcY939qbUKRC3/s1600/Holmes+3.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyaM8_5uHx_owHKK2dRUGGcCssHGwxJzhYAYIJ8VjVvsGMDHqhLX9K_4TELiHVoSasyH5_KluvJ3TeyDa6WMWlO8GOnLomiHUB1du61rIMXyykaS3ceF2d97sp17xwS0iceKvJCrXVFXa/s1600/Holmes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyaM8_5uHx_owHKK2dRUGGcCssHGwxJzhYAYIJ8VjVvsGMDHqhLX9K_4TELiHVoSasyH5_KluvJ3TeyDa6WMWlO8GOnLomiHUB1du61rIMXyykaS3ceF2d97sp17xwS0iceKvJCrXVFXa/s1600/Holmes1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Sadly, Wilmer did not return when a second series option was taken up, a decision buoyed by a successful repeat run of the first series in summer 1966. Although Head of Series Andrew Osborn asked Wilmer to return, the actor declined.<br />
<br />
His experience of the production treadmill on the first series, the fact that some of his demands had not been met about script availability and director approval and the BBC's decision to cut the production time for each episode of the next series down to ten days, and thus reduce the rehearsal time, had all left him rather unimpressed.<br />
<br />
In <i>Stage Whispers</i>, he recalls that John Neville (a fine Holmes in the 1965 film <i>A Study in Terror</i>) and Eric Porter were approached to co-star with Nigel Stock before the BBC settled on Peter Cushing (having played Holmes in Hammer's Gothic take on <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> in 1959) to bring Doyle's anti-hero to colour television in 1967. But that's another story...<br />
<br />
For now, Holmes purists can return to these episodes. They are an interesting counterpoint to the Granada series of the 1980s, where money was clearly lavished on sets and location work and many liberties were taken in stretching stories out, and their pace is probably best described as very genteel in comparison to contemporary television but these faithful, if rather economic, adaptations are worth viewing for the Wilmer and Stock interpretations of the Doyle characters. There is also a generous selection of extra features to complete a very welcome DVD release.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Special Features</b><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>Commentaries</b></i></span><br />
Toby Hadoke moderates five audio commentaries: with director Peter Sasdy on 'The Illustrious Client', Douglas Wilmer on 'The Devil's Foot' and 'Charles Augustus Milverton', director Peter Cregeen on 'The Abbey Grange', and actors Trevor Martin and David Andrews on 'The Red Headed League'. <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Alternative Spanish audio presentation of The Speckled Band</i></b></span><br />
The Spanish export version, entitled 'La banda de lunares', if you are so inclined.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Alternative title sequence for The Illustrious Client</i></b></span><br />
Apparently Peter Wyngarde requested his name to be included in the title sequence when the series was sold abroad, feeling he should share and benefit from equal billing with Wilmer and Stock.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>The Abbey Grange episode partial reconstruction</b></i></span><br />
Of the two 25-minute film reels only the second survives and here 95-year-old Douglas Wilmer reads the opening half of the story to accompany the surviving footage.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>The Bruce-Partington Plans episode partial reconstruction</b></i></span><br />
The first reel exists of the episode and the remainder of the episode is represented by an audio recording mixed with extracts from the shooting script. <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><i><b>Douglas Wilmer...on Television </b></i><span style="color: black;">(22 mins)</span></span><br />
A convivial conversation with Wilmer in which he discusses his casting as Holmes and his determination to play him as an unsympathetic, vain and dangerous character. He recalls various aspects of the pilot and series, from snake wrangling in 'The Speckled Band', his desire to see its director Robin Midgely continue directing the series, to the work of Shaun Sutton compared to the many 'pup' directors on the series and the uneven quality of the scripts.<br />
<br />
Nigel Stock is fondly remembered by Wilmer as a loyal support during a time when Wilmer was very unhappy with the production of the series and he amusingly recounts the arguments with Patrick Troughton about Catholicism and working with other guest actors such as Joss Ackland.<br />
<br />
Wilmer then reflects on his days at RADA and the Old Vic and his debut at the BBC, working with Rudolph Cartier, making 1958's <i>The Diary of Samuel Pepys</i>, acting with Nigel 'Tom' Kneale, and the Royal Court and film versions of <i>One Way Pendulum</i>. The interview brings us up to date with his recent cameo in the Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss series <i>Sherlock</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Sherlock Holmes</b> <br />
BBC 1964-1965 <br />
BFI Cat No. BFIV2040 / Cert 12 / Monochrome / English
language with optional hard of hearing subtitles / 650 mins approx / Original
broadcast aspect ratio 1.33:1 / 4 x DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio (192bps)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Alan Barnes, Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Film and TV History </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(2) 'Detective - The Speckled Band', Radio Times May 14 1964</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(3) Alan Barnes, Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Film and TV History </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(4) 'Sherlock Holmes', Radio Times February 18 1965</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(5) Douglas Wilmer, Stage Whispers - The Memoirs</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(6) Alan Barnes, Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Film and TV History </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(7) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(8) Douglas Wilmer, Stage Whispers - The Memoirs</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(9) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(10) 'Dr. Watson Takes Over', Radio Times April 29 1965</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(11) 'The Copper Beeches', Radio Times March 4 1965</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(12) Alan Barnes, Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Film and TV History</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(13) 'Douglas Wilmer as Holmes', Radio Times April 8 1965 </span>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-58670979615631084242015-03-14T16:55:00.001+00:002019-03-22T14:45:15.875+00:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - Kinky Boots and Z-Victor 2: From The Avengers to Z Cars<b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
Continuing with the re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b>
blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains
additional research material and information on the various crime and
spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to
celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March. <br />
<br />
<b>2: Kinky Boots and Z-Victor 2: From The Avengers to Z Cars</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnVbTYsu-agidYc4iwjOVT2Cw53eaxMjIgeTUdPz4Yz2-5tlkZDcwS40pQGgyr3IYS2fpIXe57MI7OkbkUb5i8aAenc-BqGjN7gzM6wkBDiymEivhmoa_E_70by3q9fQ-ADqHejsRErdy/s1600/Police+Surgeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnVbTYsu-agidYc4iwjOVT2Cw53eaxMjIgeTUdPz4Yz2-5tlkZDcwS40pQGgyr3IYS2fpIXe57MI7OkbkUb5i8aAenc-BqGjN7gzM6wkBDiymEivhmoa_E_70by3q9fQ-ADqHejsRErdy/s1600/Police+Surgeon.jpg" width="223" /></a><br />
George Dixon had been on his beat for five years in <i>Dixon of Dock Green </i>when ABC’s canny producer Sydney Newman created <i>Police Surgeon </i>in 1960. A short-lived star vehicle for actor Ian Hendry, it featured the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by Dr Geoffrey Brent as he assisted the London Metropolitan Police with Bayswater’s dysfunctional families, disreputable landlords, delinquents and petty criminals. <br />
<br />
Created, written and initially produced by Julian Bond, many of the scripts had been written in collaboration with J.J. Bernard, the pseudonym of a real police surgeon. When he raised certain contractual issues, Newman cancelled the half-hour drama after 13 episodes. It had also not fulfilled a brief from ABC’s chief executive Howard Thomas for Newman to develop an adventure series similar to Dashiell Hammett’s <i>The Thin Man</i>, featuring retired private detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora. <br />
<br />
While the ‘police in the community’ theme of Dixon developed into the realism of <b>Z Cars</b>, Newman asked producer Leonard White to take elements of <i>Police Surgeon </i>and create an entirely new crime drama for his star Hendry, inspired by Hitchcock’s thriller <i>North By Northwest</i> (1959) and Fleming’s Bond books, and based on nothing more than a title…<b>The Avengers</b>. <i>Police Surgeon</i>’s successor ushered in a very different crime fighting partnership.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Iconic bowler, brolly and sharp tailored suits</b><br />
<br />
Writer Brian Clemens, who had worked on <i>Danger Man</i> (which we will return to in due course) in 1960, was given the task of making the title a reality. Hendry became Dr. David Keel and was joined by actor Patrick Macnee as John Steed, an undercover spy to whom Keel turned for help after his fiancée was murdered by heroin smugglers in the opening episode ‘Hot Snow’. When Hendry left during a prolonged Equity strike, Macnee’s Steed took centre stage and <b>The Avengers</b> reinvented itself.<br />
<br />
Steed’s raincoat and trilby uniform were replaced with his iconic bowler, brolly and mod-trad Edwardian suits. Keel’s dialogue was transfered to Honor Blackman’s self-assured, leather outfitted anthropologist Dr Cathy Gale, the first of Steed’s strong, independent female partners. Newman saw Gale as a mix of Grace Kelly and noted ethnographer Margaret Mead. Dave Rogers summarised her as ‘a 1960s version of Shaw’s emancipated young woman providing the conscience in combat with Steed’s contemporary Chocolate Soldier.’ <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb4A2vA3PqD0_4PJ7xz77UH_JUM5lyPdmSUDbe9EJFSf4KHhpBtgLb4xoW0Ik1uxo8fT2292WvRKSqpKBr37VMwUiwYidquax9e9fiZJ9VjKTds_F51FoD4ImopIfZVc60O_v7lWTZ6qp/s1600/Cathy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb4A2vA3PqD0_4PJ7xz77UH_JUM5lyPdmSUDbe9EJFSf4KHhpBtgLb4xoW0Ik1uxo8fT2292WvRKSqpKBr37VMwUiwYidquax9e9fiZJ9VjKTds_F51FoD4ImopIfZVc60O_v7lWTZ6qp/s1600/Cathy.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09T_1z_Sb-2wA2IaYPpHsqeZpX_KXJdDA4YCACIcvSBVAnqARdKXSqpPgDPJMnXDCfyaaDU_zJy7IE2rZ5N-3w3OaeFHJAJ4rd8l_o5XmZIkY0pZf4-eaQsX3wgb8R2muJ8QVm9KlnWmI/s1600/Emma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09T_1z_Sb-2wA2IaYPpHsqeZpX_KXJdDA4YCACIcvSBVAnqARdKXSqpPgDPJMnXDCfyaaDU_zJy7IE2rZ5N-3w3OaeFHJAJ4rd8l_o5XmZIkY0pZf4-eaQsX3wgb8R2muJ8QVm9KlnWmI/s1600/Emma.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-rZK9Z8dEThGlEgeagVmtFKK1alRVM11S3cZ1tOoOe9tYldVlbyPPBlhh8XxdPtH_5xCOBIYEGIxfTOyYL1FbTVBphCvir47BR-ZuWP2v1XM_AmDS2I53-OkmtilkmzjZso2qgcOg19Y/s1600/Tara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-rZK9Z8dEThGlEgeagVmtFKK1alRVM11S3cZ1tOoOe9tYldVlbyPPBlhh8XxdPtH_5xCOBIYEGIxfTOyYL1FbTVBphCvir47BR-ZuWP2v1XM_AmDS2I53-OkmtilkmzjZso2qgcOg19Y/s1600/Tara.jpg" width="270" /></a>
The sexual tension between Steed and Cathy flavoured the rapidly changing series. Gritty stories about London’s criminal underworld gave way to Cold War thrillers and yarns featuring the occult, advanced computers and unbreakable ceramics, deadly viruses, industrial saboteurs, technological espionage and political assassinations. <br />
<br />
<b>The Avengers </b>continued to self-consciously explore the gender play, fashion and materialism of a changing post-war society especially when the series, produced jointly by Clemens and Albert Fennell, moved onto film in 1965 and introduced Steed’s new foil, Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel.<br />
<br />
Publicist Marie Donaldson was apparently responsible for her name, summarising her qualities and shortening ‘Man Appeal’ to ‘M Appeal’ in a press release. The widow of test pilot Peter Peel and daughter of industrialist Sir John Knight, she was an adventurous, intelligent and sexually confident woman capable of fending off assailants with her karate skills.<br />
<br />
Steed and Emma were kept busy thwarting malcontent scientists, autocrats, astronomers, executives, aristocrats, ministers and dilettante playboys sidelined by the modernisation of Britain. The series cherry-picked from various genres, playfully wove them together using exaggerated colour, stylised fashion and production design and a self-awareness about the relationship between the television audience and the programme itself.<br />
<br />
Stories such as ‘Epic’, ‘Escape in Time’ and ‘Something Nasty in the Nursery’ saw a pop-art style married to increasingly surreal narratives, commenting on the nature of storytelling and film-making, at a time when London was regarded as the epicentre of the 1960s explosion of pop, architecture, fashion and design. <br />
<br />
Michael Bracewell summarised this construction of an England of the imagination as one ‘in which the underworld of crime, the underground of popular culture and the hidden precincts of Cold War paranoia were compressed into a Looking Glass world where nothing - to satirical ends or not - was ever quite as it seemed.’ Science fiction, fantasy and the psychedelic increasingly infiltrated the format as flirtatious Emma Peel handed over to ingénue agent Tara King, played by Linda Thorson. <br />
<br />
<b>Women as independent protagonists</b><br />
<br />
Thorson was initially promoted as a Shirley Maclaine type and producer John Bryce, who had replaced Clemens and Fennell, was under instructions to return the series to a more grounded style. Rookie agent Tara King was less stylised than predecessors Emma and Cathy and wore fashions of the moment. There was a suggestion of a more human, rounded 'May to December' relationship between Tara and Steed. <br />
<br />
However, Bryce struggled with the production schedule and Thorson was deemed too young and inexperienced. Clemens and Fennell returned to overhaul the series, developing Tara King’s character and introducing support in the form of Steed and Tara’s boss, Mother, played by Patrick Newell. Mother’s presence increased the bizarre humour and, in inimitable style, episodes embraced noir, Victorian horror and spoofs of hard-boiled spy fiction. <br />
<br />
Made in colour, financed by American network ABC to the tune of $2 million, <b>The Avengers</b> was one of the first British series aired in US prime time. Despite achieving some of its highest ratings in the UK, the Thorson series faltered in the US ratings, a casualty of its scheduling against <i>Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In</i>. ABC pulled the plug and, financially unviable, <b>The Avengers</b> concluded in May 1969 just as the tensions pulling apart Britain’s economy, which had led the consumerist boom associated with the series, became all-too apparent with its steep decline.<br />
<br />
As well as influencing many 60s spy adventure series, returning as <i>The New Avengers</i> in 1975 and a forgettable 1998 film, <b>The Avengers</b> lasting impact was placing women, as independent protagonists, at the heart of a genre dominated by masculine discourse. While Cathy Gale and Emma Peel were perhaps hostages to male fantasies, they did anticipate the women-centred police procedurals and adventure dramas of the 1980s and beyond. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>‘It was obvious that the police were not coping’</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZweju3BxjFZgEX6JMXG43AJYqBSMslpq0lyIjwtbzuABi6wftbE6CKJezVvmzoW9fde9YwuV3Nv7P8PK68nR4QqEpMnqAGuqwHrRJhRzYfylYePo9ZXgkbYWrVvS3-h8onP-vd39dqdxm/s1600/FordZephyr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZweju3BxjFZgEX6JMXG43AJYqBSMslpq0lyIjwtbzuABi6wftbE6CKJezVvmzoW9fde9YwuV3Nv7P8PK68nR4QqEpMnqAGuqwHrRJhRzYfylYePo9ZXgkbYWrVvS3-h8onP-vd39dqdxm/s1600/FordZephyr.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPvEzqTpI9G_-olT9U7fDyMy4pQtsqOS3IvDZ9wKcNR9VIHCrJ4ZdXsRekYGSZx9I_2Xq12cRanKBws8bfQmdr7ixDtRo-w30XNajBWSvtoKi3k5TGRqah6YNmC2QtF0zh63KDAjxsKTA/s1600/z+cars1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPvEzqTpI9G_-olT9U7fDyMy4pQtsqOS3IvDZ9wKcNR9VIHCrJ4ZdXsRekYGSZx9I_2Xq12cRanKBws8bfQmdr7ixDtRo-w30XNajBWSvtoKi3k5TGRqah6YNmC2QtF0zh63KDAjxsKTA/s1600/z+cars1.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFGKJ_8SgJSi3PFSpyyqkj43ZBPRO_n4rmwBPjYIUAqvXjG5XPpNXy2kDcx1fYpHLA6cSW4IY_PN-IxQAXDRT0UbAcbUpa4WkNf1JtQJbV21D6he72rgrpitwhReIrxixyMLmGIebseTx/s1600/z+cars+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFGKJ_8SgJSi3PFSpyyqkj43ZBPRO_n4rmwBPjYIUAqvXjG5XPpNXy2kDcx1fYpHLA6cSW4IY_PN-IxQAXDRT0UbAcbUpa4WkNf1JtQJbV21D6he72rgrpitwhReIrxixyMLmGIebseTx/s1600/z+cars+2.jpg" width="270" /></a>With the crime rate soaring, public safety a major concern and policing high on the political agenda in the 1960s, the ‘cosy’ world of the BBC’s <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i>, which had been running since 1955, looked static and remote. Developments in documentary-drama and the assimilation of social realism into television saw a new drama series address these issues. <br />
<br />
Debuting in January 1962, <b>Z Cars</b> was also the BBC’s response to a serious ratings challenge from ITV. It was inspired by the memoirs of Liverpool police officer Bill Prendergast, a regular consultant on BBC programmes, and writer Troy Kennedy Martin listening to police radio chatter as he convalesced from mumps. Overhearing “incidents where it was obvious that the police were not coping”, he took ideas for a crime drama to Elwyn Jones at the BBC Documentary Department. <br />
<br />
Jones was considering a new police series after positive reactions to Gilchrist Calder and Colin Morris’s documentary <i>Who, Me?</i>, about police interrogation methods, from a group of Lancashire policemen. Jones then sent Kennedy Martin and fellow writer Allan Prior to research Lancashire County Police’s ‘crime car’ policing, live in the community and develop scripts from case material supplied by them and Prendergast. <br />
<br />
Producer-director John McGrath then assembled the cast and “spent a clear week with them discussing the complete social background of every character” and was determined that “not one of those blokes would say a line without knowing why he was saying it.” He also insisted they visit policemen at home and get to understand their work and family life.<br />
<br />
Joseph Brady, who played PC Jock Weir, reflected: “Police are human beings. They don’t spend all their time saying don’t - as we found out in our filming in the North of England. They look after old widows and children - but if it comes to a scrap they get steamed in.” Joining him in the series were Brian Blessed, Colin Welland and James Ellis as PCs ‘Fancy’ Smith, David Graham and Bert Lynch. Along with their bosses, tough DCI Charles Barlow and bad-tempered DS John Watt memorably brought to life by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, they became household names.<br />
<br />
Set in the fictional Liverpool district of Newtown, <b>Z Cars</b> injected pace into the police procedural and developed its documentary style from recording live in studio using six cameras, a dozen sets, film inserts and back projections. Employing over 250 changes of shot per episode fulfilled director McGrath’s aim, “of giving television some of the speed, the pace of film… where people cut, cut, cut...”<br />
<br />
Group producer Robert Barr, the documentarian responsible for <i>Pilgrim Street</i> and <i>War On Crime</i>, was often at loggerheads with Kennedy Martin. “One of the qualities of <b>Z Cars</b> comes from a constant war between me, who wants it to be documentary, and Troy, who wants to write fiction.” Elwyn Jones would also tear up scripts during rehearsals, dropping characters and scenes, and leave Kennedy Martin to rewrite the episode.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Provocative stories about delinquency, domestic violence and racism</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDf-N2bmwWvvGludDXvMPoLpZS6vTt47coH5rpjenC5Y4BkGtEdxSAsJ3IOFx47QMGowvxzzhsZoQJrn_P0msEpS2-dKHsrtOrB1uZAI8ap-X7Wg3ST2uvcZlG9y1NOkqZ7CNnABR2kG59/s1600/softly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDf-N2bmwWvvGludDXvMPoLpZS6vTt47coH5rpjenC5Y4BkGtEdxSAsJ3IOFx47QMGowvxzzhsZoQJrn_P0msEpS2-dKHsrtOrB1uZAI8ap-X7Wg3ST2uvcZlG9y1NOkqZ7CNnABR2kG59/s1600/softly.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25cZOUZs-nk-r4hUdtxZru5xQFPb986zXxHrT62ck951t_lmviNWOt8KZzLm4gSJ5x3tiF8ZRn9V5fiNezkDUvSjXsNfwu5_1YD4yPrlvwIH9HbrNbkyY5M-0ylLGOVugvOLaiAwFHp-I/s1600/softlysoftly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25cZOUZs-nk-r4hUdtxZru5xQFPb986zXxHrT62ck951t_lmviNWOt8KZzLm4gSJ5x3tiF8ZRn9V5fiNezkDUvSjXsNfwu5_1YD4yPrlvwIH9HbrNbkyY5M-0ylLGOVugvOLaiAwFHp-I/s1600/softlysoftly.jpg" width="270" /></a>Documentary-dramas <i>Tearaway</i>, <i>Who, Me?</i>, and <i>Jacks and Knaves</i>, made by the Calder and Morris team, influenced <b>Z Cars</b>’ depiction of police officers, criminals and their victims and its use of housing estate locations, vernacular speech and class authenticity. This also reflected the emerging British social realist cinema’s focus on the human foibles and weaknesses of the rootless, displaced and dispossessed in society. <br />
<br />
However, <b>Z Cars</b>’ realistic portrait of policemen as gamblers, drinkers and wife-beaters enraged Lancashire’s Chief Constable Colonel Eric St Johnston. He complained to the Home Office, drove to London and begged Controller of Television Stuart Hood to abandon the series. The credit thanking Lancashire County Police for their support was withdrawn. Despite mixed reactions from police, public and press, <b>Z Cars</b>’ high viewing figures ensured the extension of its initial run from 13 to 31 episodes. <br />
<br />
Kennedy Martin and McGrath left the series, feeling it had abandoned character in favour of story and shifted emphasis from social issues to the personal problems of police officers. Attempts to include strong female characters foundered too. With the focus firmly on male characters, radio operator Katie Hoskins, played by Virginia Stride, was written out of the first series. <br />
<br />
Writer John Hopkins, a prolific contributor to the series who became its new story editor, offered, “<b>Z Cars</b> is like a serial rather than a series. Each story is progressive; there’s a growth in the characters.” Under his influence, it delivered provocative stories about delinquency, domestic violence and racism and provided early opportunities for directors Ken Loach and Ridley Scott and writer Alan Plater.<br />
<br />
The series’ live format ended in 1965. It returned as a twice-weekly drama in 1967, updated with Panda Cars and pocket radios, and produced by Colin Morris, who made the innovative docu-dramas with Gilchrist Calder that anticipated <b>Z Cars</b>’ creation. The characters of Barlow and Watt transferred to Elwyn Jones’ regional crime squad sequel <i>Softly, Softly</i>, which became <i>Softly, Softly: Taskforce</i> in 1969. <br />
<br />
Barlow’s popularity generated another spin-off in 1971, <i>Barlow At Large</i> and he was reunited with Watt for 1973’s fascinating, experimental six-part <i>Jack The Ripper</i> series, where they reopened and analysed the notorious case. They unpacked other famous unsolved crimes in 1976’s <i>Second Verdict</i> and Watt made his final appearance in the last <b>Z Cars</b> episode in 1978. By then <b>Z Cars</b> and its spin-offs had, together with <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i>, run on the BBC for 16 years. <br />
<br />
Over on ITV in 1975, Troy Kennedy Martin’s brother Ian transformed the police drama with <i>The Sweeney</i>, a fast-paced, hard-hitting series featuring Inspector Jack Regan of the Metropolitan Police’s elite Flying Squad. The representation of the British policeman altered from <b>Z Cars</b>’ flawed but committed pillar of the community to <i>The Sweeney</i>’s unorthodox outsider consorting with villains to secure an arrest. Yet, as Rebecca Feasey observed, even if both shows were aesthetically poles apart Regan’s innate ‘honesty, incorruptibility and fairness harks back to the core values of those earlier productions’ like <b>Z Cars</b>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Blake, Philip, ‘Z Cars, Wednesday preview,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 3 September 1964).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bracewell, Michael, England is Mine: Pop Life in Albion From Wilde to Goldie, (Flamingo, 2009)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapman, James, Saints & Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cooke, Lez, ‘‘It was political’: John McGrath and Radical Television Drama’ in Journal of British Cinema and Television (Volume 10, Issue 1, Edinburgh University Press, January 2013).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cornell, Paul, Day, Martin and Topping, Keith, The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing, 1996).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feasey, Rebecca, Masculinity And Popular Television (Edinburgh University Press, 2013).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leishmann, Frank, ‘From Dock Green to Life on Mars: Continuity and Change in TV Copland,’ inaugural lecture at University of Gloucestershire on 7 May 2008 (The Cyder Press, 2008). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lewis, Peter, ‘Z Cars’ in Contrast: The Television Quarterly, (Vol.1, No.4, British Film Institute, Summer 1962).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Miller, Toby, The Avengers (BFI Publishing, 1997).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Robert Reiner, ‘The Dialectics of Dixon: The Changing Image of the TV Cop’, in Mike Stephens and Saul Becker (eds), Police Force, Police Service (MacMillan, 1994)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rogers, Dave, The Ultimate Avengers (Boxtree/Channel 4, 1995).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolinson, David, ‘The Blue Lamp to The Black and Blue Lamp: The police in TV Drama’, 24 April 2011, British Television Drama (2009), available at http://www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=1429, accessed 3 March 2014.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rose, David E., ‘Softly Softly: the work of the Regional Crime Squads is the subject of this new detection series which features some of the characters from Z Cars,’ in Radio Times, (BBC,1 January 1966).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sydney-Smith, Susan, Beyond Dixon Of Dock Green: Early British Police Series (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">‘Z Cars,’ interview with John Hopkins, in Radio Times, (BBC, 5 September 1963).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">‘Z Cars: Elwyn Jones, Head of Drama Series, introduces the hundredth edition,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 27 February 1964).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">‘Z Cars,’ interview with Stratford Johns, in Radio Times, (BBC, 5 March 1964).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">‘Z Cars: Back as a twice weekly serial,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 2 March 1967). </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Last time: <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-evenin-all-from.html">Fabian of the Yard and Dixon of Dock Green</a> </b><br />
<b>Next time: <a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/04/coppers-spies-revisited-we-want.html">ITC and The Prisoner</a></b>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-64344058581343619332015-03-01T16:34:00.001+00:002019-03-22T14:42:21.264+00:00COPPERS & SPIES REVISITED - Evenin' All: From Fabian of the Yard to Dixon of Dock Green<b>Coppers & Spies Revisited </b><br />
<br />
I thought you might enjoy these extensively re-written versions of the original <b>Coppers and Spies</b> blog posts published on the MovieMail site in 2014. Each part contains additional research material and information on the various crime and spy adventure series the original blog series covered, timed to celebrate Network's highly-anticipated release of <i>The Professionals</i> in high-definition last March. <br />
<br />
<b>1: Evenin' All: From Fabian of the Yard to Dixon of Dock Green</b><br />
Crime and detective fiction developed from the public’s appetite for
lurid reports of court proceedings, the serialised, sensationalist
‘penny dreadfuls’ and the first appearance of Edgar Allan Poe’s creation
C. August Dupin in 1841’s <i>The Murders in the Rue Morgue</i>. As
Dupin worked his case, the Metropolitan Police set up Scotland Yard and,
forever synonymous with the London detective force, the Yard caught the
public’s imagination. Inspector Bucket, in Dickens’ <i>Bleak House</i>, and Wilkie Collins’ creation Sergeant Cuff in <i>The Moonstone </i>were inspired by the real-life exploits of the Yard’s officers.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pF7EaVyj-DD7XIsTwRRMAQ05QWPhJmOO46AM-8VWurGFR0uFgx4z2MVxwnXzEM2U2rAwAzZgD3eJU3iITYTFmiIxDnOHO0fp_ziqj0RFUv9Hi1SmPoguJSsxdIV9eG6y3LFpy0ifgjff/s1600/earlybooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pF7EaVyj-DD7XIsTwRRMAQ05QWPhJmOO46AM-8VWurGFR0uFgx4z2MVxwnXzEM2U2rAwAzZgD3eJU3iITYTFmiIxDnOHO0fp_ziqj0RFUv9Hi1SmPoguJSsxdIV9eG6y3LFpy0ifgjff/s1600/earlybooks.jpg" width="400" /></a>Their popularity ushered in the ‘golden age’ of crime fiction and the success of Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Edgar Wallace and Agatha Christie also went hand in hand with the <br />
mythologising of Scotland Yard. Inevitably, these stories would be adapted for radio, film and, finally, television. The crime drama and police procedural television series then emerged out of several related pre-war and post-war film and television traditions and practices. <br />
<br />
For example, BBC dramas of the 1950s and 1960s, such as <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i> and <i>Z Cars</i>, developed from an experimental documentary ethos that stretched back to the General Post Office film unit overseen by John Grierson. It greatly influenced the BBC Documentary Unit’s production of public-information style crime documentary-dramas prior to <i>Dixon of Dock Green</i>. On the other hand, crime dramas shown on the commercial channel ITV, when it began transmission in 1955, evolved from economic and industrial changes to the production of B pictures.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Funded by US studios, these crime B pictures were also influenced by American detective noir of the 1930s, popularised by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, and often featured lead American actors to ensure export potential. This British-American hybridisation of the genre would have a lasting effect as British film studios gradually switched to production of filmed crime series, intended for American television networks and often repackaged for cinema exhibition in Britain. <br />
<b><br />Pilgrim Street’s ‘manor’ and ‘ordinary everyday crime’</b><br />
<br />
Prior to ITV’s arrival in 1955, at the BBC a key figure in the development of the crime documentary-drama was Robert Barr. A former BBC war correspondent and crime reporter Barr was unofficially in charge of the Documentary Unit at the BBC in the late 1940s and contributed to and produced several television magazine and story-documentary strands. His expertise on the police and crime featured in 1946’s <i>Telecrimes</i>, in which a Scotland Yard representative presented 15 minute dramatisations of true crimes, and a reconstruction style documentary about black marketers <i>It’s Your Money They’re After</i>, made in cooperation with the Yard in 1948. <br />
<br />
Barr’s understanding of what constituted police work and his insider knowledge of Scotland Yard continued to inform BBC series such as 1950’s <i>War On Crime</i> and 1951’s <i>I Made News</i>. Fictional dramatisations of crime and the work of the police emerged from this documentary-reconstruction tradition and the research methods used were central to the early development of <i>Dixon Of Dock Green</i> and <i>Z Cars</i>, both of which would set the template for the television studio based police series of the era. <br />
<br />
Many visual tropes in <i>War On Crime </i>were repeated in later dramas such as <i>Fabian Of The Yard</i> and <i>Dixon Of Dock Green</i> and production techniques used on <i>I Made News</i>, including creation of the new role of ‘director’ in BBC television production, had a lasting impact. Their reassuring public service element was eventually reconstituted within George Dixon’s direct to camera homilies in <i>Dixon Of Dock Green</i>.<br />
<br />
Barr’s innovations coalesced in 1952’s <i>Pilgrim Street</i>, a weekly, public service themed drama-documentary series that shared aspects of Basil Dearden’s iconic 1950 Ealing crime thriller <i>The Blue Lamp</i>. <i>Pilgrim Street</i>’s working title was ‘the Blue Lamp series’, both were co-written by Jan Read and, like <i>Dixon</i>, they focused on a police station’s ‘manor’ and ‘ordinary everyday crime’. A framing shot of the ‘police’ lamp outside Pilgrim Street station referenced a similar image in the film and would be repeated in the <i>Dixon Of Dock Green</i> series.<br />
<br />
<b>Scotland Yard and the dual-purpose film</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIwZp1HO2S1-zrItIZzJMyUGtnHS_L2pV5lHPWN_D99tgrHBs7ToeWDn8sQY8JaHip33FIcc_5SX3WgUxD8AAikoUWSO-_IKBqri2hoyVDyIeHTBX9krul4FF9MMwl097QY5gkD9wji4q/s1600/colonelmarch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIwZp1HO2S1-zrItIZzJMyUGtnHS_L2pV5lHPWN_D99tgrHBs7ToeWDn8sQY8JaHip33FIcc_5SX3WgUxD8AAikoUWSO-_IKBqri2hoyVDyIeHTBX9krul4FF9MMwl097QY5gkD9wji4q/s1600/colonelmarch.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq_fQeg5h_m5mOlNgwXHJTU81L_kIer-kl-xEyXKiCmjgT31T4YlULsLxucEys-Sc9uMphCmjS10oj30oe-Tlarxl00nz2HqRqT8cqZcnnSi18UsekhE7ScFXEjnZc0CiLyYFP-TgWFQ-/s1600/SaberofLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq_fQeg5h_m5mOlNgwXHJTU81L_kIer-kl-xEyXKiCmjgT31T4YlULsLxucEys-Sc9uMphCmjS10oj30oe-Tlarxl00nz2HqRqT8cqZcnnSi18UsekhE7ScFXEjnZc0CiLyYFP-TgWFQ-/s1600/SaberofLondon.jpg" /></a>ITV recognised the potential for British filmed series as way of filling their schedules. Dramas made on film rather than on tape, using a rationalised, economic production ethos, allowed Anglo Amalgamated/Merton Park, the Danzigers, Hannah Weinstein, Lew Grade’s ITC and Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman to make the transition from crime feature films to television production in the 1950s and fulfil the demand from the small screen. <br />
<br />
Anglo Amalgamated specialised in the dual-purpose film. 1953’s <i>Scotland Yard</i>, successor <i>The Scales of Justice</i> and their Edgar Wallace adaptations were featurettes shown in UK cinemas, sold for television broadcast in the US and later retransmitted on ITV. Quintessentially British, they explored an authentic London milieu on the verge of the social and cultural changes ushered in by the 1960s. Many of these films were based on actual cases and exploited the mythical status of Scotland Yard, due largely to the increasing relationship between sensationalist journalism and its ‘celebrity’ detectives. <br />
<br />
In 1959 ITC and Baker and Berman’s company New World agreed a deal to produce Leslie Charteris’s <i>The Saint </i>and adapt John Creasey’s George Gideon novels as <i>Gideon’s Way</i> for television. To make them, New World put together a stable of writers, including Terry Nation and Harry W. Junkin, and directors such as Cyril Frankel, Roy Ward Baker and John Gilling. All had considerable experience working on the crime feature films made by New Word’s predecessor Tempean and they were gainfully employed by Grade’s ITC making British-American hybrid crime adventure series for the next decade. <br />
<br />
American producer Hannah Weinstein came to Britain and established Fountain Films in 1952. She optioned the rights to John Dickson Carr’s Colonel March stories for a series of 26 dual-purpose half-hour film series transmitted as <i>Colonel March of Scotland Yard</i> on ITV from 1956. Boris Karloff played the eye-patched detective solving crimes too baffling for Scotland Yard, many with a hint of the supernatural. Weinstein, in collaboration with ITC, scored international success with historical adventure series <i>The Adventures of Robin Hood </i>but she returned to crime drama in 1959 with <i>The Four Just Men</i>, one of the first series to exploit the vogue for international detectives. <br />
<br />
Two American brothers, Harry and Edward Danziger also brought an American production ethos to Britain and speedily made a series of crime features and series with an American and British repertory company of directors, actors and writers, including the creator of <i>The Avengers</i>, Brian Clemens, ITC stalwart Dennis Spooner and the prolific Roger Marshall. <br />
<br />
Crime anthology series <i>The Vise</i>, produced in 1956 at Riverside Studios, eventually evolved into <i>Mark Saber</i>, a standard crime thriller featuring the eponymous former Scotland Yard man and gentleman detective. A British-American hybrid series, 130 half-hours of <i>Mark Saber</i> were networked in the US and then ran on ITV from 1957. It was retitled as <i>Saber of London</i> when NBC acquired the series and it ran for a further 90 episodes. <br />
<br />
The Danzigers also contributed to the development of the international crime adventure series with <i>Man From Interpol</i>, a production made entirely at Elstree that exploited the use of stock footage to represent a myriad of foreign locations. It was a format that would stand the likes of ITC in good stead throughout the 1960s. <br />
<br />
<b>From acid bath murders to terrorism</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcUWtWIeaqd3PKQEVbimVxPpw349DQRhL32s613RvFXPT_LnhFmnaPwEm66Y3JIPMrifZW0d_PtogCStENAMKVf4DNRqJGpTzH7pVYwU_k3Jpyf0MO5KLlETKE3U02z7V8tVLiEzI1Ich/s1600/fabian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcUWtWIeaqd3PKQEVbimVxPpw349DQRhL32s613RvFXPT_LnhFmnaPwEm66Y3JIPMrifZW0d_PtogCStENAMKVf4DNRqJGpTzH7pVYwU_k3Jpyf0MO5KLlETKE3U02z7V8tVLiEzI1Ich/s1600/fabian.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT576TgcJpm_ZIhUAzINV6OlCIyOUroap_njrna_BFUiF9XGmT7qW7NKOcSv9QKf6IWrRPTIwOI18unb3FT2-kAauGA8qdOYTqItHg4jFsowdiCjzcYu3O3byyKN-HcMyljCOqfvGbIpga/s1600/bluelamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT576TgcJpm_ZIhUAzINV6OlCIyOUroap_njrna_BFUiF9XGmT7qW7NKOcSv9QKf6IWrRPTIwOI18unb3FT2-kAauGA8qdOYTqItHg4jFsowdiCjzcYu3O3byyKN-HcMyljCOqfvGbIpga/s1600/bluelamp.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixK2hd0RsxG_AmwLj03zxCDaO8x-BUwWU4hXQcor2F5AaYZB4wv5_A3LezS6lKMJkeWALHxx6keY5jUCYaq-4DgMR25qEPZSNb54gm8uijjKoYP_V5Z0GvDb-USL3p9VDklWO4C80OaIcb/s1600/dixon3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixK2hd0RsxG_AmwLj03zxCDaO8x-BUwWU4hXQcor2F5AaYZB4wv5_A3LezS6lKMJkeWALHxx6keY5jUCYaq-4DgMR25qEPZSNb54gm8uijjKoYP_V5Z0GvDb-USL3p9VDklWO4C80OaIcb/s1600/dixon3.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
With the launch of ITV imminent, in 1954 the BBC was pressured into developing new formats for drama and comedy. The new Head of Light Entertainment Ronnie Waldman commissioned the weekly <b>Fabian Of The Yard</b>, written and produced by Robert Barr and made by Trinity Films for the BBC, which ran for 36 episodes between 1954 and 1956. <br />
<br />
Fabian shared many of the features of the US series <i>Dragnet</i>: it
was notable as one of the first British series shot entirely on film; it
used a voice-over travelogue to locate its crime stories in post war
reconstruction London; and it based its stories on many of the real-life
Fabian’s cases at Scotland Yard. The series’ noir-ish, forensic approach to everything from acid bath
murders to terrorism established the benchmark for the dramatised police
series on television. <br />
<br />
Barr had persuaded Robert Fabian, head of the Flying Squad, to appear in <i>I Made News </i>and
used his connections again to bring the detective to television. Actor
Bruce Seton played his fictional incarnation and would then be switched to the real Fabian for an awkward prologue and epilogue to each episode, another device borrowed from <i>Dragnet </i>and used more effectively by <i>Fabian</i>'s successor <i>Dixon Of Dock Green</i>.<br />
<br />
To replace <i>Fabian Of The Yard</i>, Ronnie Waldman asked writer Ted Willis to revive PC George Dixon, last seen murdered in Ealing’s crime thriller <i>The Blue Lamp</i>. Based on Fabian’s case files about the gangland murder of Alec de Antiquis.<br />
<br />
Written by Willis and Jan Read, the film’s depiction of the typical bobby on the beat and police teamwork set the tone for the television series Willis created. He told the Radio Times in January 1957 that he ‘discovered’ Dixon, while researching for <i>The Blue Lamp</i>, by walking ‘the manor’ with an East End copper and meeting the various denizens of the area around Leman Street Police Station. <br />
<br />
The writing of six initial scripts for the<b> Dixon of Dock Green</b> series were inspired by his research at Paddington Green police station and anecdotal evidence from hundreds of officers. It informed the direction Willis would take: ‘We decided from the start, win or lose, to break away from the accepted formula for police and crime stories. Dixon wouldn’t be Dixon in a programme which was full of wailing sirens, screeching brakes, gun fights, murderers and crazy mixed-up kids. His life is one of routine: traffic duty, drunks, night-beats, answering questions, handling minor criminals.’<br />
<br />
The avuncular Jack Warner reprised the role of George Dixon, whom he had played in <i>The Blue Lamp</i>, and became the epitome of community policing and the traditional image of the foot patrol policeman. The series consolidated the BBC’s move toward serialised drama and embraced the public service remit of Robert Barr’s documentaries, providing advice on crime prevention and information on support organisations such as the NSPCC.<br />
<br />
With Fabian’s demise, Barr moved to ITV and worked there until 1958, when Elwyn Jones enticed him to return to the BBC as a Group Producer. He produced the BBC’s <i>Scotland Yard</i> series in 1960 and oversaw the development of, and contributed scripts to, <i>Z Cars</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>A cosy, paternalistic attitude towards crime</b><br />
<br />
Willis left Dixon in 1963 as the 1960 Royal Commission on the Police and the Police Act 1964 responded to the public’s concerns about police corruption, organisational issues and accountability in a Britain then witnessing a crime wave. He and Warner were somewhat dismissive of <i>Z Cars</i> and its realistic reflection of these issues when it started transmission in 1962 but Willis later admitted that George Dixon was a product of his time, forever linked to Jack Warner’s gentle performance.<br />
<br />
Although criticised for its cosy, paternalistic attitude towards crime, the series made a valiant attempt, with an influx of new writers, to inject realism into the format. In 1966 producer Ronnie Marsh responded to the series’ perceived cosiness with ‘a new tempo’ and introduced a toughness into the series when writers Eric Paice and N. J. Crisp created stronger stories less focused on Dixon’s home life. <br />
<br />
When producer Joe Waters oversaw the series’ transition into the 1970s the lads of Dock Green were faced with police corruption, blackmail, suicide, gang warfare and gun crime. However, the final series in 1976, where a retired Dixon was re-employed as a civilian collator analysing criminal records, felt very anachronistic compared with the faster paced, gritty realism of <i>The Sweeney</i>. <br />
<br />
The legacy of George Dixon continues in period dramas <i>George Gently</i> and <i>Heartbeat</i>, both nostalgic derivations of the uniformed police series with the former exploring the moral complexities of policing and the latter retreating into an idealised past. The police station as the centre for community-based stories was also reconfigured in the equally long running <i>The Bill</i>. <br />
<br />
Robert Reiner, summarising this evolution, saw <i>Dixon Of Dock Green </i>as the thesis, with the police depicted as carers, <i>The Sweeney</i> as its antithesis where the police were controllers, and <i>The Bill</i>, as a synthesis of the two, showed the police as a service of interdependent care and control. The police series continues to evolve in this way, offering a pluralist approach to the depiction of police procedure and crime and its relationship with British society.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bibliography:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adams, Bernard, ‘Dixon of Dock Green: why TV’s longest-running crime series is more talked about than ever,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 20 January 1966).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leishmann, Frank, ‘From Dock Green to Life on Mars: Continuity and Change in TV Copland,’ inaugural lecture at University of Gloucestershire on 7 May 2008 (The Cyder Press, 2008). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mann, David, Britain’s First TV/Film Crime Series and the Industralisation of its Film Industry, 1946-1964, (The Edwin Mellen Press, Wales, New York, 2009)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reiner, Robert, ‘The Dialectics of Dixon: The Changing Image of the TV Cop’, in Mike Stephens and Saul Becker (eds), Police Force, Police Service (MacMillan, 1994)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolinson, David, ‘The Blue Lamp to The Black and Blue Lamp: The police in TV Drama’, 24 April 2011, British Television Drama (2009), available at http://www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=1429, accessed 3 March 2014. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sydney-Smith, Susan, Beyond Dixon Of Dock Green: Early British Police Series (I.B.Tauris, 2002).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Willis, Ted, ‘George Dixon of Dock Green is back,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 4 January 1957).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Willis, Ted, ‘Dock Green through the years,’ in Radio Times, (BBC, 17 September 1964). </span></li>
</ul>
<b><a href="https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2015/03/coppers-spies-revisited-kinky-boots-and.html">Next time: The Avengers and Z Cars</a> </b>Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-36936532111126487822014-08-24T16:43:00.000+01:002015-04-05T15:46:44.623+01:00DOCTOR WHO: Deep Breath / Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xFtyIoPKs_Ku6nI6BV2BAjRIyUHC6I9lOdPu9lf5mbDqfdetBLMnSv6g0JVrnD7hWOJszDV5o-5Dte8-Mq8PbSMXCzumJSh7gOHVVbJ5SdslAWxJvgl8WbLds9TErYCiWAoCnf5efcGx/s1600/db1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xFtyIoPKs_Ku6nI6BV2BAjRIyUHC6I9lOdPu9lf5mbDqfdetBLMnSv6g0JVrnD7hWOJszDV5o-5Dte8-Mq8PbSMXCzumJSh7gOHVVbJ5SdslAWxJvgl8WbLds9TErYCiWAoCnf5efcGx/s1600/db1.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>Deep Breath</b><br />
BBC One HD <br />
23 August 2014, 7.50pm<br />
<br />
Yes, take a deep one. <br />
<br />
We've had all the hype, all the leaks (I wonder what Marcelo Carmargo was doing as the episode went out) and we're down to the brass tacks. Does Peter Capaldi live up to his promise? I'll get to that presently.<br />
<br />
A new Doctor always precipitates some deft rearranging of the furniture. Back in 1966, replacing your lead actor was a risk in itself; in 1970 they did it again, went into colour and tweaked the format; and so on, and so forth. The series survived through changes of actor, rearranging of music, new titles, modes of production, not being on television at all... and as Capaldi himself self-effacingly admitted recently, he'll be loved by someone at least and he'll always be someone's Doctor. He knows the score.<br />
<br />
And Steven Moffat's done this before, handling the change from David Tennant to Matt Smith in <i>The Eleventh Hour</i>, and in the scheme of things (yes, <i>The Twin Dilemma</i> and <i>Time and the Rani </i>I'm looking at you) Smith's debut was generally acknowledged as a particularly good example of how to introduce a new Doctor. And now Moffat has to do it all over again but the situation is trickier. He has to convince young fans an older actor can carry the show again. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
So, let's get the cosmetic changes out of the way. Cue the bold new opening titles, inspired by designer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28883520">Billy Hanshaw's</a> much viewed portfolio piece on You Tube. The problem I have with them is the music. For a graphically powerful set of images - whirling timepieces, clocks, cogs, stars and planets - Murray Gold has opted to go heavy on the chimes and a theremin. I'm all for an emphasis of the wooo-eeeeee-wooooo-oooo sections of the Derbyshire-Grainer original but I'm not sure this version works. It sounds a bit too pared down for me. Not quite the plus ça change I was hoping for. Hanshaw's version using Gold's older arrangement, with the Derbyshire whoops intact, is a better combination. However, it's a mere quibble.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Here we go again.' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDv7lfCjRb7iESbeFGcalNnsOhlTpaK3sUAQhmiLaIPOARmAgm8gXURC3OgPPEAuVqWJhP38Ep_FxbT7ItU4Qe6ymUoU4orrWtcL9TIuTk6tOT8Gw_O2qxN2MY9gi1tE29edh5RgD-3Zyk/s1600/db2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDv7lfCjRb7iESbeFGcalNnsOhlTpaK3sUAQhmiLaIPOARmAgm8gXURC3OgPPEAuVqWJhP38Ep_FxbT7ItU4Qe6ymUoU4orrWtcL9TIuTk6tOT8Gw_O2qxN2MY9gi1tE29edh5RgD-3Zyk/s1600/db2.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwlq9bVGHeECRHKZE6Q6TAG2Y7HX3_-MIzmkmlyYtL_SDWD2efd0QXu6fnbPxVkRf1qyRg5mbW6ipgI1TPIIa8rFPhEWtdRdJME-XKYKM5p-ZThEURCLRP7oVl0z2TWEHF0GQE6uYBBK5/s1600/db3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitwlq9bVGHeECRHKZE6Q6TAG2Y7HX3_-MIzmkmlyYtL_SDWD2efd0QXu6fnbPxVkRf1qyRg5mbW6ipgI1TPIIa8rFPhEWtdRdJME-XKYKM5p-ZThEURCLRP7oVl0z2TWEHF0GQE6uYBBK5/s1600/db3.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWXIeZK7xnY3AMsgfvNTFi8UaA2NqTb3ZVFV9cG4MgdSQkAtrgKGdMp-hQy2QUgC_q1nM0EZ21F5-qpuffMWy4JOlgKW-rAfMA0MRoI0t7xHRjtpoL4Br2e5JSzQd9fBYZi3B2rHGin4f/s1600/db4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWXIeZK7xnY3AMsgfvNTFi8UaA2NqTb3ZVFV9cG4MgdSQkAtrgKGdMp-hQy2QUgC_q1nM0EZ21F5-qpuffMWy4JOlgKW-rAfMA0MRoI0t7xHRjtpoL4Br2e5JSzQd9fBYZi3B2rHGin4f/s1600/db4.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeFIb_jmDnAij6wSlU7aE_owpm5Z79V1WMTjUafJgKdIxAocpOBIasdkPTISt6PNSTVsOXPqZSbxL59hjNDxPHe2rgpw3ueo5eP2E7Kc9wu-_Ci8AikhZprj5dsssQzD9cbGTyxCZyHEy/s1600/db5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbeFIb_jmDnAij6wSlU7aE_owpm5Z79V1WMTjUafJgKdIxAocpOBIasdkPTISt6PNSTVsOXPqZSbxL59hjNDxPHe2rgpw3ueo5eP2E7Kc9wu-_Ci8AikhZprj5dsssQzD9cbGTyxCZyHEy/s1600/db5.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
The episode opens with a gorgeous shot, perhaps also a little nod to the dinosaur at sunset Chris Achilleos cover image of <i>Invasion of the Dinosaurs</i>. A dinosaur bellowing against a rusty coloured sky kids you into thinking you're back at the dawn of time until the camera pans away. The chimes of Big Ben provide a tantalising bit of schadenfreude as the dinosaur stomps across the Thames and puts the screaming abdabs up the crowd of Victorians rubbernecking on the Embankment. <br />
<br />
Those chimes also sound a note of doom echoed by the tolling of the Cloister Bell as a vomited up TARDIS disgorges the Twelfth Doctor and a very worried Clara Oswald before the astonished gaze of the Paternoster Gang. Capaldi hits the ground running as a disorientated post-regenerative Doctor whose ability to recognise faces both familiar and unfamiliar, including his own, has been severely compromised. Clara's seen the Doctor abruptly change and she's not sure she likes this wide-eyed, grey haired Scotsman who decides to take five face down in the Thames's mud. As Madame Vastra so eloquently quotes a certain Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, 'Here we go again.' <br />
<br />
Re-establishing the Doctor's identity is one of the key motifs here. It's not just for Clara's sake, as the story takes great pains to emphasise, it's also for that young audience out there for whom Matt Smith was their Doctor. Us old hands can take it in our stride but a franchise's continued success with that group clearly concerns those calling the shots at the BBC. But Moffat astutely turns this into a treatise on pre-judging appearances and identities - from the gender of dinosaurs to the self-awareness of artificial intelligences - and satisfactorily provides Clara's character ('the not-me one, the asking questions one') with some much needed substance.<br />
<br />
The otherness, the smile behind the veil, that lies beneath our outward appearances abounds in the story. Before the Doctor passes out on the shore of the Thames director Ben Wheatley, who makes a terrific job of this episode, opts for a series of point of view shots to emphasise the distances between us, the new Doctor and his friends. As the dark clouds of unconsciousness descend upon the Doctor we get a shot from his point of view, backing away from Clara, Strax and Vastra who are now rendered as even more alien to him. Wheatley then switches to a point of view shot of Clara and Strax looking at the Doctor as he backs away from them. Point of view is used sparingly in the current series but with Wheatley at the helm it crops up again in this story as does a later shot which breaks the fourth wall. <br />
<br />
As the Doctor takes a nap, Clara's inability to see beyond the Doctor's outward incarnation is challenged by Madame Vastra. These scenes allow for a more considered approach to character and explore Jenny and Vastra's domestic milieu both comedically and emotionally. There's, forgive the allusion, breathing space to add some nuances to the Paternoster Gang as well as to Clara. Vastra's take on seeing beyond the veil, on the ability to dress up or dress down, to pass as normal in straight Victorian society is configured with Clara's concerns about the Doctor.<br />
<br />
Her inability to accept his change marks her out as a stranger in the Paternoster circle. Vastra's position in polite Victorian society is a demonstration to Clara that when the Doctor regularly changes his appearance, the core of his being remains intact. He dons a new face, a new veil, to gain acceptance in the societies he comes into contact with. As Jenny reminds Clara when she mourns the absence of the Doctor, 'he's not gone, he's upstairs.' The Doctor looks different but is still present. It's a terrific scene that touches on acceptance, tolerance, age and expression and denial of desire between Jenny and Vastra, Clara and the Doctor.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Who frowned me this face?' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZWLhhR366b54u1xDl810lYbSFa9jve24HTlQ-EsiI4Gl49ORZ0fC3r6FZtbSdPNhyphenhypheni3GN1mk92mfnu4dbKFAhyphenhyphen6e3Xf4QitLU54SgotayURTM_dUquyZ3IwHxklPLpos0JmhjDzzvol_/s1600/db6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZWLhhR366b54u1xDl810lYbSFa9jve24HTlQ-EsiI4Gl49ORZ0fC3r6FZtbSdPNhyphenhypheni3GN1mk92mfnu4dbKFAhyphenhyphen6e3Xf4QitLU54SgotayURTM_dUquyZ3IwHxklPLpos0JmhjDzzvol_/s1600/db6.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-Ppsy9CEauLkz5o4flcTfiOZiZlbD34bUHYD77fVZ2prFztFB5QRlD9P4fFOU9DmFtQbzI8dT_lKxb1d28WRBFZEVvJ9EMNCczoxDUfCH4ZZn5dphPe-ie-xwHROWLJ5I0w3sis5lgNU/s1600/db7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-Ppsy9CEauLkz5o4flcTfiOZiZlbD34bUHYD77fVZ2prFztFB5QRlD9P4fFOU9DmFtQbzI8dT_lKxb1d28WRBFZEVvJ9EMNCczoxDUfCH4ZZn5dphPe-ie-xwHROWLJ5I0w3sis5lgNU/s1600/db7.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8pAlJzhjeDkv1RCm7MG5CeLqDX7ub5PzI9T1yrbSKDo3Wa0Nvr5cABJvSpG8mrcugTrlPu1Hjyntfc574jTrQeBipaVvLUPn3Gq1hMr3X0UKDazX9_EZanJVkUquEiOcU4UGYK7QLOak/s1600/db8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8pAlJzhjeDkv1RCm7MG5CeLqDX7ub5PzI9T1yrbSKDo3Wa0Nvr5cABJvSpG8mrcugTrlPu1Hjyntfc574jTrQeBipaVvLUPn3Gq1hMr3X0UKDazX9_EZanJVkUquEiOcU4UGYK7QLOak/s1600/db8.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNtQRWEe3YnlTeGP5uPn4ityybAthBLmFRvJe4MgjAI0d778A83xshYuSs2NQ_8rGzbMoRh1rV1U_VkJH_qkIMp39KFB_ZmOeXVHqkuudAOXFfeWH_uH4oMANJO8u29ZUNeoD71hH1u5Om/s1600/db9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNtQRWEe3YnlTeGP5uPn4ityybAthBLmFRvJe4MgjAI0d778A83xshYuSs2NQ_8rGzbMoRh1rV1U_VkJH_qkIMp39KFB_ZmOeXVHqkuudAOXFfeWH_uH4oMANJO8u29ZUNeoD71hH1u5Om/s1600/db9.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Moffat also has a lot of fun with Capaldi's and Neve McIntosh's Scottish accents. Vastra is the only one the Doctor can understand at first, someone who hasn't developed a faulty accent ('you all sound all... English!') and has a recognisable voice he can respond to. This is also underlined with the delightful scene with the tramp in the alleyway after the Doctor, gallivanting about in his nightie <span class="st">à la</span> Pertwee in <i>Spearhead From Space</i>, witnesses the spontaneous combustion of the dinosaur and plunges into the Thames.<br />
<br />
It is de rigueur in a Doctor's introductory episode to have scenes where the Doctor self-examines his latest regeneration. Capaldi shares this superb moment, where the Doctor is rather dark and threatening, with Brian Miller, husband of the late Elisabeth Sladen. Like many of his predecessors, having the new Doctor recognise his face in a mirror is a way for him to overcome these delusional misidentification symptoms.<br />
<br />
It is also interesting to note how the Doctor ponders on where his faces come from, suggesting we might eventually get an inkling as to why he resembles Roman merchant Lucius Caecilius Iucundus from <i>The Fires of Pompeii </i>and <i>Torchwood</i>'s Home Office permanent secretary John Frobisher. 'Who frowned me this face?' he asks the tramp before he remonstrates with him about eyebrows that could take off bottle tops and how, being Scottish, he can 'really complain about things now.' <br />
<br />
There is also the motif of characters physically and spiritually assembling a sense of themselves through the story. Strax examines Clara to test her fighting fitness, praising her 'enviable spleen' but also reveals her
subconscious desires and drives: 'deflective narcissism, traces of passive
aggressive and a lot of muscular young men doing sport.' The Doctor, naturally, is settling into a new body, gathering together memories and attributes. This is an analogue with the steampunk Victorian droids who, over the centuries, are constantly repairing and regenerating themselves from the resources around them, human beings. <br />
<br />
Moffat returns to the world of the repair droids seen in <i>The Girl in the Fireplace</i> and, although there is much horror and abjection generated from their appearances, their reappearance lacks some of the earlier episode's resonances and threatens to diminish its original reputation. That said, the scene in the restaurant offers us not only a great insight into the relationship between this new Doctor and Clara, played extremely well by Capaldi and Coleman and with a strikingly different chemistry than that she established with Matt Smith, but also the creeping sense of horror, the sound of uncanny clockwork in the air, as they realise they're bickering in a room full of automata. <br />
<br />
Automata of the Victorian era were also a symbol of the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the period's debates about human nature and human beings as organic machines so it is quite appropriate that the droids are used within this setting. The symbolism of the automata striving to find 'the promised land' is cleverly
used as a counterpoint to the humanity that Clara wants to find in the
new Doctor. There is a collapse in the boundary between humans and
machine in <b>Deep Breath</b>, underlined by the flesh and blood heroes needing to take that deep
breath and pass as machines, to briefly deny human feelings, in order to survive the droids' attention or attack.<br />
<br />
Ben Wheatley again returns to his use of the point of view shot here as Clara. seemingly abandoned by the Doctor and holding her breath for too long to escape from the droids' lair, passing as a mechanical being, is undone by her body's capacity to store air in its lungs. Wheatley's imagery is dreamlike and we see the edges of her vision blurring and reddening, a swirling recall of a memory as she passes out. It is this memory, of a challenge from a pupil in her class at school, that provides her with the strength to dismantle Half-Face Man's threats. It's also a mark of her faith in the Doctor, that he will return in the nick of time, that 'if the Doctor is still the Doctor, he will have my back.'<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'You probably can't even remember where you got
that face from.' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5DhtHQZztIh5IH0puuJdELmd7V6oa_Qwc2jN1ZgbierTIAz7SHjTmka_KpnTygfaqNbm3aD_1GaD6UZbWukjf3SC8apNUEj97A2SANsK8N-w4QTYQQlJ-j7Xk4tLXY5I5vlI6GafAWhj/s1600/db10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5DhtHQZztIh5IH0puuJdELmd7V6oa_Qwc2jN1ZgbierTIAz7SHjTmka_KpnTygfaqNbm3aD_1GaD6UZbWukjf3SC8apNUEj97A2SANsK8N-w4QTYQQlJ-j7Xk4tLXY5I5vlI6GafAWhj/s1600/db10.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb5OBCh8COgmERWyMRrUb-VQQTqfHnLxE4yKzobmGLN8AK6GEY6xDqnx4sLvH5cBQqsuDs09-RwJbumtN5P6vCD2FGwoBj04BJdBz4D-tEmgqvfLi3uZ6aNKmbClFL3Pq3z5p3GjuL3uA/s1600/db11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb5OBCh8COgmERWyMRrUb-VQQTqfHnLxE4yKzobmGLN8AK6GEY6xDqnx4sLvH5cBQqsuDs09-RwJbumtN5P6vCD2FGwoBj04BJdBz4D-tEmgqvfLi3uZ6aNKmbClFL3Pq3z5p3GjuL3uA/s1600/db11.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0asm8pTQ0YCSFrqT4ZAFuLxpXHvlwl7xiJddLseMo6jj-bGRmWNY2dCPTlQdwjvLWbqk6igHLPA6zt0Aa9qf9AGvabwDbJF7QRzmSCw6Z2YNcXJsDynnYIdi5QRpLayu7PHNkoeXIdVL/s1600/db12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0asm8pTQ0YCSFrqT4ZAFuLxpXHvlwl7xiJddLseMo6jj-bGRmWNY2dCPTlQdwjvLWbqk6igHLPA6zt0Aa9qf9AGvabwDbJF7QRzmSCw6Z2YNcXJsDynnYIdi5QRpLayu7PHNkoeXIdVL/s1600/db12.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-LdS2k46jZ0rgfOsSn-wIL6YCyzbRnd0WNVXSTSKd0JqFxHqHNaZ_LDZHdPe6R_0vldSN-AyoCX71tuZJl7b2XjOJLkp4AJZ2LxJxkwQuGycnTmk0_lBKT7xgO7CXW_Ds75wSTztEDvQ/s1600/db13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-LdS2k46jZ0rgfOsSn-wIL6YCyzbRnd0WNVXSTSKd0JqFxHqHNaZ_LDZHdPe6R_0vldSN-AyoCX71tuZJl7b2XjOJLkp4AJZ2LxJxkwQuGycnTmk0_lBKT7xgO7CXW_Ds75wSTztEDvQ/s1600/db13.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
When Clara is rescued from Half-Face Man, an unsettling performance from Peter Ferdinando, the episode summarises the debates about the boundaries between human and machine. The Doctor also squares his own conscience when he realises he will, in all likelihood, have to kill the droid in order to prevent the other droids from murdering Clara and the Paternoster Gang.<br />
<br />
As he must unlock the cold, hard logic within himself he also implores the machine to seek out its human qualities and do the honorable thing and save lives by self-destructing. This confrontation between Time Lord and cyborg is also about the machine discovering that to be human is to be mortal and that it must accept finitude and death. The notion of where the Doctor got his new face from, how he has constructed
himself, is also restated in the rhetorical question he asks of the
Half-Face Man at the climax of the episode.<br />
<br />
As the Doctor interrogates
the Droid, they both stand facing the mirrored surface of a tray
and the Doctor states: 'You probably can't even remember where you got
that face from.' Wheatley's shot of the tray reflecting the face of the Doctor on the tray as the machine considers its recycled origins is a wonderful moment of visual shorthand for the idea of the constructed nature of the self. <br />
<br />
Does the Doctor throw Half-Face Man from the escape pod, literally a vehicle of abjection with is human skin balloon taking it over the London rooftops, or did it commit the ultimate act of sacrifice? Did it overcome its basic programming or did the Doctor murder the creature? Again, Wheatley inserts a modicum of doubt by including a brief shot of Capaldi, stony faced, looking up from under those furious eyebrows and directly into camera. It's rather spine-tingling and implies the darker nature behind the new face.<br />
<br />
When we arrive at the end of the episode, Clara's doubts about the Doctor remain unresolved and it appears he has abandoned and forgotten her. She considers joining the Paternoster Gang but Vastra convinces her the Doctor will return for her. When the TARDIS does arrive, she steps into a redefined interior. The lighting is warmer, there are bookshelves along the walls. Quoting the Second Doctor, she offers of the changes to the TARDIS, 'You've redecorated. I don't like it' and is probably saying exactly that about the Doctor himself.<br />
<br />
Even the Doctor remains unconvinced of these changes but he is sure of one thing, he's more his own man again. Moffat underlines that the romantic associations between the Doctor and his companion are a thing of the past and we are on a new footing with the relationship between him and his companion. The Doctor firmly states, 'I'm not your boyfriend', which for Clara he never has been, and qualifies this assumption as a mistake on his part and not hers.<br />
<br />
A phone call from Trenzalore, from the Eleventh Doctor, offers a salve to Clara's trouble accepting this older man as the same Doctor she knew. Rather like Cho-Je appeared to the Brigadier and Sarah in <i>Planet of the Spiders</i> to give the regeneration of the Third into the Fourth a little push, the Eleventh parts from Clara suggesting the new Doctor will need her help to adjust and acclimatise. And as the Ninth Doctor found his feet by sharing some chips with Rose, the Twelfth sets out to bond with Clara over a coffee. Or is that coffee <i>and </i>chips?<br />
<br />
And there are mysteries yet to be solved. Who is the Mary Poppins-like
figure of Missy and what is the paradise she inhabits? Is she the woman
in the shop who gave Clara the Doctor's number and placed the ads in the
newspaper? Why does she refer to the Doctor as her boyfriend and then
claim of his new accent, 'Think I might keep it.' Let the speculation
begin. <br />
<br />
<b>Deep Breath</b> has, at its core, a re-defining of the Doctor-companion relationship and Moffat and director Ben Wheatley handle this to great effect. Visually, the episode looks sumptuous and, along with the setting up of the Twelfth Doctor's modus operandi, the tone achieved is just that bit darker, just that bit more serious. Of great importance here is the way Clara's doubts are often placed centre-stage, giving Jenna Coleman some much needed character development, and how Jenny and Vastra's relationship is given some weight and furthers the integration of positive cultural and sexual differences into the series.<br />
<br />
Capaldi nails the sharp humour of Moffat's lines but the plot isn't much of a departure from his signature tropes established as far back as <i>The Empty Child</i>, of half flesh-half machine opponents doggedly following their protocols, of remembering and forgetting and the power of the uncanny. Whether this signature will alter much is debatable as he tends to fall back on tried and tested motifs.<b> Deep Breath </b>does perhaps outstay its welcome at 75 minutes and might have benefited from some trimming but it's a very promising start for the Twelfth Doctor and Capaldi. <br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-53419503062385596002013-12-26T20:17:00.000+00:002015-04-05T15:47:19.948+01:00DOCTOR WHO: The Time of the Doctor / Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkH8PevAv0oACE5bWIrGUZHNR0PTQj-s8YnM6qvu0_TTrY03bO3ZmkxTFzS91IL0l2Q0u8gYnijv09ZI0ZBB7rEBAkwz3fhXDeTIfZ0P_9UEoKM7TBfWki187HxWBQLFElhal3oqLfQl85/s1600/TOD1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkH8PevAv0oACE5bWIrGUZHNR0PTQj-s8YnM6qvu0_TTrY03bO3ZmkxTFzS91IL0l2Q0u8gYnijv09ZI0ZBB7rEBAkwz3fhXDeTIfZ0P_9UEoKM7TBfWki187HxWBQLFElhal3oqLfQl85/s320/TOD1.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>The Time of the Doctor</b><br />
BBC One HD <br />
25 December 2013, 7.30pm<br />
<br />
Your stomach's fit to burst and only until you force down yet another luxury chocolate or another branded bit of confectionary from a selection box do you realise that perhaps you've overindulged at Christmas. Yet, you keep going back for more. You pile into turkey, Christmas pudding, mince pies as if you've never seen such a feast before. But you've seen it and eaten it all before. You do it every year.<br />
<br />
Sorry, I was digressing. Just thinking about my Christmas dinner again. Oddly enough, the after effects - flatulence and indigestion - did not abate watching <b>The Time of the Doctor</b>. For an end of era story, featuring a regeneration to boot, it felt as if Steven Moffat was devouring a running buffet of the last three seasons under his auspices. Another bowl of fish custard, anyone? One more slice of turkey?<br />
<a name='more'></a>Moffat's trilogy, beginning with <i>The Name of the Doctor</i>, continuing in <i>The Day of the Doctor</i> and concluding here, is firmly centred on the impending change from Matt Smith to Peter Capaldi but it is also an attempt to deal with 'the final problem'. What happens when the Doctor reaches his final incarnation and how does the show get past the 'rule' of thirteen Doctors as set down by Robert Holmes in 1976's <i>The Deadly Assassin</i>? In the anniversary year Moffat is clearly on a mission to deal with this shibboleth and, as is customary, break every rule in the book.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I can change 12 times. 13 versions of me'</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFW1qZzrcBkJ9v8g5am4J3kKncCe7CGGTmh2Gp29BauCECYoG1FP8l_qH8UvDDknSMMnBJDbVxQBmeMb5fdgc-Zk81K250mvV0KMksDKXa0AKO-QAilaAD3BSp3CHLExOXZMFTRLXWfeiL/s1600/TOD1A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFW1qZzrcBkJ9v8g5am4J3kKncCe7CGGTmh2Gp29BauCECYoG1FP8l_qH8UvDDknSMMnBJDbVxQBmeMb5fdgc-Zk81K250mvV0KMksDKXa0AKO-QAilaAD3BSp3CHLExOXZMFTRLXWfeiL/s320/TOD1A.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6OR9O1RBAME-nRdOlpC0D20ufQMhDNz5Qk1zO4J3qGaEw1T1ucb_m0xh5uN394RkeuA12LrH0aV8N8s3N8hye9-EaKHC9sIS8LXNyDByuqnkL-wIaWXhlyWkpXbieloOvalC2rLpWqtm/s1600/tod1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6OR9O1RBAME-nRdOlpC0D20ufQMhDNz5Qk1zO4J3qGaEw1T1ucb_m0xh5uN394RkeuA12LrH0aV8N8s3N8hye9-EaKHC9sIS8LXNyDByuqnkL-wIaWXhlyWkpXbieloOvalC2rLpWqtm/s320/tod1b.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI1uVlWssGOFn0L0D-2j1D2foY2OvCXilLjG6fJxF-X_rWc86UvBiSgeO3rvx_25LJTp040RLNn4att23zbzXEZrCaIIuVvrDgTgF_RJpjDxk53qzS5FQ7ODPhUJW0yYOhnACCb6nJEls/s1600/ToD2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI1uVlWssGOFn0L0D-2j1D2foY2OvCXilLjG6fJxF-X_rWc86UvBiSgeO3rvx_25LJTp040RLNn4att23zbzXEZrCaIIuVvrDgTgF_RJpjDxk53qzS5FQ7ODPhUJW0yYOhnACCb6nJEls/s320/ToD2.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPcKl_WHgN0c6-v7Mgc2IVRQaXp_qPJX-rOyyf95N4MXFI0WIeV6nlz10KQzzUH6TKZ9sYdRycKXrbG7qKuD-2R5rPS24IATEWOBtgCsbQcTImwodDqUqacSULR9yFdiWbmfcEF7oRsHqG/s1600/tod3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPcKl_WHgN0c6-v7Mgc2IVRQaXp_qPJX-rOyyf95N4MXFI0WIeV6nlz10KQzzUH6TKZ9sYdRycKXrbG7qKuD-2R5rPS24IATEWOBtgCsbQcTImwodDqUqacSULR9yFdiWbmfcEF7oRsHqG/s320/tod3.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>The Time of the Doctor</b>'s entire running time therefore reduces down, a bit like a red wine sauce, to one very crucial exchange between Clara and the aged Eleventh Doctor. It's just after half way through the episode when Clara assures the Doctor he can change again. 'No, not for ever. I can change 12 times. 13 versions of me,' explains the Doctor. Clara, as our representative canon keeper, tells him he's number 11. Moffat, having already wedged in John Hurt's Doctor between McGann and Eccleston, triumphantly waggles his finger and reminds us that back in <i>Journey's End</i>: 'Number 10 once regenerated and kept the same face.'<br />
<br />
So there you have the problem. Now for the solution. Clearly there are a number of plot points to deal with from <i>The Day of the Doctor</i><b> </b>regarding the Time Lords. Were they saved in another universe as was postulated? Will the Doctor find them and restore them to our universe? Moffat essentially deals with the regeneration question and the Time Lords rather adeptly but the resolution on its own could never fill an hour's television.<br />
<br />
Like many of Moffat's grander episodes, especially his season finales, we get a modicum of plot floating in a sea of random ideas (wooden Cybermen, anyone?), highly crafted and exceptional visuals, and what feels like a race against the running time to answer all of the nagging questions he's littered the series with since 2010. <br />
<br />
The episode opens with a typical Moffat trope. The fairy tale introduction of 'once upon a time...' If anything can be said about the Matt Smith era then the use of fairy or folk tale and mythology (not just the classic variety but also the show's own in-built history) is vital to the construction and definition of the Doctor during Moffat's tenure.<br />
<br />
Series 5 was wholly focused on the 'crack in the universe' arc and how the restitution of the shattering universe was tied into the maturing of the companion, Amy Pond and the Peter Pan/Wendy relationship between her and the Doctor; Series 6 was busy exploring the origins of River Song and her marriage, the fairy tale mystique of 'the perfect husband', her initial role in the Silence's campaign to destroy the Doctor and his own demystification; Series 7 was focused on the name of the Doctor and the power of the Time Lord's mythology.<br />
<br />
All these specific story arcs can very neatly fit into the definition and purpose of folk tale as determined by Vladimir Propp, for example. His examination of the Russian folk tale as a series of functions works very well in context with <i>Doctor Who</i>, outlining the role of the hero and villain and specific motifs. For Moffat, <b>The Time of the Doctor </b>is an opportunity to return to many of his own motifs and replay them to examine the psychology of the Doctor, his relationship with a specific community (Time Lords, the inhabitants of Christmas town and, briefly, Clara's family) and the cosmology of the universe (the religious zeal of his enemies and their desire to wipe him and the Time Lords out, the causation of the crack in the universe, the actual passage of time).<br />
<br />
Tasha Lem announces that 'once there was a planet' which sent out a
message to the universe. Messages, hidden or in plain sight, are another
Moffat trope. They've been in his episodes since <i>Blink</i>'s warning
behind the wallpaper. Characters are always offering the Doctor a
cryptic warning, an interdiction to seek out some useful piece of
knowledge, and here it's 'a bell tolling among the stars' returning us to the
vexed question of 'Doctor Who?', something which seems to have perplexed
Moffat for some time. <br />
<br />
The problem is I don't really care about that question. I've never asked
the question because I already know the answer, as do many millions of
fans I suspect. Moffat is worried we are still asking that question some
50 years after the series started. The 'Doctor Who?' gag worked well in <i>An Unearthly Child</i> but we got the joke long ago and I think you can stop embarrassing yourself Steven.<br />
<br />
Fair enough that it's partly understandable in the context of an
exploration of the Doctor's mythology but the fact that no one still
knows his real name is an itch Moffat obsessively scratches at. The
expression of the Doctor's mythology in <i>The Day of the Doctor,</i>
where Moffat delivered a satisfying re-statement of the iconic nature of
the title hero, is somewhat deflated by returning to the leftover plot elements of <i>The Wedding of River Song</i> and <i>The Name of the Doctor</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_p10mVQb06hs-TLDFJ_oIJRqlXp2UR5dC6R-aEgca-PKO9ANf4sGRdo17smnHoH70X9NwMi0-tA1pLzn7bJOwXmEYUStepT9PGRWOvx3THrTORaQYbi9hQZB87C05p-bXfOuwg82EhpoE/s1600/tod3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_p10mVQb06hs-TLDFJ_oIJRqlXp2UR5dC6R-aEgca-PKO9ANf4sGRdo17smnHoH70X9NwMi0-tA1pLzn7bJOwXmEYUStepT9PGRWOvx3THrTORaQYbi9hQZB87C05p-bXfOuwg82EhpoE/s320/tod3b.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYuoEU3hhX_w19oU5jJAIB_psJ__9T-81z80agJzcMxV_WjyMc0gN5WDHOD9TRuF52cPBHC6qEF8moTGACcOSiZf7qopOfWGc00txCb2j2OkSXysLqTDNl5m9U_YnSU5iWPt5PB5C0TXG/s1600/tod3a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYuoEU3hhX_w19oU5jJAIB_psJ__9T-81z80agJzcMxV_WjyMc0gN5WDHOD9TRuF52cPBHC6qEF8moTGACcOSiZf7qopOfWGc00txCb2j2OkSXysLqTDNl5m9U_YnSU5iWPt5PB5C0TXG/s320/tod3a.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZrYtMV1tWczjVcbWAf0m42Awdl61sTDJjB0KHXfEBRY3XNxAeNT4lfYtIwZOv5qUSNZFooH7SzfwEygzsC03cQ8cd48U17-wbwgDgIsJK2m7aSHVE0n9Mo74UTAVpXAN-cF60uMM6huY/s1600/TOD4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZrYtMV1tWczjVcbWAf0m42Awdl61sTDJjB0KHXfEBRY3XNxAeNT4lfYtIwZOv5qUSNZFooH7SzfwEygzsC03cQ8cd48U17-wbwgDgIsJK2m7aSHVE0n9Mo74UTAVpXAN-cF60uMM6huY/s320/TOD4.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>There is a feeling of inevitability to <b>The Time of the Doctor</b>. The return to Trenzalore to hear the oldest question in the universe answered is as welcome as the undercooked turkey sitting in the innards of the TARDIS. That the name is a password to facilitate the return of the Time Lords brings it all to the attention of his enemies. Just as in <i>The Big Bang</i>, their ships mass above the Doctor's head. It's a way for Moffat to throw in the monsters and explosions as he tries to bring closure to many of his hanging narratives. <br />
<br />
One of the nonsensical moments in the episode is right there in the pre-titles sequence. Why does the Doctor randomly teleport onto a Dalek ship carrying a bit of a Dalek? Why does he rely on Handles to do this for him? Is he unable to identify Dalek ships these days without the aid of a disembodied Cyberman head?<br />
<br />
There are sophisticated scanners on the TARDIS which he clearly uses to identify the ships <i>after</i> he's risked life and limb to visit them. Where's the sense in that? The only joy in that scene is to see lots of Daleks ranting at the Doctor. And how many times have we seen that? As if to ram home the point Moffat repeats it again by sending the Doctor and Handles to a ship full of Cybermen. The duplication of a scene within minutes must be a bit of record and it feels distinctly like padding. <br />
<br />
It's structurally a very elaborate set up for Handles the Cyberman where the whole business of patching the telephone back to the console is a bit of joke about the role of the companion and their facility to act as the audience's representative, constantly and repetitively asking for the answer to the bleeding obvious.<br />
<br />
Paying off later in the episode, it's an uncomplicated relationship and the question of a companion's loyalty, friendship and emotional baggage - the 'feels' as the modern kids are keen to describe them - is thrown into sharp relief by a lump of metal with two jug ears. Remember when Tom Baker thought a talking cabbage would make a good companion...<br />
<br />
In stark contrast we get Clara ringing the Doctor up and pleading with him to be her 'boyfriend' because she's having a shit Christmas Day with her relatives and the cooking of a turkey seems to be beyond an intelligent woman who is supposed to be a teacher? Mind you, she was terrible at making<span class="st"> soufflés</span>. Ironically, Clara jokes about the turkey being 'dead and decapitated' as usual for Christmas. Is Handles the talking turkey, then? Or is the episode considered ready for stuffing?<br />
<br />
We're back again into the 'imaginary friend' trope. The Raggedy Man does seem to attract obsessive types. If it isn't Amelia Pond going doolally after meeting the Doctor as a child then it's Clara demanding his presence at table because she's so insecure she can't be an independent single woman without inventing a boyfriend. She's really rather pathetic begging him on the phone to 'come to Christmas dinner and be my Christmas date'. As a character she's still lacking in consistency.<br />
<br />
Clara's family seems to have undergone a change. Her dad seems to have
aged terribly since we last saw him (a result of re-casting it seems) in
<i>The Rings of Akhaten</i> and he's saddled with a snooty, scornful
girlfriend, Linda. When the TARDIS lands at the Powell Estate (yes, your
eyes are not deceiving you - it's the same location as used in <i>Rose</i>) you half expect Jackie and Rose to invite the Doctor in.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'dead and decapitated' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdw073RHpaxDuZK3RGkfMBHurxVEfF1-oyd5T_3YqppSk71uOyD6JWhVmTDctIVkIdkajVl0q15eHXwc76yol6rGEMbGkowpDza_kgJ-iwJQ0sgFOveX_JVusOthCvo6ShQtwkrsDymhV/s1600/tod5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdw073RHpaxDuZK3RGkfMBHurxVEfF1-oyd5T_3YqppSk71uOyD6JWhVmTDctIVkIdkajVl0q15eHXwc76yol6rGEMbGkowpDza_kgJ-iwJQ0sgFOveX_JVusOthCvo6ShQtwkrsDymhV/s320/tod5.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhztPr3t7NVxGAvTGz1QqWZph-yd0PXD5H13DeHWvm5Z77KKjHfUEvOsgjzxKnp6Re9ZSaXx5JMmkwQ50NtgevKk7w7mTd8FHru7lqstcfSq_4VqZpVlMMBagat4xO8iu5nPYFIg4pIwBwj/s1600/tod6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhztPr3t7NVxGAvTGz1QqWZph-yd0PXD5H13DeHWvm5Z77KKjHfUEvOsgjzxKnp6Re9ZSaXx5JMmkwQ50NtgevKk7w7mTd8FHru7lqstcfSq_4VqZpVlMMBagat4xO8iu5nPYFIg4pIwBwj/s320/tod6.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMbpHs_5tEjIXgSARcIVFAdRTfh5pXy11S-gga8nS4YxFdj1E_qWgFG6CMAHXznvF4pf8rhlRIx9ksqg1WWu6zIIlZ8Sv_LYOzhCuEfF5uvB1mYNP1f3AJOcpkURERiY8qDOMk-rRjQl9/s1600/tod7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMbpHs_5tEjIXgSARcIVFAdRTfh5pXy11S-gga8nS4YxFdj1E_qWgFG6CMAHXznvF4pf8rhlRIx9ksqg1WWu6zIIlZ8Sv_LYOzhCuEfF5uvB1mYNP1f3AJOcpkURERiY8qDOMk-rRjQl9/s320/tod7.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
He certainly had a better time of it round theirs in <i>The Christmas Invasion</i> after all and he didn't have to show up stark bollock naked or slap his companion on her arse to get some attention. Just more bewildering attempts at comedy in an attempt to work in another of those ideas - hologram clothes - that have nothing of relevance to the story but Moffat seems to think we'll enjoy. So you go to church wearing hologram clothes and spend the entire episode naked? Really? Because 'we're all naked underneath'? A clumsy old metaphor if ever there was one. <br />
<br />
And the really good metaphor is about the turkey. Clara is so inept at cooking and having boyfriends that she has to use the TARDIS to vortex cook the poor dead bird. 'It'll either come up a treat, or possibly lay some eggs,' warns the Doctor. The latter in the case of <b>The Time of the Doctor</b>.<br />
<br />
The use of the family really does echo back to the RTD era and the best it can achieve here is with the character of Gran, a lovely little turn by Sheila Reid, who seems to be the only one to emotionally connect with the ridiculous presence of the Doctor and, later, with a depressed Clara who has been returned to Earth by the Doctor to keep her safe. Gran's age and wisdom runs in parallel with the aged Doctor sitting and philosophising in the church on war torn Trenzalore. <br />
<br />
It's only until we've got the boyfriend meeting the family at Christmas and turkey out of the way that we finally get back to the rudiments of the plot and the elements left unresolved from the last three seasons. <br />
<br />
Of course nothing is straight-forward in Moffat's world. At first we're told that the planet around which the Doctor's enemies mass and from the where the message originates is Gallifrey but as the Doctor points out to the talking cabbage... sorry Handles... he knows Gallifrey when he sees it and that isn't it. Which is handy when the Papal Mainframe pops up and the Mother Superious, Tasha Lem, invites them to her security church. A step up, but not much, from a security kitchen then. A religious order that controls the universe and is 'keeping you safe in this world and the next' could do with a security chapel and a security choir stall. <br />
<br />
And it's here that we get to the more interesting aspects of a flabby story. Beyond the smoke and mirrors of daft ideas, one of the central themes here is about religions and factions seeking control over a war. Moffat places this in contrast to the awkward family Christmas, the ritual we are left with at this time of year where people who don't really like each other force themselves to glut in celebration of a Christian calendar's appropriation of the pagan winter solstice.<br />
<br />
He reflects on the season's Christian themes of rebirth and the Doctor's regeneration and the idea that Christmas town, an idealised snow covered place of contentment where innocent inhabitants can only be truthful, is some sort of symbol for the West Bank and Bethlehem's position in the Palestinian and Israeli battle for control of the region. <br />
<br />
The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Silence and the Weeping Angels provide a visual analogy to the town's long history of being caught in decades of political, social and religious conflicts and the Doctor's slow path defence of Christmas town is a reminder of the tense sieges and the armed stand offs in Bethlehem. The security church maintains a truce over the planet and, acting as a peace keeping force, allows the Doctor down as some sort of special envoy. As the Doctor so eloquently sums up the plot 15 minutes in, 'sweet little town covered in snow, half the universe in terror', just as certain angels interrupt the proceedings. <br />
<br />
We're back again to the idea of the the religious order setting out to destroy the Doctor as seen in <i>A Good Man Goes To War</i>. And then we have the femme fatale figure of Tasha Lem. A sultry figure before whom you must appear naked and who is just as fixated on the Doctor's history as River Song. Moffat's idea of strong women is, as always, questionable. He likes them powerful ('boss of the psycho space nuns') and - yes, for the final time - feisty but very needy. We've been here and done this many times before with River, with Irene Adler and other 'mother' figures. This time there's no mucking about and the shenanigans between the Doctor and 'Tash', frothing and flirting over a bed that looks like an altar, is all heavy handed and adolescent in its conflation of repression, sex and religion.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyuZG-ov8E62A1T13lK4sna0RszHzYP3Pvm57tF73k3MwFppe901iWnfhXWq8qnaz9vI3ZqHF_G_ciUydrKK1Mh-QgNmZo-g8POjPnzCTsEzYVfO4yON5My9Qz4lnnfC6i7m0LJZaTwJE/s1600/tod8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyuZG-ov8E62A1T13lK4sna0RszHzYP3Pvm57tF73k3MwFppe901iWnfhXWq8qnaz9vI3ZqHF_G_ciUydrKK1Mh-QgNmZo-g8POjPnzCTsEzYVfO4yON5My9Qz4lnnfC6i7m0LJZaTwJE/s320/tod8.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1AYD6zFjcbsOViFkCpPwfVCtjHJ4W9TOQLI1iMGjdbSvFlI237yFoeuDPbJVfy5BcCcQgMrkUztuKBw-B2dWNT3ws3qUkTUEk3-DMistPWOQ8hO1T-acGENkKiy8XZEHMFzoSAjAs80l/s1600/tod10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1AYD6zFjcbsOViFkCpPwfVCtjHJ4W9TOQLI1iMGjdbSvFlI237yFoeuDPbJVfy5BcCcQgMrkUztuKBw-B2dWNT3ws3qUkTUEk3-DMistPWOQ8hO1T-acGENkKiy8XZEHMFzoSAjAs80l/s320/tod10.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ffsr4aiUp9s-dxKK_ALYED2jXH2MxQlExW8Wn0oOiy47ufI_K5yid0xvsmJvTddFhxHTT3QMdGio9GM2fmlDyE84iHiEvlSxBqqzhSHrITKEa_VoMVOIuY-hmausk9tIWncCgUIpZATj/s1600/tod11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ffsr4aiUp9s-dxKK_ALYED2jXH2MxQlExW8Wn0oOiy47ufI_K5yid0xvsmJvTddFhxHTT3QMdGio9GM2fmlDyE84iHiEvlSxBqqzhSHrITKEa_VoMVOIuY-hmausk9tIWncCgUIpZATj/s320/tod11.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Still, let's give Moffat his due. He actually confesses rather smugly he's not very good at writing female characters by cracking a few jokes about it. Under the influence of the planet's truth field, even Clara confesses she's 'a bubbly personality masking bossy control freak' and, let's give a round of applause to the trope of all tropes, that she ran off with an alien because she fancied him. Oh, Lord. <br />
<br />
Oh, and the idea that the Doctor can hide a TARDIS key in his wig is just more sleight of hand to get the TARDIS down to Christmas town and a bit of silliness, elbowing the audience in the ribs and saying, 'we know you know Matt had his hair cut for a film and we've had to give him a wig.' Oh, my sides.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, now properly clothed and having landed on the planet, the Doctor and Clara can get back to the story and start dealing with all sorts of continuity references. The biggest is of course the crack in the wall the Doctor discovers in the church. Not only was the crack a major story arc in Series 5 but it was also the thing the Doctor most feared when he popped into room 11 of the hotel in <i>The God Complex</i>. Some quick flashbacks remind those of us who may have forgotten.<br />
<br />
It's taken 20 minutes of frankly a lot of arsing about to actually get to the point where the Doctor realises that Handles has decoded a message from Gallifrey as it tries to re-enter our universe through the weakest point of the crack in reality. Cue frantic exchange of dialogue and the real consequence of the truth field designated by the Time Lords as a sort of galactic lie detector. <br />
<br />
And yet another sleight of hand. The Doctor suddenly produces the seal of the High Council, which presumably has been gathering dust in his pocket since <i>The Five Doctors</i> in 1983, to decode the Time Lord's message. We could have avoided 20 minutes of arsing about if he'd just bothered to heed Handles telling him the message was from Gallifrey and fumbled in his pocket there and then. Handles, the bodiless prophet, decodes the message and reminds us of the other bodiless seer of Maldovar and Dorium's conversation with the Doctor in <i>The Wedding of River Song</i>.<br />
<br />
He informed him of his impending death on Trenzalore and about 'The First Question, the oldest question in the Universe, that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight.' Time's up and the First Question needs to be answered truthfully but to do so would bring the Time Lords back to face the mass of enemies in orbit above the planet. The Time War would recommence. In order to prevent that the Doctor is forced to remain as a guardian over the planet, growing old and infirm as he protects the inhabitants of Christmas town against the various attacks from above.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Raggedy man... Goodnight.' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbt1He8X16MCPihyphenhyphenhkLgbWcaWUY3aqf5p_AyMhcKue80I3n1IB0XvBp3084MAfBmD-a7oJjVIhT8b9j0smG7IuuXmx_zvLjxCWUer2mhSQGRA8gGyko6-RQ52ZZ4Ae-ZgaAi0KEaTRzCZ/s1600/tod13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbt1He8X16MCPihyphenhyphenhkLgbWcaWUY3aqf5p_AyMhcKue80I3n1IB0XvBp3084MAfBmD-a7oJjVIhT8b9j0smG7IuuXmx_zvLjxCWUer2mhSQGRA8gGyko6-RQ52ZZ4Ae-ZgaAi0KEaTRzCZ/s320/tod13.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQGzO5lGcMWbGE7FzTlE_k7WobAbHLPyq7OC59mlEk6_UFlwTD7mXNrJm6LXKjq4CuxJzjFH25kjcxZhYz0ClLleVRVN6QAI9QXf3AIlHrCuODAEC4TRCuvMQvQ4aOqUTvX16TUGOy0pz/s1600/tod18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQGzO5lGcMWbGE7FzTlE_k7WobAbHLPyq7OC59mlEk6_UFlwTD7mXNrJm6LXKjq4CuxJzjFH25kjcxZhYz0ClLleVRVN6QAI9QXf3AIlHrCuODAEC4TRCuvMQvQ4aOqUTvX16TUGOy0pz/s320/tod18.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUydsbJhS8rGH3fkuCbLB7wzibMtoxS8hQyG5TiavPRoxwqnLRVXsPjwzOJSuGsTWxtr3ICp2RZsaOpGt3TaplMjplclK3pjdKmc9-yeTWUnDjcf-6_IiVg8VYSGhTHQq5Wp-TEskD4kY/s1600/tod19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUydsbJhS8rGH3fkuCbLB7wzibMtoxS8hQyG5TiavPRoxwqnLRVXsPjwzOJSuGsTWxtr3ICp2RZsaOpGt3TaplMjplclK3pjdKmc9-yeTWUnDjcf-6_IiVg8VYSGhTHQq5Wp-TEskD4kY/s320/tod19.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Silence falls because the Doctor must not speak his name. Trenzalore will burn if he does. In essesnce this again reaches back into fairy and folk tales and the power of names and naming. There are of course the well known magic words, the saying of something will make it happen, such as shazam or abracadabra. The Doctor's name is a word of power, a symbol of the uncanny in Moffat's world driven by the hidden and the unknowable.<br />
<br />
The unnamed Time Lord God must remain abstract. If he is revealed as a sham, like the Wizard of Oz, then he is simply an ordinary man sitting in the middle of all the episode's pyrotechnics. The truth field ensures that those guessing the name of the Doctor will never acquire power over him. The Doctor should be an unknowable power, personified as 'Doctor Who?' Like Rumplestiltskin, if the Doctor is named his power is taken away from him. <br />
<br />
The episode once again turns to Tasha Lem's voice over narrative and a montage of scenes to depict the consequences of the Doctor's attempts to protect the town and the Time Lords. The distancing effect of these voice over narratives, particularly when
they are performed by a character we do not yet know, is something
fellow reviewer Stuart Ian Burns astutely focuses on in his review <a href="http://feelinglistless.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-2013-doctor-time-of-doctor.html">here</a>. This montage comes complete with comedy invisible Sontarans and children's games (another Moffat trope) with wooden Cybermen equipped with flame throwers. How wooden Cybermen would actually work is debatable but they underline a fairy tale approach to the final, stronger half of the episode. <br />
<br />
Here we learn that it was the Kovarian chapter of the Papal Mainframe who blew up the TARDIS and sent River Song to assassinate him and these revelations thus tidy up, without much fanfare considering their importance, the threads of continuity that have been hanging around since 2010. But that's by the by. The last 25 minutes are dominated by Matt Smith and his quietly powerful performance as an aged Doctor, a wizened sheriff facing off the terrors invading the town. As many have pointed out, the youngest actor to get the role is transformed into a little old man just as he relinquishes it to the oldest actor chosen as his replacement.<br />
<br />
He's at the height of his powers and rescues an episode that doesn't quite find its feet until he comes hobbling out of the church and tricks a Cyberman into blowing itself up. There are lots of tiny little echoes - the Monoids in the puppet show, a mention of arm wrestling a Draconian, the drunk giraffe, the children drawing countless pictures of their hero - which reinforce the notion of the Doctor as a myth, a legend, a powerful story of 'the man who stayed for Christmas' and gave his life to keep Christmas safe in all meanings of the word. Well, we'd all wait for him, guarding his TARDIS. <br />
<br />
And of course the name of the Doctor <i>is</i> hidden in plain sight. Clara, having returned from the safety of Earth after the Doctor packed her off in the TARDIS (just like he did with Rose in <i>The Parting of the Ways</i>), reminds the Time Lords that his name has always been 'The Doctor' when the Daleks take over the Papal Mainframe and invade the planet. Sadly, we say goodbye to Handles, a companion who stuck with the Doctor for 300 years, who never once had to dress up as a policewoman or cook a turkey but who could remember to remind the Doctor to patch the telephone into the console. Faithful unto death. <br />
<br />
Moffat even makes sure that the Daleks know who the Doctor is (their knowledge of him was wiped from their databanks by Clara in <i>Asylum of the Daleks</i>) after they harvest Tasha Lem's body and he falls into their trap aboard the Papal Mainframe. Sadly, we're back into 'Doctor insults a woman for being weak but really gets her angry' territory so he can snog her and she can destroy his enemies. The strong woman who really desires to be bowled over by a wiser father figure motif is crude at best and it's a trope that Moffat tiresomely drags out again and again. In this universe, it's either get 'feisty' women hot under the collar or ask them to undertake some self sacrifice to prove themselves. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpICZOEPfKU6f1CWP-4LCioHLq5BgmJtSutLCt4mtd4sd8-mHaAiCdxMcK2DdJdAvEbuav_BC-2lbFEGNZS60rvXfOkqCTRtwJTiCdOMWDHrvwcMZCrDnzlKHKs9V1fthfAkjRFmvAvjY/s1600/tod20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpICZOEPfKU6f1CWP-4LCioHLq5BgmJtSutLCt4mtd4sd8-mHaAiCdxMcK2DdJdAvEbuav_BC-2lbFEGNZS60rvXfOkqCTRtwJTiCdOMWDHrvwcMZCrDnzlKHKs9V1fthfAkjRFmvAvjY/s320/tod20.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXUP8ue4Hy8wxVnhuJw7EWNXBxMu7AJLZByAhci1-KdJ9YiLVwEtaNXmdlAfaiOxMiy-32zKslugLc0-bTPOeSqFHjnyBtc6oN9gQ0WA7tJHChv_78BghODSmluDF_bWVCCx7Lx-jxpyv/s1600/tod21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXUP8ue4Hy8wxVnhuJw7EWNXBxMu7AJLZByAhci1-KdJ9YiLVwEtaNXmdlAfaiOxMiy-32zKslugLc0-bTPOeSqFHjnyBtc6oN9gQ0WA7tJHChv_78BghODSmluDF_bWVCCx7Lx-jxpyv/s320/tod21.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhWv1Pxdv7YumkV_fmYM1h4HGl_gLbPM3Xn0QzFv1XcBM8Lt4Sc2l5ath-9otqbF26rFrVp6vptpgdTK5JKp9KocaO69nJUFf7nFelT1xvQ3EOEhYcWGeB8WpdlXH7XoQxSxhNbLZl0Ov/s1600/tod22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhWv1Pxdv7YumkV_fmYM1h4HGl_gLbPM3Xn0QzFv1XcBM8Lt4Sc2l5ath-9otqbF26rFrVp6vptpgdTK5JKp9KocaO69nJUFf7nFelT1xvQ3EOEhYcWGeB8WpdlXH7XoQxSxhNbLZl0Ov/s320/tod22.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
In the end, the regeneration is a curious beast. A little whisper of golden magic dust from the crack in the wall and the Doctor gets a new life cycle (something we knew the Time Lords could grant anyway so no surprises there) and yet he proceeds to blow everything to smithereens once he's got that power.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of contradictions in this. Generative power becomes destructive, the life affirming Doctor who fretted over the inhabitants of Christmas town lays waste to all and sundry. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men... eh? I'm not entirely sure a regenerating Time Lord going off like a nuclear bomb is quite what Christmas town or we deserved. The image is all the more startling linked as it is to a Doctor who has spent the last 50 minutes protecting a planet from a war specifically in his name.<br />
<br />
The intimate scenes between Clara and the ancient Doctor are to be cherished amongst the exhausted remains of the Matt Smith era, in the detritus of a particularly gaudy, cheap Christmas cracker. They are sensitively played and beautifully sum up the departure of the Eleventh Doctor.<br />
<br />
'Eleven's hour is over now. the clock is striking twelve's' reads Clara from said cracker and change is upon us. But not before Clara has some stern words for Time Lords and reaffirms what we've all known for so long: 'It's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong. His name. His name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him.'<br />
<br />
'Like breath on a mirror' the Eleventh disappears from view, ruminating about how we all change through out our lives and remembering both the little Amelia that first saw him and the adult Amy that she became. 'Raggedy man... Goodnight.' It's a sweet conclusion to the reign of the Eleventh Doctor and one of the few powerfully emotional scenes in a terribly mechanical and functional affair. It's a gorgeous bauble to look at but it lacks the epic power and emotional force of nostalgia in <b>The Day of the Doctor</b>.<br />
<br />
And that's that. Well, apart from Peter Capaldi grumbling about his kidneys and crashing the TARDIS. I'm not so worried about Capaldi learning 'how to fly this thing'. He'll be fine. I'm more concerned that Moffat, based on this scattershot, rambling, indulgent effort, renews his own driving licence in 2014.<br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-9724672147416640982013-11-25T19:56:00.001+00:002020-03-21T15:44:21.719+00:00DOCTOR WHO: The Day of the Doctor / Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw6d8C7lGoujVc43K6pdXvw5dx9kBypF8tTKy3HDYWVY7o50413mf792xWidrHMWg5uYQ9VBMtrbyhxH4oWxMQDL31Yk2FSNgMUu3T3lnfmgkcbbQcJaVf5GcBLSeTbXGqjvDh6xHxM23X/s1600/dod1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw6d8C7lGoujVc43K6pdXvw5dx9kBypF8tTKy3HDYWVY7o50413mf792xWidrHMWg5uYQ9VBMtrbyhxH4oWxMQDL31Yk2FSNgMUu3T3lnfmgkcbbQcJaVf5GcBLSeTbXGqjvDh6xHxM23X/s320/dod1.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>The Day of the Doctor</b><br />
BBC One HD / Red Button 3D<br />
23 November 2013, 7.50pm<br />
<br />
Television anniversary stories in <i>Doctor Who</i> are strange affairs. They have to strike a balance. On one hand they are expected to cram in fan-pleasing moments to acknowledge the rich history of the series, to be fronted by multiple versions of the Doctor and they demand the presence of iconic monsters; and on the other hand they have to have a decent but straightforward plot, a narrative that will appeal to the widest possible demographic and hook the many family generations who enjoy having <i>Doctor Who</i> in their lives. Previous anniversary stories have tackled this balancing act with varying degrees of success.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The most prominent television specials are those celebrating the 10th and 20th birthdays - <i>The Three Doctors</i> and <i>The Five Doctors</i>. The 30th was an <i>EastEnders</i> less than charitable cross-over called <i>Dimensions in Time</i>, shot in an unimpressive 3D process, and over which we should draw a discreet veil. The 40th was quietly left to the books, audios and animation of the so-called 'Wilderness Years' but all of which were put into the shade somewhat by the September 2003 announcement <i>Doctor Who</i> was coming back onto telly. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'The name you choose, it's like, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise.'</blockquote>
So, <b>The Day of the Doctor</b> follows in this tradition and, on the whole, tips the balance favourably in most directions, even upping the ante in the 3D stakes with a spectacular presentation on the Red Button service and on thousands of cinema screens. One of the most mind boggling aspects to <b>The Day of the Doctor</b> is the global impact it has made. It confirms <i>Doctor Who</i> as a truly global brand, a worldwide phenomenon, with the 75-minute special simulcast in 94 countries. That's millions of people all watching <i>Doctor Who</i>, all around the world, at the same time on the same day. Barry Letts and John Nathan-Turner must be looking down, from whichever afterlife they may occupy, with a mixture of pride, jealousy and awe.<br />
<br />
Mind you, if anyone wanted to relive the sheer embarrassment of <i>Dimensions in Time</i> BBC3 were on hand to provide a Proustian rush of car crash television of the highest grade with their <i>Doctor Who: The After Party</i>. The lasting image of it is of Steven Moffat with his head in his hands surrounded by 50 years worth of uncomfortable looking former Doctors and companions as all his hard work was instantly undone by Zoe Ball's horrific time-delayed interview with inarticulate members of pop combo One Direction. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56ZRaSaEzxmWr59E2vxYiTR9PaNQuCMrEjaEJDy3JMzt_N-sUljA1iskXcXCBZhqHEiDdlwzBzYic-5hBYXWQt-GPEne4bCE8KiqSmIbwkD8YBUuaiOnCJZt6leiV85mVXMJJ4u5R0Ztw/s1600/dod2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56ZRaSaEzxmWr59E2vxYiTR9PaNQuCMrEjaEJDy3JMzt_N-sUljA1iskXcXCBZhqHEiDdlwzBzYic-5hBYXWQt-GPEne4bCE8KiqSmIbwkD8YBUuaiOnCJZt6leiV85mVXMJJ4u5R0Ztw/s320/dod2.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPeLS_bKGXwHygHcJwF48DtV61NBEFmLv2JLOU51vJWikN4Yqce5OGI8Nc0ednEysyePkT_oJZw4Cbxbzd35YtckDZ0MhO0lTiePhA5lxWhJbR2wnlXAJiEvPToCh4PFKowhdx2Srp9y3/s1600/dod4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPeLS_bKGXwHygHcJwF48DtV61NBEFmLv2JLOU51vJWikN4Yqce5OGI8Nc0ednEysyePkT_oJZw4Cbxbzd35YtckDZ0MhO0lTiePhA5lxWhJbR2wnlXAJiEvPToCh4PFKowhdx2Srp9y3/s320/dod4.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDpA2eSJEQ0S4OVj_a8uhckC8EwSMa3fDloG6Y8mXHuLvvPndmbCeYMsWaDJ1LMqWdu92rMMmZEqxU6UQqBIPJh85kN6YgUMdcN4bwsnEvzqG9eoOk0buTyCLw61rH6vpPjAfq4FdGmJ8/s1600/dod5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTDpA2eSJEQ0S4OVj_a8uhckC8EwSMa3fDloG6Y8mXHuLvvPndmbCeYMsWaDJ1LMqWdu92rMMmZEqxU6UQqBIPJh85kN6YgUMdcN4bwsnEvzqG9eoOk0buTyCLw61rH6vpPjAfq4FdGmJ8/s320/dod5.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
I digress. For such an anticipated event, <b>The Day of the Doctor</b> is primarily a rather intimate story about the central character, about the last of the Time Lords. Yes, it has scale, spectacle, shock and awe but when it boils down to it, Moffat's script forges many connections to anniversary stories past and present with a similar focus on the mythical figure of the Doctor.<br />
<br />
<b>The Day of the Doctor</b> revisits the mythology of the Doctor and his responsibility for ending the Time War, by destroying both the Time Lords and the Daleks. It explores the themes of his legitimacy and culpability, through the character of the War Doctor, themes which reflect the very essence of the character and are very much in tune with ideas in <i>The Three Doctors</i> and <i>The Five Doctors</i>. <br />
<br />
Before I demonstrate what I mean by this we need to go back to the finale of the last series, <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2013/05/doctor-who-series-7-name-of-doctor.html"><i>The Name of the Doctor</i></a>. Moffat obviously has to answer the big question - just who is this Doctor played by John Hurt, who completely delivers on his casting, revealed to us in the closing moments of the episode? Stepping into his own time stream to rescue Clara, the Doctor comes face to face with an old man, the man with no name or at least one who has given up the name of Doctor.<br />
<br />
An illegitimate offspring who has, according to the Eleventh Doctor, forsaken his name. 'The name you choose, it's like, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise,' explains the Doctor. Essentially, the old man is the bastard, the black sheep of the family no one really likes to talk about. He's done a terrible thing. <br />
<br />
Other incarnations of the Doctor and other Time Lords have at one point or another been shunned or gone off the rails. In <i>The Three Doctors</i>, the Time Lords come under assault from one of their own, stellar engineer Omega left to go mad in the anti-matter attic of a black hole. To save themselves they turn to the Doctor, the embarrassing relative brushed under the carpet and exiled to Earth. It takes the combined forces of three Doctors to put the universe back on track and their success legitimises the Third Doctor. Until then, he was marooned on Earth, unable to completely fulfill his desire to travel the universe again, righting wrongs, never being cruel or cowardly. He is forgiven and properly takes his place within the echelons of the other Doctors.<br />
<br />
When we get to <i>The Five Doctors</i>, the Doctor is again dragged into a 'family' feud. This time old mentor Borusa has been seduced by the darkest machinations of the Time Lord legacy, corrupted by the promise of immortality. The Doctor, still very much a renegade tolerated by the Time Lords, comes to the rescue. His reward is to take up his official duties as Lord President of his own people but he has his own legitimacy to look after. Rather than conform, off he goes in the TARDIS again. After all, that's how it all started.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7J2NakUhishn38en9eoTDt2mz46saFEmf2lNS40nwfMYcUkJVasu5y0mWrlwN23YY0CkbuZ0CGBl8MVwI2iIeRVcUmuP4oWzBf-rvEaIXVm-vY0jZ5TKjGCQfkaAo15i4TFM5z0fXCUA/s1600/dod6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7J2NakUhishn38en9eoTDt2mz46saFEmf2lNS40nwfMYcUkJVasu5y0mWrlwN23YY0CkbuZ0CGBl8MVwI2iIeRVcUmuP4oWzBf-rvEaIXVm-vY0jZ5TKjGCQfkaAo15i4TFM5z0fXCUA/s320/dod6.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlApWU_4vnNwTxchTvFRFjwI1orkoATkVcejiXTfO3YmE4s-kW1Bub56XguDWwjd6-XIPT8Z_NKHDkmw94Dg4feLiVKDUR-rZ0Lsdv5R1uDRJD3rOQPX9o6LmqtHIC_LQuX9kxhgkwPxFb/s1600/dod8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlApWU_4vnNwTxchTvFRFjwI1orkoATkVcejiXTfO3YmE4s-kW1Bub56XguDWwjd6-XIPT8Z_NKHDkmw94Dg4feLiVKDUR-rZ0Lsdv5R1uDRJD3rOQPX9o6LmqtHIC_LQuX9kxhgkwPxFb/s320/dod8.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JoUqQHmm2b2yU3TCVv9wDpB-nqsh7dCJw_wNRWoaNE8PHXeGSf3hlXZp988naTQEh74nYrd0uqZq4QBxObit74GkHGov1qNf2_3t-eLDZSJjM0582yzNBA8S69qjEOAvpbNkXcGcLgH7/s1600/dod10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JoUqQHmm2b2yU3TCVv9wDpB-nqsh7dCJw_wNRWoaNE8PHXeGSf3hlXZp988naTQEh74nYrd0uqZq4QBxObit74GkHGov1qNf2_3t-eLDZSJjM0582yzNBA8S69qjEOAvpbNkXcGcLgH7/s320/dod10.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4mJjYHlcsjezzNIEcEdP3Fy-hR3jCtKZtVeuB_kfYFJerIBpw_bMR9ccYofZ-aCQ1E_Oj4QJSqaL_UWhUkB9ScQ7rNLKq6nnNlm-ex2pAIWcN4swwglJ8OHs_SVao9avX7TRzlT1cjPV/s1600/dod25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4mJjYHlcsjezzNIEcEdP3Fy-hR3jCtKZtVeuB_kfYFJerIBpw_bMR9ccYofZ-aCQ1E_Oj4QJSqaL_UWhUkB9ScQ7rNLKq6nnNlm-ex2pAIWcN4swwglJ8OHs_SVao9avX7TRzlT1cjPV/s320/dod25.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
So there's a pattern. The Doctor is in and out of favour, always having to prove himself to his fellow Time Lords by often battling against other members of the family who've got themselves into a pickle. When we get to the<i> The Name of the Doctor</i> and <b>The Day of the Doctor </b>Moffat takes the idea and makes it the central tenet of a long evolving backstory of which we've previously only had glimpses and mentions: the Time War.<br />
<br />
The darkest day in Time Lord history, the Time War between Gallifrey and Skaro has ultimately been responsible for the survivor guilt of the Ninth and Tenth incarnations of the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords after he commits genocide. Behind this act lies the mystery of the Doctor with no name, the old man played by John Hurt and, at the heart of <b>The Day of the Doctor</b>, his redemption. This is, in part, the story of legitimising the War Doctor.<br />
<br />
The War Doctor, as we know, came into being during the six minute prequel <i>The Night of the Doctor </i>when the dying Eighth Doctor regenerated at the behest of the Sisterhood of Karn who foresaw the unravelling of the universe as the Time War raged. The Doctor was transformed into the warrior they believed could halt the disaster. The implication here and in <b>The Day of the Doctor</b> is that the War Doctor spent many years fighting to halt the atrocities committed by both sides in the War.<br />
<br />
Moffat therefore takes up the reigns of the mythology created by his predecessor Russell T Davies and pulls the narrative back from its 'year zero' implications. Even when Davies brought the Time Lords back in <i>The End of Time</i>, he was very careful to put them and the renegade Master back into the time lock from which they'd briefly escaped.<br />
<br />
The Doctor was still, at that stage, left scarred by his act of genocide and Davies clearly felt it was legitimate for the character to continue as 'the lonely god' with a massive chip of inner conflict still on his shoulder. However, at that point he handed the show over to Steven Moffat who took the Doctor on a slightly different journey.<br />
<br />
The day before <b>The Day of the Doctor </b>(that sounds weird) BBC2 gave us <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2013/11/an-adventure-in-space-and-time-review.html"><i>An Adventure in Space and Time</i></a>, a dramatisation of the creation of <i>Doctor Who</i> in 1963. Uncannily, the central themes in Mark Gatiss's script were concerned with William Hartnell's personal battle to be 'legitimate' as an actor and escape his own troubled background. The drama's effect was to reconfigure Hartnell's place in the pantheon of actors who have played the Doctor, to understand the conflicts in his personal life that were expressed in his attitudes towards the part, his relationships with fellow cast and crew members. <br />
<br />
In a strange, unexpected way the two mythologies converge. Or maybe not. Maybe Moffat and Gatiss had a conflab over a sweet sherry. Well... who knows. Who knows, eh. Moffat reaches back into past fictional narrative and frames the Doctor's authenticity within the greater arc of the Time War, and the emergence of his alter ego the War Doctor, to resolve an existential and moral crisis. At the same time, Gatiss lovingly recreates the past within a television production context, makes us rethink our attitudes towards Hartnell's abilities as a performer and resolves the First Doctor's important position in the family line of actors who went on to play the part. <br />
<br />
The final scene of David Bradley and Matt Smith in <i>An Adventure in Space and Time</i> is rather like the Tenth and the Eleventh respecting and legitimising the actions of the War Doctor, acknowledging the debt they owe to him in <b>The Day of the Doctor</b>. John Hurt <i>is</i> or <i>becomes</i> the Doctor because they take responsibility for him. <b>The Day of the Doctor</b>'s wonderful cameo featuring Tom Baker as 'the curator' also operates in a similar way. The past and the future overlap. One cannot exist without the other. Tom, as elder statesman, is saying to Matt, and similarly the Fourth Doctor is asking the Eleventh Doctor, not to forget those whom have served, whether in the Time War or in Lime Grove D. These scenes don't just serve as a kiss to the past, they - to put it in Moffat-ian terms - positively snog its face off and use tongues.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Waste no more time about what a good man should be. Be one.' </blockquote>
Oh... (starts sounding like Tom Baker)... and what kisses, eh. What kisses. The hypnotic swirls of the original title sequence, the programme's title in its original font, the original Derbyshire arrangement of the title music and a policeman on the beat as the shipping forecast drifts in the air. <i>An Unearthly Child</i> bleeds into <b>The Day of the Doctor </b>as the policeman, in monochrone, gains colour and passes by 76 Totter's Lane and the Coal Hill School where today its Chairman of the Governors is one I. Chesterton. He must be a ripe old age. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12guzrywoskX-yCa07nUGNUQs-_QkxekuQnunbktnWBa5DbizbmndgdyS5uAN0wNNadX482UmYSEmdRBadczMQ1ud4ONaOOUzk2BmVDzkrQmVtLkn8sAfR9ge8HF7ohw_Y4WSSkItgvXz/s1600/dod11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12guzrywoskX-yCa07nUGNUQs-_QkxekuQnunbktnWBa5DbizbmndgdyS5uAN0wNNadX482UmYSEmdRBadczMQ1ud4ONaOOUzk2BmVDzkrQmVtLkn8sAfR9ge8HF7ohw_Y4WSSkItgvXz/s320/dod11.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zE_9bXHyCAiRoF04c-2eVw4ORHQTTBOr8rkrdT6DMZOfAL1QNSYvHndyH6z-0VzUJjF_-bw47lT44T_cENGIKQsCcoTBRlNO1UqB35rNZD0wpc9vd4_sR9MEWDkvUmF-u8NifYj43jvj/s1600/dod23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zE_9bXHyCAiRoF04c-2eVw4ORHQTTBOr8rkrdT6DMZOfAL1QNSYvHndyH6z-0VzUJjF_-bw47lT44T_cENGIKQsCcoTBRlNO1UqB35rNZD0wpc9vd4_sR9MEWDkvUmF-u8NifYj43jvj/s320/dod23.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAquosJFlNnasOFDiQ2VoWMdYdac06tjDxS0yJ3ijTrpsIxBAEZ8o7QlCafvrtVI5zFqB92t2g5cIyvqz3kisMyn7hbWQoD1UiV3jTaFVppDziRYYoZFb9NrevKGfPyu6bTgOhfVxWEn_X/s1600/dod24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAquosJFlNnasOFDiQ2VoWMdYdac06tjDxS0yJ3ijTrpsIxBAEZ8o7QlCafvrtVI5zFqB92t2g5cIyvqz3kisMyn7hbWQoD1UiV3jTaFVppDziRYYoZFb9NrevKGfPyu6bTgOhfVxWEn_X/s320/dod24.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVcIBA63PnmI0ldhVYRvnNk_seDx3emrzdVthnKi-j8_GwCpaY7wPTid69QfW1JgnSss6MGZeek-uR4pfVGtganA6m8FVJgebtbWqdeBKrY1mBEdBPnciefINNNtDjqqpGB21EbA01oYK/s1600/dod22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVcIBA63PnmI0ldhVYRvnNk_seDx3emrzdVthnKi-j8_GwCpaY7wPTid69QfW1JgnSss6MGZeek-uR4pfVGtganA6m8FVJgebtbWqdeBKrY1mBEdBPnciefINNNtDjqqpGB21EbA01oYK/s320/dod22.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Ironically, Clara is there teaching her pupils. How she made the leap from nanny to teacher is open to debate but she's already framing the examination of the Doctor's conscience at the heart of the episode by quoting Marcus Aurelius: 'Waste no more time about what a good man should be. Be one.' Off she speeds, at 5.16pm of course, to meet the Doctor in a bravura sequence where she rides her motorbike through the TARDIS doors and into the console room in one continuous shot.<br />
<br />
The spectacle, which looks great in 3D, is ramped up even further by a dazzling sequence where the TARDIS is airlifted by U.N.I.T to Trafalgar Square. A global brand needs to emphasise its essential qualities so the spectacular views above London and the familiar London landmarks cleave more to the Russell T Davies school of showmanship than Moffat's but this a title sequence designed to grab your attention.<br />
<br />
With images of Derren Brown's home filled with flowers of apology from U.N.I.T after using him as a cover story for such stunts, the episode moves on to the story proper. Sealed orders from Elizabeth I bring the Doctor, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver), the scarf wearing U.N.I.T scientist, to the National Gallery where a piece of 3D Time Lord art, a painting of the Fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city, and entitled <i>No More</i> or <i>Gallifrey Falls</i>, is on display.<br />
<br />
Elizabeth is sending him a message and for the Doctor it is a painful reminder of the last day of the Time War when 'the other me, the one I don't talk about' fought in the war on 'the day he killed them all.' There's slippage between 'he' and 'I' - denial working overtime it seems - as director Nick Hurran uses a close up of Matt Smith's eyes and transposes upon them the lines of age from John Hurt's face, underlining the fact that within the youthful Smith's visage the older man lives on. <br />
<br />
This confessional allows Hurran to use the concept of the 3D painting, a slice of frozen time, to great effect. The camera swoops into the painting and the last day of the War bursts into life. It is an exceptional, spectacular sequence as the Daleks bombard the Time Lord city, buildings explode, ships whizz by and citizens attempt to scramble to safety. That primal fear that children have of the Daleks is brought home effectively in a scene where the Daleks round up survivors, including the children clutching their toys. It's a heady mixture of <i>Star Wars</i> and reportage that breathtakingly culminates with the War Doctor slamming the TARDIS into the Daleks and knocking them over like skittles.<br />
<br />
The words 'No More', blasted into the wall by the Doctor, serve as a reminder of his fall from status as conscientious objector and now reluctantly getting his hands dirty. It's also the first of many clues in plain sight, a familiar Moffat trait, that echo the sentiments of the drama. A dying Dalek puzzles over their meaning. No more hiding the dark Doctor's legacy and no more anxiety about the fall of Gallifrey and his hand in it, perhaps? <br />
<br />
From here we are whisked into Gallifrey's War Room. When did the Time Lords last take up arms on such a scale as this, when did they last have generals leading them into battle? No wonder the Doctor was a reluctant bystander, no wonder Cass shrank back from being rescued above Karn. The Time Lords have become war mongers to be feared and not respected. If you wanted evidence as to why the Sisterhood of Karn needed a warrior to fight on the side of the universe then look no further. We might talk about the Doctor's authenticity being compromised by the existence of the War Doctor but it seems his peers have undergone something of a similar transformation. <br />
<br />
There is some stunning design work on screen here befitting a big screen epic. The Time Lords look splendid in a form of battle gear that merges the Gallifreyan symbols of old with the new graphics created for the series since 2005. The lighting is particularly effective with searchlights sweeping over figures caught in silhouette and dappling faces in the half dark.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCLQh2rB8suKQ-yUGyGNDn8jcRz9u3pU-djqwhzJWdj2d2N-IsI0w9GczXzBa8S2YgGZjqI0Lg08aYA9Lrx4LMEznHEUCGMU8pbcM27qPkP_ONZM8ww3JZQlHHSbuYj9qXT-ahNFWtS-t/s1600/dod21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCLQh2rB8suKQ-yUGyGNDn8jcRz9u3pU-djqwhzJWdj2d2N-IsI0w9GczXzBa8S2YgGZjqI0Lg08aYA9Lrx4LMEznHEUCGMU8pbcM27qPkP_ONZM8ww3JZQlHHSbuYj9qXT-ahNFWtS-t/s320/dod21.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwsI5dwmBVBk09rOMkpaZYrNLO-yFi4HTeuQ3o_d1WD0tc7YQwspSMxofLuwUxeCi8AQZENzwrpYn-FJstNqbCWKgwk5aQtzdIETBufMddGSAA7EMVIYhjSzrUFumDNZSgRV0-Msj0ZgN/s1600/dod16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwsI5dwmBVBk09rOMkpaZYrNLO-yFi4HTeuQ3o_d1WD0tc7YQwspSMxofLuwUxeCi8AQZENzwrpYn-FJstNqbCWKgwk5aQtzdIETBufMddGSAA7EMVIYhjSzrUFumDNZSgRV0-Msj0ZgN/s320/dod16.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHgXSg8C5c63WlgjhSVZch5X5BW8DNGU6TJzwC5zfPEUwr5mi629oS57eRqha0iV3KOH6woUI0BeXX__csSEZl3cb0mJRpj7Spr_OzvqBZPUvvYcEmNOOnu0NQSYCz-JELU3DvRU3Czn1/s1600/dod20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHgXSg8C5c63WlgjhSVZch5X5BW8DNGU6TJzwC5zfPEUwr5mi629oS57eRqha0iV3KOH6woUI0BeXX__csSEZl3cb0mJRpj7Spr_OzvqBZPUvvYcEmNOOnu0NQSYCz-JELU3DvRU3Czn1/s320/dod20.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
We discover that the Moment, a super-weapon so powerful it developed sentience, has been taken by the Doctor. It is this weapon, this Moment in the hands of the Doctor, which finishes the Time War. As if to confirm his previous messages and intentions, the War Doctor serves notice on the Daleks and Time Lords: 'Too long have I stayed my hand. No more.' As the Doctor searches for a way to operate what looks like a super-sized version of <i>Hellraiser</i>'s Lament Configuration, he is visited by the machine's interface and conscience. <br />
<br />
Rose Tyler, or the Bad Wolf version of her, is plucked from the Doctor's future memories as a ghost of Christmas to come to show the Doctor, or the man who claims to have lost the right to be the Doctor, the consequences of his action in a war where all of space and time is burning. She wants to show him the man he will become, the last of the Time Lords, in order to inform his decision to use the Moment and complete the mutually assured destruction of Gallifrey and the Daleks.<br />
<br />
Billie Piper is quite different here, reprising her attitude as the Bad Wolf in command of the vortex seen at the end of <i>The Parting of the Ways</i>. Here she is again, a sentient weapon determining the Doctor's destiny. It's a strange, precise performance and quietly disturbing to see a Rose Tyler so unlike the Rose Tyler we all knew. She informs the War Doctor his punishment is to become the last survivor of the war. As the future Doctors know the first rule of survivor's guilt is you don't talk about survivor's guilt. You try and bury it. The Moment is trying to uncover what happens when you find meaning and make sense out of these experiences.<br />
<br />
Much of this ties into Moffat's perennial themes about memory, remembrance and forgetting, Not only does he imbue his creatures with powers to erase memory and change perception but he also taps into the power of memory with the Doctor and his companions. In <b>The Day of the Doctor</b> this is writ large in the Moment's determination to get the future Doctors to remember their forgotten incarnation via 'a tangle in time through the days to come', to remember the millions of children killed on Gallifrey. The Moment offers a way for Moffat to intertwine the lives and actions of the Doctors and to remember the forgotten. <br />
<br />
So far so good.<br />
<br />
Queen Elizabeth I has brought the Doctor to the National Gallery and the crucial painting. Her message to the future has been handed over to the Doctor by U.N.I.T and the painting of Gallifrey, a slice of time frozen in Time Lord art by an unknown artist, is evidence of her true credentials. In a bizarre subplot we discover that the Time Lord art is being used by Zygons in the past to bide their time, hide inside the works of art, and emerge to invade the future. <br />
<br />
The mood shifts from sombre reflection to something of a romp as the Tenth Doctor's hijinks with Queen Elizabeth (Joanna Page) in 1562, which pick up some continuity references from <i>The Shakespeare Code</i> and <i>The End of Time</i>, not only show him marrying her through a case of mistaken identity but also reveal the Zygons' plan. The return of the Zygons is handled particularly well and the make up and costume designs are more or less unchanged from their 1975 appearance. Hissing and roaring into view, they look very impressive and imposing. However, their presence is merely a sub-plot to get us to a position where their knack for hiding inside Time Lord paintings offers a potential way of saving Gallifrey as the Daleks bombard the planet.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Am I having a mid-life crisis?' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxAmg3Mxz3_xAWfZGdBgr46Bp8ARtuEEGYF3cK7Cv8VswxE7NRVfBDF20L16WcmHYyvPskCIVeMPIlrqizd6xOTV9iUXwduSDUUZoC83G1kxgEGn5RVBIHdQtR8UPrRoyMcQZ0HMnXz6y/s1600/dod17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxAmg3Mxz3_xAWfZGdBgr46Bp8ARtuEEGYF3cK7Cv8VswxE7NRVfBDF20L16WcmHYyvPskCIVeMPIlrqizd6xOTV9iUXwduSDUUZoC83G1kxgEGn5RVBIHdQtR8UPrRoyMcQZ0HMnXz6y/s320/dod17.jpg" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1GMNXoye_LsEGI6u7XNeNfl-qSVGkgE9zxFtOYtDZ_FN3UP2slTQ5ieGpt72USulDO7m8lBPDOI6sfRxuSpb_QU63N638ckHFJ7Y3VA0VtWCOCoXOUQ2NIAzjsKClsoy0E7LDKtoZFWN/s1600/dod19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1GMNXoye_LsEGI6u7XNeNfl-qSVGkgE9zxFtOYtDZ_FN3UP2slTQ5ieGpt72USulDO7m8lBPDOI6sfRxuSpb_QU63N638ckHFJ7Y3VA0VtWCOCoXOUQ2NIAzjsKClsoy0E7LDKtoZFWN/s320/dod19.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCWBVjUdFdKjA9IBgDbtt5NS1a1z_rP5_4FX8T__42f6SROt09d03kJoGaDeoqv1Z9FzbjPaRo29TrPwApsLi_Wj0r6GIxRkoZsVYSRJB1kq36c5cUO4PzxGZy-LCxCxVUxj2YgEF3uTW/s1600/dod18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCWBVjUdFdKjA9IBgDbtt5NS1a1z_rP5_4FX8T__42f6SROt09d03kJoGaDeoqv1Z9FzbjPaRo29TrPwApsLi_Wj0r6GIxRkoZsVYSRJB1kq36c5cUO4PzxGZy-LCxCxVUxj2YgEF3uTW/s320/dod18.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The Zygon plan is to invade the planet by breaking into U.N.I.T's Black Vault of alien technology by impersonating Kate Stewart and Osgood. It provides a parallel narrative to the Doctor's own dilemma. Kate Stewart finds herself face to face with her Zygon counterpart with no choice but to blow the Vault up with a nuclear warhead and kill millions to save billions. The Doctor complicates matters by using the Black Vault's security system, which wipes the memories of people who work there (Moffat re-employing his tropes again), to confuse the Zygon and human identities in the room.<br />
<br />
No one knows whether they are Zygon or human. The two parties are therefore left to negotiate from this standpoint, unable to justify their use of the nuclear weapon for fear of wiping out the wrong side. This is what philosopher John Rawls calls the 'original position' - in which a group must decide how to negotiate together fairly and equally without prejudice and also deprived of knowledge which would unbalance the situation - and the so called 'veil of ignorance' theory which Charlie Jane Anders also explores in her review on<a href="http://io9.com/the-great-hero-of-the-doctor-who-anniversary-special-is-1470394088"> io9</a>.<br />
<br />
The sub-plot is certainly a mirror of the War Doctor's own activities on Gallifrey. Both feature a Vault full of deadly weapons, both involve making a decision about the future of millions of lives. The Moment is the War Doctor's conscience, encouraging him to meet his other selves and for each to understand the gravity of what he does. Clara is the equivalent, looking upon her Doctor with fresh eyes, particularly when all three Doctors decide to share the responsibility of their actions in destroying the Time Lords and the Daleks. If, as the Moment suggests, the War Doctor is reborn then who is he reborn as? How does he deal with the consequences of this holocaust in all his future choices, his future lives? And as Clara suggests, which rules apply when regeneration could lead you to forget the traumas of the past?<br />
<br />
Hence we get that very interesting scene between the three Doctors where generational differences define their attitudes towards the Time War. It's a very interesting view of how we all cope with traumatic, world changing events, everything from the assassination of JFK to the terrorism of 9/11. The War Doctor discovers that his future selves are 'the man who regrets' and 'the man who forgets'. Generations - or regenerations - need to be reminded of these terrible events. After all, it's part of being grown up. <br />
<br />
The repartee between Tennant, Smith and Hurt crackles vividly and the generational differences are played for comedy as well as for drama. Hurt's Doctor is distressed ('Am I having a mid-life crisis?') to find his future selves talking and behaving like children. Moffat takes his cue from <i>The Three Doctors</i> here, with Hurt more or less the sterner Hartnell figure quite appalled at 'Sand shoes' and 'Chinny' and we even get a re-run of the redecorating the TARDIS interior gag ('Oh, you've redecorated.' 'I don't like it.'). Like their sonic screwdrivers and their own bodies, the various TARDIS interiors appear on screen as a phasing, single interface and Hurt's TARDIS is wonderfully old school and comes complete with 'the round things'. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnxnWGkHx-uIBUEmxKaBtbt2JwGIRUVZZuhZvmJFpioT4GtzS2OL79L0DJiuv0VsHEnbcUPIZHFTKD8ZfHlescP6EcQtYsTZZVxcQ390dL6saBXHj5rQEsZmoVB9S0B1IKURcFxRZj3Sa/s1600/dod14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEnxnWGkHx-uIBUEmxKaBtbt2JwGIRUVZZuhZvmJFpioT4GtzS2OL79L0DJiuv0VsHEnbcUPIZHFTKD8ZfHlescP6EcQtYsTZZVxcQ390dL6saBXHj5rQEsZmoVB9S0B1IKURcFxRZj3Sa/s320/dod14.jpg" width="270" />
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLJOH95yWSxk73mgYLYR_FRPQCCw3iii2aWajaWZYh9VdzZMN7sK-JE8SiseZo-RGsrfqCEMPXUzQnfd7_5koufz5diWX4KXi1EY6qb0fDOdVTO0ML9Jh9XZV3O1-1h-sgJ-HEPwp3-Cz/s1600/dod13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLJOH95yWSxk73mgYLYR_FRPQCCw3iii2aWajaWZYh9VdzZMN7sK-JE8SiseZo-RGsrfqCEMPXUzQnfd7_5koufz5diWX4KXi1EY6qb0fDOdVTO0ML9Jh9XZV3O1-1h-sgJ-HEPwp3-Cz/s320/dod13.jpg" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJ7ySChWcEKhnBQTAwxVQks_QEhgL0b5liDuOYmKcLajD3_6zE-FQN2B3kOp88MA3RZ_0Rijr6466tEOUnd9vmPI3ty4lqVMJkMfnNr_v9uMQl5FjMMRqNizLqvNAU9SfzgJJ4AIliUt3/s1600/dod15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJ7ySChWcEKhnBQTAwxVQks_QEhgL0b5liDuOYmKcLajD3_6zE-FQN2B3kOp88MA3RZ_0Rijr6466tEOUnd9vmPI3ty4lqVMJkMfnNr_v9uMQl5FjMMRqNizLqvNAU9SfzgJJ4AIliUt3/s320/dod15.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
The Zygons, while excellent in the scenes they appear, are merely a means to end for Moffat. Their attempt to conquer the Earth is simply a mechanism to find the solution to the War Doctor's problem, namely the use of the Gallifreyan art to store the war torn planet and its population in a slice of time.<br />
<br />
Leaving the Daleks to shoot themselves to pieces as Gallifrey disappears still maintains a certain truth, that they annihilated each other in the War after all, but this is another example of how Moffat is willing to take great chunks of lore (over which there is no ownership, let's be clear) and simply rewrite it for his own purposes. <br />
<br />
Thus, Russell T Davies' modus operandi for the Doctor, established in 2005, now allows for the potentially lost Time Lords to survive. A reboot along the same lines as Clara jumping back into the many lives of the Doctor to save him, the resetting of time in <i>The Wedding of River Song</i> and travelling back down your own timeline to bring the universe back in <i>The Big Bang</i>. All told in Moffat's customary non-linear, multiple points of view and hanging narrative modes where paradox and predestination dominate the story.<br />
<br />
The War Doctor is transformed, authenticated, legitimised as a 'proper' Doctor because he was 'the Doctor more than anybody else' when he took the brave decision to burn Gallifrey and the Daleks. He takes his place in the line up, the warrior to the Tenth's hero, and in direct line to the Eleventh Doctor who has discovered what he has forgotten. He's always made things better, he's always been a doctor. The title is a promise, a promise that writer Terrance Dicks originally made, that the Doctor is 'never cruel or cowardly'. <br />
<br />
Moffat's <span class="st">coup de théâtre for the 50th Anniversary</span> is, of course, the bringing together of 13 Doctors to power the transfer of Gallifrey into the parallel pocket universe. The Time Lords and their TARDISes collectively work together and we get a brief, but thrilling, glimpse of Peter Capaldi who, in a single glare to camera, seems to signify the very hope the Time Lords and viewers of the series are looking for. His imminent arrival, as an actor the same age when Hartnell took the role, may well have triggered Moffat's reflections about maturity and authenticity in the conversations between the other Doctors. <br />
<br />
To cap it all we also get a remarkable scene with Matt Smith and Tom Baker. The passing of the baton in many ways, heartfelt and emotional, as the retired curator of the Under Gallery, a man with a very familiar face, pauses to reflect on the future. He catches the spirit of the Anniversary by suggesting to the Doctor he may care to recall some other faces and 'in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few but just... the old favourites, eh?'<br />
<br />
The fourth wall and the Fourth Doctor melt away as the distinctions between Tom and the character vanish. He stands in a gallery that looks like the interior of a TARDIS. It's what we've all known all along. Tom and the Time Lord are interchangeable. Images and words shift and the painting, we discover, is actually called <i>Gallifrey Falls No More</i>. The Eleventh Doctor is given his quest. To find the lost Gallifrey. 'I can only tell you what I would do, if I were you... Oh! If I were you... perhaps I <i>was</i> you, of course. Or perhaps you are me,' muses the Fourth Doctor. <br />
<br />
Who knows. But the Doctor's going home. <br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-75286899730324436932013-11-23T17:46:00.002+00:002014-01-19T10:19:52.789+00:00AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME / Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWR__pLO0jBdkTPiEmte5m3_gHHf8mHGVGdG1WRVD3hol7wtJNWpJNnMMnxuwrzK38aFM1o3tA3w3pPF0SIreCLN1mz-lrUn1hrZ9rm1_EuK9YI1BzZcpGMqS-YnJnsuKreSwnynj7WWyV/s1600/aist1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWR__pLO0jBdkTPiEmte5m3_gHHf8mHGVGdG1WRVD3hol7wtJNWpJNnMMnxuwrzK38aFM1o3tA3w3pPF0SIreCLN1mz-lrUn1hrZ9rm1_EuK9YI1BzZcpGMqS-YnJnsuKreSwnynj7WWyV/s320/aist1.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>An Adventure in Space and Time</b><br />
BBC Two HD<br />
21 November 2013, 9.00p<b>m</b><br />
<br />
Three moments in real and fictional time blend and merge in the opening scene of Mark Gatiss's superb drama <b>An Adventure in Space and Time</b> when a car pulls up in front of a police box on a fog enshrouded Barnes Common. Immediately, associations spring into your mind or, at the very least, into the minds of many long in the tooth <i>Doctor Who</i> fans. Gatiss has already prepared the way with a retro BBC globe, an announcer quoting <i>The Aztecs</i> and telling us that truth and fiction are mutable companions in the retelling of <i>Doctor Who</i>'s creation: 'It is important to remember however that you can't rewrite history. Not one line. Except perhaps when you embark on an adventure in space and time.' <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
A car accident on foggy Barnes Common opened David Whittaker's radical reinterpretation of Ian and Barbara's first encounter with the Doctor and his TARDIS in his novelisation <i>Doctor Who and the Daleks</i>; the writer of <i>An Unearthly Child</i>, Anthony Coburn, was walking on Wimbledon Common and allegedly thought its resident police box would be a good visual representation for the TARDIS; in the televised version of <i>An Unearthly Child</i> a policeman patrols the gates of I.M. Foreman's junkyard before a camera drives through the fog, through the gates, for a big close up of the now iconic police box. In 1966, actor William Hartnell (David Bradley) sits in his car, haunted and preoccupied, as a policeman comes out of the police box and approaches Hartnell's parked car.<br />
<br />
For Hartnell it seems there is nothing at the end of the lane. 'You need
to move along now, sir. Sir, you're in the way,' advises the policeman,
Gatiss's dialogue already ironically underpinning the melancholy
Hartnell's own feelings as he comes to terms with his departure from a successful
television series he has made his own and his imminent replacement by another actor. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'pop-pop-pop'</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSVEIKpu1qWAhyuUfFMIKi86ALiasOA3xWTVpSWcduCeUwYktYumEaN3X2bYg9Goy__jVW16ad-yeGO173x0B9BxfAxskXuqdUysOVrAqAM77Q0h9fjshw7OBCidyT9rz7N1ajtCpnLLx/s1600/aist2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSVEIKpu1qWAhyuUfFMIKi86ALiasOA3xWTVpSWcduCeUwYktYumEaN3X2bYg9Goy__jVW16ad-yeGO173x0B9BxfAxskXuqdUysOVrAqAM77Q0h9fjshw7OBCidyT9rz7N1ajtCpnLLx/s320/aist2.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzsi4z8YykBRxpj_RHkBXW25gNFBDMmCNUlanKa7-vdOH6j8I_UpElrANBrPKuUP7UHoX6YDDUrPJNDiGoCYVcKuRVOg2JH1M-1GNIc5iUx_iZBrP3uy7k4bZIKxgqOwECPXIOJjBe7GC/s1600/aist3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzsi4z8YykBRxpj_RHkBXW25gNFBDMmCNUlanKa7-vdOH6j8I_UpElrANBrPKuUP7UHoX6YDDUrPJNDiGoCYVcKuRVOg2JH1M-1GNIc5iUx_iZBrP3uy7k4bZIKxgqOwECPXIOJjBe7GC/s320/aist3.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Phqq_3uIJFF4uivQAaGc_3uW5vVc2WpBvAYHI1ZqUQEWnBoO95pcO2e_7Hs-AylD-q-hFGnTjZORpMjW8b5fdM2oi41OcNnFcyH_chacWwIQRRkb_tObEG9-BbqhSe3zhGb2a_qfMCmE/s1600/aist4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Phqq_3uIJFF4uivQAaGc_3uW5vVc2WpBvAYHI1ZqUQEWnBoO95pcO2e_7Hs-AylD-q-hFGnTjZORpMjW8b5fdM2oi41OcNnFcyH_chacWwIQRRkb_tObEG9-BbqhSe3zhGb2a_qfMCmE/s320/aist4.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
The opening scene cuts back to Hartnell's dressing room as the <span class="st">irascible</span> actor is coaxed out of his reverie to record his final scenes for <i>The Tenth Planet</i>. Director Terry McDonough very powerful asserts the Proustian rush of Gatiss's bittersweet and witty script through controlled visuals: a 1966 Cyberman looming in close up before incongruously taking a drag on his cigarette; Hartnell, transformed into the Doctor, emerging into a breathtaking point of view shot of the TARDIS interior in the studio.<br />
<br />
These are wonderfully engineered moments. The swoop across the TARDIS console in the studio is given a little frisson by having the interior sound effects, which would have been put onto the soundtrack of <i>Doctor Who</i> episodes in post production, weave into the <span class="st">mise-en-scène</span> like a tangible memory, as if the TARDIS set came complete with those strange sounds.<br />
<br />
Hartnell gazes upwards, his eyes close, and memories are evoked. McDonough even takes a cue from original director Waris Hussein's use of the dissolve in <i>An Unearthly Child.</i> Just as the close up of the TARDIS in the junk yard whisks us away to the corridor of Coal Hill School or Ian and Barbara recall their strange pupil Susan Foreman in flashback while sitting in their car, Hartnell and the year-o-meter on the console plunge us back to 1963. <br />
<br />
In effect the TARDIS console becomes the repository of Hartnell's fading memories and failing faculties. Not only does it hurtle the viewer to 1963 and plunge us forward through the peaks and troughs of the Hartnell era, with the arrivals and departures of cast and crew, but its faulty time rotor, which it seems only Hartnell has the knack to properly switch on, also provides a visual allusion to the debilitating effects of the show's punishing schedule and the diagnosis of <span class="st">arteriosclerosis</span> that would eventually see him step down from the role. <br />
<br />
Once we're back in 1963, McDonough and Gatiss switch their focus to the BBC and the charismatic figure of Sydney Newman. Brian Cox provides an appropriately larger-than-life performance as Newman ('the clue's in the name'), clearly a showman at heart and willing to take risks and gamble with populist ideas ('pop-pop-pop'). His previous credentials with series such as the <i>Pathfinders </i>trilogy and <i>The Avengers</i> are given a nostalgic mention and he's the embodiment of the ITV new broom sweeping through the confusing corridors of TV Centre.<br />
<br />
A go-getting individual, on the look out for people with 'piss and
vinegar in their veins', Newman is working in a corporation still trying
to throw off the shackles of the post war period and deal with the
threat of commercial television. These attitudes are exemplified by
Harry the commissioner (a sweet cameo from William Russell) demanding
Newman's pass and being refused ('that's not the way we do things at the
BBC, sir!) and the later scene in the BBC bar where director Waris
Hussein (Sacha Dhawan) runs into institutional racism after trying to
order a drink from an ignorant bar man (a briefly glimpsed Toby
Hadoke). <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPRj2iE6x-bjObEciE-X9WqdzA_zDSpuFjB_xGq1661O8oFL8x07EfRAhhKZrAkJ_0CVYP0M-WaGSjHPYGw16lfUpNUUGcdQVDf_P2_OCMCub_gX4kMoh43urB8dJEonsk1V0Im7Bnfp3/s1600/aist6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQPRj2iE6x-bjObEciE-X9WqdzA_zDSpuFjB_xGq1661O8oFL8x07EfRAhhKZrAkJ_0CVYP0M-WaGSjHPYGw16lfUpNUUGcdQVDf_P2_OCMCub_gX4kMoh43urB8dJEonsk1V0Im7Bnfp3/s320/aist6.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBExK-cM3XFiHVXSDPKGQ2qT66lGfFeDfRXG02rulAE35zQlxRvn8RV2Ir5JVlHXAMolUFZQ05BvtNcOLuqdzVIDXIyMK21MjNEyu-Jod2qPPocTdU3LD4mV-6ndGdDGM0lIauDqvd4iu/s1600/aist7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBExK-cM3XFiHVXSDPKGQ2qT66lGfFeDfRXG02rulAE35zQlxRvn8RV2Ir5JVlHXAMolUFZQ05BvtNcOLuqdzVIDXIyMK21MjNEyu-Jod2qPPocTdU3LD4mV-6ndGdDGM0lIauDqvd4iu/s320/aist7.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ijXX6OTsCg6l5RMpZuOKhZyQrqXinPFoeUUqBIxABjJ4JHHnpYxMxkk1812rSxKLU9iuGdAsK279bHEa1XhP4ZSf0lfqTg-UsVR2oGzHqOTP-V8CgXJBPe3930MCA6JJiiYn3EblBwwD/s1600/aist9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ijXX6OTsCg6l5RMpZuOKhZyQrqXinPFoeUUqBIxABjJ4JHHnpYxMxkk1812rSxKLU9iuGdAsK279bHEa1XhP4ZSf0lfqTg-UsVR2oGzHqOTP-V8CgXJBPe3930MCA6JJiiYn3EblBwwD/s320/aist9.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZ70KofoJi7u9dr4K1yv3Ys_3v5f-0kVCjKXRrGjgAfYBPdaeXF7aMVkHgoY2aZeDK5dhYQ0j5Xm2lv62gnzo4pT5ILSQKGFGAWdiKkzTNLounDsBZUaz42HRhwrNm4i0lF1ntdSEUDRp/s1600/aist10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZ70KofoJi7u9dr4K1yv3Ys_3v5f-0kVCjKXRrGjgAfYBPdaeXF7aMVkHgoY2aZeDK5dhYQ0j5Xm2lv62gnzo4pT5ILSQKGFGAWdiKkzTNLounDsBZUaz42HRhwrNm4i0lF1ntdSEUDRp/s320/aist10.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Hussein is also the object of some derision during a tense recording session at the poorly resourced Lime Grove Studio D. Hartnell's own attitudes to the Asian director are deftly touched upon in a meeting he has with Hussein and producer Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine) in a Chinese restaurant which shows how Hartnell was as much a creature of his time as the old guard at the BBC were.<br />
<br />
His treatment of the waiter serving him is a reminder that he was a man of his time but as Hussein recently commented in Manchester last week he struggled to deal with situations and people he didn't understand. It's touching that, later in the film, Hartnell is seen struggling with change and painful goodbyes and how he really missed Hussein's presence in the studio. <br />
<br />
The future is represented by the stunning images of Television Centre. The building is another character in the film and McDonough, with a poignant eye on its recent closure, suitably frames the likes of Newman and Lambert with some very glamourous, wide angle images of the building, its central rotunda reflecting the glass time rotor of the TARDIS console and with both connoting the future ahead. The birth of the so-called 'golden age' of the BBC and <i>Doctor Who</i> is about to go into full swing in McDonough's film just as the filming of <b>An Adventure in Space and Time</b> was the last drama ever filmed in that iconic White City television factory.<br />
<br />
Mervyn Pinfield (Jeff Rawle) and Rex Tucker (Andrew Woodall) are charged with bringing Newman's idea for a new tea time show to fruition. Both are faced with the promotion of a former production assistant, Verity Lambert, to the role of producer on the show, now called <i>Doctor Who</i>. Lambert is introduced, along with actress Jacqueline Hill (Jemma Powell), during a party where their ambitions for the future coincide with the inspiring and courageous achievements of 26 year-old Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.<br />
<br />
Lambert and Hill are clearly representative of a generation of women hungry for independence and successful careers and it's quite ironic that before Lambert changes a channel to watch news of Tereshkova on television, a brief sequence from the BBC's glamourous soap opera about a glossy women's magazine, <i>Compact</i>, pops up on the screen. Television was the future as was Tereshkova's flight into space. Later, we see Lambert framed on a television screen as she chats to associate producer Pinfield and he pleads with her to add some 'warm beer' to her 'piss and vinegar' attitude. Rawle is particularly good in this scene and I love the fact that Gatiss got Pinfield's credit for inventing the teleprompter into the scene too. <br />
<br />
Television and television production dominate the drama. Hartnell's depression about his career and his grumpy tirade to his granddaughter is framed by a recreation of his appearance in <i>The Army Game</i>. He's tired of playing 'crooks and perishing sergeant majors' but his wife Heather (Lesley Manville) cannily observes that he's seen as an authority figure, the very thing Sydney Newman is looking for in the Doctor. He strives to be 'a legitimate character actor' (dialogue mirroring the recently recovered <i>Points West </i>interview with Hartnell) and, as actor David Bradley noted in a recent BBC Breakfast interview, Hartnell was a man haunted by his own illegitimacy and background.<br />
<br />
Even Newman describes his <i>Doctor Who </i>concept as 'legitimate stuff' so it's understandable why Hartnell was abrasive and found the challenge of playing 'Doctor Who' a rather daunting one. Hartnell's cruel attack on granddaughter Judith therefore ushers in another major theme. The man is obviously uncomfortable with the presence of children and finds it difficult to relate to them. Bradley's face is a picture when Manville, as Hartnell's wife
Heather, tells the old curmudgeon he's been asked to star in a show for
'kiddies'. <br />
<br />
Hartnell's casting as the Doctor transforms his persona when he becomes, as Verity promises him, a combination of 'H.G. Wells and Father Christmas' and huge favourite to children everywhere. The magic of <i>Doctor Who</i><b> </b>is crystalised in a later scene, as Hartnell tries to learn his lines and, explaining to his granddaughter about the story, he gradually repairs their uneasy relationship by telling her about the Doctor - 'a funny old man who lives inside a magic box'. 'Does he make people better?' asks Judith. Hartnell ponders. The viewer emphatically knows the answer. Again, this is underlined where he meets his child audience while sitting in the park as Heather reads letters from young viewers. Thus the drama demonstrates how Hartnell became inseparable from the role and was offered a new lease of life as an actor.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'... quickly child, we're running out of time. Check the fornicator!' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqru3nGss9lUCHUyeYcJXjBSpIc9SLgL995LXwpwO1UTBjqveBWrqStvVzd8fQX4NaGGowOpWv44Z3fE3GoegyN1SB6xgWulTFjtBQn0qf2FzH1AilxNumFMy3-J48Ab6sSL4-3LWIjNW/s1600/aist12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwqru3nGss9lUCHUyeYcJXjBSpIc9SLgL995LXwpwO1UTBjqveBWrqStvVzd8fQX4NaGGowOpWv44Z3fE3GoegyN1SB6xgWulTFjtBQn0qf2FzH1AilxNumFMy3-J48Ab6sSL4-3LWIjNW/s320/aist12.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YBm0k6P2tAAAPFTlnvsxo847Gk_2MiCuYbyam1n9Y0ejeb6T7-96iBOYevN_fPhmRm3S7vrmKJfBsoQyZYxYOMlXNVniSp9a81uo5Xb85bxKwntHtR8qHem1txnTQrycB08kL39-R9qE/s1600/aist13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YBm0k6P2tAAAPFTlnvsxo847Gk_2MiCuYbyam1n9Y0ejeb6T7-96iBOYevN_fPhmRm3S7vrmKJfBsoQyZYxYOMlXNVniSp9a81uo5Xb85bxKwntHtR8qHem1txnTQrycB08kL39-R9qE/s320/aist13.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqD9kYO6ZZzMtfm8JMJGA6ts7Lg3CeHfAeAjL_9zxuFXwp1Ld_v5nfPsB0UGVXqdtlMqRsdYnfvGUQxG455qcvXjKA_1IemzGW8q4NlrcGeCJP3BXKlqg4lwt_-G9H-D1uHxELbh3RCx2/s1600/aist14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqD9kYO6ZZzMtfm8JMJGA6ts7Lg3CeHfAeAjL_9zxuFXwp1Ld_v5nfPsB0UGVXqdtlMqRsdYnfvGUQxG455qcvXjKA_1IemzGW8q4NlrcGeCJP3BXKlqg4lwt_-G9H-D1uHxELbh3RCx2/s320/aist14.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfe-8pdNtixDeB_nIzK4h2FoshyH1DbfGaAl-4dAgqW9Yw-jkyooJ2NMZcfxqB41SgSDOG3jwaNAtQn0FRyNTpMB5m8QpMutoydWP3zrH4irCT6j7ZRldS3y2OWw1btirgNYdXJa0HMBEv/s1600/aist17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfe-8pdNtixDeB_nIzK4h2FoshyH1DbfGaAl-4dAgqW9Yw-jkyooJ2NMZcfxqB41SgSDOG3jwaNAtQn0FRyNTpMB5m8QpMutoydWP3zrH4irCT6j7ZRldS3y2OWw1btirgNYdXJa0HMBEv/s320/aist17.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
His meeting with Hussein and Lambert in the Chinese restaurant concludes
with a gorgeous riff on that old in-joke. 'Doctor... Who?' asks
Hartnell as he grasps his lapels in that distinctive manner after Lambert
and Hussein butter him up and persuade him to consider the part. Sacha
Dhawan is uncannily similar to the young Hussein and works particularly
well with Bradley and Raine to portray the strong relationships which
coalesced between producer, director and leading man.<br />
<br />
When Hussein first meets Lambert, Gatiss pays off the earlier visual nod to <i>Compact. </i>Lambert
dampens the aspiring director's criticism of 'cavemen and Doctors and
disappearing bloody police boxes' when she discovers his last job was
directing the BBC soap opera. 'High art, indeed', she wryly comments.
Their bond is beautifully presented and Lambert sees Hussein, a gay
Indian director, as a recruit in her assault against the old guard at
the BBC or, as she puts it, 'this... sea of fag smoke, tweed and sweaty
men.'<br />
<br />
As Mark Gatiss points out via Lambert in the script, so many people were in on the creation of <i>Doctor Who</i> 'we could be here all day'. So only in passing do we see Delia Derbyshire rushing down a Maida Vale corridor with her tape loops as she constructs her arrangement of Ron Grainer's theme and tells us how Brian Hodgson's front door key scraping against piano string became the TARDIS sound effect.<br />
<br />
Similarly, we only get a glimpse of Mervyn Pinfield supervising the creation of the equally iconic 'howl-around' opening titles. They may only be fragmentary footnotes in the bigger story about Hartnell's transformation into the Doctor but they're precious, perfectly formed nuggets. <br />
<br />
A similar treatment is applied to Jacqueline Hill, William Russell (Jamie Glover) and Carole Ann Ford (Claudia Grant). They arrive as support to Hartnell and only have a few key scenes but, as Hill raises her glass at the press conference to announce the show and proclaims 'goodbye, real world', we plunge with them into the making of the pilot of <i>An Unearthly Child</i> (or <i>100,000 BC</i> or <i>The Tribe of Gum</i> if that takes your fancy).<br />
<br />
Through rehearsals, where Lambert learns the art of keeping her leading man on side, to the chaotic recording, <b>An Adventure in Space and Time</b> recreates familiar moments such as Ian and Barbara's first encounter with the Doctor and their stumble into the TARDIS.<br />
<br />
In tandem, Lambert develops a no nonsense attitude particularly toward Peter Brachacki, who designed the TARDIS interior. As he hurriedly assembles a random selection of punched out cardboard and cotton reels, McDonough's camera looks down overhead and there's a delicious dissolve into an another overhead shot of the fully realised, beautifully recreated TARDIS set, where we go 'through the cupboad doors and into Narnia'.<br />
<br />
Fantasy, magic, fairy tale all roll into one but reality is not far away as AFM Douglas Camfield struggles to persuade an actor to get his teeth blacked up as one of the cavemen featured in the cliffhanger to the pilot. Sand fleas in Y-fronts, uncontrollable TARDIS doors, awkward cameras moving like tanks, Billy-fluffs and over sensitive sprinklers make up the catalogue of disasters delightfully captured here.<br />
<br />
Despite Newman's serious doubts about the pilot, <i>Doctor Who</i> gets another chance. The pilot is re-recorded and production continues. Lambert acknowledges Hartnell's criticisms of the role are spot on and in a lovely scene she is seen privately chatting to him, understands his insecurities and convinces him he is still the right man for the part. Again, Bradley seems to tap into the emotional turmoil inside Hartnell, sensitively essaying the man's fear of failure. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOC74uMLoZBTk3lFtMuep1SYG87-NnrZCOWyLBV7zZLCzPKmooJxfsMRCOibHVoLS091S6C4wjFidTTtKE2M9TLex7J2kEO22Wld_Uo3SotiobL2ewt54z0al00-lvSafVjOudL30ZMaO/s1600/aist18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOC74uMLoZBTk3lFtMuep1SYG87-NnrZCOWyLBV7zZLCzPKmooJxfsMRCOibHVoLS091S6C4wjFidTTtKE2M9TLex7J2kEO22Wld_Uo3SotiobL2ewt54z0al00-lvSafVjOudL30ZMaO/s320/aist18.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1RVN15mau9XUog9u8jqknYN2ZuK3JAzh5r1JPV-omgtODgMd497lfNNhwXuseAX7NHc04FlK268adGZui6nlpgFS2RDy6ggFSUg7UQwnOqEkWyKxT5wqOT09h7dqjoSzzl1kwvPD3mxwc/s1600/aist19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1RVN15mau9XUog9u8jqknYN2ZuK3JAzh5r1JPV-omgtODgMd497lfNNhwXuseAX7NHc04FlK268adGZui6nlpgFS2RDy6ggFSUg7UQwnOqEkWyKxT5wqOT09h7dqjoSzzl1kwvPD3mxwc/s320/aist19.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vEXTXvuJPOcMtXkJiY0sQt8mfhkuIxZcWxHpGjyGfDbQTk5DwqtFzkDBMuhnxLsxAkabI9l9kPMbeV9VMWehj-w6WCc1TNkwZg7R-qG3vF6oJEHArFUVVU5IWlGo1KKOrMyN45wtDzLr/s1600/aist21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3vEXTXvuJPOcMtXkJiY0sQt8mfhkuIxZcWxHpGjyGfDbQTk5DwqtFzkDBMuhnxLsxAkabI9l9kPMbeV9VMWehj-w6WCc1TNkwZg7R-qG3vF6oJEHArFUVVU5IWlGo1KKOrMyN45wtDzLr/s320/aist21.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtogTj9mKdGyukjkmX_zvW7sd95re62EyB9is2XIGdj75JHKQhhAUNtoBElvrYBOLdy92LQ9HnKadYD-NfroHQfyWrenJ0tEzNN2sQl9Rk6WncEDiFjrOelc6a9pR2vgkzkUKwoqJCGWTj/s1600/aist22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtogTj9mKdGyukjkmX_zvW7sd95re62EyB9is2XIGdj75JHKQhhAUNtoBElvrYBOLdy92LQ9HnKadYD-NfroHQfyWrenJ0tEzNN2sQl9Rk6WncEDiFjrOelc6a9pR2vgkzkUKwoqJCGWTj/s320/aist22.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Onward then, despite the demand from Head of Television Donald Baverstock (a cameo from Mark Eden, star of <i>Marco Polo</i>) <i>Doctor Who</i> should end after the completion of the episodes then in production, to the introduction of the Daleks. McDonough's visual inventiveness knows no bounds. As Newman reads Terry Nation's script and his description of the Daleks, 'hideous machine like creatures... a lens on a flexible shaft', McDonough cross-cuts to Lee Harvey Oswald priming his Carcarno rifle and telescopic sight in the book depository overlooking Dealey Plaza in Dallas.<br />
<br />
Two anniversaries collide here. The killing machines of Skaro are equated with the terrible slaughter of Kennedy, a mass media president at the heart of the civil rights movement, the Cuban missile crisis and the space programme. A man of the future exterminated perhaps out of a fear for what kind of future he might usher in. An interesting connection is formed between Kennedy and the survivors of a nuclear war on a distant, alien planet whose xenophobia translates into racial purity and hatred of the other.<br />
<br />
Lambert vehemently defends her decision to tell the story of the Daleks which Newman sees merely as 'the cheap-jack science fiction trash' he wanted her to avoid. Her view of the Daleks as creatures 'who lash out' out of fear could also be seen as a parallel with Hartnell's own search for inner peace in the story, especially as illness forces him back into his own protective shell. This is echoed later when Hartnell, suffering terribly from his illness, hears his inner self-doubt and fear realised in the form of Dalek voices. It's a very clever touch. <br />
<br />
Without the Daleks, the series may never have continued. The iconic design still captivates us and the recreation of <i>The Daleks</i> (or <i>The Mutants</i> as it was known) in studio is wonderful. The Dalek props look fantastic and our first view is an inventive shot taken from inside the prop as one of the operators is prepared for recording and we see intrigued bystanders through the mesh of the neck section. As recording in the studio proceeds, on the soundtrack we hear the distinctive electronic tonalities created by Tristram Carey overlaid in an another example of music and sound effects reinvented as ghosts to haunt the scene. And there in the corner of the studio is Nick Briggs playing Peter Hawkins, the Dalek voice of the present overlaid onto a figure from <i>Doctor Who</i> history. History in the making. <br />
<br />
McDonough and Gatiss consider the impact of the Daleks upon the British public too. Out in the street, a mother calls her children inside for tea and <i>Doctor Who</i> and McDonough's camera glides over to a window and peers in as a family watch the Daleks on television. Lambert witnesses several schoolboys imitating the Daleks on the upper deck of a bus. Later, along come the Dalek play suits and the annuals as the show cements its popularity and casts its magic spell. <br />
<br />
Newman admits he was wrong after 10 million tune in and it seems <i>Doctor Who</i>'s success is assured. Hartnell becomes more and more identified with the role, his mistakes with dialogue accepted as part of the Doctor's eccentric character. Behind it all however is the terrible spectre of his illness and, with it, a rapidly failing memory. Amusing as his slips may be to begin with ('quickly child, we're running out of time. Check the fornicator!'), Bradley's subtle performance shows the strain and worry behind Hartnell's face. It's achingly sad. <br />
<br />
That ache is also there when Hussein departs the production after <i>Marco Polo</i>, presented in another lovely recreation of the studio sets. As William Russell says in a moment of foreshadowing, 'no one knows how long this is going to last. No one's irreplaceable'. Hussein and Lambert go their separate ways and gradually Hartnell finds the company around him changing and diminishing. Another actor, another Doctor once said, 'A man is the sum of his memories you know, a Time Lord even more so...' and Hartnell's sense of security is 'whittled away, piece by piece' by long schedules, changes to cast and crew and the struggle to cope with his illness.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'especially effective in recalibrating Hartnell's contribution to the series'</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT1-pj-_qlKWOPv_rMfWJd-W5L4JYe1_r56fVo8q_o9vhlUCpLRkyS76UqbOJEO3JnVqURSRB7EbxmRrAW31KfYaA0iES0ZEQhhvRWa7H6qb-lp1WaVN1-FAibue3haEoisuc_ymhTIpx/s1600/aist23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpT1-pj-_qlKWOPv_rMfWJd-W5L4JYe1_r56fVo8q_o9vhlUCpLRkyS76UqbOJEO3JnVqURSRB7EbxmRrAW31KfYaA0iES0ZEQhhvRWa7H6qb-lp1WaVN1-FAibue3haEoisuc_ymhTIpx/s320/aist23.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrLMAQ6rILcqIc-qwcew9KkcXuX4-nup1iYgp0nIKAW5_n9Ek07dxM670q_xMiG_9kNejaWiRMbh6kFZWW1GfQYpRYYikOOgUq0584s7hUZxZ4Pf5ijqkxh2O9dYOfLRMx0in5NMCxpLp/s1600/aist24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrLMAQ6rILcqIc-qwcew9KkcXuX4-nup1iYgp0nIKAW5_n9Ek07dxM670q_xMiG_9kNejaWiRMbh6kFZWW1GfQYpRYYikOOgUq0584s7hUZxZ4Pf5ijqkxh2O9dYOfLRMx0in5NMCxpLp/s320/aist24.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlRfluPibC300pOpRxpNSjLqFmPOpKDjBJkGDT1i88XiFCqoHYPQCbdqdZVK60kSNHwkHe0wNyLc16CUW4tKMKAO14kHEKuo1FqWNWMwA2RdO9JoXZyCuoAYX7Eafduj9zrT0tf0pBvET/s1600/aist25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlRfluPibC300pOpRxpNSjLqFmPOpKDjBJkGDT1i88XiFCqoHYPQCbdqdZVK60kSNHwkHe0wNyLc16CUW4tKMKAO14kHEKuo1FqWNWMwA2RdO9JoXZyCuoAYX7Eafduj9zrT0tf0pBvET/s320/aist25.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJafh8zV6np9O07PoVfUqVgu6c5Lh7NaI4tBTTHn3ujQ3aUBH9nXdQNgrspiTovjEpJHCxFlvEwWzxRPU-6FD_ufskCy08_EKIEOQKhug9QUmygXn1rbKObXaPNe-uQfQ0kId0xLxVUs2R/s1600/aist26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJafh8zV6np9O07PoVfUqVgu6c5Lh7NaI4tBTTHn3ujQ3aUBH9nXdQNgrspiTovjEpJHCxFlvEwWzxRPU-6FD_ufskCy08_EKIEOQKhug9QUmygXn1rbKObXaPNe-uQfQ0kId0xLxVUs2R/s320/aist26.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the recreation of <i>The Dalek Invasion of Earth</i>. After an astonishing remounting of the Daleks gliding across Westminster Bridge, hilariously brought to a halt because one of the Dalek operators demands to have a wee, Hartnell is faced with the departure of Carole Ann Ford. Clearly upset by her departure, he lashes out at a fellow actor's suggestion for the next scene.<br />
<br />
The recording of the Doctor's speech to the abandoned Susan is captured in a sublime amalgam of gorgeous studio recreation and Bradley's stunning performance. You get a real sense of Hartnell's own sadness at Ford's departure in a moment where emotional nuances and resonances bounce against each other, the Doctor's farewell overlapping onto Hartnell's. But again, a spectre looms, his memory failing as he addresses director Richard Martin as Waris from the studio floor. <br />
<br />
Equally, when Lambert announces she too is moving on it's a body blow to the actor. Her leaving party and the scene played by Bradley and Raine alone in the TARDIS console room is a bittersweet moment. Lambert thanks Hartnell but he is distraught at the changes being made, unaware yet how <i>Doctor Who</i> thrives and renews itself through such change. She asks if he intends to rest as she is fully aware, unbeknownst to him, of his illness.<br />
<br />
In an echo of the line 'this old body of mine is wearing a bit thin' in <i>The Tenth Planet</i>, he simply and proudly claims, 'this old body of mine is good for a few years yet.' The present and the imminent future are about to merge. It ends so tenderly, though, with Hartnell dabbing the wine away from the corners of Lambert's mouth and sharing a farewell kiss. <br />
<br />
From this point forward, as press calls announce the arrival of Maureen O'Brien, of Peter Purves and Jackie Lane and, finally, of Anneke Wills and Michael Craze, Hartnell retreats into himself and becomes more and more frustrated as exhaustion wears him down and his memory fails him. One such moment on the set of <i>The Web Planet</i> is deeply moving when, after being haunted by Dalek voices claiming 'he is becoming delirious. I do not understand his words', his words completely fail him.<br />
<br />
He becomes a proud man, unable to let go or slow down. 'Mr Hartnell to you, sonny,' he snaps at a director from the gallery, his proprietorial stance about 'my show' emerging as an acerbic corrective to crew members who should know better about how he operates the TARDIS controls. The director's question about the TARDIS time rotor of 'anybody know how to make it go?' could again be seen as a parallel to Hartnell's own failing abilities. Without Lambert or Hussein and other cast members and directors, no one really understands him or how to work with him. A reworking of a speech from <i>The Massacre</i> is used to eloquently distill this feeling: 'Now they've all gone. All gone. None of them ever understood.' Shaking his head, muttering, 'I can't... I can't', he walks off the set. Bradley's performance is incredible.<br />
<br />
At the sound of the TARDIS engines, we come full circle and return to 1966. Hartnell approaches Newman with the intention of perhaps slowing down and taking a holiday but is told the astonishing news he is to be replaced. 'No one is irreplaceable' he claimed earlier and that truth has sadly come home to roost. Perhaps he should listen more carefully to granddaughter Judith who believes the TARDIS will 'go on forever and forever because it's special and magic'. She is not far off the mark. <br />
<br />
Difficult to work with and suffering from exhaustion and illness, Hartnell's departure ought to have signalled the demise of the show but, as we all know, Newman and company hit upon the remarkable idea of recasting the part and thus renewing and 'regenerating' <i>Doctor Who</i>. We return to Barnes Common and the impending recording of <i>The Tenth Planet</i>, as Hartnell quotes <i>King Lear</i>, 'Fortune, good night, smile once more, turn thy wheel', and where change, not a moment too soon, is in the air.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJlpkpcyVug5Axg_1X49J3wKqRNZrK3-0aa5E9spkQHxZp9I0zSqLZNvcxxLqUVoMokxRQLmVQMOrE7HMexQhbBlfDjystfnAL4xabx282Tve97Weq80DGPiqkmj-ezcvBAf0I_o4D9aB/s1600/aist28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJlpkpcyVug5Axg_1X49J3wKqRNZrK3-0aa5E9spkQHxZp9I0zSqLZNvcxxLqUVoMokxRQLmVQMOrE7HMexQhbBlfDjystfnAL4xabx282Tve97Weq80DGPiqkmj-ezcvBAf0I_o4D9aB/s320/aist28.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPevfnbih4FO-S2PniOjHMDCotBGfgUDo2zNbJyBbTHe3eH7ij4ybn4LVYDsKvPRAUe6w5TOuwg3PwxlZ73avc-sgy77W_Hvs6DJ6yOlH9TJy7gVNlA36jyYi6VxTYlF8o08-MSvvGlCz/s1600/aist29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPevfnbih4FO-S2PniOjHMDCotBGfgUDo2zNbJyBbTHe3eH7ij4ybn4LVYDsKvPRAUe6w5TOuwg3PwxlZ73avc-sgy77W_Hvs6DJ6yOlH9TJy7gVNlA36jyYi6VxTYlF8o08-MSvvGlCz/s320/aist29.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0UEz04MyiX9F7EJ_AYj3LA-KTiCtTXJVZZrYf4lSyAkCtY06c6pz6VaI5gDLOYjaS7ohib8V4nSHY52hdlckt5qKP-7x2RO0s6K9EvIBBvIaEEitEac01Q7iBSuX_XRp8fAIB1vEHw1l/s1600/aist30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0UEz04MyiX9F7EJ_AYj3LA-KTiCtTXJVZZrYf4lSyAkCtY06c6pz6VaI5gDLOYjaS7ohib8V4nSHY52hdlckt5qKP-7x2RO0s6K9EvIBBvIaEEitEac01Q7iBSuX_XRp8fAIB1vEHw1l/s320/aist30.jpg" height="169" width="270" /></a></div>
If the story hasn't been sad enough, then Bradley's performance as Hartnell, upon his return home, really is heartfelt. Sharing the news with his wife Heather, Hartnell breaks down and, in another moment of the past mirroring the future, quotes the final words of the departing Tenth Doctor: 'I don't want to go.' Two actors meet across several generations; a fictional character called the Doctor meets an actor playing an actor who was the first Doctor. Both actors are/were perhaps reluctant to relinquish a part which has made them a household name. An elegiac cry across the decades.<br />
<br />
If there's a minor negative aspect to the final scenes during the recording of <i>The Tenth Planet</i> then I'm afraid it rests with Reece Shearsmith's appearance as Patrick Troughton. On paper this sounded perfectly reasonable but in reality it doesn't quite work. Shearsmith doesn't quite get Troughton right. It feels like he's actually attempting to play the Second Doctor rather than Troughton the man and that distinction is crucial to believing this encounter between the two actors. He's also lumbered with a slightly unconvincing wig which, in a production as meticulous as this, is strange. In a drama that hits all the emotional beats perfectly, the scene feels a little flimsy and, unintentionally, something of an afterthought. <br />
<br />
The film ends with the past looking into the future as Hartnell is shown gazing across the decades where the future yet to come, our present, is realised in the form of Matt Smith standing opposite him at the controls of the TARDIS. Fittingly, it evokes the series' continuation into the future and Hartnell's own faith in the show, a sense of him knowing somehow it would carry on successfully without him. Mind you, it will date the film. Perhaps, as Gatiss has joked, they can green screen in each current incarnation of the Doctor whenever the film is repeated on anniversaries to come. <br />
<br />
Overall, <b>An Adventure in Space and Time</b> is a triumph. Beautifully shot and edited, visually a treat for the eyes and it is especially effective in recalibrating Hartnell's contribution to the series. He was the original and without him we wouldn't be here 50 years later watching <i>Doctor Who</i>. Gatiss pitches the script very well, capturing the child-like nostalgia for the past, the sense of the 1960s as a progressive, ever evolving time inextricably tied to our notions of 'the future' and the way a single role bestows immortality onto the actors who play it. Excellent performances from David Bradley and Jessica Raine provide the heart and soul of the story and a shout out must go to composer Edmund Butt whose music captures the excitement and magic of making <i>Doctor Who </i>in the 1960s<i> </i>and the wistful, sad decline of an actor who briefly found renewed life while playing the title character. <br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-21725167888294353592013-11-16T16:05:00.001+00:002014-01-19T10:20:09.397+00:00SCHALCKEN THE PAINTER - BFI Flipside Dual Format Edition / Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EYqUuwVsoUqNRDrwcRcsTztFizc8sujGDFclyjMjd19ot-OWV5-8MBi7cH-52Tb-R2ig5r5-hlynsbKaVb9yBLoymEbML6mHrMcV1r5oD8tK-23biEj2eIs05yMuP6dkq5x0ijh85_kD/s1600/stp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_lm_484535="null" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EYqUuwVsoUqNRDrwcRcsTztFizc8sujGDFclyjMjd19ot-OWV5-8MBi7cH-52Tb-R2ig5r5-hlynsbKaVb9yBLoymEbML6mHrMcV1r5oD8tK-23biEj2eIs05yMuP6dkq5x0ijh85_kD/s320/stp.jpg" height="320" isa="true" width="241" /></a></div>
Leslie Megahey's extraordinary television film <b>Schalcken the Painter</b> finally arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD this month courtesy of the BFI. As with many of the home entertainment releases in their <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/gothic">Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film</a> season, <b>Schalcken the Painter</b> has such a reputation it has been on the 'most wanted' lists of many fans of British telefantasy for decades. Here it is and remastered in high definition from the 16mm interpositive held in the BFI Archive and released in the Flipside range of obscure British films.<br />
<br />
Writer, director and producer Megahey's career began in BBC radio where, after he graduated from his traineeship, he wrote and produced radio plays for a year. He joined the BBC's Music and Arts department and in 1967, along with other television trainees Tony Palmer, Alan Yentob and Nigel Williams, began making films about painters and writers under the auspices of pioneering television executive Stephen Hearst.<br />
<br />
Megahey was as much an inspirational figure himself as Yentob, then a raw recruit, professed: 'Leslie was a little older than me and had arrived at the BBC by much the same route two years earlier. We became close friends and colleagues in the Music and Arts department of the BBC. Leslie's enthusiasm and commitment were infectious. Leslie was endlessly curious and was a great believer in finding inventive ways to tell stories.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
It was this inventiveness Megahey brought to the drama-documentary form. His first full length film about a painter, <i>The Performers</i> (BBC, 1972), an exploration of the astonishing twists and turns of Goya's life, was produced under the editorship of Nigel Williams for <i>Omnibus </i>(BBC, 1967-2003) and it ushered in his signature use of dramatising scenes of the artist's work and a distanced narrator for what where technically documentary biographies.<br />
<br />
In this way he was following a direct line from director Ken Russell (whom Megahey described as 'a true innovator') and his work, both for <i>Omnibus</i> and its predecessor <i>Monitor</i>, on <i>Elgar </i>(BBC 1962), <i>The Debussy Film</i> (BBC, 1965) and <i>Song of Summer </i>(BBC, 1968). During the 1970s Megahey continued to make 'personal essay films, where the dramatised parts evoked ideas and obsessions about the artist's work' covering such subjects as John Donne, Ligeti, Rodin and Gaugin. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(2)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'brooding, sexy and gothic - and based in some kind of art historical reality'</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOAJggqQNyQP0NHu0B_1If1uWwyViL7aXA2rHg9DuYPTPAf1sw-lNXczmGIxIyh4NiEoPe2AdsbuE9WPntQV6YuQBzq-fAIYgwLZejAqnvqr5_U9cos_4ABQhyphenhyphen7_9mGDFyOghskLz5m25/s1600/stp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOAJggqQNyQP0NHu0B_1If1uWwyViL7aXA2rHg9DuYPTPAf1sw-lNXczmGIxIyh4NiEoPe2AdsbuE9WPntQV6YuQBzq-fAIYgwLZejAqnvqr5_U9cos_4ABQhyphenhyphen7_9mGDFyOghskLz5m25/s320/stp1.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3sXmGP4l1nsuKGy27NEF8H1aLNg-z4YRSpbeDaWlgUsu4rCsVoP92GBklA6sfvE2fuUtHohJ_R6FmvNPefUZLsvp0KLYXlmPinBd7cBgHDfGyUWUUlSD1dhHZWGhaYfW7Cif98Oh5lxfw/s1600/stp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3sXmGP4l1nsuKGy27NEF8H1aLNg-z4YRSpbeDaWlgUsu4rCsVoP92GBklA6sfvE2fuUtHohJ_R6FmvNPefUZLsvp0KLYXlmPinBd7cBgHDfGyUWUUlSD1dhHZWGhaYfW7Cif98Oh5lxfw/s320/stp2.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipX_BI2QmFSK6BVYJK2wehzBVernSnmHZLLhh-_nuRPilLiUEcIZegGWZjnEuoxQSbRJEztotFZA331tSMCG5jKEjVsOKNLDWVs39lEpbtm7OWb7tDhueWsyUixkAQLtrD4Vv-Y6Y-6C5I/s1600/stp8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipX_BI2QmFSK6BVYJK2wehzBVernSnmHZLLhh-_nuRPilLiUEcIZegGWZjnEuoxQSbRJEztotFZA331tSMCG5jKEjVsOKNLDWVs39lEpbtm7OWb7tDhueWsyUixkAQLtrD4Vv-Y6Y-6C5I/s320/stp8.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQdU8S5MZowK3-1htEHpWZR_MyGozZ3QE_uziC1jwQv512X12hakS_1kggDzKxxUuF10KySiUcA7glYZ3jW2LzDidhSeDv6a2j_gUXsMRXYf2PpWhoVLB4vnkvY3cP6y7KoX0r_nZQOed/s1600/stp10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQdU8S5MZowK3-1htEHpWZR_MyGozZ3QE_uziC1jwQv512X12hakS_1kggDzKxxUuF10KySiUcA7glYZ3jW2LzDidhSeDv6a2j_gUXsMRXYf2PpWhoVLB4vnkvY3cP6y7KoX0r_nZQOed/s320/stp10.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>Schalcken the Painter</b>, made in 1979, came about in a rather circuitous way. Megahey's editor Paul Humfress, who had worked with him on a number of films, picked up a collection of short stories by J Sheridan Le Fanu in a second hand shop in Amsterdam and immediately thought one story, first published in <i>The Dublin University Magazine</i> in 1839 as 'Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter: Being a Seventh Extract from the Legacy of the Late Francis Purcell, P.P. of Drumcoolagh' and later in a revised form 'Schalken the Painter' (sic) for inclusion in 1851's <i>Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery</i>, was perhaps the property they were looking for.<br />
<br />
Megahey and Humfress had wanted to make something 'brooding, sexy and gothic - and based in some kind of art historical reality' and Le Fanu's story, re-typed by Humfress and submitted to Megahey for his approval, fitted the bill. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(3) </span>He then researched 17th Century Dutch painting by visiting the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie at The Hague. In the collections archive, he examined the documented work of Godfried Schalcken, the genre and portrait painter who was the inspiration for Le Fanu's story.<br />
<br />
Schalcken was notable for representing scenes by candlelight and a number of paintings paralleled many of the scenes Megahey had incorporated into his own script: 'I was amazed at how prolific he was having never heard of him before. So the extra scenes, and the brothel incidents, were based on the Schalckens I had seen in Holland and on the images of deHooch and other painters.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(4)</span> One painting - a girl holding a candle while in the background a man draws a sword - remained elusive, presumed destroyed. A mock-up was used in the finished film. <br />
<br />
After showing a hand written screenplay, completed in the course of one night, to drama director Tristram Powell he was advised to add more dialogue and dramatisation, After struggling to expand the script when in reality he had no mind to, Megahey devised the opening, off screen introduction to the film where Schalcken poses his model and asks her rather ominously to 'look into the dark'. <br />
<br />
In August 1976, he asked the acting Head of Music and Arts Norman Swallow to look at the script as 'an interesting offer from our department as a Christmas ghost story with a serious leaning towards the arts. It's a very unusual way to deal with the psyche of the artist and the conflicts between art and life.' Even at this stage, Megahey was thinking of raising co-production money from the Dutch Public Broadcasting company, Nos and sending the script to Vincent Price, asking him to play Le Fanu as the narrator. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(5)</span><br />
<br />
Offering it to director Lawrence Gordon Clark, who had been responsible for the superb M.R. James adaptations in <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2012/08/ghost-stories-stalls-of-barchester.html"><i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i></a> since 1971, was mooted but Megahey was rather protective of the project, feeling he wanted to direct it himself. A commission was not forthcoming and the film remained unmade until Megahey became series editor of the <i>Omnibus </i>strand, taking over from Barry Gavin, and he could in effect commission himself. The opportunity therefore arose to make<b> Schalcken the Painter</b> with co-production finance from Rainer Moritz. This was serendipitous as the television BBC ghost story tradition could said to have begun with <i>Omnibus</i> and Jonathan Miller's <a href="http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2012/08/ghost-stories-whistle-and-ill-come-to.html"><i>Whistle and I'll Come to You</i></a> in 1968.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl04hM1jj_CyMDmxWuxcc5QS70t-r9ki4yzxOqQx5hxed5FatRH3QAVKNMCBNQw1-odX_ldpXtw6EeKT-IE79a_6gyCVUXeRpzJIdpFPBQaLKJpPBTTRqr0_oyxSET0am0AXrloA6Lwhix/s1600/stp4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl04hM1jj_CyMDmxWuxcc5QS70t-r9ki4yzxOqQx5hxed5FatRH3QAVKNMCBNQw1-odX_ldpXtw6EeKT-IE79a_6gyCVUXeRpzJIdpFPBQaLKJpPBTTRqr0_oyxSET0am0AXrloA6Lwhix/s320/stp4.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZXcgezK08q_0wEPB5JzI5ROMJumFOsoyuuKz4zsasbILGwkwHe0UfytDDNqihipN9KrHFccb2dQ9a1s79F3IsTdOt5ZTNy9ovW9Jb9pxIEao0CqCyyvPjMd2aMWoDhz7XvC_5Do1WFSmA/s1600/stp9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZXcgezK08q_0wEPB5JzI5ROMJumFOsoyuuKz4zsasbILGwkwHe0UfytDDNqihipN9KrHFccb2dQ9a1s79F3IsTdOt5ZTNy9ovW9Jb9pxIEao0CqCyyvPjMd2aMWoDhz7XvC_5Do1WFSmA/s320/stp9.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSicspzG85ZfNGj-zYZ2ZirGa-g6uVkzHcWf1cHznFJw4aepSuAKdyRQwpyaorrezmhJBhSJNae1rGvD8jmLiZcHeXCvRDYaDC01fkm6Ec2zygfBb1lWfF-w0WTVDYnKPNVGc3YFV-TwW/s1600/stp15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSicspzG85ZfNGj-zYZ2ZirGa-g6uVkzHcWf1cHznFJw4aepSuAKdyRQwpyaorrezmhJBhSJNae1rGvD8jmLiZcHeXCvRDYaDC01fkm6Ec2zygfBb1lWfF-w0WTVDYnKPNVGc3YFV-TwW/s320/stp15.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZjixtDYhxFSEbn_-rh4MYbGADZwkEwxZ-VItYnzjQmw2r4_xB7SWTZVuciz-MKYvc1ho6Gm6NKqTbIChIgSEfxlaVaME0gqn7yqc0bKfSvXx6e3J5b1Qi2GNGvrPfFX4_3iU5VIPahUW/s1600/stp16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZjixtDYhxFSEbn_-rh4MYbGADZwkEwxZ-VItYnzjQmw2r4_xB7SWTZVuciz-MKYvc1ho6Gm6NKqTbIChIgSEfxlaVaME0gqn7yqc0bKfSvXx6e3J5b1Qi2GNGvrPfFX4_3iU5VIPahUW/s320/stp16.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
The idea of casting Vincent Price was quickly abandoned when Megahey decided the notion of an on screen narrator would not work and especially so when Price's qualities as an actor might 'tip an entire film over in the wrong direction'. Megahey also has vague memories of the script being rejected by Peter Cushing who 'objected to the script, I think, probably on moral grounds.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(6)</span><br />
<br />
Instead, the silky voiced charms of Charles Gray provided the framing voice over narrative, with the Le Fanu fiction delivered as both commentary and constructed fiction around real people and actual paintings. The opening sequence, of the painter Schalcken (Jeremy Clyde) hard at work on a portrait, flashes back to his apprenticeship with his master Gerrit Dou (Maurice Denham in a role originally considered for Arthur Lowe) and his pathetic attempts to woo the old man's niece and ward, Rose Velderkaust (Cheryl Kennedy). <br />
<br />
A strange, chilling story unfolds in which the corruptible and miserly Dou sells off his niece to the ghoulish but aristocratic figure of Vanderhausen (John Justin) and Schalcken, in his fruitless attempt to find her, turns to prostitution - not only for sexual gratification but also for the commercial realisation of his art.<br />
<br />
Justin had worked with Megahey on radio and was part of a small repertory company of supporting actors the director regularly used. Jeremy Clyde was cast because he bore an uncanny resemblance to the Schalcken self portraits and Cheryl Kennedy embodied not just the 'creamy looks of a Vermeer model' but also Rose's fierce intelligence. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(7)</span><br />
<br />
The low budget production was confined to several small sets, replications of exteriors made in studio and the brothel interior, and one large set for the interior of Dou's house. Megahey's core team comprised of editor Paul Humfress, lighting cameraman John Hooper and designer Anna Ridley. All three had previously worked on Megahey's films.<br />
<br />
Ridley worked closely with Megahey and Hooper to recreate the signature look of Dutch paintings, particularly Vermeer and Rembrandt. Hooper lit the sets with miniature spot lights, opted for large areas of the frame to tail off into inky blackness and pushed the exposures to encompass candlelight and subtle colours. 'A most important design feature of the shooting was the lining up of doors within doors. While we were on the set we pinned up a lot of repros of Dutch paintings on a board to refer to while lighting and shooting,' Megahey recalled and he also strove to capture a certain authenticity in the sequences where Schalcken was painting. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(8) </span>Ridley employed an art consultant, Paul Martin, to advise on the recreation and production of many of the paintings in the film. <br />
<br />
It's certainly a<span class="st"> <i>mise-</i><wbr></wbr><i>en-scene</i></span> - artist biography, precise use of props, lighting, a documentary realism coupled with stillness and carefully choreographed camera moves - that reflected Derek Jarman's work on <i>The Tempest</i> (1979) and anticipated the same director's <i>Caravaggio</i> (1986) and the postmodern formula of Peter Greenaway's <i>The Draughtsman's Contract</i> (1982) wherein both films are full of references to paintings, use of tableaux and symbolic objects. Megahey also offers, in the documentary, that <span class="st">Walerian Borowczyk</span>'s <i>Blanche</i> (1971) was a thematic and stylistic influence on the shooting of the film.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'... allegories warning the viewer to take care to live a life of virtue and
realise your immortal soul will have more weight than your
possessions' </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL64vZsP7WbRqpUB0xY67ov55gqYIKS5HKdX08dFsM9qyE8dWgnoDl85scAectVkzGaIdsobuRsLg_UJ-DraKWqqzij_QPlSoKPuo7fGukl7kxwdcxwG81E9FJScMIsetbEeTBs0_vgTbb/s1600/stp7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL64vZsP7WbRqpUB0xY67ov55gqYIKS5HKdX08dFsM9qyE8dWgnoDl85scAectVkzGaIdsobuRsLg_UJ-DraKWqqzij_QPlSoKPuo7fGukl7kxwdcxwG81E9FJScMIsetbEeTBs0_vgTbb/s320/stp7.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpe-QRFGk0S03NZkljrxPP3iz9ipW3T1X8xTqhlX49kE4XtXiJZMQ4C6KV0Ac5OEtCz8VJXX39VM974sbKcWc44sgbaAqgqizdQheYakZI7B8Ytk0PBQWYEpxMS6DDI0PEYISd3X0jACj/s1600/stp13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpe-QRFGk0S03NZkljrxPP3iz9ipW3T1X8xTqhlX49kE4XtXiJZMQ4C6KV0Ac5OEtCz8VJXX39VM974sbKcWc44sgbaAqgqizdQheYakZI7B8Ytk0PBQWYEpxMS6DDI0PEYISd3X0jACj/s320/stp13.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYmNQesQ3N-Hf8Yb0V46fFSJXq5zwWF_ATobPm4NuEKOmGt9yAh3sYKeBpc08KJxyc1oO2n0XeRUgs4A9yBoxee1MTcli59kACkVGvz-JBv5SSZAa2QuDqw1ko11PwVt0thSWj2A1eIsC/s1600/stp18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYmNQesQ3N-Hf8Yb0V46fFSJXq5zwWF_ATobPm4NuEKOmGt9yAh3sYKeBpc08KJxyc1oO2n0XeRUgs4A9yBoxee1MTcli59kACkVGvz-JBv5SSZAa2QuDqw1ko11PwVt0thSWj2A1eIsC/s320/stp18.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhix_9REn7X9Vlt5n6lN0QH5vhNVh_0i6V1Wmyd-cmgSTpFvpvelus68i5rXVxdcI1n-bDSTJ9gIc8fmVqZAaXwQhtgWEjwBsPf7GxW0nyTpyHCqkXdO7-0bagq-LX2QX3_ymD6iUtWbax7/s1600/stp45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhix_9REn7X9Vlt5n6lN0QH5vhNVh_0i6V1Wmyd-cmgSTpFvpvelus68i5rXVxdcI1n-bDSTJ9gIc8fmVqZAaXwQhtgWEjwBsPf7GxW0nyTpyHCqkXdO7-0bagq-LX2QX3_ymD6iUtWbax7/s320/stp45.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>Schalcken the Painter </b>opens with a close up of a burning candle, used within Dutch painting of the period as a symbol our time is brief and life is short and as a repeating, foreboding emblem in the film, before the camera pans up to a woman posing and reaching up to a drapery for the off screen Schalcken. She is directed to look into the dark.<br />
<br />
The image is reproduced again when the narrator asks us to consider a particular painting, one of a woman holding a candle before such a drapery while a man draws a sword in the background. Some terrible shape also lurks in the darkness behind the coquettishly smiling woman. The image of drapery unveiling something uncanny and unpleasant in the shadows reoccurs in the film. <br />
<br />
We are taken back to Gerrit Dou's studio in 1665, during Schalcken's apprenticeship, to understand the terrible significance of this painting. In Dou's house, Megahey crams in as many references as he can, often opulent tableaux, to underline the film's themes and the allusions to art of the period - the goods of exchange, consumerism, commodification and the price of everything and anyone.<br />
<br />
Game birds, hanging rabbits and dried flowers slowly move out of frame as the camera replicates the perspective of Vermeer's 'Woman Holding A Balance'. We see Gerrit Dou counting his money. It acknowledges a genre of painting, which depicted various civilians counting money or weighing gold, presented as allegories warning the viewer to take care to live a life of virtue and realise your immortal soul will ultimately have more weight than your possessions. It summarises the theme of <b>Schacklen the Painter</b> perfectly.<br />
<br />
Right from the opening scene Megahey is preoccupied with commerce and the notion that everything, including sex and death, is up for sale in Schalcken's world. The image of the balance is repeated when Schalcken takes Vanderhausen's box of gold coins to be valued before Dou accepts it as payment for his niece and, again, when Schalcken poses a woman with a balance holding a dead bird and jewellery for one of his paintings.<br />
<br />
The notion of value, of the real Gerrit Dou's 'real respect for money' and the aggrandising of art and money over 'the transports of love' are present and correct in Le Fanu's original story. As Simon Schama noted, seventeenth-century Dutch painters insisted on reminding those whom appreciated their work wealth was transitory and death and God's final judgment were ever looming and materiality was fleeting when compared to divine salvation or damnation. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(9)</span><br />
<br />
Rose is of course the antithesis of this very male, moneyed world. We first see her revealed by a gentle pan across the studio and caught in a faithfully mounted reproduction of Vermeer's 'Young Woman Standing at a Virginal' playing a refrain on the keyboard. Music was one of the most popular themes in Dutch painting and carried many diverse associations. In portraits, a musical instrument or songbook might suggest the education or social position of the sitter and refer to the idea of faithfulness to one lover or, in conjunction with the virginal, to the traditional association of music and love.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdhMDfer5CV8jF8G_mZPgBDTKkb9aNJlJQBoc5OV6r6Uu1c4dzVnG_1NCBwP4JGdgr6eugX6RzqhFR8QDQABEO39Duofkh3d2CMQiosCu_s2Hu1HWVu2rPhpOneuOzsA7MQfV_6vkk5tY/s1600/stp22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdhMDfer5CV8jF8G_mZPgBDTKkb9aNJlJQBoc5OV6r6Uu1c4dzVnG_1NCBwP4JGdgr6eugX6RzqhFR8QDQABEO39Duofkh3d2CMQiosCu_s2Hu1HWVu2rPhpOneuOzsA7MQfV_6vkk5tY/s320/stp22.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMtiHtqy1TzHRJxnvl3AALsWIhfw_o1KeiwSMRb8D0Ilzr28tY8QKFDQUU_YbLv4j7o8qOlYeBRdVO10-K1T8-Fw62dkmoDQi1ozjz8k4OmfekCfaKOXMtu_ji096RHvcnpKHtETwfjkD/s1600/stp28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMtiHtqy1TzHRJxnvl3AALsWIhfw_o1KeiwSMRb8D0Ilzr28tY8QKFDQUU_YbLv4j7o8qOlYeBRdVO10-K1T8-Fw62dkmoDQi1ozjz8k4OmfekCfaKOXMtu_ji096RHvcnpKHtETwfjkD/s320/stp28.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVfBXA7Til57vpd_7Tgcf_9FNGajK-4fmY3qWCEqZ76jl7jBigjoNUf0aosNjt1wVKvUJLiktqSY6YYdBYlzdcODJzGEMrTG7dYOBgTfBpIEgEbMuo8a5yL1DhZ9QB9BegLtY2s1R1V6H/s1600/stp49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVfBXA7Til57vpd_7Tgcf_9FNGajK-4fmY3qWCEqZ76jl7jBigjoNUf0aosNjt1wVKvUJLiktqSY6YYdBYlzdcODJzGEMrTG7dYOBgTfBpIEgEbMuo8a5yL1DhZ9QB9BegLtY2s1R1V6H/s320/stp49.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMdz3wkwKOcdEBWUjUEpSsBxDieZbK9-n0mB0CB13o_4eV-mbdX7SoP56QN2rTaN8Q4vEyjg8rFCPw0ZMjDzmsR5Q8Nx5WgPrOY2Mh9_h_M5LQ2WGQu-DfmX0_gyGarAD2HeXK5ifD4Um/s1600/stp55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXMdz3wkwKOcdEBWUjUEpSsBxDieZbK9-n0mB0CB13o_4eV-mbdX7SoP56QN2rTaN8Q4vEyjg8rFCPw0ZMjDzmsR5Q8Nx5WgPrOY2Mh9_h_M5LQ2WGQu-DfmX0_gyGarAD2HeXK5ifD4Um/s320/stp55.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
It is the scene of Schalcken's first fumbling attempts at courtship and one repeated in Megahey's nod to Vermeer's 'The Kitchen Maid' as Rose virtuously carries out her household duties as Schalcken dithers at her side. In one of these moments of 'courtship' Schalcken cradles Rose's breast. Again, Megahey mirrors this encounter in the unsettling conclusion to the film where Schalcken is reunited with Rose. Before she forces upon him the ultimate humiliation there is a brief, ironic moment where she cradles her own breast. <br />
<br />
Damnation is the course that both Gerrit Dou and his pupil Schalcken are set upon (many shots contain a skull as a visual reminder of their fate). Dou's greed knows no bounds and he eventually sells his pretty ward to Vanderhausen, the Death figure who drops in for dinner and demands her as his concubine. Le Fanu's tale then inverts Schalcken's fate. He becomes as in demand as his old master and just as corruptible.<br />
<br />
At first unrequited in love and then plagued with guilt when he fails to rescue Rose from the clutches of Vanderhausen, he finds solace in the beds of prostitutes. That reversal of fortune aligns Schalcken not only with his greedy master but also with the figure of Death personified by Vanderhausen. The realisation is 'The old possess money and power and the right to dispose of the young as they see fit, the most powerful being the oldest and wealthiest and, in fact, dead'. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(10) </span><br />
<br />
Megahey achieves this not through <span class="st"><i>Sturm und Drang</i></span> but by subtle degree. The interior of the studio, the exercise of painting and the awkward courting between Schalcken and Rose seek to domesticate the Gothic. The camera is often static or very slowly panning or tracking in contrast to the continual movement of figures through doorways and in and out of rooms. Gradually, unease is generated.<br />
<br />
When Rose is lost to the predations of the deathly Vanderhausen, Schalcken uses the creation of her portrait as a form of exorcism, 'an attempt to distance and interpret a dream' just as Le Fanu's narrator reinterprets it for the reader and viewer. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(11)</span> There's an amusing scene where Dou is instructing his students and posing his models for a tableaux of 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony'. After identifying an old man and a luscious young woman as the titular saint and his nemesis, he casually instructs his pupils, 'devils, you will imagine the devils'.<br />
<br />
Indeed, as a result Schalcken conjures up the haunted figure of Vanderhausen. A brilliant, subtle shot shows Schalcken at work on his painting of Anthony. It is not going well and upon the cry of 'Damn the picture, damn the devils and the saints. Damn the lot of them to hell' a slow camera pan to the left of the screen reveals the spectre literally sitting at the shoulder of the artist and emerging from the gloom behind him.<br />
<br />
At the tolling of a bell, the strike of a clock and the creak of a floorboard Vanderhausen demands an audience with Dou. Sound and music is used very creatively in the film. The scratching of pens on parchment and charcoal on canvas, the chiming of clocks, cutlery scraping on plates and busy footsteps provide a domestic soundscape which is then augmented by an ominous, rising bass note to signal the impending appearance of the demonic lover Vanderhausen. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOY3jmErov3bnujheORXR3GKvFHUp9qac_lFsP8jUbQ8GB4btylP3MFwBS-hG1XOOk-9pAy7zEcHUOTmD06WPlGBNQkPrI4fSq9GRxBSI15VxZ8Yzovsh2hzDWmByTrE9EhtGwdG9LjrL/s1600/stp33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOY3jmErov3bnujheORXR3GKvFHUp9qac_lFsP8jUbQ8GB4btylP3MFwBS-hG1XOOk-9pAy7zEcHUOTmD06WPlGBNQkPrI4fSq9GRxBSI15VxZ8Yzovsh2hzDWmByTrE9EhtGwdG9LjrL/s320/stp33.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy24PAfaE_He-sraJogZAnfQgy5ByP5wSD1lhps_hA-qrpPs1mdfBuLVAIcHIxBZlQ7BBHbMGIMJoY210nPYFhWUJrf4y2CqCW3Xg7APF12wGcOOyE2WOVG5y2sg23UTDISVOu15ByMpWX/s1600/stp35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy24PAfaE_He-sraJogZAnfQgy5ByP5wSD1lhps_hA-qrpPs1mdfBuLVAIcHIxBZlQ7BBHbMGIMJoY210nPYFhWUJrf4y2CqCW3Xg7APF12wGcOOyE2WOVG5y2sg23UTDISVOu15ByMpWX/s320/stp35.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqqF4UvvqJYUkyYqO6Y2VvEvn3z6x-LR3X5rwdcbPhSVz8c2_yT4I48F0FhhrDR7Y07AnAwMHAhARKMJJ0yV5ZAvnsy0U7paI5wRAUNFeFE-RnO2yKHlg5xC4eegawpPzBVT1fGvbPat9/s1600/stp36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqqF4UvvqJYUkyYqO6Y2VvEvn3z6x-LR3X5rwdcbPhSVz8c2_yT4I48F0FhhrDR7Y07AnAwMHAhARKMJJ0yV5ZAvnsy0U7paI5wRAUNFeFE-RnO2yKHlg5xC4eegawpPzBVT1fGvbPat9/s320/stp36.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdaHicy0qV_8W1t6YlVWLTBte3i21QKz9RnBewnfQWzwBSGVBzpLvX06X9_ph1PfGM5LcVA0mQU2Zyyl64lsz_EuMqPZdp6S25_EecCxYwUvyeloG9of2uNxMm5OmId9MYFzySD8yewCe/s1600/stp42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdaHicy0qV_8W1t6YlVWLTBte3i21QKz9RnBewnfQWzwBSGVBzpLvX06X9_ph1PfGM5LcVA0mQU2Zyyl64lsz_EuMqPZdp6S25_EecCxYwUvyeloG9of2uNxMm5OmId9MYFzySD8yewCe/s320/stp42.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
The Gothic and the uncanny are thus rendered through visual composition dominated by shadow and candlelight, the recreation not just of Dutch painting but in the studio mounted moonlit canals of Rotterdam, and the combination of natural sounds and discordant musical tones.<br />
<br />
Megahey takes his cue from Le Fanu and sets out to disjoint reality and our expectations of the ghost story on television, as noted by Simon Cooke: 'Le Fanu’s light and dark is a symbolic exemplification of the uncertainties of reality, a frightening space where nothing is fixed, and Megahey creates a strong visual equivalent which preserves the story’s sense of ‘ill-defined' menace and strangeness.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(12)</span><br />
<br />
This is matched by Megahey's own playfulness with narrative and documentary techniques describing the lives of artists, their milieu and the power of the personal commission. The personal commission comes in all forms - the selling of portraiture and the selling of the living to the dead.<br />
<br />
Rose becomes the 'object of our contract' according to Vanderhausen. She, Dou and Schalcken lose their appetite when they finally cast their eyes upon the gaunt visage of her husband to be, the 'very rich friend' for whom she 'must trick her self out handsomely', at their gloomy, candlelit dinner.<br />
<br />
John Hooper's control of lighting in this scene is quite stunning with the dinner table and diners marooned in inky blackness save for the guttering candlelight. When Vanderhausen takes his seat, his ornate coat glistens wetly and he looks as if freshly emerged, rotting, from one of the canals. There are glimpses of his pale, drawn face, alluding back to the many skulls placed within the working space of the artists' studio, framed between glowing candles as food is served and left untouched. The skull, which Megahey places in many scenes throughout the film, quotes Pieter Claesz's painting 'Vanitas' and its reminder of the certainty of death.<br />
<br />
The dinner ends with the narrator simply underlining Dou's 'heartlessness' at binding his niece to this creature. The real tragedy is Schalcken's fecklessness as Rose urges a plan upon him to elope before she is contracted to Vanderhausen. All he can offer is paint and canvas as a way of saving money to buy out the contract but, more truthfully, 'Schalcken, with at least one foot inside the establishment pale, cannot directly confront the horror that haunts him, perhaps because he is implicated in it. He can paint it only indirectly as part of his attempt to minimize his own guilt and failure.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(13)</span><br />
<br />
And so Rose departs and leaves behind her shoes. Like a quasi-Cinderella figure, with her Prince Charming rather slow off the mark, she succumbs to the deathly sexuality of Vanderhausen. E. de Jong, one of the leading Dutch specialists in symbolism, regards these so-called <i>pantoffel</i>, shoes without backs, as one of the top ten erotic symbols in Dutch painting of the seventeenth century.<br />
<br />
The scene reflects such paintings as 'The Slippers', by van Hoogstraten, which was an allegory of lust and temptation. The missing Rose is later the object of the unfaithful Schalcken's search in Rotterdam but his distraction by the alluring delights of a brothel, the temptations of the flesh, emphasises the images of women as commercial sex objects. They also capture the visual intensity of Schalcken's own paintings of women by candlelight.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘the dead and the living cannot be one’ </blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQQKCIf7fYLRXm8voy1sUfgZXGzaT3taIxRxE-3YMxEiojr2WkR84jZXU2byAfjX_pHDRWr2nlBktLBg6qe_Iuk0lCM5ztJQ36r52zLicECJ6gx7Lhj3VvWYRUXVfaz72RWcG96T5h6Du/s1600/stp38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQQKCIf7fYLRXm8voy1sUfgZXGzaT3taIxRxE-3YMxEiojr2WkR84jZXU2byAfjX_pHDRWr2nlBktLBg6qe_Iuk0lCM5ztJQ36r52zLicECJ6gx7Lhj3VvWYRUXVfaz72RWcG96T5h6Du/s320/stp38.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdv0uDYgKOE-iE1PhltTZEiacT8w7wUSGfQuuKltONYZGaDqdCPVKRxNQe3aMerD-3_hoQ3dXPmvr_eQyHiR_sRY8YmJ3tisIUMor4UzMYfP88vQtfGI0Wwg09bZcpE3lO0JKZ_jjtA2d/s1600/stp40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdv0uDYgKOE-iE1PhltTZEiacT8w7wUSGfQuuKltONYZGaDqdCPVKRxNQe3aMerD-3_hoQ3dXPmvr_eQyHiR_sRY8YmJ3tisIUMor4UzMYfP88vQtfGI0Wwg09bZcpE3lO0JKZ_jjtA2d/s320/stp40.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOipGLENF8s8hJ24CT0-lvFzdoxqB-XexwukmvW0jJLtgddimBVdiltfui5m13anuEuNZ_Oxe9l2N8oUTRoCqvKUhyphenhyphenBuFBLA5WydWuhVbULEiDgbzP-cS2_VR5r1zL0NenwvkCk0m8PU7/s1600/stp50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOipGLENF8s8hJ24CT0-lvFzdoxqB-XexwukmvW0jJLtgddimBVdiltfui5m13anuEuNZ_Oxe9l2N8oUTRoCqvKUhyphenhyphenBuFBLA5WydWuhVbULEiDgbzP-cS2_VR5r1zL0NenwvkCk0m8PU7/s320/stp50.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_eU4BFGU4bFDLgvzMvzCeJyyVPvHCGZPwChhzQttf8YFrSgh14bIs6aC6qIEduxFC3JSk_QqB6KrZDESrPugGnO0yCaZTLRbVluBeAdLDgQ_Pe03TFDLdy2j_IEXi4FRA5KVdutqF1vd/s1600/stp54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_eU4BFGU4bFDLgvzMvzCeJyyVPvHCGZPwChhzQttf8YFrSgh14bIs6aC6qIEduxFC3JSk_QqB6KrZDESrPugGnO0yCaZTLRbVluBeAdLDgQ_Pe03TFDLdy2j_IEXi4FRA5KVdutqF1vd/s320/stp54.jpg" height="152" width="270" /></a></div>
In one of the film's most disturbing scenes, Rose reappears many months later as a haunted figure seeking sanctuary from Dou and Schalcken. It's very noticeable how her terror, at the imminent arrival of Vanderhausen to claim her back, briefly shifts the <span class="st">rhythm</span> of the film. The slow pace is replaced by swift camera moves and a crane shot, breaking the dominance of horizontal camera moves with an emphatic vertical, as she takes refuge in a bedroom before being snatched away again by her demon lover.<br />
<br />
There is a brooding intensity to the scene and Rose's claim of ‘the dead and the living cannot be one’ not only highlights the tale's Gothic trappings but also signifies that creativity and emotion, her musicality and Schalcken's talent, cannot be wedded to the dead hand of commerce and its moral bankruptcy. Rose's terror, her emotional state, momentarily disrupts an all male, dispassionate milieu which is 'possessed and animated by the spirit of avarice'. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(14)</span><br />
<br />
There is a sense, after Schalcken is terrified by a vision of the dead Rose making love to Vanderhausen in the crypt of St. Laurence's church at the end of the film, that the tables are turned. Incidentally, the church is referred to several times - Rose recognises Vanderhausen from a tomb effigy after previously visiting the church; Schalcken meets a coach driver who brought her and Vanderhausen to the church - and is codified as the ultimate Gothic space. Here death and sex merge together.<br />
<br />
Schalcken is seduced into entering the crypt by the vision of Rose only to find himself unable to escape the hellish act of debauchery she subjects him to. When he offers her money and she tips his purse onto the floor, Rose underlines 'the power of wealth over love... reducing Schalken to the status of a client who failed to pay enough, or, perhaps, a pimp who sold his ‘love’ for the greatest profit.' <span style="font-size: x-small;">(15)</span><br />
<br />
Rose has discovered the 'marriage bed' is as cold as a tomb and in the final scene her and Vanderhausen's lovemaking in the crypt is a translation of Dou's equally claustrophobic, emotionally empty, dark house. It is also the trigger for Schalcken to project his guilt into the painting we see him feverishly completing in the pre-titles sequence and later in another flash forwards. After tantalising him with the goods he has so longed for and reduced him to failed rescuer and rejected lover, Schalcken attempts to redress the balance. The figure with the drawn sword is a vain attempt to paint himself as 'hero' perhaps. Le Fanu's interlacing narrative folds inwards.<br />
<br />
Megahey's film both embraces the television ghost story and almost elevates it to documentary. Le Fanu's fiction and Megahey's production weave between a treatise on Dutch painting and a Gothic chiller, entwining the Gothic tale within the reception of a television arts documentary strand and evoking Freud's notion of the 'uncanny' in the traditions of art history and the deeper symbolism of Dutch painting. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Sarah Brown, <i>Moving On Up</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(2) Phil Tonge, interview with Leslie Megahey, 'Look into the dark' in <i>Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Film Book Vol.2</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(3) and (4) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(5) Interview with Leslie Megahey, 'Look into the Dark' on <i>Schalcken the Painter</i> BFI DVD </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(6) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(7) Phil Tonge, interview with Leslie Megahey, 'Look into the dark' in <i>Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Film Book Vol.2</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(8) Ibid </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(9) James Swafford, 'Tradition and Guilt in Le Fanu's "Schalken the Painter"', <i>The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(10) Ibid</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(11) Ibid </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(12) Simon Cooke, 'The Demon in the House: Le Fanu at the British Broadcasting Corporation' in <i>Le Fanu Studies 3. 2008. No. 2</i></span> <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(13) James Swafford, 'Tradition and Guilt in Le Fanu's "Schalken the Painter"', <i>The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(14) Simon Cooke, 'The Demon in the House: Le Fanu at the British Broadcasting Corporation' in <i>Le Fanu Studies 3. 2008. No. 2</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(15) Ibid </span><i><br /></i><br />
<br />
<b>About the transfer</b><br />
Grain is abundant but that is hardly surprising as this is transfered from a 16mm interpositive. There are occasional flecks of dirt but overall this is a very welcome presentation after years of looking at very murky, fuzzy bootleg copies of the film. Even though the image is soft, the clarity of this remaster yields up details in the sets, props, costumes and faces and the subtleties of Hooper's cinematography. This is seen particularly in the red and green colour washes gently bathing key scenes and his effective use of candlelight. The contrast, along with the grain, gives this a thick texture and for the most part it is fairly robust and provides the appropriate levels of blackness. Don't expect this to pop off the screen but do relish the opportunity to 'look into the dark' at last and see the details of a handsome looking film. Sound is crisp and clear with little hiss and other discrepancies such as clicks. <br />
<br />
<b>Special features</b> <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>The Pit</i></b> </span>(Edward Abraham, 1962, 27 mins) <br />
An experimental gothic short, adapted from Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Pit and the Pendulum', <i><b>The Pit</b></i> is a powerful visual poem without dialogue. It does remain quite faithful to Poe's original although the ending is darker and nastier. Gregory Lawson's design is very strong and the film is dominated by a superb use of sound. <span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i> </i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Original sketches for The Pit</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>The Pledge</i></b></span> (Digby Rumsey, 1982, 21 mins) <br />
Three criminals pledge to free the soul of their friend from his gibbeted corpse in this short film. One of a series of short films shot by Digby Rumsey and based on 'The Highwayman' by noted Irish 'Weird Fiction' writer Lord Dunsany. The BFI describes it thus: 'At the heart
of this evocative tale is a gloriously well-realised corpse, creakily
dangling from the gallows. As the highwayman's sinful life is slowly
revealed, the jarring contrast between the stillness of death and the
bawdy rigour of life is vividly reflected'. An interview with Digby Rumsey can be found at <a href="http://celluloidwickerman.com/2013/11/04/interview-with-digby-rumsey-bfi-flipside-the-pledge/">Celluloid Wickerman</a>.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Look Into the Dark</i></b></span> (2013, 39 mins) <br />
A significant interview with director/producer/writer Leslie Megahey and director of photography John Hooper about the development and production of <b>Schalcken the Painter</b>. Megahey discusses the original script, raising the funding and the themes and ideas in the film. Hooper discusses the use of chiaroscuro lighting and the influence of Dutch paintings on the look of the film. <br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><i>Illustrated booklet</i></b></span> <br />
With new essays by Ben Hervey, James Bell and Vic Pratt <br />
<br />
<b>Schalcken the Painter</b> <br />
BBC 1979 <br />
Transmitted 23rd December 1979 <br />
BFI Flipside Cat. No 028 / Cat No. BFIB1184 / Cert 15 / Colour / English language with optional hard of hearing subtitles / 70 mins / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 <br />
Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit)<br />
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps)Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-51244557617852773192013-11-11T23:16:00.000+00:002014-01-19T10:20:26.854+00:00DOCTOR WHO - THE ELEVENTH HOUR: A Critical Celebration of the Matt Smith and Steven Moffat Era<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-VeLMqQfbwKgvBleZVmOehUuF1uG2Ru3nTmZHPQOYxrkJMFchH_-F-e3R0s0nUYFKlBKjM-Ur6rMyhNok7v7YAUyykYwSy3Ry2cPPgbk-88tTP_XB3s0IaSz12U8Hxg6zoxPvfW2Vs8j/s1600/11thhour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-VeLMqQfbwKgvBleZVmOehUuF1uG2Ru3nTmZHPQOYxrkJMFchH_-F-e3R0s0nUYFKlBKjM-Ur6rMyhNok7v7YAUyykYwSy3Ry2cPPgbk-88tTP_XB3s0IaSz12U8Hxg6zoxPvfW2Vs8j/s400/11thhour.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></div>
Coming from publisher I.B. Tauris this month is another publication in the 'Who Watching' project, <b>Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour: A Critical Celebration of the Matt Smith and Steven Moffat Era</b><br />
<br />
Edited and with an introduction from Andrew O'Day, the book is published to celebrate the Doctor's 50th anniversary and provides a
valuable record of the current Matt Smith Doctor, who arrived in 2010
and is still travelling in time and space. This first book devoted
solely to the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith era is written by experts on the
Doctor and includes contributions from Richard Hewett, Frank Collins (that's me), Matthew Kilburn, Dee Amy-Chinn, David Budgen, Simone Knox, Jonathan Bignell, Piers D. Britton, Vasco Hexel, Matt Hills, Brigid Cherry, Neil Perryman, and Ross P. Garner. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour: A Critical Celebration of the Matt Smith and Steven Moffat Era</b> is wide-ranging and varied in viewpoint and explores such
issues as the performance of the Doctor, the gothic and fairy tale
genres, the portrayal of history on screen, gender and sexuality, the
phenomenon of Christmas television, the transatlantic dimensions of the
programme, its look and sound, promotional culture and audience
response. Also discussed are <b>Doctor Who</b> interactive games and the
spin-off <b>The Sarah Jane Adventures</b>. Written in accessible style, the
book will be a valuable contribution to the expanding literature on
<b>Doctor Who</b>, for fans, watchers of sci fi TV and students alike.<br />
<br />
Andrew O'Day is co-author, with Jonathan Bignell, of <i>Terry Nation </i>
(2004). He received his PhD in Television Studies from Royal Holloway,
University of London and has contributed chapters on 'classic' and 'new
Who' to a range of edited collections.<br />
<br />
<b>ISBN-10:</b> 1780760191<b> </b><br />
<b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1780760193<br />
<br />
Publication Date: 30 November 2013<br />
Number of Pages: 288<br />
<br />
You can now order <b>Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour</b> from <a href="http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/The%20arts/Film%20TV%20%20radio/Television/Doctor%20Who%20%20The%20Eleventh%20Hour%20A%20Critical%20Celebration%20of%20the%20Matt%20Smith%20and%20Steven%20Moffat%20Era.aspx">I.B. Tauris</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Eleventh-Critical-Celebration/dp/1780760191/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1366381633&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=the+eleventh+hour+doctor+who">Amazon</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_g7UEo05rjWvtM0Lp-p4qeOqN2hp4rvA5HFTm4Cs8TCWUVP3_mhbXVv7vLbXmY1b-YvxkMpqZvCrjKlE8Rc6az-mz6-Isg9W9O9cg1FElF3P0rbdfmNvfFmtX-pN92PQkTyibTJ6s-_Rz/s1600/who-watching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_g7UEo05rjWvtM0Lp-p4qeOqN2hp4rvA5HFTm4Cs8TCWUVP3_mhbXVv7vLbXmY1b-YvxkMpqZvCrjKlE8Rc6az-mz6-Isg9W9O9cg1FElF3P0rbdfmNvfFmtX-pN92PQkTyibTJ6s-_Rz/s200/who-watching.jpg" height="30" width="200" /></a><b><i><a href="http://www.whowatching.com/">About 'Who Watching' at I.B. Tauris</a> </i></b><br />
"Why so many books on the Doctor at I.B.Tauris? Why the ongoing 'Who Watching'
project? Well, the Doctor is central to contemporary media, and
remarkably almost spans the history of television itself. Written for a
receptive audience of fans and students, they have been warmly welcomed
and have helped form a community, engaged in an argumentative dialogue
about the history and future of the Doctor. Intelligent and loyal, with
deep, deep knowledge of their field, provocative in their views,
discriminating and critical too – <i>Doctor Who</i> fans keep us on our toes to publish the best writing on and thinking about this extraordinary phenomenon."<br />
<br />
Check out the 'Who Watching' website for reviews of the current series and articles from authors in their published range on many aspects of classic and current <b>Doctor Who</b>. <br />
<br />Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737235139994190228.post-37233651678209247932013-11-03T15:08:00.002+00:002014-01-19T10:20:36.501+00:00RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED) and MAN IN A SUITCASE / Vinyl Soundtrack Albums <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_JIr1lgtyHDb08LBTKiLDzRMU17iwpVFWvqoS2uR_nxdSbMZ57gwdOivUM72jrtehE-gFOAhPs0XNagj8pp_A9x9FrzoEn-p3fbVz7kRhVfSYl0CDANUujDOnttkVpTO8QDfFZprx0-g/s1600/rah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_JIr1lgtyHDb08LBTKiLDzRMU17iwpVFWvqoS2uR_nxdSbMZ57gwdOivUM72jrtehE-gFOAhPs0XNagj8pp_A9x9FrzoEn-p3fbVz7kRhVfSYl0CDANUujDOnttkVpTO8QDfFZprx0-g/s320/rah.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a></div>
Network Distributing debuted a pair of exclusive vinyl soundtrack album releases this week. Focusing on two iconic ITC series of the late 1960s and early 1970s, <b>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</b> and <b>Man in A Suitcase</b>, these beautifully designed albums assemble a number of instantly recognisable cues on high quality 180g vinyl pressed by Pallas in Germany. <br />
<br />
Network worked with renowned vinyl cutting engineer Ray Staff, whose credits include David Bowie's <i>The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars</i> and The Rolling Stones' <i>It's Only Rock 'n' Roll</i>, to master the albums from the FX Group tape transfers.<br />
<br />
Ray joined the legendary Trident Studios, based in St Anne's Court, Soho, in 1970 and he became part of the fledgling Mastering Department. His skill at working on major projects with Bowie and Elton John saw him progress to become Trident’s Chief Mastering Engineer. He is currently one of the chief engineers at AIR Mastering having worked with artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin and Supertramp and most recently on the triple platinum No 1 debut album and single by Corinne Bailey Rae.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Network commented: 'Although high-quality masters were already available from the 2008 CD releases, we have returned to the original analogue tapes which have been mastered afresh for vinyl to take advantage of the format’s more subtle dynamic range. Mastering and vinyl cutting have been supervised by one of the very best in the business, ensuring that these tracks have never sounded so good since they went down onto tape in the late 1960s.'<br />
<br />
Created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman, <b>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</b>'s 26 episodes were produced and made by Scoton Productions for worldwide distribution by ITC. Their track record stretched back to some of the classic 1960s series made under the ITC banner, including <i>The Baron</i> (1966-67), <i>The Champions</i> (1968-69) and <i>Department S</i> (1969-70). Filming commenced in May 1968 at ABC Elstree Borehamwood, continuing into July 1969, and the series featured the crime busting antics of down at heel private investigator Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) and his partner Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope). The major selling point was that the murdered Marty was reincarnated as a ghost in the very first episode <i>My Late Lamented Friend and Partner</i>, transmitted in September 1969, and then 'haunted' his partner throughout the rest of the series. <br />
<br />
Providing the music for the series was legendary composer Edwin Astley. Ted had composed the memorable themes and cues for <i>Danger Man</i> (1960-68), <i>The Saint</i> (creating two arrangements for the black and white and colour episodes between 1962 and 1969), <i>The Baron</i>, <i>Department S</i> and <i>The Champions</i>. Of the distinctive harpsichord dominated theme of <b>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</b> he commented: 'It has to be something distinctive in the orchestration or in the tune and I suppose that's why I used the harpsichord because in those days it was a very distinctive sound.'<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span><br />
<br />
He recorded a total of 188 cues for the series and the harpsichord (often used as stings to herald the appearance and disappearance of Marty and effortlessly rearranged as his signature motif), organ, high strings and high-pitched flutes and clarinets add a melancholic counterpoint (Astley's use of the minor key underlining the series' quirky notions of the afterlife) to the dynamic music, driven by strident strings, drums, brass and bass, which scores the series' action sequences.<br />
<br />
The album features the iconic opening and end titles, the trilling notes of the harpsichord highlighting a mid-tempo jazzy waltz, and specific cues from nine episodes. They brilliantly showcase Astley's splendid sense of melody, jazz structure (the music for <i>Money to Burn</i> is particularly lovely) and use of motif to enhance scenes. And on vinyl they sound more organic and subtle. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlDuVg1FMDdGTwjGCjoWsDuvLZjh89tUSgjJvQm4FW4isYdKH18KY2rh2V1R7WCkgnjrTIil_qqdFBhYar33tiX-LcPfsYSPR3NZ2jQTWaUVgqdorGunafiynn_YapX8mWOjrjPLQm4Sq/s1600/mas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlDuVg1FMDdGTwjGCjoWsDuvLZjh89tUSgjJvQm4FW4isYdKH18KY2rh2V1R7WCkgnjrTIil_qqdFBhYar33tiX-LcPfsYSPR3NZ2jQTWaUVgqdorGunafiynn_YapX8mWOjrjPLQm4Sq/s320/mas.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a></div>
The thirty one episodes of <b>Man In A Suitcase</b>, created by Richard Harris and Dennis Spooner under its original title of <i>McGill</i>, were produced in collaboration with American producer Stanley Greenberg and prolific ITC producer Sidney Cole. Filming started at Pinewood Studios in August 1966 and the series was filmed in two blocks and completed in December 1967, by which time it had been given its more familiar title. The lead role of McGill, a disgraced CIA operative taking cases on a freelance basis around the world, was given to 28 year-old Texan method actor Richard Bradford after ITC's Lew Grade saw him in Arthur Penn's <i>The Chase</i> (1966). <br />
<br />
<b>Man In A Suitcase</b> features the work of two composers, Ron Grainer and Albert Elms. Grainer needs little introduction. A prolific television and film composer, his signature themes for <i>Maigret </i>(BBC, 1959-63), <i>Steptoe and Son</i> (BBC, 1962-74) <i>Doctor Who</i> (BBC, 1963-89, 1996, 2005-), <i>The Prisoner </i>(1967-8) and <i>Tales of the Unexpected</i> (ITV, 1979-88) gained him worldwide recognition. He also branched out into films, such as <i>To Sir, With Love</i> (1967) and <i>The Assassination Bureau</i> (1969), and in 1971 produced the stunning score for <i>The Omega Man</i>. The Grainer theme to <b>Man In A Suitcase</b> would gain greater recognition in its appropriation for the Chris Evans Channel 4 show <i>TFI Friday</i>.<br />
<br />
Grainer's strident piano, brass and percussion driven theme anticipates his work on <i>The Prisoner</i> and its boldness epitomises the values of the anti-heroic central character of McGill. In counterpoint Albert Elms offers a range of contrasting cues for eleven episodes on this album. Again, his use of lietmotif, low key woodwind, moody brass and percussion offers a taste of what was to come with his eclectic work on <i>The Prisoner</i>. Here, the music switches from upbeat, 1960s pop and punchy action themes, to wistful melancholia or cute jazz with Spanish and Mexican influences (often as a musical accompaniment to that week's location in the episode). <br />
<br />
Both albums make for very nostalgic listening, as wonderful examples of music from the golden age of television, and the album artwork is beautifully handled and presented by Martin Cater. Serious vinyl collectors will get a lot of pleasure from their analogue audio fidelity and quality.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Andrew Pixley, <i>Randall and Hopkirk </i>- Accompanying Notes 2008 CD Release </span><br />
<br />
Note: these albums are only available direct from <a href="http://networkonair.com/shop/1849-randall-and-hopkirk-deceased-original-soundtrack-selections-5027626903336.html">Network's site</a>.<br />
<b>Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)</b><br />
Original Soundtrack Selections<br />
Music by Edwin Astley <br />
Network 7859033<br />
Mono<br />
Released: 28 October 2013 <br />
<br />
<b>Man In A Suitcase</b><br />
Original Soundtrack Selections<br />
Music by Albert Elms<br />
Theme by Ron Grainer<br />
Network 7959028<br />
Mono<br />
Released: 28 October 2013<br />
<br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Although high-quality masters were already available from the CD releases, we have returned to the original analogue tapes which have been mastered afresh for vinyl to take advantage of the format’s more subtle dynamic range. Mastering and vinyl cutting have been supervised by one of the very best in the business – Ray Staff of AIR Studios – ensuring that these tracks have never sounded so good since they went down onto tape in the late 1960s. - See more at: http://networkonair.com/features/2013/10/25/the-story-behind-our-new-vinyl-releases/#sthash.9OaYXEsC.dpu</div>
Frank Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00680654042528560764noreply@blogger.com0