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Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
CONTEST NEWS!
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
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What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
NOW DISCUSSING
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Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.
COMING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
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The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
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Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
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The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
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Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
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This Sunday there will be a repeat of a former Masterpiece Classic, My Boy Jack. Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html.
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I don't know if you will be getting this on PBS, but last night we saw a wonderful TV adaptation of Nigel Slater's book "Toast". Nigel Slater is a very well-known and well-loved cook in the UK - he writes really good books and is not at all showy. My favourite book of his is called "Kitchen Diaries" - he writes about what he cooks and eats over the course of a year - he lives in Islington, North London, and describes the street markets and ethnic food stores beautifully. His writing about food is a pleasure to read, and he has two cats who also feature.
Toast is his story of his childhood and early adulthood (he must be in his 50s now I think). He had a very sad childhood as his beloved mother (who couldn't cook at all) had severe asthma and died very young. His father - a typical remote 1950s kind of man - then employed a cleaner, whom Nigel loathed, especially as she wormed her way into his father's affections by producing fabulous meals. Eventually father married the woman, and Nigel's home life was most unhappy - but don't let that put you off, the book and the TV version are both very funny too.
The programme ended at the point that Nigel left home (aged 17) and found himself a job in the kitchens of the Savoy Hotel in London. Nigel himself had a cameo part as the chef who took the young Nigel on.
So if this turns up on PBS - I recommend it.
Rosemary
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That sounds great! We end up getting things a year or so down the line so will look for it, thank you for that recommendation!
Two big BIG things coming up on PBS for this year. One is a remake of Upstairs Downstairs (why would they remake it, just replay the first one), in April, but the second is Downton Abbey on Sunday January 9 at 9 pm, which they say is out of this world, and not to miss.
The writer is Julian Fellowes who wrote Gosford Park, it's got Maggie Smith, and Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill) and Elizabeth McGovern as his American wife, their huge pile of a home in peril over an inheritance law.
There's a downstairs, too, led by Brendan Coyle, and the whole is very highly recommended. Sounds like the place to be on the 9th!
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:)
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Sounds interesting. I was a faithful viewer of the old Upstairs Downstairs, also some others on PBS, back in the 70's and early 80's.
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Thanks, Ginny, for the info about Downton Abbey. There is some info about it at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html
Rosemary, Toast sounds very interesting. I hope we'll get it here in the States soon.
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I just watched, off and on, My Boy Jack. It was rather compelling. What machinations they went through not to show too much emotion. The traditional "stiff upper lip" I suppose. He wasn't even 19, like many others. So sad.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12868925
When you consider the carnage and major mistakes, on both sides, made during WWI, it is no wonder so many were anxious to avoid WWII at almost all costs. These two wars still affect the European mentality today.
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I watched "My Boy Jack" and found it so sad that this boy was sent off
to war before he was even 18. I know his Father meant well, but he
let his patriotism get in the way of his own son's well-being. No one with
that boy's eyesight had any business on the front lines, no matter how
valiant he was.
It was also shocking to learn in what terrible condition the Brtitish military
was at the beginning of WWI. They were totally unprepared and unequipped. Then, Lord help them, they made the same mistake again
and were caught unprepared for WWII.
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I loved the old "Upstairs, Downstairs" and will be watching the new "Downtown Abbey". I can't wait for it to start. With the exception of PBS, there is very little to watch on TV these days.
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That's the truth, I can't wait, either, tomorrow night in the US, they've probably had it already in the UK, since so many of the actors (Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi) are British. All the new shows of the new season, to me are a pass. Entertainment Magazine has a huge new list of them, ugg ugg and ugg. Movie theater going is down for the first time in several years, network TV is off, so why not fill the slate with the same type of programming nobody is watching? One wonders what they are thinking and the ages of those making the decisions.
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For some reason I never got around to watching Upstairs/Downstairs. Can't imagine why, except that I am not a soap opera watcher and may have considered it a "dressed up" type of soap at the time.
why not fill the slate with the same type of programming nobody is watching?
Right on Ginny! They keep adding new channels that just show the same things over and over. Not only that, but I guess you've noticed how the recycle older programs on different channels by renaming them. Sometimes the actually edit them slightly, but otherwise only the name has changed. Then they also have the audacity to re-date them in the listings to appear as if they are new. Oh, and they say, "Gee, aren't we nice? We are "giving" you these new channels, free". A month or so later they jack up the price. I just love paying more for channels I never watch, don't you?
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I was just able to watch MY BOY, JACK on my cable On Demand. I agree with you, Frybabe and Babi, about how compelling it was. I was crying even before the end since I knew the outcome. I thought that the actors who played Rudyard Kipling and his son, Jack, were excellent in those rolls. As you said, the conditions for the British during the start of WWI were terrible.
I am looking forward to watching Downton Abbey tomorrow. I really enjoyed the first several years of Upstairs, Downstairs. I'm not sure why I stopped watching it. Maybe it did get a bit like a soap-opera toward the end.
I agree that very few shows on regular channels this past year have been of interest.
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I checked my PBS schedule as was happy to find that they are starting
Downtown Abbey tonight. The title does seem odd. 'Downtown' and
'abbey' do not relate properly in my mind.
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Babi, I kept reading "Downtown" also when it's actually Downton Abbey. Wikipedia says, "The Downton estate is centred on the fictional village of Downton, a place name in several English counties but not in Yorkshire, so that no exact location can be given."
I'm glad that you'll be able to watch it too.
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X marking my spot. I'm looking forward to "Downton Abbey".
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Great, Callie. We'll all look forward to your thoughts about the new series.
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Marcie, Thanks for clarifying. I, too, kept calling it Downtown Abbey. Funny how our eyes/minds play tricks on us. I watched the first episode and enjoyed it very much.
Sally
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I watched it, too. I very much enjoyed it and found myself moving as if in a dream afterwards, where is MY household of 100? hahahaa I thought they did a super job of making several key points:...well what struck YOU the most?
I thought the weight of that inheritance and the need to get American money in it was well shown and it's an ongoing and historical fact also. The entailment thing seemed grossly unfair to me, she lost all her money to a death at sea. Why do I think this long lost 3rd cousin who just happens to be an attorney specializing in wills can set things straight?
It's not Upstairs Downstairs, really, is it? it's Gosford Park. If somebody showed you 1/2 hour of all three movies you'd have no trouble putting it where it goes. I think it's the staff, the way they show the staff, closing in on their faces which have still strange watchful expressions; it SO reminds me of Gosford Park which of course Julian Fellowes also did. Like a mini Gosford Park. Same writer, same producer.
When I was just in England this summer and touring Highclere where Lord Carnarvon (he of the discovery of Tut's tomb) lived, the tour guide taking us thru the house talked about the rumors...was Andrew Lloyd Weber (a neighbor) really going to buy the house? Those tremendous piles apparently cost a fortune to run and maintain and the heir who inherits them has to somehow come up with the money or lose it all. Perhaps if England did something with their death duties the peers could keep their ancestral homes afloat without adding zoos and tours. Imagine, just imagine, the burden and cost, will you be the first in hundreds of years to let the family down and lose it all? Still very much an issue today when titles can be bought as well as ancestral homes.
What didn't ring true? I was having a little trouble figuring out in a household so vast why, in the case of the new valet's not being able to "do his duties" (causing the scandal of a woman serving at dinner, a maid to have to wait on a duke), (the duke in question I'd like to have seen serving his own plate, what a slime bag) (and also probably accurate)...but why, one wonders, could not another male member of the staff be trained to do that also? There do seem no lack of servants about.
I like the Butler, but there will never be another Hudson (Upstairs Downstairs). Or for that matter, Stevens, in Remains of the Day. Great Butlers, all. You know they are remaking Upstairs Downstairs and will present it this spring. I wonder why. I hope they do a better job with it than the awful Brideshead Revisited remake.
I guess my major complaint was the sound. Was it only my TV? They would deliberately mute it, once Maggie Smith and a couple of others began to speak, suddenly it would drop down, AGAIN, and you'd have to turn it up. It ended up all the way full on volume and there's nothing wrong with my hearing, then when regular programming came back on it nearly shot me from the chair at warp speed. What were they DOING with the sound? Did you experience the same thing? Maybe it's my own set here, I'll try a different one next week.
What did you think about last night's first installment? No Derek Jacobi, he must be in one of the last 3 to come.
Maggie Smith is a hoot, they need to take that filter off her, she is blurred like a ghost when she appears. "What is a WEEK...END?" hahahaa
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What struck me was that some of the staff were deliberately undermining the valet, verbally (and at least once physically. Because they thought he wouldn't be able to suitably perform his duties, they set out to prove it. I didn't quite catch who tripped him in the line when the Duke arrived.
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FRYBABE, while all of the staff may be concerned, I believe it is only Thomas and his cohort who
are actively sabotaging Bates. I believe that is OBrien, the lady's maid, who kicked Bates cane
away. Vicious little .....well, being a lady myself, I won't say. :-X
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Ginny - you might enjoy reading some of James Lees-Milne's diaries (there are volumes of them) - he was one of the first employees of the National Trust, and he spent much of his time driving round to one crumbling pile after another to decide if the NT would take them on. Of course the NT could not take them on unless there was some money with them - but in the UK if you leave your property to a charity it passes free of Inheritance Tax (death duties).
I found it amusing to read about the number of aristocrats who wanted the NT to take over all the expense, but who did not want to move out or to have anyone looking round their houses. Personally I cannot see that these people have a right to live exclusively in vast piles at the expense of the rest of us, and I don't think they should be exempt from IHT either (unless they are giving their properties to charity).
Rant over! did not see Downton Abbey - my mother said it was quite good but not perfect. I agree wholeheartedly about the remake of Brideshead - what a disaster! Anna and I went to see it at the cinema and thought it would never end.
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I was able to watch Downton Abbey last night. My husband, who does not normally watch PBS programs with me unless they are music, sat through it. He's more used to be watching mysteries, like the Christie or Holmes programs, and he kept waiting for a murder. We talked about the times (the Titanic) and the entail, etc., and I had to translate a bit of the British accent, but I chuckled to see him watching and expecting some body to surface. When it ended, he had the strangest expression on his face and said "That's it? That's all?" and I realized I hadn't explained that it was a 4-part series.
He went to his computer and then emailed me a link to watch the program on line (which I of course already have) - do you think he was hinting?
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Rosemary, I would LOVE to read James Lees-Milne's diaries (there are volumes of them), I'm looking them up as we speak. I have stayed several times in National Trust houses, but I did not know half of what you are saying:
Of course the NT could not take them on unless there was some money with them -
Will you explain this?
I found it amusing to read about the number of aristocrats who wanted the NT to take over all the expense, but who did not want to move out or to have anyone looking round their houses
I did not know that happened!!! What, for the length of their lives or their children's lives? In other words they live there till they die and then the NT gets it? We have something like that here, a conservancy if land is involved, there are several kinds tho. But for your lifespan yes, there is one like that, but you have to let people in.
Nlhome, smart cookie your husband is, I did, too. And since it's so similar to Gosford Park I have a feeling he will be right!
I would be surprised if there weren't, actually.
Brideshead! It made me go back and watch Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. Trivia question for fans of the original Brideshead Revisited, do you know who this is? Mystery Man from the Original Bridehead Revisited (http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTkxMzk1OTMxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMTk0MTgy._V1._SY314_CR15,0,214,314_.jpg)
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I too watched Downton Abbey and enjoyed it. I appreciate everyone's interesting insights.
What struck me was the portrayal of the sort of class system/hierarchy within the staff. Everyone has his or her particular place above or below another staff member.
At first I was sympathetic to the younger daughter who seemed to sincerely love the cousin Patrick who died on the Titanic. Later she seems very vindictive toward Mary, the oldest sister. Also, as you've said, Mrs. O'Brien, the lady's maid, sure is a witch. This series seems to have more intrigue than I remember in Upstairs, Downstairs.
Ginny (http://Ginny), your link to a Brideshead photo isn't working. I loved the original series. I haven't seen the 2008 film but can't imagine it being as good. Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews were iconic in their roles of Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte.
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Ginny - I too can't get through on the link you posted re Brideshead - so it is indeed a mystery :)
What I meant about the houses needing "money with them" is that the NT could not just take on these people's houses, which were often in a terrible state, without also being given money to maintain them. What some of these very upper class people were really saying was "you pay all the expenses of restoring and maintaining my house and I will graciously carry on living here, but don't let the scrubbers in"! In fact I think Lees Milne did recommend taking on some without any attached funding in the early days of the NT, but I doubt if they would do that much now - in fact they are far more into land than buildings these days I believe.
I hope you enjoy the Lees Milne diaries - he is an inveterate and priceless name dropper (he knew everybody), and I do find them quite addictive - I would suggest reading the ones from the 1930s before the more recent ones. Somebody has recently published a biography of him - I read a good review of it but of course I can't remember who wrote it.
Which properties have you stayed in? My friend's aunt used to be the custodian of Fyvie Castle - friend's children (with whom my children grew up) used to have a wild time when they visited her, running about in the castle when it was closed for the evening.
The remake of Brideshead had exactly the same effect on me - had to watch the DVD of the original series every night in bed for a week - and a great joy it was. Jeremy Irons has of course played several high profile roles since then, though we don't hear so much about Anthony Andrews (who I think was the better of the two) - did he go and live in the US?
R
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Well I must risk arrest then and post it, fans of the original Brideshead, who is this today? (http://www.seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/mysteryman.jpg)
I agree too on the more intrigue, almost somewhat sinister. Of course I have not watched Upstairs, Downstairs in years, I think I will, just to compare, my MEMORY is of happy people, happy staff cooperating as a family, but I wonder how realistic that really is/ was?
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Rosemary, how interesting, thank you. Oh I've stayed in a bunch of them, at Cornwall, especially. It's been so long I can't remember the names, but I would if shown the photos. Do they still have those wonderful catalogs?
The one I remember the best and can't think of the name to save my life was the first one I ever stayed in, on a cliff near Port Isaac (I spelled it wrong, so much for my memory!) A bunch of us spent a month in England, on that trip: a week in Cornwall, at this place, a week near Hadrian's Wall, at another, etc., etc. All National Trust. I remember on the walk to the town how impressed I was that the entire little fishing village on the way was owned by the National Trust, only a few houses and small. What a romantic way to see a country.
I love those things. It faced the sea? And you could walk to Port Isaac which I fell in love with, but can't spell, and everything about it. This one had a..."folly," they called it a castle but it was very small, right on the cliff apparently you could rent that too and no end of cliff walks, we stayed at another one on the Cornwall cliffs another time right on the beach which was spectacular and huge also.
At night the wind would shriek through the halls, and the lady who I guess oversaw it left us cookies, very nice of her. I just loved the entire thing. It was romantic and marvelous. It had a washer and dryer in an outbuilding, the first British washer I ever saw (gracious what a long time ago, I think maybe you always remember the "first" anything best). I do think you really get the feel of the place doing that rather than the sterile hotels I now stay in. It had been owned by a former....hmmm... prison superintendent? I'm sure that does him no end of disservice, truly it's been a long time for any of them. In my increasing old age I tend to stay where catered to rather than self catering, can just see self climbing up on a chair to turn on the electricity again. Or even having any vague idea how to do so. hahahaa But I would not take anything for that experience and adventure.
How exciting, running through a castle when closed. I think it would be romantic to stay at Hampton Court, don't they rent out the grace and favor apartments?
I've only stayed in one "castle," something with a W, up near the Scottish border, actually not too far, drivable to Carlisle, used to have a friend who lived in Carlisle whom we'd also visit and stay a night with, and have just been trying to find IT and just looking at the pictures on the internet (none of which seem to be the one, I'll have to look further)....I mean WHAT a picturesque area, castles (real castles) around every corner.
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Anthony Andrews, whom I agree ran away with Brideshead, I was surprised to see, was in one of those gardening mystery series in Britain....Rosemary and Thyme. I liked that series, wish they had not taken it off.
He looks a little different, older, but still has that look? And there's no mistaking that voice, it brought me half across a room to stare at the credits.
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Anthony Andrews did some TV movies--"Ivanhoe," a wonderful "Scarlet Pimpernel" (with Ian McKellan as Chauvelin!) that has been a favorite in my family for years, and an updated Agatha Christie thing--I think it was called "Sparkling Cyanide."
I heard an interview with Jeremy Irons, in which he said that he had originally been cast as Sebastian Flyte and Andrews had been Charles Ryder, but they convinced the director to switch them around.
I read somewhere that he retired for a time to lead the life of an English country gentleman--apparently he is very "horsey."
It took me a minute to recognize him as Prime Minister Stanley Baker in "The King's Speech."
I'm really looking forward to seeing Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) in the upcoming Showtime remake of "The Borgias." It looks utterly gorgeous. I'll have to wait for the DVD, though.
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Ginny, we still get Rosemary & Thyme - I must watch it now to see if I catch a glimpse!
I think Port Isaac is in North Cornwall, which I don't know very well - my mother's best school friend lives in Fowey on the south Cornish coast, so I have spent many happy holidays there. I agree that it is much more fun to stay in these rather eccentric places. Northumberland, which is I imagine where the castle beginning with W might be, is a wonderful part of the country with lots and lots of great castles - we have been on holiday there a few times, and love the beaches as well as the castles and the countryside. Alnwick Castle (which is not owned by the NT) was, I think, used for some of the H Potter films.
Just by chance I have this evening received an email re my daughter's choir camp - each summer they go somewhere for a few days and sing at the local churches, cathedral, etc - last year they went to Oban and were able to sing on the island of Iona, and the year before they went to Holland. This year they are hoping to stay at Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, which is owned by the YHA - I just looked at the website and it is amazing - here is the link: www.syha.org.uk/highlands/hostels/carbisdale_castle.aspx
I am still just getting an unclickable red cross where the mystery person should be! oh the joys of the technology :)
Rosemary
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Ginny, his name is Simon Jones. He played Arthur Dent in the unforgettable Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He and Douglas Adams were life-long friends. Adams died in 2001(?). I read the whole book series and now know the answer to the question of Life, the Universal and Everything ;). Jones is also related to Daniel Craig. I am going to have to look for him in 12 Monkeys.
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I find I'm always interested in the book - this seems to be an adaptation of a novel, doesn't it? As far as I can see, after a bit of digging around, Downton Abbey was written for the film production by Julian Fellowes - an actor, producer and a screenwriter. He did write several novels - one was recently published in 2004 - Snobs.
"Snobs focused on the social nuances of the upper class and concerned the marriage of an upper-middle class girl to a peer. Snobs was a Sunday Times Best Seller and has now been published in many countries. In 2009 he published the novel, Past Imperfect, also a Sunday Times Best Seller. It deals with the Debutante Season of 1968, comparing the world then to the world of 2008. Despite its familiar territory, Fellowes insists it is not about class but about time, and what time does to lives. " Wikipedia
But Downton Abbey doesn't seem to have been published as a novel - yet! ;)
The screenwriter's background - "On 28 April 1990, Fellowes married Emma Joy Kitchener, LVO (a Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Michael of Kent), the great-great-niece of the 1st Earl Kitchener, and subsequently changed his name to Kitchener-Fellowes.[6] They have one son, Peregrine, born 1991, and bought their home in Dorset in 2002.[7] In 2009, Fellowes was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the county. He is also the Lord of the Manor of Tattershall in Lincolnshire."Wikipedia
He seems quite familiar with the class system within the staff as Marcie has pointed out.
We went to see a really delightful revival of South Pacific at Kennedy Center last pm (even without Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin) - and missed Downton Abbey...then missed a rebroadcast this afternoon. I followed the link you provided, Marcie - thanks! I was able to watch it on my laptop this evening. Back in the morning to compare notes...
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(http://www.seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/mysteryman.jpg) Frybabe, right, it's Bridey! How on earth did you recognize him? I would never have known him, I think he's changed a lot.
Almost feel like he's family, all grown up. Didn't he do a great job in the original Brideshead Revisited?
I was sorry to hear Jeremy Irons say in the comments when the remastered Brideshead Revisited DVD came out that Jeremy Sinden (Boy Mulcaster) had died. He seemed a great favorite with the cast, and I thought he did a super job with that part, he's forever "Boy" to me.
Rosemary: I'm really looking forward to seeing Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) in the upcoming Showtime remake of "The Borgias." Oh wow, Jeremy Irons, too? Mark Noble (Suetonius in Warrior Queen Boudicca) is in that, too, that's going to be some movie.
Carbisdale is something else! I couldn't get your link to work and ended up on another one by the name, tell your daughter to pack a blanket, everybody who goes there seems to say it's cold! What atmosphere she'll enjoy, what fun!
Thank you Rosemary so much for your suggestion of James Lees-Milne, (is he any relation to A.A.?) I've got two of his books coming, Ancestral Voices: Diaries 1942-1943, and Some Country Houses and their Owners (English Journeys). I thought I'd start with those two.
I had never heard of him and isn't he perfect for this discussion! The reviews are out of this world, here's one:
The delightful, gossipy diaries of James Lees-Milne describe his encounters with the owners of country houses – from eccentric lords and oil millionaires to raffish socialists – as he travelled over England saving properties for the National Trust. Here are sharply observed accounts of dinner with Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst; Winston Churchill’s bedroom at Chartwell; T. E. Lawrence’s dilapidated Dorset cottage; and war damage to a great house in Derby. All are infused with his love of beauty and his sympathy for those giving up their ancestral homes forever. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside – but it has profoundly shaped us too.It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians and people who live and work on the land – as well as those who are travelling through it.English Journeys celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie and country churches, to man’s relationship with nature and songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts and love-struck soldiers).
About the Author
James Lees-Milne (1908–97) made his name as the National Trust’s country house expert, helping to rescue some of England’s loveliest houses. He is now best known for his diaries, published in the 1970s and hailed as a masterpiece comparable to Pepys.
Never would have heard of him if not for you and this discussion!
Pearson, I read Snobs after I saw Gosford Park which I had to see twice to understand, it's excellent, I like Fellowes's writing and had not heard of Past Imperfect, I'll look it up too.
I think Masterpiece Theater with their new theme song has a hit on its hands. I have seen a lot of comments on it, and everybody likes it. I'm with nlhome's husband, though, something's afoot, Watson, am just waiting to see what it is. There's going to be a mystery/ murder/ something here. Do you agree? Or not? I keep trying to figure out who it will be.
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You're right, Ginny. Simon Jones has changed. I wonder if he had any plastic surgery. I remember his face as being more square-jawed in Hitchhiker's Guide. Anyhow, he's been keeping busy with plays and audio books as well as the odd appearance in movies and TV shows. Here is his website. A little sparse, but it does have a few old photos to compare now and then. http://www.simonjonesinfo.com/ and here is another just about his audio books. http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/jones.shtml
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Thanks, JoanP, for the information about the screenwriter. I do think there will be a book out based on the series, if the series does well. It's already set for a second season in Britain.
Ginny and Frybabe, I think that Simon Jones has improved with age.
Thank you, Rosemary, for those great references.
I don't know about Downton Abbey turning into a murder mystery but I do think that little intrigues, such as the gay servant trying to blackmail the duke, will continue to pop up. Also, I think that Mrs. O'Brien is capable of about anything. She is mean!
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Ginny - I first picked up on James Lees-Milne when reading The Assassin's Cloak - there are a lot of extracts from his diaries in that - I had never heard of him myself before that. Another writer that I "acquired" from The Assassin's Cloak is Joan Wyndham, whose book Love Letters is a wonderful evocation of Bohemian life in Chelsea before the war. I ended up going through The Assassin's Cloak and making a list of all the writers I wanted to follow up, but not all of them were easily available - I think the diaries of Chips Channon would also be very interesting. I do hope you enjoy the books you have ordered (and the great thing is, if you do - there are loads more!).
It wasn't me who mentioned The Borgias - it's Roxiania you need to thank for that!
Rosemary
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Oh and I will. Sorry, Roxania, such an interesting post, should have paid attention to who said it! And thank you, Roxania, for this also:
It took me a minute to recognize him as Prime Minister Stanley Baker in "The King's Speech."
REALLY!! I have not seen that yet, I'll be on the lookout for him!! Irons seems to be in a lot of things lately.
I went when I saw your post to look up more about Anthony Andrews and found the most wonderful quotes from him, a lot of them from an interview but some of them are absolutely stunning including the funniest thing I ever read of his first stage performance, when he played Athena, of the flapping skirts...it's an absolute hoot: see it here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000762/bio
He needs to write a book, he's fabulously funny.
He also said this: "...Never lose courage. Tomorrow is another day. Life is littered with obstacles, but the secret is not caring about what is going wrong; concentrate on getting enough courage, and protecting your self-esteem, until tomorrow." - 15 April 2003, Times Online
I love that.
Marcie you are so right about Simon Jones, Frybabe's incredible link (the second one) shows a man who not only gets more and more handsome with age (why IS that, that men age so well and women need filters?) Anyway but he was just in NYC this holiday season, I would have loved to have seen him if I had known!!
Rosemary, I've not read The Assassin's Cloak either, this is like a Pandora's box, and it's so exciting! I've ordered Past Imperfect and now to look that up. They have already shipped the Milne, I can't WAIT! Thank you so much!
I see Downton Abbey is already for sale on DVD. I'd like to see it again and pause here and there, I wonder if Netflix has it yet.
OH MY WORD, I will shut up here, I promise, but I made the mistake of looking up Downton Abbey on Wikipedia to see when it was filmed. I kept thinking that the big house looked familiar!!!!
I was JUST there! Barely 6 months ago! It's not easy to get to, either.(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Highclere_Castle.jpg/220px-Highclere_Castle.jpg)
"Highclere Castle in Hampshire was used as Downton Abbey, with the servants' living areas constructed and filmed at Ealing Studios." Apparently they did the external and internal shooting there except for the servants' quarters.
Holy cow! I kept thinking it looked familiar!!! hahahaha The joke is on me! And when I talked about Andrew Lloyd Weber earlier? That's the house! Which he has offered to buy!
Wow talk about irony and life imitating art!
I went out this July in a pouring cold rain because my daughter in law particularly is interested in Carnarvon (it was his house), and his Egyptian explorations, and they were having an exhibit of the things he held back from the British Museum which were found after his death and a Tut Exhibit. The gatekeepers wife invited me in their ...what...lodge...to wait for a taxi from town out of the rain. So nice of her. We had a lovely discussion on dogs (she had brought her two from home), it was a lovely memory.
Now I have got to get the tape or watch the link Marcie put up. What IS the use of travel if one thinks one is in St Petersburg half the time? hahahaha
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Such long and interesting posts. I'm not much of a poster :D. My husband and I both enjoyed Downton Abbey and are looking forward to the rest of the series.
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I enjoyed Downton Abbey very much and am looking forward to watching the whole series.
All these posts were so very interesting.
Evelyn
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Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
CONTEST NEWS!
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
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What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
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Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.
COMING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
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The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
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Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
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February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
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Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
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Ginny, that is amazing that you visited the site of Downton Abbey!
FlaJean and Evelyn, I'm glad that you're both watching the series and will look forward to your thoughts about future episodes.
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Downton Abbey will be available on Netflix on 25 January.
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I was just thinking I can't wait till tomorrow night!
Evelyn so good to see you here!
Oh wow, Sally, (Kidsal), I'll put it on my queue wait list, thank you!
Sally, (Salan), I must get one of those recorders, I miss so much now that we switched TV types. Tell us something you noticed the second time you viewed it? I feel as if I got carried away by the costumes and scenery and missed a lot of things, I do tend to focus on costume for some reason.
Oh and look at this, even in Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (read it, it's new and fabulous), there's this:
"Estates like mine are in crisis all over the country," said [Lord] Dagenham...."Can't keep up the places on the agricultural subsidies, can't even cut down one's own timber without permission,. hunting is banned and shooting is under attack from all sides as you just saw. We're forced to open tea shops or theme parks, to offer weekend tours to day-trippers or host rock festivals on the lawn. It's all sticky ice cream wrappers and car parking in the lower fields."
"What about the National Trust?" asked the Major.
"Oh yes, they used to be there, didn't they? Always hovering, waiting to take one's house away and leave one's heirs with a staff flat in the attic," said Dagenham, with malice in his voice. "Only now they want a cash endowment."
Just like Rosemary said! And this is almost, next year, 100 years after the Titanic. It would seem a lot has been lost in the last 100 years.
Our class at Oxford once took a day trip to (http://www.knebworthhouse.com/images/KnebworthHouse.png) Knebworth, the home of the Bulwer-Lyttons (he of the Last Days of Pompeii and the contest for the worst first line) named after him. But one of the Bulwer-Lyttons had been viceroy of India and that's what we went to see: his Indian artifacts, of which there were many.
They were preparing for a Robbie Williams concert, I had no earthly idea who he was but apparently he was something to see, they were laying down metalled roads and things over the drives and grass areas. (In looking up the concerts at Knebworth I am stunned to see attendance for the Robbie Williams concert at 375,000 over 3 nights)!!! I'm afraid to ask who he is. hahahah
As impressive as Highclere is, Knebworth outdazzles it, but note the lengths they've had to go to to keep revenues, it's practically a show in itself: http://www.knebworthhouse.com/.
Highclere on the other hand, is only open a couple of days a week and then only by guided tour thru a couple of rooms as they still live there.
You'd have to ask yourself how YOU would like to find people in your living room three days a week (it may be 4)...
This is such a fun subject, I'm so glad it's on and we have this place to talk about it.
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Well Ginny, I know what you mean about people traipsing through your living room - BUT not many of us live in mansions! They could move!
R :)
PS - Robbie Williams is the most famous former member of the boy band Take That. he left the band, was expected to be a total loser, descended into drink and drugs - then pulled himself out of it, became a mega solo star, far more succesful than any of his former band-mates. They have recently re-formed the band, and even the new concerts - at least 10 years after the original ones - have been total sell-outs. He is a pretty good singer!
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My partner and I just watched the first episode of Downton Abbey. We found it difficult to understand at first, but we paused the show and explained the plot to one another when necessary. We're taping (DVRing?) so we can watch them again. I always find that I pick up more information the second time around.
I love the characters. Maggie Smith is just great as the dowager countess. And I really like the Earl of Grantham and his American wife. The Duke was pure greed and played well. And I love the new valet, John Bates. I hope he exposes the nastiness he's been receiving.
I'm beginning to see the suggestions of relationships "downstairs". As for the daughters, Mary is selfish and full of herself. The middle sister is an angel and we know nothing of the youngest daughter yet.
When the third cousin and heir, Matthew Crawley, arrives, we actually can see the class system in all its glory. The "upstairs" rich (What's a weekend?); the "downstairs" poor and destitute and the middle class working people - doctors, lawyers and such.
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Aberlaine, I'm very glad you're joining us. What a great idea for you to pause the episode and figure out the plot points with your partner. This discussion will be good place to check with others about what we think is happening too.
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Episode 2 was over way to soon. I wanted to go on to Episode 3 right away. Sigh!
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I came in here hoping someone posted after this second episode - I was very confused - did they or didn't they in the bedroom - and then was his death natural?
I thought one thing after he said she would be fine and nothing would happen that would affect a future marriage - but then it looked to me like she gave in to her feelings - Is she blaming herself because she thinks she caused his death - did he not keep his word even if she was succumbing thinking she was safe therefore she killed him - no marks though - did Thomas, acting as his personal valet give him a potion after he was rebuffed to assure he was not outed -
I did not think this series was a mystery but tonight left me feeling like Poirot would walk in the front door any minute or at least Miss Marple would be called. - I also got the impression this was no Turkish anything but rather a cat burgler.
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Love the line "they checked the stud book" for a partner for Mary! ;D
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Bates is great, isn't he? This is Brendan Coyle, who also played a
major role in the series "Lark Rising to Candleford". You can always
count on a find performance from him.
The death of the Turkish cad, Pamuk, was surprising. He was very
young and apparently in thriving health, but there is nothing to
suggest his death was anything but a heart attack. Except, of course,
that we know the character of Thomas. If it was not a natural death,
it's not likely to ever come out now. I think the events in the
bedroom are purposely left obscure.
:D Me, too, Kidsal. His Lordship is refreshingly outspoken abut that.
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I think the second episode was fun to watch but the plot was totally unrealistic. The likelihood that in 1913 an upper class foreign ambassador would burst into the bedroom of the unwed daughter of an aristocrat in whose house he was a guest, after one day's acquaintance no less, is just too much to swallow. He'll have to turn out to be a secret serial rapist for me to believe it!
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I enjoyed Episode 2. When Pamuk died of a heart attack, I was amused at the plot turn and thought it was unbelievable. The idea of him being in Mary's bedroom at all was unbelievable. ---- I think her mother will from now on view her far differently, and I don't think will want to make her the beneficiary of all her money, that is if she can get the entail set aside.
Maggie Smith is deliciously snobby, don't you think --- she is just so haughty.
Can't wait for Episode 3 to see where this story is going.
Evelyn
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I don't think Episode 2 was believable, but it sure was entertaining. The Turkish guest was certainly a surprise!
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But why - first to be high born and Turkish would be enough but to make him a diplomat - Why? And OK I can see getting him out of Mary's room on the QT but the story has the kitchen maid having seen them so what is that all about - This is a strange period story - it is taking on the persona of a mystery - of course you can see it already Mary will be asked to marry the distant cousin who is to inherit the estate - who is being groomed for the position by her father - who is already smitten with her and it will be a marriage as her mother and father's - an unplanned love affair - maybe it was too pat and this Turkish diplomat's death in her room puts a kink into the neat story.
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I agree that the Turkish guest and his actions (including his death) were rather unbelievable. Perhaps a future episode will shed more light on him and his supposed heart attack.
I hope Thomas and O'Brien get their due at some point. Vicious minds, aren't they?
Why on earth would Matthew Crawley be interested in Mary? Edith seems a little too eager, and may have put Matthew off. I like Sybil. She seems more suited to a lawyer type.
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Have you ever seen anything with such a murky plot? Even the butler has been thrown into confusion. Dana suggests it's 'just too much to swallow', and Evelyn says it's just 'too unbelievable'. But Pamuk's bursting into Mary's bedroom shouldn't have surprised us. It was hot and heavy between these two all day. A hunt and a chase. They were on a bedroom assignation course the minute they set eyes on each other. Now he's dead, and she's damaged goods. It's not too much to swallow. It's too good to swallow. For the ardent lover - what a way to go. For those left behind there's much more drama to come. Everybody leaves a trail of spite and jealousy behind them. I see no happy ending to all this.
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And to me it's obvious, let's predict. I foresee a souvenir complication of yesterday's plot, I could be wrong.
Guy was pretty young to be dying of a heart attack, wasn't he? To me, and I'm sure only to me, the eldest daughter is unattractive, is she attractive to you all?
Cheerful Charlies? I'm not seeing that guy, at the period it's set in, sitting in the living room like he did, thing certainly took an interesting set of turns, didn't it?
Was it a war wound that has caused Bates's limp?
This one somehow caused a loss to me of...what do they call it? Willing suspension of disbelief? I lost some of that with this one. But I am interested to see how it ends, and after all, it's not intended as a long thing like Upstairs Downstairs. Which they are also remaking for the spring I think.
Love all the comments here.
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Ginny, I think he said Africa, so that would probably be the Boer War of 1899-1902.
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I enjoyed the episode - a lot packed into 90 minutes. It's like some of those regency romances - a little unbelievable, maybe, but then, those aristocrats must have had a lot of time on their hands, so maybe they did have all these intrigues going on.
I think some of this is a suggestion of the times and how they were changing. The dowager doesn't want change; but the maid wants to become a secretary, the typewriter was a oddity, the horrid "limp" reducer or whatever it was called a forerunner of some of the prosthetics we see now yet, the attorney who had to be trained to see how the valet needed to be employed because he thought there was no need to have a valet, the attorney's mother who wanted to be involved in helping improve life in the community - it's 1913 and the war is coming and things will change for English society even more. But were some of those changes coming even then and were only accelerated by the war?
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I'm with you, FRYBABE. Sybil appears to be the nicest,..and to me
most attractive, of the sisters. I do hope Crawley isn't falling in
love with Mary. She is her grandmother all over again..haughty,
arrogant and willful.
Mrs. Crawley is already a favorite of mine. She is more of a 'lady', IMO, than the so superior countess. Her desire to be involved in the
community and her concern for the people there tells me she will make
an excellent mistress of Downton Abbey. Or rather, dowager, since
obviously her son is going to find a wife before this is over.
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We like something different - I like Mary - she has spunk and where she will play the game as a dutiful daughter without the spite of her younger sister she is boxed in so that her life is not her own - she was taught that certain behavior was part of the box she has been caste in and so she looks for at least a man to have those behavioral manners - the fact that she is supposed only show interest if the man has money is part of the game she must play -
As to her looks - I think she is striking - not pretty but striking - she has a body that would wear fashion beautifully and she looks the picture on a horse wearing riding attire and she has the posture that suggests she was a dancer or took ballet when she was young. Where as the middle sister to me is not pretty either nor is she striking - the younger sister I see as charming - but all three are young woman that still have the magic about themselves of being young and full of life which makes them attractive.
I saw the tail end of this again last night on our alternate PBS channel - [our local KLRU the PBS channel has 3 stations - the main channel carries the usual advertised programing - the second, a stations devoted just to cooking, sewing, art, travel with some history and the third, with programing that does not fit on the main channel plus repeats of all the important offerings from the main channel shown mostly during daytime hours when the main channel is focused on children's shows -
Anyhow, I saw the ending again last night on the 3rd channel which included excerpts of next week's show that were not shown Sunday night - it appears there is a letter indicating Mary was sexually active in the bedroom scene and the death is questioned - could not tell, it may be a blackmail letter - but it is Maggie Smith's character as Matriarchy who receives the letter and is questioning Mary's mother to learn the truth. So the young man from Turkey in the second show of the series is pivotal to the story.
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The second episode was over before I knew it. It was very fast paced and we had to keep our attention focused on the TV screen at all times.
I wonder if Mary will ever find a suitable husband. She's just too flighty. I hope she doesn't marry Matthew Crawley. He's too good for her. Now, Lady Sybil would make a wonderful wife for him. Even if he doesn't inherit Downton Abbey.
I love the interaction between the Dowager Countess and Isobel Crawley. I think they're going to end up being good friends.
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I too am interested in the interaction between the Dowager Countess and Isobel Crawley. They are both very strong.
Alot did happen during this episode. Do you think that Matthew is attracted to Mary?
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I don't think Matthew Crawley is interested in Sybil, Aberlaine. She is definitely
interested in him, but I don't think they have all that much in common. Frankly, I'm
hoping the youngest daughter will gradually come to the forefront; she's the nicest of
the lot.
Matthew is showing some interest in Mary, but I don't think it would survive a closer
knowledge of her. She obviously considers him beneath her and he is not likely to tolerate
that.
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Mary seems to have changed somewhat after the death of the Turkish fellow. She seems a bit more accepting of others. I thought her exchange with the butler in the room where the guy died showed that she could accept the butler as a fellow "person" with feelings; not just a servant. Maybe the change will continue; maybe not!
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I think when Matthew told the middle daughter that their next visit to the churches would include his mother shows he is not interested in her. He does show an interest in Mary. I'm hoping the youngest daughter is brought more into the upcoming series. She seems most like her mother and very nice.
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Jean, I agree that Matthew's indicating that his mother wants to come along put a damper on the middle daughter's pursual of him.
The youngest daughter is very thoughtful of others and beautiful too. I hope that she finds happiness.
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that middle daughter is rather sly and may cause trouble - looking in Mary's diary and lying about it as well as manipulating Matthew to accompany him on an outing - she is not very likeable
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I had forgotten about Edith's looking into Mary's diary, BARB. I guess
I felt sorry for her, being second to her older sister in everything, not
nearly as attractive and with few prospects. But she does come across
as sneaky and manipulative.
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Barbara and Babi, I agree that Edith is manipulative. She must feel it's her only option. Mary seems to attract people seemingly without effort and without having to openly resort to the kind of things that Edith is doing.
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My PBS station had a great deal of difficulty tonight -- the picture kept freezing. Hopefully the disc I receive from Netflix will be better.
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on this site you can view the entire episode of Downton Abbey
http://video.pbs.org/video/1754523170
Everyone seemed to have slipped deeper into their personality with the only new that I observed is that Bates has a secret and the new Irish coachmen may become a bigger character on the world stage.
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Thanks -=- will watch.
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I didn't intend to watch it all and got caught up despite myself, those 10:30 pm going to bed things are killers when you get up at 5.
Interesting plot developments, is there anything underneath them or is it all on the surface?
What's going on with the cook? Is she really going blind or can she just not read? Was that why she refused to try the new dessert despite the scullery maid saying she'd read it to her?
I'm not sure about the new romance of the housekeeper, and she turned him down, that was a nice little bit. She has grown beyond the farm. And the typist keeps trying to grow beyond service. That was funny with the horse and the dog cart if that's what they call them. Those were the days. I'd love to have one of those.
Do you think that the butler and the housekeeper will end up together or the butler and the cook?
Why is the second daughter writing the Turkish ambassador? Stupid thing left it on the desk.
Why are all the men flocking around the eldest daughter who rarely cracks even a smile and ignoring the gorgeous youngest one?
The inheritance? Now her reputation is ruined apparently so she's no longer the cat's meow, and so NOW she's interested in the heir?
The chauffeur seems to me to be the most mysterious of the lot, is he a spy as they hinted earlier that they needed to be watching for?
Did I mishear the pretty maid tell Bates she loved him? And he got on a wagon and rode on? I loved the tray he brought (did you catch them being locked in?)
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Three episodes of Downton Abbey are among the highest downloaded from the internet of any last week, including the new one last night.
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I especially liked the bit when the Dowager Countess gave the prize to someone else. She and Mrs. Crawley are still butting heads. The interactions between those two are priceless.
It looks like Edith is being very jealous and vindictive. I am not entirely sure I don't blame at least some of her feelings (although not her actions) considering how Mary treats her.
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I enjoyed last night's episode and wish we could see all the episodes at one time. It's sad that the two older daughters dislike each other so much. I'm curious about Bates. He seems such a decent and kind man.
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Poor Edith -- not that I like her, mind you, but has she had Middle Child Syndrome all her life? Not the eldest, who was groomed to marry an heir (the late Patrick), thus saving the family home, and not the beautiful youngest who was probably allowed, as a child, to get away with more than her sister.
I think Bates and Anna will get together eventually. He has such a complex about his wound, doesn't think he's worth anything. And how about the lovely Sybil, whom we all like. She's trying to move Gwen up the career ladder, and I wouldn't be surprised if she did the same for the new chauffer, who isn't going to be a chauffer all his life.
Thomas and O'Brien? They're not mother and son are they? They just cling together because they're so nasty?
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I agree about Edith's "middle child syndrome".
A slight thaw between Mary and Matthew? Interesting how his attitude toward the estate is changing.
I think the Irish chauffeur may do more for Sybil's independence than she will do for his.
Didn't you love the reactions to her harem pants at dinner!
Maggie Smith is priceless in her role - and she's learning some things about Women's Rights (and Abilities), too.
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MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
.....................................................................................
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
NOW DISCUSSING
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/upstairsdownstairs.jpg)
Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.
COMING
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/southriding.jpg)
South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps2.jpg)
The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/anyhumanheart.jpg)
Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/cooke.jpg)
The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/downtonabbey.jpg)
Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/myboyjack.jpg)
My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
We are getting deeper into character, as BARB said. I am actually finding
some things to like in Mary, but that 'challenge' competition with her
sister was extremely unkind. And it drove Edith to an action that's going
to hurt the entire family, not just Mary. Writing that letter is simply
inexcusable.
Oh, definitely not the butler and the cook, GINNY. Not the same social
strata at all. He has responsibility and oversight of all the staff and is
discharging his duties most compassionately. I do like the butler.
Anna did tell Bates she loved him, and he explained that he was not free
to speak as he might like. He also told her he considered her the finest
'lady' he had ever met.
Then the cart came along and offered a ride for one. Since Bates injury tended
to slow him down on these long walks, he was persuaded to use the ride.
The scene with the harem pants outfit was wonderful, wasn't it, CALLIE? The expressions on
everyone's face! And Maggie Smith has always been great in everything she did. Just seeing her
name listed in the cast of a film is enough to recommend it to me.
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I like the possible pairings that are hinted at. I sure hope Bates changes his mind about Anna. They are both such good people. I was so sorry to see that Mrs. Hughes refuses her beau of years ago to remain at Downton Abbey. Maybe she and Mr. O'Brien will become a couple. They are both so level headed.
I am liking Matthew more and more with each episode. I think he will make a great Lord of Downton Abbey. But I hate to see the daughters become second-class citizens because of it. I'd love to see Mary soften and finally marry Matthew. Then the inheritance will remain intact.
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I was sad, also, that Mrs. Hughes refused her suitor a second time. Her excuse of growing beyond a farm may be more or less true, but it sounded like an excuse to me. She has spent so many years at Downton that I suspect she is afraid of such an enormous change in her life at this point. What a surprise they will all get when WWI hits. It changes most everything. But I think, that is were the story ends, just before or just as WWI starts. I think Gwen with her typing skills will be in great demand when the war hits.
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Without a child what will happen to Downton- because you just know that Matthew will be killed as most of the officers were so that even if he and Mary do marry I wonder if he leaves her with child - if not then that is truely the end of Downton regardless, it will be turned into a hopital or a barracks during the war if it stays in the family or not but it will never be the same... All those lives caring for and builiding it up and caring for each other in the process.
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Am I the only one who sneaked a peek at the Synopsis of the episodes on the "Downton Abbey" web site? :-[
However, none of them tell HOW the story gets to the events that happen - so I really don't know "everything" (and I'm not telling what I do know!!!) ;)
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aha - your post makes me think Mary turns out to be pregnant - ah that Turk... ;)
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I love everyone's posts. It seems that you are very engaged with these characters... the bad as well as the good! I am too. I'm looking forward to the next episode. It's the last one for this season :(
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Barbara, I wondered about that. If Mary did become pregnant by the Turk, and the child is male, would he not be the right heir.
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we will see what we will see - my guess is she marries so that no one knows - but then that is so pat and usually these stories have a twist - it will be fun seeing tomorrow won't it...
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'If Mary did become pregnant by the Turk, and the child is male, would he not be the right heir.'
Wow! What a scenario! Downton Abbey has been all about change in attitudes and social revolution, but that would be hard to pull off. Trying to legitimize the issue of an illicit affair would be more difficult than trying to get out of a secured property entailment. I have Mary left holding a torch for the rest of her life. She could only ever love the husband who never was. But the house needs a lord. Mathew seems a could candidate. I'm counting on him to find a solution that will leave everybody happy.
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Little bits of viciousness come back to bit them in the backside. What a turn. But there is hope, new episode in production.
I am looking forward to the Alistair Cooke bio next week.
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I had begun to sympathize with Mary, but then she turned around returned Edith's malicious
action (re. the letter to the Turkish ambassador) by another equally vicious. Did she not have
the good sense to realize that Edith married and away would be the ideal solution for both of
them?
I'm looking forward to the next production. I do hope it won't take forever.
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I haven't watched the last episode of the season yet. I'll do that today or tomorrow with my "on demand" cable. I too hope that the next series will be broadcast soon here in America. I read that season 2 will be filmed starting in March and will be shown in Great Britain in the Fall.
"On 12 October 2010 Laura Mackie, the ITV Director of Drama Commissioning, confirmed that the drama will return for a second series in 2011. In a statement, she said:
'We're delighted with the audience response to Downton Abbey and the positive critical reaction. We're extremely proud to have commissioned a series which has clearly captivated ITV1 viewers. Consequently, we're thrilled to be announcing the recommission of a new series for 2011 which will allow us to spend more time with the Crawley family and their servants.'
The second series will be composed of eight episodes. Filming begins in March 2011. The second series will air from Autumn 2011, and will be followed by a Christmas special later in the year.
Michelle Dockery, Dame Maggie Smith, Brendan Coyle, Rob James-Collier and Dan Stevens have all signed up for the second series."
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So much happened in that last episode. I too am looking forward to the new series.
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I felt like the last episode was a little rushed with too much happening and nothing covered as well as in the 3 previous episodes. Did you catch the Lady's maid deliberately pushing that soap where Cora would slip, and Cora thinks she is so sweet. I hope the truth comes out.
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Really? There's more to come of that melodramatic nonsense. I can hardly wait. Sniping at each other. They were about to start killing each other. Thankfully, the declaration of WWI put an end to it. Only in England. On the other hand I will always wonder if Sybil does run off with the chauffeur. If poor Mary will continue to find comfort in the butler's arms. And if Lady Grantham does try again. If Thomas does get to go to Turkey. I only wonder that not one of them has thought of coming to America to make a fresh start.
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Yes the soap placed by the tub for her to slip on it was horrible - all because of her imagination when eavesdropping on a conversation - oh so sad.
Rushed yes, but so many loose ends - I hate it - there is too much time before they are sewn together - now if the next group of shows were ready and being shown in March I could accept that - but I feel like I have been kicked down the road and now for awhile kicked into an empty field - I am annoyed -
Oh, I will probably watch next fall but without the same enthusiasm - right now I could care less if Mary ever marries - I am foreseeing Matthew coming back from the war not physically himself and Mary takes care of him - she has to be in charge to make up for being expected to do what everyone in the family says she should do.
And Bates will probably do the 'right' thing and never marry while his wife is alive - or if he does brake it will be the sign of the change in the collective ethics after WWI - goodness only knows what will happen to the ugly sister.
The story shows us how a life is lived that is all about duty with very little room for feelings and if love happens it is purely by chance so all they have left is game playing which they are all pretty good at... This could have been one of my favorites because I like period pieces but the way they broke it up with so many loose ends not to be continued for nearly a year put a big downer on my response - I am in the shrug of the shoulder mood about this show and if I miss it in the fall so what....
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I guess I thought of it differently - it's like reading a novel and wondering what happens to the characters after the book ends - The War started, things will change, and those loose ends are actually just life moving on. If there were no announced continuation, would you feel differently about the ending? I suspect if there were to be no followup, then some plot lines may have been changed. But, I could still see Mr Bates leaving things up in the air as is, Thomas moving on never to be seen again, Mary being always unhappy, the middle sister being unloveable, Sybil becoming a modern woman, and I just wouldn't be a part of it.
I am looking forward to the new series, to see if any of the things I thought would/should happen do.
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Marcie, thanks for the quote. It sounds a though they didn't originally plan for a second season which may be why some felt the last episode felt a little rushed. I see that Rob James-Collier has signed on for future episodes, so we are not rid of the nasty Thomas, at least for some of the episodes. I sincerely hope that if WWI doesn't kill him off that he comes back very much humbled. I hope most of the cast are able to re-sign.
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I am enjoying everyone's thoughts and our little controversy here about the season's "ending." I too wish that the next season isn't such a long time away. I watched the episode and agree that it was packed. I think that O'Brien is sorry about the soap. She was just on her way to correct her action when her mistress got out of the tub and slipped. She might change her ways now that her cohort Thomas won't be around the house. I don't see Thomas changing his ways but we'll see. I don't think he realizes how much danger he will be in during the War.
Mary's not accepting Matthew's proposal because of her aunt's prompting didn't quite make sense to me. I'm not sure I understood the rationale. That action reminds me of Persuasion a bit, where Anne is talked out of marry Wentworth by her mother's friend.
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Marcie, Mary is suffering from too much advice and pressure, real or imagined, from both "sides". It has confused her a little, made her second guess herself and everyone's motives including her own. Therefore, she hesitates. Too much input at once - instant brain freeze. It's kind of like when too many people try to use a website that can't handle the load. What happens? Everything grinds to a halt.
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Thanks, Frybabe. That could well be what's happening. Now her mother has had a miscarriage of the potential male heir and Matthew is leaving. At the end of the episode, Mary seems to be feeling that she's not only messed up her life but her family's as well.
LOL, Jonathan about Mary's finding comfort in the butler's arms. You've given a good melodramatic summary of the episodes!
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I actually liked the last episode for some reason, I think it was the below stairs coming to a bit more life in this one, the two cooks, cooperating. The below stairs seemed to me to take on more personality or something. The second cook, the take command cook on loan seemed to me (what do I know?) more authentic. To me the first cook is playing the "Mrs. Bridges" card too strongly.
I was somewhat surprised at the reaction to the announcement that they were at war. It seemed to me that on Upstairs Downstairs (I haven't seen it since it came on tho I do have the tapes, they've just had a 20th anniversary edition out) but it seemed to me that there was cheering, and lots of interest. Of course that would not be our reaction now. I remember James particularly, the son. There was silence and averting the eyes in this one, my memory may be faulty. When Marcie said I don't think he realizes how much danger he will be in during the War. None of them did, marching off gaily in the War to End all Wars, such an awful thing, WWI. You don't hear a lot about it now, what a horror it was.
I thought Bates' mother's appearance was too pat for the plot. The show still reminds me of Gosford Park, until this last chapter which seemed to move a bit towards Upstairs Downstairs...more intimate I guess. The woman who played Rose in the old Upstairs, Downstairs was one of the writers in the old U/D. Her mother had been in service. To me her Downstairs seemed more realistic than this one, this one has stock characters, pretty much. Of course Maggie Smith is a treasure. As for Lady Mary, she still continues homely, to me. Maybe it's a case of pretty is as pretty does, she rarely smiles and without a dower she'll be lucky to catch the chauffeur (whom I predict she ends up with) with her scowl and attitude. I feel sorry for truly homely Edith, where do they find these actresses. Yes she did a spiteful hateful thing, what spiteful girls the two oldest are, but she was lucky in finding a suitor, her only way out actually, unless the war gives her a new life,, until....
The old Brideshead started out like this too, and expanded into the long thing it became, so maybe they can alter this as it goes. Anyway, it will be fun to watch. This is one, however, that for some reason I'm not going to rewatch on Netflix.
And of course a NEW version of Upstairs Downstairs debuts this spring. Sometimes when they remake an old classic (Brideshead Revisited) they wish they hadn't. What a mess that remake was, totally not the book. I think I'll rewatch the old U/D just to be a bit more up on what actually happened versus memory.
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O'Brien had a change of heart and started back to be sure Cora
didn't slip on the soap, but it was too late. She was already
regretting her action terribly. Then the news that she had been
mistaken all along about the plans to get rid of her...well, she
was stunned. Her remorse is already making a deep change in her.
I don't know how she will live with the damage she has done.
"That action reminds me of Persuasion a bit, where Anne is talked out of marry Wentworth by her mother's friend."
Me, too, MARCIE. I can only suppose that Mary felt her aunt's
advice was more 'up-to-date' than her conservative grandmother's.
Mary doesn't know her own mind where Matthew is concerned, and she
can't seem to break the vicious pattern she follows in re. her
sister Edith. Some major changes would have to take place before
I could wish her on Matthew.
I don't expect we'll see more of Bates' mother, GINNY, but my
reaction to her is that her son is very much like her. She seemed
to 'match' him very well.
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I was trying to find more information on the second season upcoming, but there is very little to be had. Wikipedia has a note that Angela Lansbury will be in one episode, but there is no reference listed to check out. Also, there is going to be a Christmas Special. It comes after the second season showing, so I don't guess we will see that in the US this coming Christmas. It all depends on how long it takes them to release the second season to show here.
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Frybabe, here's a link that I hope will bring up an on-line interview yesterday with Hugh Bonneville ( "Lord Grantham") in which he answered questions sent in by viewers. I chose to read the transcript. He mentions a little bit about the second season.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/chat.html
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Lovely thanks Callie
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Callie, that is such a good article, I love how you can choose to read bits of it (and end up reading it all). Thank you for bringing it here, I loved the "wanky" quail in the dining room. hahahaa
Ella and I saw them filming Vanity Fair at Hampton Court the day we visited. i got lots of great photos of it but it does appear to be work, for the actors, and everybody involved, over and over and over again, and the wanky quail points to that beautifully.
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I thought episode 4 would wrap things up. And then when more twists and turns kept happening, I realized there was going to be another season.
I was really amazed that Edith and Mary were so spiteful to each other. At their age they should have been best friends, not hateful competitors. And O'Brien and the bar of soap episode resulting in Lady Cora's miscarriage. There's a lot of just plain petty meanness in that household.
It will be interesting to see what WWI brings. One thing, they'll all have something to do with their time and perhaps they will see how the real world lives.
I wonder which girl will become an ambulance driver.
I hope Matthew comes back alive. So many of them didn't.
Evelyn
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A Poirot re-run was showing on my PBS channel last evening instead of Alistair Cooke. But I found you can watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html. I'll watch it today or tomorrow.
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Yes, I am going to have to do that. I fell asleep and didn't wake back up until more than half was over. I re-watched the last episode of Downton Abbey on Sat. night.
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I'm looking forward to the Downton Abby series.
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I started with "A Human Heart" last night, but didn't finish it. It didn't
hold my interest, and I really didn't care about the characters.
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Babi, I too found it difficult to get into "Any Human Heart." I started to watch it but stopped and switched over to the BAFTA ceremony, equivalent to the Academy Awards.
Maybe I'll try again to view it online.
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Since I like Macfadyen I watched - seems to be as if a travelogue of the twentieth century - not only the famous and literary characters of the century but also the way we were - the way men related to children - the rich related to the poor - the English respected or not anyone not from England - evidently this was a best selling book - it is filmed well as all the shows on Masterpiece and I am wanting to see what happens next for him to get to be the old man who lives alone in a run down mas telling the story.
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I watched "Any Human Heart" last night and enjoyed it. I agree it was interesting to see "the way we were". Jim Broadbent is sure playing a messy old man to the hilt, isn't he. I'm looking forward to the next episodes to see where this goes.
Evelyn
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Thanks, Barbara and Evelyn, for the encouragement. I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. I'll give it another try.
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I tried to watch, but it didn't hold my interest. I DVR'd it, so maybe I'll give it a try later. It seemed rather jumbled and I didn't care for the subject matter. Sally
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I think I'm watching too many British period pieces at once -- Downton Abbey, Any Human Heart, and from Netflix, Dance to the Music of Time. Don't ask, who's in what. ??? But I am enjoying all.
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Pedln - A Dance to the Music of Time has a cast of thousands, so it's virtually impossible to keep track. However, there is a wonderful book by Hilary Spurling, "Invitation to the Dance", which is a guide to all of the characters and where they crop up (as some of them tend to reappear years after you have forgotten about them). I have just had a look on Amazon and you can't get it on Kindle, but in paperback (at least in the UK) it's not too expensive. I splashed out on it some time ago when I was reading the books, and it was worth every penny.
Has Miranda Richardson appeared yet? She is wonderful in this, overshadowed only by Simon Russell Beale, who is just completely marvellous in anything he does, this especially.
I think I will watch it all again, just talking about it makes me happy!
Rosemary
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/masterpiececlassic.jpg)
Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
CONTEST NEWS!
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
.....................................................................................
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
NOW DISCUSSING
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/upstairsdownstairs.jpg)
Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.
COMING
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/southriding.jpg)
South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps2.jpg)
The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/anyhumanheart.jpg)
Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/cooke.jpg)
The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/downtonabbey.jpg)
Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/myboyjack.jpg)
My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
Somehow, I lost this discussion, and have just found it again. Maybe you moved when my computer was down.
I couldn't believe that the last episode of "Downton Abbey" was the last. I watched it a second time, to make sure. I think Maggie Smith's statement that mary had just lost the only decent proposal of marraige she would ever get" was supposed to tell you what would happen to her. but now they're having a second eason, maybe there is hope. Otherwise, she and Sybil will be left old maids to snipe at each other for the rest of their lives.
I watched "Any human heart", but it was hard to get interested in him. i'll give it one more try.
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JoanK, I'm glad you are back with us. Maybe tonight's episode will be more engaging for those of us who had difficulties getting into the first one.
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I have to say, this episode was slow. I found myself looking a my watch a time or two. However, interestingly, my husband watched it with me last week and again last night. So, I have a feeling this is a man's movie.
I am not going to comment on any of the specifics, because I don't want to be a spoiler for those of you who will catch it some time this week. One of the happenings didn't surprise me, because I was expecting it. But I am glad they will wrap things up in the next episode because I am fast losing interest in some of these characters. And I cannot believe all this sleeping around and also all the drinking and smoking. It's like another world.
I'll comment more specifically later.
Evelyn
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Reminds me of what we heard about Ernest Hemingway and other writers of that period - never did look - is this about an actual writer or is the entire character made up - they sure trash Edward and Wally Simpson don't they. I guess as we all clear out we are reminded of all our losses as well as the loves in our lives - for most of us that will be snippets of memories of our children and husbands and other friends and family.
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Last night here in the UK we saw the first episode of a new adaptation of Winifred Holtby's South Riding. I recall seeing the first adaptation (I think) starring ? Dorothy Tutin when I was still at school; everyone watched it in the way we all did in those 3 channel and no computer days.
Anyway, this new version is (so far) excellent. It stars Anna Maxwell Martin as Sarah Burton, the newly appointed and progressive head of a girls' school in Yorkshire in 1934. In the first episode we have already met the local landowner, his disturbed daughter, a family from "the shacks" = slums that the local council refuse to do anything about, and so on.
Winifred Holtby was, I believe, a friend of Vera Brittain, part of a generation of women whose men had died in the first war, and who wanted more than a stay at home life.
Just thought I'd mention it in case it appears on PBS.
Rosemary
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Rosemary: thanks. It sounds better than the "Any human Heart" we are getting.
I watched it: can't really "get into" the main character. And the scenes of him in old age, burning mementoes are just too evocative.
The most interesting part was the portrayal of Edward VIII. and Wallace. my goodness -- I hope they weren't really THAT bad.
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Just been watching "Garrow's Law" Hopefully it will be on masterpiece theatre--it's excellent. My husb got it from the BBC catalogue and the date is 2010. It makes Dowton Abbey look like a second rate soap opera. Its about a real defence lawyer in England in the 1790s or so. Gripping storylines based on true cases showing how the law and court system has developed.
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I just can't get interested in "Any Human Heart". Will pass on the last episode and hope for something I'll enjoy when that is finished.
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I watched the first two episodes of "Any Human Heart", last night. I enjoyed it. I love the scenery, the clothes and cars of the time period. Think the acting is first rate. I cried when he leaned that his wife and child were killed in a bombing raid. So much death and dying during that time.
I cannot remember when the Duke of Windsor died. My great grandmother was fascinated with him, and Wallis. We lived near Hollywood, California, and often read about them in the local papers. The way they are depicted in AHH seems realistic.
Sheila
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Here's another novel that loses much in translation to film. Have you read any of William Boyd's other novels? - prize-winning, much acclaimed novels - A Good Man in Africa, An Ice Cream War - Brazzaville Beach. These are hard hitting, straightforward approaches to social issues of the time...tinged with humor, with irony - edgy stories, not the romance as the adaptation seems to be.
I'm reading this book because I want to find out what Boyd intended with his plot. I'm puzzled at what has brought this old man to tears as he burns his journals which he has kept all his life. Why is he sobbing? Perhaps it is because he regrets the mistakes he has made. WHY is he burning them now?
Boyd's novel begins with the quote from Henry James - "Never say you know the last word about any human heart." The next page - the title page says"
Any Human Heart
THE INTIMATE JOURNALS
OF LOGAN MOUNTSTUART
The whole novel is in the form of Journals - which Logan Mountstuart keeps from 1923 when he begins the Abbey School in England, having just moved from Uruguay. I think it was a mistake not to include these early journals, "The School Novels," in the film version - it is here that the boy's character is formed, and life-long associations made with Peter Scabius and Ben Leeping - whose challenges pushed him to behave as he does later in life.
There is a "Preamble to These Jounals" in which Boyd explains that the first years of the diaries, written when he was fifteen - are missing. He tells us that at the start, he vowed to tell the truth, the whole truth. He writes that sometimes he behaved well, sometimes less than well - but has resisted all attempts to present himself in a better light.
He explains that journal keepers keep such journals "to entrap that collection of selves that forms us, the individual human being."
Perhaps that's why the old man weeps at the end - because he regrets his life - the life captured in these journals. We don't see that old man in the novel. That will come at the end, perhaps.
Do you keep journals? Sometimes I wish I had...but maybe reading the unedited, unvarnished story of some of the low points of my life = would be too much of a reminder, too hard to take.
I think Boyd's story is about these Journals, not the other way around. We'll see - Know that I'm reading the book, and if there's something in the film that confuses you, please ask, and maybe Boyd the novelist can supply an explanation.
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JoanP: good for you. Would you recommend the book?
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An interesting question, JoanK. I'm really enjoying it - Boyd has turned many writers and artists into characters in the book - who interact with his fictional Logan Mountstuart ...he meets Hemingway, Waugh, V. Wolfe, James Joyce...
A warning, there are some rather graphic scenes that take place during LM's years at Oxford where he has his first sexual encounters. More than you are seeing in the PBS series. ;)
I'm beginning to see why the aging Mountstuart is weeping as he burns the journals. The younger Mountstuart treats friendship - and women, in a cavalier manner - while claiming total honesty in the journals, oblivious to the hurtful way he uses people. Perhaps he recognizes this in his journals at the end of his life.
I can understand why PBS is interspersing scenes of the younger Mountstuart with the older as he weeps over his earlier actions. (Boyd doesn't do this in the book) An example - while at Oxford, he promises to help his old pal from the Abbey prep school...by keeping his fiancee, Tess, company, while Peter's father is at Oxford for a month. Mountstuart seems to think nothing of the "favors" he is doing for his old Friend by bedding Peter's future wife - on numerous occasions. As long as Peter doesn't know, no one is getting hurt- he rationalizes.
He sounds awful, doesn't he? Really, the book is fun - and poignant - at the same time.
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I'm really looking forward to tonight's final installment - Havent finished the book beyond last week's sad story of the war years and the loss of Freya and Stella.
There's one line in the book that sheds light on why the aging Logan Mountstuart is weeping at the end of his life...
Says the young Mountstuart -
"I've always urged myself to do what I want to do, not what I ought to do."
So many times in his life, he makes his choices based on this principle.
In the book, there's the moment before LM jumps from the helicopter when he regrets (too late) risking his life with a wife and child at home. I can see why he regrets his life at the end...
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I didn't recognize Kim Cattrall in "Human Heart" Was the Red head with whom he had the Baby. The last part will be on tonight. I have enjoyed it even though it did seem to jump around to much,
I have the book ordered and maybe I will enjoy it more.
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Rosemary,
I hope to see "South Riding" on Masterpiece over here in the US. Will be awhile I think if it is just coming out on UK.TV. I will see if I can find the book.
Being from Lancashire I looks forward to any of the stories made about the North. They do a very good job of filming in the true areas.
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Jeanne - the second episode was last night and was very good. David Morrissey is lovely ;D
Where do you come from in Lancashire? My husband was born in Bramhall outside Stockport. His parents have moved to the Lake District now, which is wonderful, but I used to enjoy visiting them in Bramhall and going into Manchester.
Rosemary
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Kim played the part of Gloria, JeanneP. She married Logan's friend, Peter - for a time. In the third episode she comes to stay with Logan her only friend.
In the book, the old man is not weeping as he burns his journals while living in France. Actually, he is quite positive, viewing his life - with no regrets. This from the last pages of the book - in which Logan contemplates his life:
"...all my sporadic highs and appalling lows, my brief triumphs and terrible losses...looking over the beach and the ocean as the sun begins to drop down in the west, a strange sense of pride: pride in all I have done and lived through, prould to think of the thousands of people I've met and known and the few I've loved."
I closed the book thinking to myself this would be a nice way to go out - with no regrets. His life seemed to me a roller coaster - but I suppose this is what we all experience - the highs, the lows.
I've been questionning why this is a Masterpiece "Classic". What makes one work a classic? Does it simply withstand the test of time? Or does it make a statement, concern itself with the human condition?
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The folks at PBS have just informed us of a sweepstakes they are running for a trip to see some of the sights we've loved on Masterpiece.
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
.....................................................................................
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more and enter at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
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OH wow, I've been to Highclere, in fact I went last summer, it's DEFINITELY worth entering just for that, not to mention all the others!~ I've never been to Greenway and I've always wanted to go. Wouldn't it be a hoot if one of us WON? hahaha
Thank you for letting us know about it, hopefully one of us will win!
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That's a great prize - get entering everyone! Bath is a beautiful city - I used to visit it as a child because my mother had a friend there. We used to swim in an ancient swimming bath heated from the hot springs. It has now all been smartened up - I haven't been since but I have seen pictures of the amazing new pool, I think it is on a rooftop or something.
By strange coincidence, at this very moment there is an item on Radio 4 about Agatha Christie's husband, who was of course a well known archaeologist. He met her somewhere in the desert, and on their trip back together he decided she would make a good life companion as she was so resourceful when their vehicle got stuck somewhere. he said they had a great deal in common because both archaeologists and crime writers sift the truth from a few, elusive, clues.
Rosemary
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I would love to swim in that pool...even "smartened" up, Rosemary. Is it hot springs water? On a rooftop? Hmmm
Did you notice that you can enter the contest ONCE A DAY?
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JoanP - here is the link:
http://www.thermaebathspa.com/
It was not on a roof top when I went there, but I must say it looks lovely.
Rosemary
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Somewhere in Agatha Christie's Come Tell Me How You Live she says that her husband Max Mallowan, the archaeologist, liked her because he likes old things. hahahaa What a wonderful book that was, just the opening lines about her trying to shop for an archaeological expedition are some of the funniest lines I've ever read, I loved that book. I'm thinking she wrote two autobiographies, I could be wrong on that, but I bought a long time ago all of her books in print, they were bound the same, not particularly nicely I guess when you think of it, in black, but it was nice to have them all. She also wrote under a pen name and I really liked those as well, particularly A Daughter's a Daughter.
I would really love to see her house after reading about it, but I've never been to Devon, I think it is.
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What pen name did Christie write under, GINNY? I didn't know about
that.
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Apparently, Agatha Christie wrote her early novels under the name of Mary Westmacott, Babi. Her daughter wrote an essay about these six novels...interesting
to read about them. They seem to be autobiographical, not her crime solving mysteries for which she became famous. They were not well received, though Christie was pleased with them.
Here's what her daughter wrote about them - Mary Westmacott novels. (http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/the-queen-of-crime/mary-westmacott/)
You're right, Rosemary, the pool looks wonderful - but I'd prefer the ancient grungy one...I think.
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I believe the ancient grungy one has been cloed as unhealthy. And you're not allowed to "take" (drink) the waters; again unhealthy. All us Jane Austen readers know about going to Bath to take the waters.
But I understand the building where Austen's characters went to take the waters is still operating, serving "teas".(I wish we Americans would adopt the English meal of "tea" in the afternoon. It sounds so nice).
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Oh Joan wouldn't it be fun for a month long discussion in which each of us share a weekly or daily tea we fix for ourselves or with guests - we could do a fantasy tea where we each bring something to a weekly tea as part of the discussion - we could gather up and share from some library books information about tea, tea growing, recipes, china on and on - a Month of Tea - I would love that...May - that is when we could consider this - in May many of us could stop for a leisurely or a quicky tea in the out-of-doors before the summer heat - I wonder if Rosemary or Gumtree or Octavia or roshanarose are in the habit of taking time for tea since they are from the part of the world that does tea - although, I am under the impression that tea can mean an early supper not just an afternoon repast - but it would be fun wouldn't it - oh and if some of us could share photos of our tea - yes, this could be great. What do you think...?
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JoanK -yes, I think the old swimming bath was closed down some years ago - I don't think it was unhealthy! We survived! As a child, I used to think I was swimming in the same pool that the Romans had used - unfortunately I don't think it was quite that old, but it did have an "ancient" air about it. The changing cubicles were round the edge of the pool, and I'm sure there weren't any lockers, you just left your stuff in the cubicle. Although Bath has always been popular, it was not the tourist mecca then that it is today.
The taking of the waters has been on and off for years. Again, I have tried them and had no ill effects. I don't know what it is like elsewhere, but in the UK we are hardly allowed to do anything now.
As to tea - I am constantly amazed, when reading Barbara Pym novels, that all of the (very middle class) characters manage to wolf down huge afternoon teas (brought in by the maid) only a short time before dressing for dinner. I love tea and scones, etc but I couldn't eat dinner right on top of them. One of our cafes - a lovely little place called Rosie's Thistle Tea Room - does a full afternoon tea with cakes on a cakestand. I recall reading a cookery writers column years ago in which the writer had visited all of the places that she thought might still have proper tea. The only one that did was Eton, where the housemistress she spoke to said that it was still very much an institution at the school, and that old boys always looked forward to it if they came back to visit. I fear that you wouldn't really find it in private homes now - everyone is at work, too busy, or too concerned about their waistlines. Even my parents in law, who are retired, don't have it - and I'm quite sure MIL was brought up with tea served every afternoon. There are, however, plenty of cafes restoring the lost art of cake making - unfortunately (IMO) cupcakes have been all the rage lately, but there are some places baking the traditional recipes - things like fruit cake, Madeira cake, scones, Victoria sandwich, rock cakes, etc. Yum.
Here is a link to one of my top favourites in Edinburgh:
http://mimisbakehouse.com/
Rosemary
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Rosemary what are Stovies - the lunch menu included 'Luxury Homemade Stovies' served with Oatcakes and love.
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Oh, Rose, that tea sounds lovely. When we were in London, 40 years ago, we met an Englishman who treated us to a proper English tea with Devonshire cream. It was wonderful. The Scottish tea sounds similar, although, better I'm sure. I just finished reading one of Alexander McCall Smith's books set in Edinburgh, and I'm ready to jump on a plane and come.
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Well, stovies are a sort of mixture of meat and potatoes. I think traditionally the meat was the leftovers from the Sunday roast, which were then stewed up with potatoes and maybe onions, but they are also quite often made with mince. There is also something called mince and skirlie, the skirlie being cooked oatmeal. I must admit I am not mad on either of these, but they are very popular with native Aberdonians!
Rosemary
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The stovies sound very much like our hash...a compound of leftover
meat and potatoes heated in a skillet for a nice crust. Onions are often
included, and if you add beets you have 'red flannel' hash. ;)
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Yes that's right, JoanP. She and her daughter had a very interesting relationship. I loved Absent in the Spring and A Daughter's a Daughter, that one really tells more than one story. :)
The bound set that I have includes all of those as well.
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Babi - we also have something called corned beef hash (which is not Scottish) - my husband always insists on making it when we are on holiday in the Lake District. It consists of corned beef, potatoes, tomato puree, onions, etc all cooked in a wide frying pan. It is a solid thing and as you say it has a nice crust. I do like it but it's SO calorie-laden - only feel I can eat it after I've been up a mountain! Stovies are more watery than that (and not as nice, IMHO).
Rosemary
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I love corned beef hash, ROSEMARY, but I don't try to prepare it from scratch like your dear
husband does. I know a good canned brand, but as you say it is fattening, so I don't have it
too often. Love a good reuben, too. I know a restaurant that makes a reuben sandwich that
is soo-o-o-0 good, but again I wouldn't dare eat it often. But once in a whlle.... umm.
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Babi - what is Reuben?
Rosemary
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I always liked the open-faced Reuben one of the downtown taverns had on their menu years and years ago. I've never since seen an open-faced Reuben on any other menus. The regular Reuben sandwiches always pale by comparison. Rosemarykaye, a Reuben is made from sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on toasted (usually) rye (with seeds) bread. Oh, and I almost forgot - Thousand Island (or was it Russian) dressing.
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I love a good Reuben. The one I get has Thousand Island dressing. You all are making me hungry!
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I'm putting this link here which I found in another discussion on our site.
http://www.smittenbybritain.com/2011/02/second-season-of-downton-abbey
It's an article about the second season of Downton Abbey coming in Winter 2011 to PBS.
I haven't had a Reuben sandwich or corned beef hash in a very long time. I too love them but they are probably quite high in "bad things" for our health :-)
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I see FRYBABE has answered your question, ROSEMARY. And I haven't had my breakfast yet
and I'm definitely hungry just reading about it.
Oh, Good!, MARCIE. I'm so glad to hear there is a definite return scheduled for Downton
Abbey.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/masterpiececlassic.jpg)
Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
CONTEST NEWS!
MASTERPIECE sweepstakes gives fans a chance to go on location
.....................................................................................
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MASTERPIECE on PBS than by touring some of the stunning locations from the series? The MASTERPIECE 40th Anniversary Sweepstakes runs until Tuesday, April 26 and will send the grand prize winner and a guest on a four-day, three-night trip to the United Kingdom. The trip includes VIP tours of Highclere Castle (DOWNTON ABBEY), Greenway (home of Agatha Christie) and Blenheim Palace (THE LOST PRINCE), while enjoying accommodations with MacDonald Hotels & Resorts in the historic cities of Bath (PERSUASION) and Oxford (INSPECTOR LEWIS). Learn more at http://www.pbs.org/masterpiecesweepstakes
NOW DISCUSSING
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/upstairsdownstairs.jpg)
Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star. Watch the episodes online after they air at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
COMING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps2.jpg)
The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/anyhumanheart.jpg)
Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/cooke.jpg)
The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/downtonabbey.jpg)
Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/myboyjack.jpg)
My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
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OH look look!!
I was just entering the contest again, I keep forgetting to enter, and saw the new schedule for the year!
They have done a new Upstairs Downstairs, and I didn't think I wanted to see it, thinking it would be like the 2nd Brideshead? Boy was I wrong, LOOK!
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/images/upstairsdownstairs.jpg)
It's Rose! From the original series, if you saw it? And she was one of the original writers, as her mother had been in service, so it CAN'T be bad!! I am so excited!
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Upstairs Downstairs
(Three 60-minute episodes)
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star.
And this one is only 3 hour long episodes. Oh boy oh boy. OH BOY!! What do they mean "updated?" Are they going to do a coda to the original?
I need a DVR, we don't have one. It would be worth it to not lose these.
Oh wow. I loved that thing, all million episodes of it and can't wait to see these three!
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Ginny - it was on TV here and I did not manage to see it - I knew Jean Marsh was in it but had no idea that Art Malik was too - that would have dragged me away from whatever I was doing. Bother, bother >:(, I hope it's repeated.
Rosemary
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I would dearly love to go on such a trip. But it would be so supremely frustrating to win and
then at the last minute not be able to go. The whimsies of an aging body can be so annoying! >:(
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I found some more information about the new Upstairs Downstairs.
"In the new series, set against the drama of the 1936 abdication crisis, the house has been inherited by the wealthy Sir Hallam Holland, a young and well-connected diplomat, following the unexpected death of his Baronet father.
Holland, who is played by 35-year-old Ed Stoppard, the son of playwright Sir Tom, takes up residence with his wife and his imposing mother Lady Maud, a free-thinking intellectual played by Dame Eileen who keeps a pet monkey called Solomon.
Art Malik plays Lady Maud’s brooding private secretary Mr Amanjit, brought over from her previous residence in India and now struggling to find a place in a household where he is considered neither upstairs nor downstairs.
The new butler Pritchard, played by theatre actor Adrian Scarborough, is described as a complex character who is ‘a very different kettle of fish’ from the stern Hudson.
The younger servants include a spirited parlour maid called Ivy, played by 20-year-old Ellie Kendrick, best known for taking the title role in the BBC’s mini-series The Diary Of Anne Frank last year, and a footman called Johnny, played by 19-year-old Hollyoaks star Nico Mirallegro.
Meanwhile Rose commands the staff with the aid of the fastidious Mrs Thackery, played by veteran Dinnerladies star Anne Reid."
Read more and find current information about the first cast members at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1297362/Upstairs-Downstairs-new-cast.html
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Sounds great, MARCIE. I'm really looking forward to this one. There is such a dearth of good
shows just now, with so many favorites off for the season.
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Rosemary, you always get the great stuff first!
Oh gee that looks wonderful, thank you Marcie, so they are picking it up at the Abdication, wow. Shades of The King's Speech! It should be fabulous. They are very smart not to remake it.
I read on through all the cast biographies, where they bring you up to date on the old cast. I am so sorry to hear that Gordon Jackson's death (the old Hudson on the original series) put an end to a planned sequel of Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson!! How I would have loved to have seen that.
So many of the cast are gone!! Well they can still live in DVD.
I don't think there will ever be another Hudson, or that era, either. Remains of the Day comes close.
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This is going to be an exciting month. Lots of great TV coming up, starting tomorrow night.
Either Newsweek or Time did a several page article on the new Upstairs Downstairs, and mentioned how many things it influenced in its day, but ET says that it's "pretty people doing nothing." Wasn't that what the others were? hhahaha Two of the original creators of U/D are in the film, Rose the parlor maid and the other writer playing a more elevated part. I forget who she plays, somebody Upstairs.
I think there's something to be said for subtlety but maybe that's old hat.
At any rate I'm looking forward to it and the Borgias and everything else this month. There is NOTHING on TV!
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Doggone it, I thought Upstairs Downstairs was last night, it's next week. But if you're a fan of the old series, yesterday's NY Times ran a huge article on it, 2 1/2 pages with lots of photos. If you are a fan of the old series (55 episodes, 4 seasons, 7 Emmy awards, shown in 70 countries), and looking forward to the new, you want to read it. Great photos and of the prior cast also. I love the fact that "Rose" at 76 is writing this new one, and guess what?
They are already working on a sequel of 6 more programs. I see in the heading it says April 10, so I'll be there! I tried to watch the Borgias with Jeremy Irons last night, but golly moses, it makes Rome look tame! hahahaa
With the two original writers, this should be a treat. Even if somebody never saw the old one (and a lot of people haven't) curiosity would make one want to see a program that Alistair Cooke declared when it was over (in 1977) that there should be a national day of mourning.
Here's the article: Rose, Fetch Her Ladyship a Sequel (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/arts/television/upstairs-downstairs-sequel-on-pbs-masterpiece.html)
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Oh, looking forward to it.
Last night I watched a show on AMC, The Killing, based on a Danish television series. There are several episodes. Interesting. But, it's spring, and how much TV I will watch on a Sunday evening.....
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Don't forget to watch the new UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS tonight!
I'm also watching The Killing series "on demand" on my cable. The subject matter is disturbing. The actors and cinematography are excellent.
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Looking forward to Upstairs/Downstairs on Masterpiece Classic on our local PBS channel tonight at nine.
Then over to AMC at ten to watch THE KILLING, set in Seattle. I find it, as Marcie says, "disturbing." It is the current culture of our teenagers that makes my stomach feel disagreeable. Since this series of 13 hours is taken from a hit Danish series, I gather European teenagers are much the same. Now mind, I remember well the rebellious feelings of MaryPage, girl adolescent, but compare that lily pure ghost from my past who never used an illegal drug (and to date, never has) and who hadn't a clue what "sex" meant until she was 19 with today's teenage girl, and the size of separation is nothing short of astounding.
I do not get Showtime, but spend every Monday and Tuesday night at a daughter's home (am helping out in their office during the day) and they do get it. So catch the repeat of Sunday night's THE BORGIAS episode on Monday night. Find it Perfection, and expect I have read just about everything available on that time period. Jeremy Irons is amazing.
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I saw the first two episodes of "The Killing", and I agree it is very well acted. Linden's inability
to tear herself away from the investigation to join her fiance' for their new life together does
not speak well for that relationship. I fear the man is in for a disappointment.
The overriding damp and greyness of Seattle is well portrayed. Personally, I'd be happy to
move to San Diego.
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Well, what did you all think of Upstairs Downstairs?
OH, my, what a trip back in time. How well that was done. Truly, to me, what a joy. It didn't disappoint and to ME it was much stronger acted and had much more depth than Downton. I don't agree with the critic who said pretty people doing nothing. Lots going on, to me.
I wonder if people who had never seen the original liked it also?
I loved the tribute to the old series. I felt the same way she looked when she saw the house again. Loved "Hudson" on the key to the wine cellar, I was hoping for some archival film stuck in but no go. I just absolutely loved it and had to do it with one eye on another project, but if you watched it even for 5 minutes you got sucked in immediately. Love the twists and turns, the new butler is no Hudson, what a surprise at the famous "guest," NOT being the Duke of Windsor, but Von Ribbentrop. I thought Mrs. Simpson was WAY too pretty, the original certainly wasn't.
Wasn't sure about the left right Johnny bit, but I missed some of it.
I'd like to get the DVD of it (I will get the DVD of it) and the one of the Borgias because I can't watch that thing without one hand over my eyes, peeking about for Jeremy Irons, he's perfect in that part. I was interested also in Cardinal Sforza .since he had or somebody in his family had the Sforza Hours, an illuminated manuscript and a fantastic treasure: the http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/sforza.html.
On this site you can turn the pages electronically just as if you were in the British Library.
I hear Irons has become quite horsey, he lives in an Irish Castle is it? There's a new interview out with him and you can tour his castle online. He rides a lot. He's still a great actor.
I keep trying to figure out in Upstairs Downstairs who the other and original co writer is? I think it's the mother in law! Is it?
When Johnny spilled the stuff over Von Ribbentrop nobody apologized, he didn't apologize, that seemed odd to me. But again I only had one eye on it. I must see it again.
What did you think of it?
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I loved the first episode of the new Upstairs Downstairs. Ginny, I caught many of the things that you did and had the same reactions. I, too, thought they might include a few seconds of from the old series as Rose reminisced, especially about Hudson.
I thought that Mrs. Simpson was too pretty and also wondered that Johnny didn't apologize for spilling the drinks. The "left-right foot" bit that Rose says when Johnny is going to meet his fate at the police station is from the beginning of the episode when Rose teaches Johnny how to do his duty and walk when serving the family and guests.
Yes, Eileen Atkins, the mother with the monkey, is one of the other original series creators. I really like her in this part. I find her role sympathetic, though idiosyncratic and strong. Not the typical grouchy caricature of the mother-in-law.
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I wish I could say I enjoyed it but didn't watch past the first half hour and went back to a very good book I'm reading. It's hard for me to believe that in 1936 anyone would have a monkey eating at the table. The whole thing just didn't ring true to me.
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She (Eileen Atkins playing the mother-in-law) had been "out in India" for decades, and I thought it did ring true. Mind, I would have hated it myself, but it did fit in my picture of things.
I watched it and loved it. Especially got a huge kick out of the next to last scene, where Eileen and Jean, who have owned Upstairs/Downstairs from the very beginning and own it still, sit and talk and Eileen cons Jean (Rose) into becoming Housekeeper.
Like Ginny, there were a number of references made, sometimes vocally, sometimes silently, where I expected old film clips to be inserted. They were not.
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Jean, I'm so sorry you didn't like it. I do understand a good book tho, I once left the Tuileries if you can believe that, to read a super book.
On the monkey, one thing about Jean Marsh (Rose) is her own mother was "in service," so you can bet whatever she portrays about life then is accurate, she was the writer of the original series and this one.
On the monkey, apparently that was right on for Edwardian England:
http://adplus5.20m.com/photo5.html This site has first hand memories and photos of Victorian and Edwardian England:
. Another memory is of an elderly lady who had a small pet monkey on a lead, she told us kids that she took the monkey for a walk everyday in the park; it makes a change from walking the dog.
Here's another one:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Meher_Baba_1940.jpg)
Mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba with his pet monkey named Lucky in India (circa 1940) The monkey had been given to him by Princess Norina Matchabelli.
I personally detest monkeys but there was such a rage about India at the time and people returning from India that I'm not surprised.
Marcie, but why did she need to teach him to walk in the first place or was it when carrying something but how else would you walk?
OH so it IS Eileen Atkins! She seems to be tremendously enjoying her stint! hahaha I read somewhere she was supposed to have been the young woman (can't remember her name) in the original but didn't get to at the last minute.
Yes, didn't you expect Hudson or Mrs. Bridges to appear in that old brown cracked film for a minute?
I loved the way she looked up at the house. And I loved the way they are starting from scratch, gutting the house and not trying to continue with the old film.
Have they said what happened to the Bellamys? James? What was his wife's name? I must get the DVD and watch it properly.
I liked the cook, very much. She's the perfect successor to Mrs. Bridges, not a parody of Angela Baddesly? (sp?) The maid who is always crying is a bit of an annoyance.
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Especially got a huge kick out of the next to last scene, where Eileen and Jean, who have owned Upstairs/Downstairs from the very beginning and own it still, sit and talk and Eileen cons Jean (Rose) into becoming Housekeeper.
Oh YES! That was priceless, you're absolutely right.
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I did not see the original Upstainrs-Downstairs, but I am enjoying this one. Your guess about
training Johnny was correct, GINNY. He was carrying a tray upstairs and Rose was coaching him.
I am finding all the esoteric aspects of a 'properly trained' servant fascinating. Remember when
Rose had the candidates for the maid's position bend over and touch their toes? I never would have imagined something like that, but it makes sense. It's not a job for someone with back problems.
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I loved the original Upstairs Downstairs episodes, watched them faithfully. I enjoyed this new show, although it was over too soon. I need to watch it again, because I had an important phone call in the middle.
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Babi, yes the touching of the toes was not something I would have expected. The program has so many interesting details!
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I too missed the original series, but this made me want to go out and rent it.
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Tensions — international, domestic, and romantic — intensify when Upstairs Downstairs continues this Sunday, April 17. You can watch episode 1 online (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html) now, and catch episode two online starting Monday, April 18.
There is a video interview with Eileen Atkins & Jean Marsh at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/bts_atkins_marsh.html. The co-creators of the original Upstairs Downstairs series reflect on the emotions and surprises of returning to 165 Eaton Place.
We have a bit of a controversy in our discussion about the monkey :-). There are some short clips about the monkey's role at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/monkey.html#. LOL, the Rhesus Macaque, Rosie, actually has an understudy/stunt monkey, Poppy.
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Oh, thank you, thank you, Marcie! I loved those videos and watched every single one, including all those done by Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard.
Two things struck me: in the one where Jean is describing the dirty Belgians and getting them to take a bath, she says something like: "and the writers let me do it, which was nice of them." The writers? I guess she hired writers. I had always thought she, with input from Eileen, did it all. As for them being nice and "letting her do it," hey Babe: Don't you own the show?
The other thing was she seems to be saying the interior set is all in Wales and they are filming there. I forget which segment this was in, but it was definitely there. Anyone else catch that?
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MaryPage, yes, Jean Marsh mentions that they are filming in Cardiff, Wales in the video clip about Returning to 165 Eaton Place (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/bts_atkins_marsh.html#), when she talks about seeing the kitchen again for the first time.
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Here is a BBC interview with lovely, lovely Art Malik, about his role in the new Upstairs Downstairs:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/11_november/22/upstairs_downstairs10.shtml
Rosemary
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Thank YOU Rosemary - what a wonderful interview - the beard is far more than I would have ever known.
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That was Super!
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loved the first episode & am eagerly looking forward to the second one tonight. I dvr the episodes to rewatch later so that I can pick up the things I missed the first time around.
Sally
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Thanks you for that interesting interview, Rosemary. I am amazed that as an actor he wants to roll the beard and wrap the turban "by hand" each day.. that it makes a difference to him/his acting.
Salan, I too am looking forward to tonights episode.
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Oh man, I love these links and interviews and wasn't last night absolutely super?
Is it just me? I'm sitting there totally engrossed when here comes the music and the Masterpiece banner and I shake myself out of the reverie I'm in and say to myself, oh they must have an intermission, and I look at my watch and it's 10 till 10~!~ haaa
This is another great one, I think. I do think that perhaps a friction has emerged between the master of the house and his wife over the child's future. I wonder how likely it would be to take an evacuee in, in one of the great houses of the day. I know if it's in here it must have happened somewhere, I'll read all the articles and see if it's covered.
He is looking at her with different eyes, I think.
His mother's not helping. She's awfully critical of his wife, I think, or do you?
I hated to see the new maid die, I must say I was, given her background, somewhat surprised to see her writing on a broken store front window. I am not sure that would be in character, would it? Considering what happened where she came from. The Fascism element was quite interesting. I don't think the mention of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as they were courting is by mistake either in connection as they were famously known to lean towards Hitler for whatever reasons. Kind of reminds me, this bit, of Remains of the Day.
I am somewhat confused over who the man is shown with the master of the house, a good bit, appears to be somebody in the government? I am foggy on that one, keep getting interrupted when trying to watch it. I need a DVR (but must confess I have bought the DVDs of the series, I've got the old one so I figured why not?) Love it.
I'm growing to like the butler, that was beautiful below stairs about the Art Malik character, but OH the footage shown so briefly of Hudson and Mrs. Bridges.
Just a super show!
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I hadn't thought of it, GINNY, but scrawling on glass doors would not be something our refugee
would ordinarily do. But I think those circumstances, being in a country where she could act the
opposite of the role of victim, may have been quite liberating.
When she saw Persie in that shop, you could see on her face the gradual realization of all it
signified. I think it was that stress that brought on her fatal attack of asthma.
Mother Maud has very much usurped the wife's role as mistress of the house. She is, of course,
vastly more experienced in being a political wife, but she's had her turn. The master of the house
really should have intervened on his wife's behalf...but Mother's help is so convenient, isn't it?
I don't remember any footage about the previous show. When was that? Can you describe it
for me?
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I too enjoyed the episode. I think that the refugee maid feels it is her duty to combat anyone who supports the Fascists, hence her writing on the shop. When she saw Persie, she may have thought that the whole family "upstairs" supported Fascism.
I'm not sure I got the point when it turns out that the chauffeur called the police on Persie after she took the car. Was he really, as he told Sir Holland, trying to make a bad situation better, or was he trying to protect himself?
Sir Holland rose in my estimation when he stood up for the refugee's daughter and insisted that she be kept in the house. His wife, Agnes, fell in my estimation when she was willing to send her back to Germany. Agnes and Persie both seem quite oblivious to the world and centered on themselves.
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I most particularly enjoyed last night's episode of Upstairs Downstairs as it included so much about the Sir Oswald Mosley period of English history. He was an aristocrat and related to the royal family. His second wife was the Hon. Diana Mitford, the most beautiful of the six famous Mitford sisters. The Mosleys really were fascists, but of course were pro-England when the war broke out. Still, they were imprisoned for, as I recall, at least 3 years of the war period.
Oh, how I have devoured books about that period. I can remember so much of it!
I believe the boss was the later Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden. Didn't they say earlier he was working for him? Or is he/was he in the Foreign Office then? Yes, I believe he was Foreign Secretary in 1936.
In all fairness, the young husband being in government would have known about the Jews being killed in Nazi Germany. The wife would not have been so aware, as I believe it was not in the newspapers or on the news. The vast majority of the public did not learn of this until the end of the war, when the reporters actually got to the death camps with the Allied soldiers.
Also, the government knew about Mrs. Simpson in Great Britain, but the public did not. WE knew here in this country, but the British press kept it quiet.
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I'm seeing some mixing of events from WWII in today's movies - It was like in the King's Speech they included air raid shelters in use before the first bombs were ever sent to Britain.. But to this Masterpiece Theater production - the Black Shirts were an outcropping from Mussolini not Hitler - I had to look it up to be sure I was not dreaming - and sure enough Oswald Mosley, who was instrumental in the start up of the Black Shirts in Britain was an admirer of Mussolini. -
As to sending a child back to Germany or not - remember, no one knew really what was going on - from what I understand the camps were not really known even by outside governments - in the 30s Germany had successfully made some films that showed camps that were not the horrors we learned about later - we knew some about Kristallnacht but not the horrors of the camps.
No we were not in government and yes, I am remembering the 30s when my family still spoke German after several generations here in America. My grandmother still received her annual letter from some cousins and Hitler wrote to my grandmother - probably his office - inviting her back with the promise of land that was part of a substantial estate. She had no use for the man and was very upset when she stopped in after an afternoon of dancing and Bunco at the German club where they all saluted with a Hail Hitler - However, her dislike for Hitler had nothing to do with camps -
We, or family in Germany did not know what the camps were - they knew not to say things publicly or you were taken away - and they knew Jewish families were taken but unless you lived near a ghetto you had no clue. We forget communication was not what it was like after WWII and Hitler had Germany locked down by controlling the newspapers early during his reign. In fact we knew so little about the camps that is what added to the shock when our soldiers came upon the first camps.
And so, I think it is easy to get the impression the writer is going for, by inferring a lack of compassion for what we know existed where as, I think Lady Agnes would have been concerned that the child was brought up surrounded by people who spoke her language and had a kinship with the child and I think Lady Agnes saw herself as head of the house therefore her opinion should hold sway -
It appears the author is trying to set up the dichotomy that existed during that time in history by the best of people - there was a lot of good things said by the leaders of the various movements including the Communists who were big at the time - as big and a rivalry to the Black Shirts - even Hitler had a lot of good things to say and did things for the people - after all it was Hitler we have to be thankful to for the Volkswagen beetle. And so, why that tussle showing Sir Hallam Holland holding the high ground because of what we, the audience knows we will have to see as the story continues. The 30s was a confusing time that the show points out but then they do exploit mis-information to get a story told.
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Whooops MaryPage just saw your post - looks like your memory and mine are not the same about what happened during the 30s - what can I say - maybe that is what the author is hoping - that there is confusion among the viewers as well.
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I have just read back and noticed the comments about the monkey.
When I was at school in the 1970s, our - ancient - French text book was about a family in which the son was called Toto, the father, M Lepin, brilliantined his hair, - and there was a pet monkey. I distinctly remember something about "le singe grimpe la parapluie" - the monkey climbed up the parasol (I think...). The book had been written in the 1930s.
To us - suburban London schoolgirls in 1970 - this seemed totally bizarre, but so many things in our text books were odd that we didn't question it (too scared anyway), any more than we questioned the Latin book that told us that "Pseudolus ate his porridge". My children's French books now talk about teenage life in 21st century France, which I suppose is more topical, but really much less fun than that strange family with their uniformed maid, etc.
Rosemary
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I thought just the opposite, Barbara: i.e., that we WERE remembering the same things!
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I haven't yet watched the second episode, but I was a bit disappointed by the first. Their characters weren't defined enough to be different from each other. In Downton Abbey each character was distinct. I knew almost immediately who the three sisters were.
I was also disappointed that the housemaid was hired. She's very immature. And the footman ends up with a past and dragged off by the police. I guess I don't remember the interactions of the "Downstairs" characters in the original show. I'm not sure I'd want these young people in service to me. And the butler just can't compare to Mr. Hudson.
I'll watch the second episode and be back.
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Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
NOW DISCUSSING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
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Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star. Watch the episodes online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
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Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
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The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
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Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
"I think it was that stress that brought on her fatal attack of asthma".
Is that why she died? I didn't get it, and thought it was rather contrived. Also the plot between the chauffer and the sister followed so closely that in Daughton (is that right?) Abbey. They made it seem imitative.
But the material about the differing and confused reactions to the Nazi ideas was interesting. It follows a book we discussed here recently about politics of the period. Of course, most who supported the nazis had no idea about the camos.
I wonder how much the German maud knew. She said her husband was "in jail". Of course, he weas really in a camp. Not clear whether she knew yet what that meant.
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I am not sure he would have been in a camp in 1936. Prison might well have been more likely. The Nazis did start the first camp in 1933, but the wholesale railroading of Jews into camps really became a big thing starting in 1939.
Since this is a work of fiction, we cannot really know. But given the background of the year 1936, prison is appropriate.
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Didn't she say he was a political prisoner?
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That is my memory of it. It fits with the time; i.e., her getting out of Germany and him being in prison. Had she not been a university teacher or something like? In 1936, jail for him for his views and escape for her would make sense. As I said, the mass slaughter of the Holocaust did not really begin until 1939. The top brains in the British government could discern the danger to the Jews, although not even they could believe the extent of the genocide until the camps were liberated and the ghastly secrets came out.
Germany attacked Poland and began World War II for Great Britain in August or September of 1939. We did not get into it until December 8, 1941, with FDR's declaration the day after Pearl Harbor.
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I cannot find it on the Internet but there was a ship loaded with escaped Jews that was looking for a country to allow them in - they were off our shore and we would not accept them and sent them back to Germany - this was in the late 30s and so if our own government sent them back you know we did not have a clear picture of what they were facing when they returned.
And here we have the British high command not allowing a Turkish ship filled with Jews to disembark in Palestine because they were professional people and would not be a good mix with the people of Palestine - children under the age of 11 were allowed to stay - and this is December 20, 1941 a couple of weeks after the US entered the war and two years after England was engaged in the war.
http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/struma.html
Found it - on this site http://www.notowitz.com/Voices/BookContents/VoicesTimeline.html
1939 - June - After being turned away by Cuba and the United States, the ship St. Louis, crowded with 930 Jews escaping the Nazis, is forced to return to Europe. The refugees were eventually granted asylum in England, France, and Belgium, but only the 288 Jews who went to England were spared deportation to Nazi camps.
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I saw the newsreel of the turned away ship - I was in the 8th grade and our whole family had gone to the Sat. night movies in town. I remember nothing of the movie we saw but I remember everything about the newsreel. I cried quietly all the way on our long drive home while my parents chatted about the film in the front seat. My younger brothers & sisters were just too young to understand.
I remember that incident so vividly. I felt that no one cared but me.
.There was more prejudice in our country back then than one can imagine today.
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Joan that is when the whole issue of law versus human values and the ambiguity of it all comes to play - I found another article that was pages long about Jews in American and it said the whole issue was immigration law that did not change till "after" WWII in 1948 - which is like what is going on today and the sides we take over kids brought here as infants from Mexico and now risking deportation, as well as we not allowing students who came here and paid top dollar to attend our Universities and now they must return when they would prefer to add to the wealth of this nation with their newly minted top of the line US education. There is a Robert Frost quote that I remember from time to time that says 'Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out'.
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The St. Louis was the ship you are talking about. It was the only one. The U.S. was quite anti-Semitic in those days, and no one but no one imagined the Germans were actually KILLING Jews. No one here would have been so cruel had they known. It was a "let someone else take care of this problem" kind of a time. The story of that ship bothered me, too; but it was years later before I learned of it.
Read the New Yorker review of Upstairs/Downstairs last night. Nancy Franklin. More later.
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I believe good servants were not as available in the 30's as they were in the original
time of 'Upstairs,Downstairs', ABELAINE. And certainly not for the pay the new lady of
the house was offering. She really had no idea how important good, experienced servants
were in keeping a house that size running smoothly.
I think you're right, JOANK. Some type of shenanigans between a young lady of the family
and one ot the hired hands is pretty much a cliche now. It used to be handsome grooms;
now it's handsome chauffeurs.
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I think you are right, Babi. Good servants went to war in the first World War, and those who lived through it often returned to other jobs. Then World War II took the rest of them. The ultra rich seem to have staffs to help today, but the middle class does not automatically hire servants as they did when I was a child.
The review of Upstairs/Downstairs in The New Yorker was a trifle sour in spots, but on the whole the critic liked it. She did report what I had not previously heard: SIX MORE EPISODES have been approved and are fixing to be filmed. Hurrah! I find Nancy Franklin an excellent writer who is most dreadfully self-conscious about her own excellence. She tries, and pretty well succeeds at making every sentance a wowzer It quite wears the reader out after a while. But I will give her a pass until next time, as I mostly approved the review.
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Thanks for the info about the New Yorker review, MaryPage. There is an interesting review at The Guardian too, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/27/upstairs-downstairs-period-drama
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And here is a bit of the New Yorker review, but I do not want to subscribe to the on line New Yorker in order to get it all. I read the paper version.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2011/04/18/110418crte_television_franklin
http://earideas.com/earideas/explore/show/110160/Nancy+Franklin+on+the+return+of+%22Upstairs+Downstairs%22
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Doris Goodwin's biography of Roosevelt in the war years has a good descrip[tion of Roosevelt's decision not to let Jews shelter here. Elinor begged him to let the Jews in, but an anti-semitic State department official persuaded him not to on the grounds that some of them couldbe spies.
German jews could come in if they could find an American family to sponser them. I'm very proud of the fact that my family, though not jewish, was one of the few that did so. We had a Jewish refugee from the camps living with us for awhile. During the day, she was a pretty teenager who taught me how to dance. but at night, her bedroom wasd over mine, and I could hear her screaming in her sleep.
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Oh my, JoanK. Some things you never forget.
Many years ago I was on a Laura Hobson kick and read several of her books, including The Trespassers, about the plight of German Jews trying to get to the US. I bought a used copy again, a while back, but have yet to reread.
The Time Magainze issue about the 100 most influential arrived yesterday. Included is Rebecca Eaton, the PBS exec who has been in charge of Masterpiece for 25 years.
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I watched the second episode of U/D this morning online. Much, much better. Plots are beginning to form. I was sad to see the new maid die. I think she would have made a great addition to the staff and an amazing counterpoint to the chauffeur and his fraulein.
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I watched the third (and final) episode of this season of Upstairs/Downstairs last night and loved every minute of it. I cannot remember any episode EVER having this many different dramatic moments all in less than one hour!
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I enjoyed it too. I do hope it comes back. I wonder if it will be next season or how or when they plan on doing it.
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MaryPage and Jeriron, I too enjoyed the last episode and agree that it was FULL of dramatic events. Only the monkey was missing (due to his not enjoying formal dinners, as Lady Maud Holland explains ;))
I haven't seen news about when the series will be continued.
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I enjoyed the last episode too. My husband watched all three with me, and he finally caught on to much of it last night. So we sat afterward and watched the program "Edward and Wallis" about that same time (and more, of course). It was a good program to follow up with - plus there were scenes from the wedding of Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to tie in with the current royal wedding.
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I still haven't watched it! It is recorded, but I've been waiting until Valerie could watch it with me.
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nlhome, that must have been interesting to watch "Edward and Wallis." There were quite a few references to both, during the series.
Babi, I think you'll enjoy this season's last episode.
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All I could think of was it was a nice explanation for what we learned was the Kennedy families decision for one of their children - and to show it was successful we had the little German girl at the end talking - actually I enjoy Downton Abbey more than I did this - there were flashes that I liked and I like Lord Holland and Mr. Pritchard - but the housemaid Ivy drove me up the wall - and the whole scenario of the sister Persephone was silly to me - we have seen that scenario over and over - I guess, like her name she is going to Hades for the Winter but if this was her Spring and Summer - she provided us with a tangled swamp, no pretty flower garden or ash grove.
I usually like Keeley Hawes and she certainly has fist hand experience with childbirth - her character became more likable after the baby is in her arms as well as during the birth of the baby - before I just did not like her character.
After having seen the King's Speech the character playing Bertie was not believable showing no stuttering.
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There was no Bertie (King George VI) in Upstairs/Downstairs. Prince Albert was titled The Duke of York. The man in this episode was his younger brother, Prince George, The Duke of Kent. He that married the lovely Mariana. Apparently he went to school with our young lord, and needed to vent his feelings re the abdication on him. Logical. Everything in GB is based on who you went to school with. And/or they knew one another from mutual clubs, houseparties, and debutante balls. Shooting matches, perhaps? The Foreign Office?
Prince David, who abdicated having been King Edward VIII, was son number one. Prince Albert, Duke of York, was son number two and he who stuttered and became King George VI. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was son number three. The one who appeared in this episode of Upstairs/Downstairs was Prince George, the Duke of Kent, son number four. He was terribly handsome in real life.
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OK wait I am confused - who is the Duke of Kent - I thought this was the younger brother Albert visiting and being a chum who took on the Kingship after Edward abdicated. - was there three boys in that family? Edward, Albert and then whoever is the Duke of Kent - and who is Mariana
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There were FIVE boys in that family, actually. These four and Prince John, who drowned in a bathtub at about age 13. He was epilectic and no one ever saw him. There was a tragic story written about him oh, mebbe ten years ago. Johnny, the family called him.
You can Google Image a photo of Four Sons of George V and get quite a handsome photo of all of them. The one who was Prince David, the Prince of Wales, and then King Edward and then Prince Edward and then the Duke of Windsor, was the shortest and not good looking at all!
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OK found them - I didn't realize there were 5 of them...I knew about the young John but did not realize there was also a George and a Henry. I wonder what ever happened to them.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Princejohnandfamily.jpg/650px-Princejohnandfamily.jpg)
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They made all sorts of appearances on behalf of the royal family and were great uncles to Queen Elizabeth II and now their sons are the dukes. Their sons are, of course, the queens first cousins.
There is a MUCH better picture than that of the 4 grown brothers. Try again for King George V's 4 sons. I do not have the skill to post photos.
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OK here is the run down on Price Henry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry,_Duke_of_Gloucester this is all new to me - I have not followed the royal family - only the ones on the throne and their children.
so it must be the other brother prince George who is the Duke of Kent - let me go find him. Whow let's just say he lived a full life...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_Duke_of_Kent
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I did enjoy this latest episode. It was satisfying to see our handsome young chauffeur turn
away from naziism, even if Persie did not. I'm glad to have the young princes straightened
out; I also thought the Duke of Kent was going to be king when Edward left. Wouldn't that
have been a major career boost for Hallam? But in that sad phone call after Edward's farewell speech, there was absolutely no hint of Kent now being king, so I wondered.
Such a relief that the baby was all right. I was afraid it was another miscarriage. But,
'Hector Greville'? Poor child.
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I watched it again yesterday "on Demand". and enjoyed it just as much as the first time even more maybe because I paid more attention to the future King issue although I must say without MaryPage's help I would still be confused. That the brother wasn't stuttering made me wonder just who he was. Thanks MaryPage.
Looks to me like the sister will be in the next episodes.
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Yes, I too appreciate the discussion about who the brother without the stutter was.
I was happy to see the baby born. Perhaps Lady Agnes was extremely anxious about being able to give birth and become a mother. That might explain her conflicted attitude toward the little girl. Hopefully, she would now be able to nurture both her son and the little girl. Of course, there might be no "motivation" other than the script writers needed to provide tension between the husband and wife. :-)
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This Sunday, Masterpiece Classic will broadcast the first of a three-part adaptation of South Riding by Winifred Holtby. I had not heard of the author. You can read about her at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winifred_Holtby
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Marcie - and everyone - it is really, really good! It was shown here in March and we all loved it (but have the hankies ready). It was dramatised before on TV, years ago, and I remember loving it then too. This time there is the added bonus of gorgeous David Morrissey. I hope you all enjoy it. Winifred Holtby, who wrote the novel, was one of a generation of women who wanted more from life than marriage and babies. I think she was a great friend of Vera Brittain, who wrote Testament of Youth (also brilliantly televised some years ago) and was the mother of our Lib Dem politician, Shirley Williams.
Rosemary
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That's great news, Rosemary. I'm glad you are recommending South Riding.
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I enjoyed the first episode of South Riding. It was a joy to see the actress, who played the young heiress a few years ago in Bleak House.
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I really enjoyed South Riding. Looking forward to next episode!
Sally
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Mary Page and Salan, thanks for letting us know that you enjoyed the first episode. I'm going to watch it later today. I got caught up in the news about Bin Laden last evening.
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We're in a pledge period - no South Riding. But we also shut down computers and turned of the TV's and read last night so didn't hear the news until this morning.
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We're in pledge period for this week also. I checked next week's schedule and it looks like we have two hours of South Riding on Sunday night, back to back.
Mary
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What is a pledge period please?
R
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Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
NOW DISCUSSING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
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Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star. Watch the episodes online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps2.jpg)
The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
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Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/classic_2011/cooke.jpg)
The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
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Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
Rosemary. For most often two weeks and sometimes 3 weeks at least twice if not three times a year the usual programing is set aside with special programming that is interrupted at least 3 times an hour with an appeal to pledge your annual donation - with the pledge of various suggested amounts are gifts that will be sent when the pledge is paid - today most of us call in and put the amount on our credit card and the gift of most often a Cd or a DVD or a combo of both of the show we are watching is sent right out - when the volunteer takes our information we are encouraged to tell what programs we like and would like to see in the future.
Each area of the country and often each major city has its own local call letters that show the PBS shows along with local programing - our local channel is KLRU - where my daughter lives they have access to three different PBS stations - one from the University of NC and one from close by SC and I forget where the other comes from - each station has a different lineup and according to the success of the pledge weeks they can purchase various shows - Austin has always been generous so we now have three versions of KLRU almost like 3 separate channels - one channel Q2 it is called is nothing but cooking, sewing, gardening and travel shows.
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Thanks Barb, I've never heard of that before. We pay our TV licence fee to cover the BBC channels (and we all complain heartily about it); the commercial channels are all financed by their advertising - which on some channels is becoming so extensive that you begin to wonder if the programme is ever coming back.
I was imagining that pledge week was something like Lent - ie you all gave up TV for a week as some sort of penance!
Rosemary
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Don 't you hate those pledge drives. It seems like PBS is having more of them and they are lasting longer. The last one lasted a whole month. Plus they keep repeating the same programs over and over and over!! I support PBS and send my contributions deliberatly during non pledge drives with a note of protest about the frequency and length of the drives. I don't think it does any good, but at least I feel that I am making my point.
Sally
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Sally I know the last two pledge drives the programs were not grabbing me - sometimes the special programs are really wonderful and I do not mind seeing them more than once - and yes, I too prefer a two week rather than a 3 week pledge drive - I think the economy tanking meant they needed more time to entice more watchers to pledge. A few times in the past I would make my pledge and then a program would come on that was so wonderful I had to have a copy or wanted a copy for one of my children as a gift and so I would pledge more dollars. This last time I was real chintzy and only pledged the basic senior amount of $35 - not only did none of the shows grab me but I am thinking it is about time the younger folks step up - heck I am remembering when we used to have the auctions on TV and I always donated mostly needlework supplies including in the basket swan shaped scissors and then I always bid on a few things - it was a lot of work but Austin was smaller than and so many of us knew each other - life goes on and with growth came change. But bottom line thank goodness for PBS where we are not bombarded with shows you cannot watch with your family, half truths or slanted views as we are on commercial TV.
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PBS (Public Broadcast Service) stations are each individually licensed and each has a different board of directors and staff and schedule. Rarely is more than one such channel available in a particular area. Exceptions are the large cities and the megalopolis sections of our nation, such as the Baltimore/Washington DC megalopolis area I reside in. I have 3 such channels on tap: MPT, which is Maryland Public Television, WETA, which is supposedly Washington, D.C., but is actually working out of Arlington, Virginia and WHUT, which is located on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Sometimes their schedules hit the same time spot with the same program; Masterpiece is at nine on Sunday nights almost uniformly. I honestly believe I would go insane without this for the most part calm, serene and informative brand of television. The noise and nonsense, sex and violence, rude and crude commercial and cable channel offerings have the ability to tip me over into apoplexy very quickly.
I give MPT and WETA each a sensible donation once a year in July, out of a sense that I owe it to them because I watch them so much. I ignore the requests for additional contributions. The frenzy right now has been brought about by their donations from government sources having been cut way down, and in some cases completely out, plus the large donors having to cut back on their spending and so many of us in the real public likewise having been constrained in our giving. In short, this vital source of information and excellence in programming is in deep trouble. Sad, but a sign of these economic times.
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I support PBS and send my contributions deliberatly during non pledge drives
Ditto, Sally, but with only the check, no note. And I never watch the messages as they are not captioned. We have access to only one PBS channel, from Southern IL University, and while I don't always agree with some of the local programming (SIU/Saluki Basketball games) I realize that they are trying to cover all bases for their viewing audience. When I was having captioning problems during the analog to digital switch, they bent over backwards to be helpful. (The engineer and I are on a first-name basis ;) )
I really enjoyed the first episode of South Riding and today ordered the Kindle version of the book. Thanks for mentioning the print version and the author, Rosemary. (By the time I get around to reading it, I will have forgotten all about the film) I suspect the book will have a lot more in it. Amazon review mentioned a lot of characters.
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Yes Pedln - there were some cross letters in the Radio Times about it missing bits out, and I remember someone was very unhappy that the ending is somewhat condensed - they felt that the serial should have been several episodes longer, which is perhaps a good point, although I still loved it. The original TV serial, shown in my youth, was considerably longer - here is some info about it and about Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain:
http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/southriding.htm
Rosemary
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Thanks for the information, Rosemary, about the 13-part original series. What a difference to compress the story into 3 episodes!
I watched the first of our 3 episodes "On Demand" on my cable. I thought the acting and production were great. Lots of different characters to clash. I'm looking forward to next week.
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I had recorded "South Riding" and just watched the first episode.
Is the actress playing Mrs. Beddows (the lady on the school governors board) the same one who played the cook in "Upstairs Downstairs"?
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Yes, it's the wonderful Penelope Wilton
Rosemary
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The actress playing the councilwoman Mrs. Beddows in South Riding is the same who plays Isobel Crawley, mother of the heir to Downton Abbey in that series. Penelope Wilton. As far as I know, she has never appeared in Upstairs/Downstairs.
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Whatever she appeared in, she's a wonderful actress, I'm always glad to see her, and I'm pleased to know her name ..Penelope Wilton! (I'm so bad at learning the names of actors and
actresses. I accept them as the people they're playing for the duration of a role, and often don't
know their actual names.)
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Babi, I also often don't pay attention the names of the actors and actresses. The credits usually roll by very quickly. I, too, really like Penelope Wilton.
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Years and years ago, she was in a very popular sitcom called Ever Decreasing Circles. I quite liked that, but I think she's got more to her than she was allowed to show in comedy - she's certainly seems to get better and better with age.
Rosemary
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IMHO, Penelope Wilton as Mrs. Beddows looks and sounds very much like Anne Reed, who played Mrs. Thackerey.
It's always fun to see actors portraying different roles.
(Sorry I miscalled a councilwoman a governor :-[ ; although I knew it wasn't a "school board", as it would be in the USA, I wasn't clear about the title of the committee overseeing the school.)
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Whom I was delighted to see was Peter Firth - I like him in MI-5 that I understand in Great Britain is called Spooks - as a young actor, I understand he played a curly haired, naked Alan Strang, the young patient in Equus
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Hey, Callie! I'm not sure what the correct title is EITHER, so there! Was typing in what I thought I remembered, just as you were. One of us or neither of us wins an imaginary nickle Sunday night! Are you on? We must listen carefully!
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We're on, MaryPage! (Guess I shouldn't confess that, because of Mother's Day invitation, I will probably record it and can do rewinds :D
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Callie, I am not trying to welsh on you, but I watched South Riding last night, and I still didn't know whether Mrs. Beddows is a governor or a councilwoman or what.
She mentions to our teacher heroine Sarah Burton that the governors are pleased with her, but one does not feel certain she is one of them or if they are a separate bunch. My biggest point of confusion was when she showed up in a flash back as being AT the birth of the baby Midge Carne.
So I looked it up, and this is what a cast description says at one web site:
"she is the district's first alderwoman and a formidable and vocal presence on the County Council."
So I am inclined to think we BOTH win, and take our nickels back. Perhaps someone who is actually from in or around Yorkshire can enlighten us as to how many titles are used for just one job like that! Sounds to me as though the situation is that she was elected alderwoman from a particular district or area and that puts her on the County Council from which she has been named to a committee to oversee the county girl's High School (they don't call them that) and the citizens on that committee are called governors! Over and out to anyone else!
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I watched last night and really enjoyed it. All the actors are excellent! I DVR'd it to re-watch later, as I miss alot the first time around since I am caught up in the story. It also helps me acclimate myself to the English accent.
Sally
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Yes, I got to watch the first two episodes last night. I missed the first 15 minutes, though, because the weather was so fine I was not in the TV mode. Anyway, I did enjoy it and look forward to next week.
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For some unknown reason - and for several weeks, our local PBS station has gone dark on Sunday nights.
So I have had to record Masterpiece Theater episodes later in the week - usually at about 3:00 a.m. :(
So-called "spoilers" don't ruin anything for me - just make me more interested in watching how a plot gets to that point.
Carry on ;) :D ; I'll catch up with you when I can.
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Callie, I'm sorry that you have to wait until later in the week to catch the episode.
I, too, am enjoying the series.
At first when Robert Carne had the "episode" in Sarah Burton's hotel room, I thought that he was overcome by thinking about his wife. But I guess he had an attack of angina. The sort of love-hate relationship between those two is kind of interesting. I can see that Sarah could remind him of his wife... Sarah is impetuous and wilful to some extent.
I think that all the actors are very good. The girls who play Midge Carne and Lydia Holly are great.
There is some interesting information about the cast members and their roles at http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/southriding/aps/cast_characters_index.shtml
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I agree, MARCIE. 'Midge Carne' in particular is doing an excellent job of treading
that borderline between sanity and possible breakdown. A moment of 'fey' in
her expression, and then she reverts immediately back to normal teenager.
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Yes I agree - she's a genius actress - you never really know which side of the line she will end up on.
Rosemary
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Well, I was really surprised at how it all ended. Tied up all the loose ends. Did not feel completely satisfied, but there you are. I still do not understand the close ties between Carne and Mrs. Beddows, but will never know now.
Happy the headmistress stayed on and Lydia Holly got to university. Looked like Oxford; what did you think? Someone in here read the book and might remember if it said.
And Mrs. Carne finally got home, sort of. Bothers me that he really did not commit suicide and no one appeared to know that for a fact. You would think the cliff itself would have shown the story.
Midge looked so pretty in that dress at the end. And happy. I wish they could have shown just a minute or so more of that.
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I decided to turn the PBS station on early this evening and keep it on to see when it went black.
It never did!! (Maybe my live on-line exchange with the cable co. fellow caused somebody to push a button somewhere).
So I was able to watch the 3rd episode right along with the rest of you.
This was a weird series! I liked the story but felt the filming was discombobulated.
Jumpy camera work - quick shifts from present to past and back again - etc. - and I hated the dark lighting of the interior scenes.
I would have thought someone would have noticed the damage to the cliff while they were searching for the body.
The actress who played Midge was amazing!
I don't care for Hercule Peirot so won't be watching that one.
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Oh, did none of you end up in floods of tears at the demise of David Morrissey? :'( :'(
I did feel they tied everything up too quickly really, but that was because TV channels don't seem to want any long serials any more unless they are thrillers/detective stories.
I think the dark interiors probably showed life as it was then. I grew up in a big (no, not as big as the one in the story!) old house in the 1960s - ie at least 30 years after South Riding - and I remember it being very gloomy and dark. We did not have the kind of omnipresent lighting that houses have today, and there was a lot of dark wood.
Rosemary
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MaryPage and Callie, I too thought that they could see right away that part of the cliff had fallen away. I'm not sure why they had the suicide focus, except that it provided the opportunity for Sarah to blurt out her feelings for him.
Rosemary, everything happened too quickly for me to feel much emotion about Robert Carne. Since his wife was still alive, a relationship between him and Sarah couldn't have gone anywhere. ;-)
MaryPage, I don't know which college Lydia was attending. The camera lingered for an extra second over the arch to the college but I couldn't see if there was any writing on it. Earlier, Sarah had said that Lydia was smart enough to attend Oxford or Cambridge.
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From the quick shot of Lydia right at the end (didn't she have red hair a la Sarah?), it seemed to me that she might have been entering a school as a teacher. ??
Did the new school for girls ever get built in South Riding? Those wrap-up-the-story scenes went by too fast for me to catch that.
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I can't remember the book, but I think Lydia ends up at Oxford. That's where Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain went.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, could you tell if it was a building at Oxford in that last shot of Lydia?
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No I could not tell for certain, but it did look very like some of the colleges. Of course in those days she would only have been able to attend one of the women's colleges, so that narrows it down. I will have a look and see which one Winifred H went to - maybe it was that one.
Rosemary
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I sort of intuited it as Oxford. My husband and I toured both Oxford and Cambridge, and I swear the light is different in those two places (we loved both), and this stone and this light looked more oxfordy to me. I think the idea was that the porter or proctor was putting her name outside a suite of rooms. She made it to university!
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See now I thought she was returning to the Girl's School as a teacher while Sarah was teaching at the new school finally built - sorta symbolizing Sarah was a new women with a career while Lydia was a traditional girl who will teach and marry as well. May not be what the story intended but that was how I saw the last scenes.
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The last scenes went by in a blur for me. I never did realize that the new girls' school had been built - or the new cottages. The last scene I remember is a red-haired Lydia entering an "imposing" doorway. I didn't see a proctor putting her name anywhere.
Many thanks to those of you who "look faster" ;) than I do. :)
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The last scenes went by in a blur for me, too. And I never quite understood the politics either. Good that the land speculators got what they deserved, but the poor people living in those trailers never got what THEY deserved-- decent housing.
I THOUGHT Mrs. Beddows was the mother in Downton Abbey. She was great in both parts. Hwer face when Midge decides not to stay with her is perfect. Both women are left with their careers, but no family.
Who played the yummy man who proposed to Sarah near the end. I would have taken him in a flash. If he had waited and been a friend to her, she would have fallen in love at the end, I'll bet.
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Yes, the land politics were confusing to me too. I wasn't sure if bad guys got their way or not.
I really like Douglas Henshall too, JoanK. See more at http://www.douglashenshall.com/
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MARCIE, I assumed that it was the changing of his will, his financial problems,
and then the law suit on top of that that made people think of suicide as a
very real possibility. I didn't believe a word of it, of course.
Later, of course, when we saw the flashback of what had happened, my
immediate response was, "They would have seen that in the beginning and known
what must have happened!" A weak point in the story, definitely.
If I'm not mistaken, that was not the college Lydia attended; it was the
one where she was now a teacher. I couldn't make out the name of the college,
either, but her name and title was clearly on the side post of the door.
Oh, JOANK, the 'planners' did buy a plot of land for the new cottages, just
not the plot the schemers wanted. The cottages were built and all is well.
And I agree, I liked Joe (the yummy man) much better than Crane.
The only unclear ending, for me, was the young woman whom I assume(?) was Marge
Crane playing in the sea. Was it Marge? And are we to take it that she is well and happy?
Well, I will choose to do so.
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I thought the young woman playing in the sea at the end was Sarah - like she had been in a first episode scene when she first arrived to begin her teaching job and was so happy with Life.
I assumed it was supposed to indicate that she felt that way once again.
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Masterpiece Classic 2011 brings back favorite authors and introduces new authors and programs. See the complete 2011 MASTERPIECE CLASSIC schedule (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html).
NOW DISCUSSING
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South Riding (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/southriding/index.html)
May 1, 8 & 15, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) and David Morrissey (Sense & Sensibility) lead the cast in Andrew Davies's (Bleak House, Little Dorrit) three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's moving love story.
ALREADY DISCUSSED
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Upstairs Downstairs (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/upstairsdownstairs/index.html)
April 10, 17 & 24, 2011 at 9pm
Three 60-minute episodes
Upstairs Downstairs is an updated version of one of the most-loved television series. Jean Marsh reprises her Emmy-winning role as Rose along with series co-creator Eileen Atkins (Cranford). Keeley Hawes, Ed Stoppard and Art Malik (The Jewel in the Crown) also star. Watch the episodes online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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The 39 Steps (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/steps)
March 27, 2011 at 9pm
One 90-minute episode
Secret agent Richard Hannay battles German spies on the eve of World War I in a riveting and romantic new version of the thriller by John Buchan. Rupert-Penry Jones (Persuasion) stars as Hannay. Learn more about this series at http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/masterpiece/39steps/39steps.html. Read some of Buchan's works online at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a285
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Any Human Heart (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/anyhumanheart/index.html)
February 13, 20 & 27, 9pm
Three 90-minute episodes)
William Boyd adapts his acclaimed 2002 novel about a man making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Matthew Macfadyen, Gillian Anderson, Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent star. Watch online through March 22 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html.
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The Unseen Alistair Cooke (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cooke/index.html)
February 6, 9pm
One 60-minute episode
Told in his own voice and home movies, The Unseen Alistair Cooke shows America as the beloved Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke saw it — the raw material for a lifetime of journalism. (Repeat) Watch online through 2/13 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/cooke.html
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Downton Abbey (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/index.html)
January 9, 16, 23 & 30, 9pm
(Four 90-minute episodes)
A stately country house, a noble family and a succession crisis are the backdrop for this epic drama by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) starring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and others. Watch full episodes online through 2/22/11 at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html
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My Boy Jack (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myboyjack/index.html)
January 2, 9pm
One 120-minute episode)
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) stars in a World War I drama about beloved storyteller Rudyard Kipling's only son, missing on the Western front in 1915. David Haig and Kim Cattrall co-star as the famous author and his American wife, Carrie. My Boy Jack offers an intimate portrait of a nation at war and one divided family. (Repeat)
Discussion Leaders: JoanP (jonkie@verizon.net) and marcie (marciei@aol.com)
Babi, I agree that the "not seeing the cliff caved in" was a weak point in the plot.
Callie, yes, I think that was Sarah, reprising the "beach" scene. I thought she looked wonderful in that older fashion swimming suit.
I am with those of you who think that Lydia was attending the university. Was it common to have names on the outside of the "dorm" rooms? But if she was teaching there, that's fantastic. Both options have the same, positive outlook for her.
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Babi, I agree that the "not seeing the cliff caved in" was a weak point in the plot.
Callie, yes, I think that was Sarah, reprising the "beach" scene. I thought she looked wonderful in that older fashion swimming suit.
I am with those of you who think that Lydia was attending the university. Was it common to have names on the outside of the "dorm" rooms? But if she was teaching there, that's fantastic. Both options have the same, positive outlook for her.
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this story defiantly needed one more week - it was so rushed that the last 20 minutes leaves too much - I get the impression that part of going with her grandfather followed by the mother saying she can finally go home suggests that whatever her condition it was as a result of her living in her childhood home which is now the fate of her daughter - it also left open the concept that she was in care all those years with the slimmest of just cause and she suffered Postpartum Anxiety and Panic Disorder which no one would have known about at the time.
I am thinking they ran out of money or some of the major actors had other commitments and so they pushed the story together by chopping off scenes -
I think the cliff falling away was meant to bring a bit of mystery to the story - and also show how a community acts without all the information - however, his entire character was shrouded in mystery - no good explanation for his heart attack, the house is dark and foreboding and what is his deep attachment to Mrs. Beddows all about - and then even the deal the salacious acting minister hammered out to cover the expense of his love child is not wrapped up.
South Riding does not go down in my memory as a satisfying Masterpiece Theater - so far, of this year's crop Downton Abby is the only clear winner. Frankly, even Upstairs Downstairs left me confused and hanging - for me, 39 Steps will always be an Alfred Hitchcock movie and I've seen My Boy Jack - heart wrenching however, Jack, for me, is simply a grown up Harry Potter.
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To me, it was definitely Sarah who was playing in the waves. Alfred Huggins, who supposedly fathered a child with the prostitute (not a "love child", since he always had to pay her money) and who bought up the property he thought the council was going to have to purchase later for councilhousing, was the victim of a scam, well, 2 scams really; the cheap tart was blackmailing him along with her pimp, but she was not having his baby, and the crook who sold him the property knew perfectly well the council was not going to buy it.
There were 3 names being put on the entry post of a suite of dormitory rooms at a college, it was not a door. You would not put 3 names on a classroom door, but you would do so at many old colleges and universities, including Oxford, for the students' rooms. Lydia's was being put up as letters spelling out L. Holly by the proctor, along with the names of two others already up. The letters were such as you can fit into space one by one, and not a plaque being attached to a door or a name being painted onto a door. No, she was entering as a student.
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You could be right, CALLIE. The film never did show her face. So, if that
was Sarah, can anyone tell me what became of Marge Crane?
BARB, the Crane home was apparently bought and turned into a nursing home.
Marge's mother (I forget her name) was transferred there and so finally 'came
home'.
From one of the earlier scenes in the series I thought Mrs. Crane's condition
was definitely associated with her pregnancy. Remember how she fought her
husband, saying she didn't have her 'thing' in and that she must not get
pregnant? There must have been a family history of pregnancy associated with
her condition.
Thanks for the explanation of the door post plaque, MARYPAGE. I thought I
saw a title there beside Lydia's name, but I could have been mistaken.
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Yes, the Council did buy the Carne estate and turn it into a nursing home for the mentally ill, and so, in that sense, Midge's mother did finally "go home," as she left the private institution, the cost of which had ruined Carne financially, and went into the taxpayer financed institution. She seemed to recognize it as the home she wanted her husband to take her back to.
But I think she was quite mental before she had the baby and went totally around the bend. I don't believe it was just post partum, though I have seen many real cases of that in my life, including a really gruesome one in one of my old neighborhoods. No, I believe Midge's mother was nuts period. Remember the beginning where he comes home and she is in her negligee entertaining a bunch of men and drinking a lot?
There was a quick shot right at the end where they were doing that fast kaleidoscope of events where Midge was in a lovely peach flowered evening gown in a lovely drawing room smiling at her grandfather. One inferred she became quite the lady.
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Babi, Are you referring to the Crane daughter, whose name was Midge? She opted to go and live with her Grandfather - who suddenly appeared "out of nowhere".
I caught the fact that the Crane house was turned into a hospital - but I missed that Mrs. Crane was transferred there.
I thought her plaintive question about "going home" was part of her illness. She had asked her husband the same thing earlier on.
Her illness was associated with her pregnancy - but I've never heard of it and can't remember what it was called. Is it a real condition or fiction?
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Callie, I am not sure about the name of the disease, but think even in the opening episode she was portrayed as a bit unstable - the pregnancy seems to have pushed her over the edge. I really must get the book from the library and re-read it.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I remember her unstable emotions in the first episode. When he was raping her (that's what it was - basically), she kept saying, "I mustn't get pregnant."
So it must have been something she was aware of having. The medical term for her illness was mentioned (probably in one of those "quickie" scenes"); I wish I could remember what it was.
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I thought it was just called post-partum blues, or post-partum depression.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/postpartum-depression/DS00546
A few blocks from me, back in about 1971, a woman who had been a nurse and who had three children in 5 years and her husband did not believe she was as bad as she said she was and he believed she was just being neurotic and would get over it, well she killed all 3 little ones, including a little 5 year old girl whom I had been asked to walk home from kindergarten once. It really demolished me to be that close to something like that, though I did not know the woman or the younger children. The woman tried to commit suicide, but botched it. Last I heard, SHE was in a mental institution for life.
Yes, in the series South Riding, you see the mentally ill Mrs. Carne being led out of a car in front of the newly converted to a hospital Carne home and her eyes light up as she is being led inside. Those end clips came and went and changed so fast, some of you may have blinked and missed that scene!
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I just clicked the link in the heading and watched the final scenes of the final episode.
They seemed to go more slowly than the t v broadcast so I (finally!) saw Mrs. Carne arrive "home", the sign indicating the new girls' school and Lydia's name being added by the door.
She was dressed more like a mature young woman than a school girl and I suppose that's why I thought she was getting ready to teach instead of entering university.
I tried to scroll through Episode One to find the name of Mrs. Crane's illness but I couldn't find it.
Onward and Upward.
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Oh, was that Midge in the evening dress, MARYPAGE? Since the scene followed on her Mother's return 'home', I thought that was the mother imagining all was as before.
You're right, CALLIE, it was Midge I meant. I knew she had opted to live with her
grandfather, I just don't know what became of her after that.
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Just looked at Edinburgh City library catalogue - and there are TEN reserves for South Riding! So frustrating when (a) for years no-one read it at all and no-one knew what I was talking about if I mentioned it, and (b) my own old copy is in storage. Will just have to wait till we do move, then have a nice time "rediscovering" all my old favourites. I'll appreciate them much more now!
Rosemary
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Babi, when I watched the ending of South Riding for the second time, thanks to Callie's recounting of what she did, I discovered it was NOT Midge in that final scene; it was an entirely new young girl and the grandfather was going into the luxurious room ahead of Midge and he motioned for the girl, sitting in a chair and wearing the lovely peach colored flowered evening gown, to lift her chin up and sit up straighter. You could just see a bit of Midge's uniformed shoulder following him, or so I imagined. I assume it was the slightly younger cousin of Midge's who was slated to go off to a Swiss or French boarding school with Midge, and this was their first meeting.
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Hm, I hardly know what to make of that, CALLIE. Most of the flash-forwards
picked up quite a bit later in the lives of the characters. And if the young girl in
the chair, instructed to correct her posture, is a sample of what life with grandfather is all about, I find it worrisome.
ROSEMARY, do you remember at all what finally became of Midge? Was she
all right? (Shucks, I'm reacting as though this was a real person. :-[)
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But Babi, the lovely thing about let's pretend is that we can usually find out what happens to a beloved character from the book or make up our own ending.
In real life we learn we cannot guess anyone's fate or control it in any way. For instance, much as we want perfect happily ever after for our children and grandchildren, we cannot do a thing about which way their lifeboats carry them. Sigh!
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Ah Mary, how true. To a large extent our "life is determined by the choices we make". Too bad we don't really understand that when we are younger. But then again, maybe it's better not to. We might not have the strength to carry on!
Sally
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So true, ladies, so true. :-\
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