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thisbluespiritAnother crosspost for my Fave Eps of Old Telly tumblr sets, and one this time that is part of the reason I started making it, because sometimes you get something like this.
Original tumblr post.
Favourite Episodes of Old Telly: The Shadow of the Tower Episode 5 “The Serpent and the Comforter” (BBC 1972. Written by Hugh Whitemore; dir. Moira Armstrong.)
“No man can persuade me this is what Our Lord the Carpenter intended. No, sire, not even a King can persuade me of that!”
This episode is such a great example of why I got hooked on old TV despite its obvious disadvantages. Beccause every so often you get a gem like this that today would die at first pitch while TV executives fainted away in horror. Frankly, I’m surprised that even the 1970s BBC thought an episode about 15th C theology and burning heretics was a good idea, but as it turns out, it really was, and I love it.
It’s a tight piece with a small cast (credited only as ‘The Prisoner’, ‘The King’ etc.), penned by Hugh Whitemore (BAFTA nominated for his Elizabeth R script the previous year) while director Moira Armstrong gets the most out of the theatrical sets. Peter Jeffrey gets a rare chance to play a sympathetic character, a heretic who’s doomed whether he recants or not, while James Maxwell gives us the King simultaneously at his most admirable in trying to save one man’s soul and his most chilling, as he brings all his intelligence and ruthlessness to bear on breaking that man’s faith.
#i had to remake this one #quotes #and i think some kudos has to go to #dennis channon #for the lighting #it's a theatrical piece in all the best ways #and it knows it #and nobody lets modern viewpoints intrude #it's a weird one #but great
The Serpent and the Comforter (YouTube) | and on Daily Motion
I'm not sure what else to add here, but it does seem to be the one that everybody else who watches it really likes as well, so clearly this is not just about me and my weirdness or my James Maxwell fixation. (This is what gave me my JM fixation.)
Original tumblr post.
Favourite Episodes of Old Telly: The Shadow of the Tower Episode 5 “The Serpent and the Comforter” (BBC 1972. Written by Hugh Whitemore; dir. Moira Armstrong.)
“No man can persuade me this is what Our Lord the Carpenter intended. No, sire, not even a King can persuade me of that!”
This episode is such a great example of why I got hooked on old TV despite its obvious disadvantages. Beccause every so often you get a gem like this that today would die at first pitch while TV executives fainted away in horror. Frankly, I’m surprised that even the 1970s BBC thought an episode about 15th C theology and burning heretics was a good idea, but as it turns out, it really was, and I love it.
It’s a tight piece with a small cast (credited only as ‘The Prisoner’, ‘The King’ etc.), penned by Hugh Whitemore (BAFTA nominated for his Elizabeth R script the previous year) while director Moira Armstrong gets the most out of the theatrical sets. Peter Jeffrey gets a rare chance to play a sympathetic character, a heretic who’s doomed whether he recants or not, while James Maxwell gives us the King simultaneously at his most admirable in trying to save one man’s soul and his most chilling, as he brings all his intelligence and ruthlessness to bear on breaking that man’s faith.
#i had to remake this one #quotes #and i think some kudos has to go to #dennis channon #for the lighting #it's a theatrical piece in all the best ways #and it knows it #and nobody lets modern viewpoints intrude #it's a weird one #but great
The Serpent and the Comforter (YouTube) | and on Daily Motion
I'm not sure what else to add here, but it does seem to be the one that everybody else who watches it really likes as well, so clearly this is not just about me and my weirdness or my James Maxwell fixation. (This is what gave me my JM fixation.)