Classics from Across The Pond

[maggiethecat]

Well, this got me thinking . . .

krissie said:

Ah, yes. I know The Good Life. And To The Manor Born. And Yes, Minister, which I am delighted to see is about to begin a run of repeats this week on one of the satellite channels... Plus, over the last few weeks, I've been rediscovering May To December and MASH (which obviously isn't one of ours).

Have we never had a thread for all the great British/British Isles TV over the years? About time, say I!

Yes, the Britcoms are marvelous . . . but I confess, when winter draws in with bitter nights and I'm hunkered down, I want my classic British mysteries. Which is why, I blush to confess, considering the strains and stresses of the past month (see the "Old Age Ain't No Place for Sissies" thread), I have refugeed from the flash and trash of American network TV to anything classic and British and running on PBS, no matter how faded the prints. Give me David Suchet as Hercules Poirot, give me -- please! -- Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, give me anything British and well written and with production values to die for.

Tonight, thanks to a lovely if financially beleagured Long Island, NY PBS station, we shall have Rosemary and Thyme, followed by a classic two-hour ORIGINAL Miss Marple (the original being the divine Joan Hickson), to wit: Murder at the Vicarage with Paul Eddington and Cheryl Campbell, both in their delectable prime. My VCR is humming already!

I miss the glory days of PBS, when Masterpiece Theatre was a Sunday night "never miss," and Mystery! was a Thursday night staple. I mourn that A & E has given themselves over to that brainless bounty hunter and people screaming at airline counters . . . when once they ran, on a weekly basis, Midsomer Murders and Inspector Morse and the marvelously gritty Reginald Hill "Dalziel & Pascoe" mysteries starring Warren Clarke (Ah! the lads of Yorkshire).

Let's talk Brit. Let's talk classic mysteries . . . ooh, ooh, P. D James and Adam Dalgliesh, anyone?

[anna]

maggiethecat said:

P. D James and Adam Dalgliesh, anyone?

Adam Dalgliesh. Can one really have a crush on a character in a novel? I confess that I developed one on P. D. James' poet/widower/Scotland Yard Commander Dalgliesh. I did not discover the novels until the mid-1980's and so had the delicious experience of immersing myself in several of the books, one right after the other. When I finally came up for air, I was embarassed to find myself pining over a figment of Phyllis Dorothy James' imagination.

Anyway . . . As for the television series, I loved Roy Marsden in the role. In an interview several years ago, the author said that Mr. Marsden did not match her picture of AD at all, except in height. However, I thought that he fit perfectly. I don't have the same feeling about Martin Shaw. I just cannot get used to him in the role. I think that even if he had originated the role in the television productions, I would not have felt that he was right for it. It's similar (although not nearly as strong) to my feelings about Nathaniel Parker in the role of Tommy Lynley. (Wrong, wrong, wrong!!)

[krissie]

To my shame, I think Maggiethecat knows her British mysteries better than I do!

I am, however, a huge Hercule Poirot as played by David Suchet fan. Mind you, that has more to do with Suchet's portrayal of the character and the fantastic art deco locations the series makers managed to find. (I have managed to recognise one or two of them, myself, which is fun.)

I never liked Miss Marple as much as I liked Hercule Poirot, a hang over from my teenage years when I read lots of Agatha Christie. But, for Miss Marple, Joan Hickson can't be beaten!

Dalziel and Pascoe: no, never was a huge fan. I did make a point of watching the episode that featured my landlord's open-topped Morris Minor, though!

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. Never really got into that, either, but that says more about me than about the series. I've never really liked Sherlock Holmes.

Series that I remember with fondness (but which may have dated terribly since): Bergerac (about a recovering alcoholic Jersey police detective), Shoestring (private 'ear', radio detective, based in Bristol), The Chinese Detective (oh, how I'd love to see that one again! I don't think that show latest long, though). And I'd really love to see the six episodes of the Dick Francis-based series 'The Racing Game' again. (Sid Halley always was my favourite Dick Francis character...)

Nathaniel Parker as Thomas Lynley... Now, you see, I like Nathaniel Parker, and I saw him as Lynley before I read any of Elisabeth George's books. I like him more than I like the blonde Lynley that the books describe. Then again, I have a sort of love / hate relationship with The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. I love the idea of Lynley. I really detest the character of Helen. I think the chemistry between Lynley and Havers is terrific, but the best episodes for showcasing that are ones that are based on the characters created by Elisabeth George rather than on her books. (I'm not a huge fan of the books, although I did try to be! I've read most of them, but found it increasingly hard to get into the stories as the series progressed.)

Oddly, I wouldn't have included Lynley in a list of classic series because, as far as I know, the Beeb is still making this. (Hope so, anyway! We were left with almost a cliff-hanger at the end of last year's run.)

I'm sure that there are plenty of other series that I'm missing, but those are the ones I can think of, off the top of my head.

Krissie

[Chris]

anna said:

Adam Dalgliesh. Can one really have a crush on a character in a novel? I confess that I developed one on P. D. James' poet/widower/Scotland Yard Commander Dalgliesh. I did not discover the novels until the mid-1980's and so had the delicious experience of immersing myself in several of the books, one right after the other. When I finally came up for air, I was embarassed to find myself pining over a figment of Phyllis Dorothy James' imagination.

Of course you can, I have several times, which also explains why I don't want to see them as television series.
Dalgliesh, Dalziel and Pascoe (No crush here but still loved the books) and especially Lynley just aren't the same on screen as they were in my imagination, no comparison whatsoever.....
If I read the book, I usually don't watch the film/TV-series - it's simply not the same for me.
One exception though is actually Harry Potter, the movies are as great as the books, but that's one rare exception.

krissie said:

(Sid Halley always was my favourite Dick Francis character...)

Ohh, yeah, LOVED him too

Now back to topic...

British classics...
I loved the series "All creatures Great and Small" about the Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues Siegfried and Tristan Farnon (Guess their mother liked Wagner Operas )
Also The Persuaders with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis and of course "Dick Turpin" the British Highwayman who, if I remember correctly, spent most of his time rescuing damsels in distress.

I'm sure there are several others I enjoyed watching, but for now I can't remember them.

- Chris

[anna]

chris said:

I loved the series "All creatures Great and Small" about the Yorkshire vet James Herriot and his colleagues Siegfried and Tristan Farnon

Oh, yes! And To Serve Them All My Days! I nearly wore out my tapes of that series.

[maggiethecat]

Oh, I am so-o-o-o-o glad I started this thread. My people! I am also green with envy at the mention of many series that we never got to see here on this side of The Pond. The Chinese Detective? Sounds lovely. Oh well, at least we got The Singing Detective.

A few random thoughts:

Yes, anna, once again we are on "the same page." Martin Shaw will never be Dalgliesh to me any more than he is to you. Too chunky? Not austere enough? Just plain not right. As for the old series with Roy Marsden, I would have to say my favorite was Devices and Desires with Susannah York and Gemma James. (James? Jones? I mean the fabulous Louisa Trotter of The Duchess of Duke Street, which I liked even better than Upstairs, Downstairs and that's saying quite a lot.)

I, too, have a love/hate relationship with Elizabeth George, mostly because I loved her early books and quite honestly despise her later books -- I would say those written after she fell in love with herself, and also after she was successful enough to have a "no edit" clause added to her contracts. (Bookstore gossip, but it's true.) After Missing Joseph they got bloated and longwinded and self-indulgent, and she started putting in the sort of psychological notes authors keep for themselves as backstory. I mean, John Le Carre still insists on working with a good editor . . . but not Miss George. Blecch. Maybe I feel betrayed, because the first four or five books were so compelling. But after a while, didn't we all get a little tired of St. James whinging about his leg and Deborah whinging about her womb?

The PBS series is just badly cast. Period. With the exception of the woman who plays Barbara Havers, and she's terrific. But, as one friend said about the clunky woman playing Helen, "You just can't imagine that she cares about either shoes or sherry."

Let's see. Krissie, I do believe that the original six episodes of The Racing Game with Mike Gwillym (SP?) playing Sid Halley are available from the BBCAmerica.com catalog on DVD and for not all that much money. I haven't seen them in years, and I remember them as great fun! As for Poirot, they are sheer perfection, although I confess I would have watched them just for Miss Lemon's hats.

Krissie, your mention of a Morris Minor zapped me right back to my all-time favorite series ever . . . Lovejoy. One of the few times where a series was actually more entertaining than the books, no doubt because of the rascally charms of Ian MacShane. Sigh.

Some characters, of course, are better left to the reader's imagination. To me the primary example is Lord Peter Wimsey, who has never made it to the screen to anywhere near my satisfaction. Probably because the only person who could have played him to perfection is long dead: Leslie Howard.

[mlm828]

maggiethecat said:

Yes, anna, once again we are on "the same page." Martin Shaw will never be Dalgliesh to me any more than he is to you. Too chunky? Not austere enough? Just plain not right.

I hope there's room on the page for one more. After seeing Roy Marsden in the role, no one else could be Adam Dalgleish -- ever.

While we're on the subject of P.D. James, there are few writers who can equal her ability to evoke a sense of a person or place.

Two more stellar offerings from across the pond, not yet mentioned: The Jewel in the Crown and House of Cards (with Ian Richardson as a truly ruthless politician).

[inuvik]

I've mentioned some of my faves already, in the Best Series Ever thread.

But one I forgot to put there that I love, is Jeeves and Wooster. When I lived in the Arctic, I remember watching them all avidly because the public library had them. Never did read the books, so I probably should.

I could never decide who I liked more, Jeeves or Wooster! Probably Jeeves. Wonder what happened to that actor? Of course Wooster was played by good ol' Hugh Laurie. (speaking of him, has everyone stopped watching House? That thread is sort of inactive lately).

[anna]

mlm828 said:

House of Cards (with Ian Richardson as a truly ruthless politician).

Oh, I'd almost forgotten old F.U.! "You might very will think that, but I couldn't possibly comment." I remember liking the first of the series better than the later ones, but I enjoyed all of them.

[mlm828]

Another gem, which I inexplicably left out of my earlier post, is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, with Alec Guinness as George Smiley.

inuvik said:

But one I forgot to put there that I love, is Jeeves and Wooster. When I lived in the Arctic, I remember watching them all avidly because the public library had them. Never did read the books, so I probably should.

I could never decide who I liked more, Jeeves or Wooster! Probably Jeeves. Wonder what happened to that actor? Of course Wooster was played by good ol' Hugh Laurie. (speaking of him, has everyone stopped watching House? That thread is sort of inactive lately).

I liked Jeeves and Wooster, too. It was a lot of fun to see Hugh Laurie in the role of Bertie Wooster, who was such a twit! I'm still watching House, by the way. I just haven't commented in that thread.

[krissie]

I can't resist firing off a quick reply before I head for work!

I'd tried to keep my first post focused on mysteries, but now that other people have mentioned things like Jeeves and Wooster and Jewel in the Crown, I feel as though I can shout out the name of my favourite costume drama: Pride and Prejudice. The one with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (sp?). So wonderful... I swear, there is a whole generation of British women out there who swooned in unison on Sunday nights...

Upstairs, Downstairs... yep. I even caught a rerun a couple of weeks ago, which made me want to see the series all over again. Duchess of Duke Street: yes, I remember that, too, but it's been years -- decades, actually, since I've seen that.

House of Cards! Oh, yes! That was wonderful! <happy sigh as the fond memories come flooding back.>

For a 1980s conspiracy thriller, Edge of Darkness couldn't be beaten. I see that is out of DVD, and I want to see that again, just to see if it's still as good as I remember.

The Crow Road: filmed, I think, in six parts during the 1990s, an adaptation of a very good book by Iain Banks. I bought the series a few months ago on DVD. Yes, just as good as ever -- and, this time around, I recognised a few of the locations.

Oh, and if anyone gets the chance, The State Within, which was broadcast here before Christmas, was also great.

Maggiethecat: I shall check out the BBCAmerica.com website. (Ironic, as the BBC wasn't the channel that originally made the series. )

Chris: did you know that Dick Francis's -- Under Orders -- latest book (published last year) is another Sid Halley story?

Krissie (who really needs to leave now)

[Katryna]

Here's one that hasn't been mentioned yet. I used to LIVE for the next episode of this one - Flambards.

[krissie]

Something I meant to comment on earlier:

inuvik said:

I could never decide who I liked more, Jeeves or Wooster! Probably Jeeves. Wonder what happened to that actor? Of course Wooster was played by good ol' Hugh Laurie. (speaking of him, has everyone stopped watching House? That thread is sort of inactive lately).

Now, I would have asked the opposite question: what had happened to Hugh Laurie. Stephen Fry is often on television here. He hosts a rather bizarre but fun quiz called QI (which stands for Quite Interesting). He's also written books and appeared in films. Mind you, the only film I can remember off the top of my head is Wilde. (There must be more than that.)

Anyway, he's a pretty visible character on this side of the Atlantic.

So, Hugh Laurie is in House? (Which, incidentally, I have only heard of in the last few weeks. And I haven't seen an episode.)

Krissie (who also remembers Flambards and who has all four books)

[inuvik]

krissie said:

Now, I would have asked the opposite question: what had happened to Hugh Laurie. Stephen Fry is often on television here. He hosts a rather bizarre but fun quiz called QI (which stands for Quite Interesting). He's also written books and appeared in films. Mind you, the only film I can remember off the top of my head is Wilde. (There must be more than that.)

Anyway, he's a pretty visible character on this side of the Atlantic.

So, Hugh Laurie is in House? (Which, incidentally, I have only heard of in the last few weeks. And I haven't seen an episode.)

Thanks for the update on Stephen Fry. Good to know he's still acting.

Hugh Laurie is not just in House, he is Dr. House, the lead character. He has also done a fair number of children's movies over the years, sometimes on screen and sometimes just a voice.

[mlm828]

krissie said:

I'd tried to keep my first post focused on mysteries, but now that other people have mentioned things like Jeeves and Wooster and Jewel in the Crown, I feel as though I can shout out the name of my favourite costume drama: Pride and Prejudice. The one with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (sp?). So wonderful... I swear, there is a whole generation of British women out there who swooned in unison on Sunday nights...

When I was on the East Coast for the holidays, I went to an exhibit of costumes used in films, which included two costumes from Pride and Prejudice, one of which was worn by Colin Firth. OK, you can swoon now!