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[thisbluespirit]

I fell out of posting and managing to keep up for a bit, for various reasons, but anyway, here are some things:

1. halfamoon is running again, with prompts every day - it's an annual two-week fannish celebration of female characters etc (1-14th Feb.)


2. fic_promptly has started up again, if people want regular commentfest type posts!


3. In Brit Cosy Crimes fandoms, what they give you with one hand, they take away with the other, which is to say that the BBC has brought Shakespeare & Hathaway back from the dead and Sebastian will get to wear more ridiculous costumes, but ITV countered by cancelling McDonald & Dodds, so there will alas be no more improbable crimes in Bath.


4. I don't want to keep linking to Sesskasays's reactions, but she made it unspoiled to Caves of Androzani, really appreciated it and was not ready for the ending, and it was probably the best first time reaction to that one I've seen. (Of course, this now means that she has to contend with The Twin Dilemma, but we all have to go through that sooner or later... ;-p)


5. In things I have been watching and listening to and should write about properly, because they were all good and interesting: - I listened to another J B Priestley Time Play adaptation, I Have Been Here Before.

In a charity shop (one of my reasons for not keeping up was my friend took me to town for the first time since November) I found one of those inexplicable 3 films in 1 DVDs that are usually random things you have never heard of, only this one was Tom Jones (1963), A Passage to India, and An Ideal Husband; and I'd wanted to see Tom Jones - I think I must have found it via Julian Glover being in it, but parts of it were filmed in my home town! But it was quite expensive online secondhand so I'm still impressed with this piece of serendipity. I enjoyed it and I recognised said home town quite clearly. XD (The street they used, Castle Street, is not only where I was born, but, if you have been around long enough to remember me talking about my family history, it was where one of my direct ancestors came to a tragic end in a cesspool. Yes, I am working class, lol.)

Also I have now finished The Jewel in the Crown! It was indeed very good and the last episode suddenly produced unexpected Peter Jeffrey, who wasn't even actually evil as such, for a wonder.

Comments

[sovay]

I found one of those inexplicable 3 films in 1 DVDs that are usually random things you have never heard of, only this one was Tom Jones (1963), A Passage to India, and An Ideal Husband

It would not have occurred to me to bundle those three films together, but I'm glad they found you! Is it the 1947 An Ideal Husband or the Jeremy Northam?

and I'd wanted to see Tom Jones - I think I must have found it via Julian Glover being in it, but parts of it were filmed in my home town!

I have never seen Tom Jones and don't think I knew Julian Glover was in it!

The street they used, Castle Street, is not only where I was born, but, if you have been around long enough to remember me talking about my family history, it was where one of my direct ancestors came to a tragic end in a cesspool.

Congratulations! (Does the cesspool make an appearance?)

[thisbluespirit]

It would not have occurred to me to bundle those three films together, but I'm glad they found you! Is it the 1947 An Ideal Husband or the Jeremy Northam?

These 3-in-1 bundles are always collections of 3 films that are technically the same genre BUT. Also usually they are not things anyone has ever heard of, or at least 2 of them aren't, so I was taken aback by this set. And, yes it was the Jeremy Northam one! (I was going to say the 1999, but then I remembered that there is another, different 1999 An Ideal Husband, which I also found in a charity shop one time.) I did actually own that already, so I now have to decide what to do with both copies.

I have never seen Tom Jones and don't think I knew Julian Glover was in it!

He is the soldier Tom has a fight with, because Julian Glover is so rarely good!

Congratulations! (Does the cesspool make an appearance?)

It was 1963! The cesspool was long gone! But the Mary Stanley can be seen, which is where I, my three sisters and my mum were all born.

Castle Street is very random - it and its parallel (but not quite as good or as finished) street, Chandos Street, are perfect surviving 1720s architecture, which was v handy for Tom Jones, filming in the West Country in the 60s. The Duke of Chandos took it into his head to buy some land in Bridgwater at that date and, with grand plans of making it fashionable, built two streets and a glass kiln. Bridgwater did not become fashionable, the glass-making did not take off, and he shrugged, sold up, and went off, leaving two unusually nice streets for the lawyers of Bridgwater to occupy - and require people to clean out their cesspits every so often, of course.

(I looked and I see I found the sewer story in 2017.)

[sovay]

He is the soldier Tom has a fight with, because Julian Glover is so rarely good!

Alas.

It was 1963! The cesspool was long gone!

(I did not actually think the cesspool was still around in 1963.)

But the Mary Stanley can be seen, which is where I, my three sisters and my mum were all born.

That is both very neat to have captured on film and completely not the way my own family's geography works.

The Duke of Chandos took it into his head to buy some land in Bridgwater at that date and, with grand plans of making it fashionable, built two streets and a glass kiln. Bridgwater did not become fashionable, the glass-making did not take off, and he shrugged, sold up, and went off, leaving two unusually nice streets for the lawyers of Bridgwater to occupy - and require people to clean out their cesspits every so often, of course.

I appreciate both the history and the illustration!

[thisbluespirit]

(I did not actually think the cesspool was still around in 1963.)

Don't worry, I didn't really think you did. XD

[sovay]

Don't worry, I didn't really think you did.

If they had reconstructed it for the eighteenth-century production, I would have been impressed and confused.

[thisbluespirit]

Also, though, I just noticed I gave myself an extra sister! I meant, all three of us, as in me and my two sisters!! /o\

[theseatheseatheopensea]

(The street they used, Castle Street, is not only where I was born, but, if you have been around long enough to remember me talking about my family history, it was where one of my direct ancestors came to a tragic end in a cesspool. Yes, I am working class, lol.)

That's both tragic and amazing. I mean, it's mostly tragic, but I love working class stories for the solidarity. (Mine is that my aunt worked in a toothpick factory when she ws a kid, and she used to hide underneath the wood shavings and take a nap!)

[thisbluespirit]

That's both tragic and amazing. I mean, it's mostly tragic, but I love working class stories for the solidarity. (Mine is that my aunt worked in a toothpick factory when she ws a kid, and she used to hide underneath the wood shavings and take a nap!)

Aw, I hope she got away with it! <3

The sewer story is here - I found out about it in 2017.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Aw, I hope she got away with it!

She did! She was an absolute legend!

The sewer story is here - I found out about it in 2017.

It's a terrible story, but at the same time, it's so good to know about it.

<3

[romanajo123]

What is this Brit Cozy things? 👀

( I like to read cozies- just got one from the library called Pup Fiction)

[thisbluespirit]

What is this Brit Cozy things?

Oh, there are few UK cosy detective series around - I've watched & enjoyed Shakespeare & Hathaway (Shakespeare-flavoured murders in Stratford-on-Avon), McDonald & Dodds (murders in Bath), Sister Boniface Mysteries (1960s), Agatha Raisin (Cotswolds) & Death In Paradise (Brit detectives keep getting sent to a tiny Caribbean island to find themselves. This is in on s14, so the homicide rate is starting to rival Midsomer.)

They should be around somewhere over the pond - they tend to be quite popular abroad, too.

[romanajo123]

Yeah, I could check Prime or Britbox.

The only cozy Brit things I've seen are that one Agatha Christie story adaptation with Peter Davison and some episodes of Hamish MacBeth (okay, it's technically Scotland but it's all in a small town and MacBeth is so laid back ) :P

[romanajo123]

Have you watched Miss Scarlet?

I was browsing Amazon Prime this morning ( under the PBS Masterpiece area; it has a ton of British shows! ) , and it sounds like something that might interest you. :P

[thisbluespirit]

Only the first series - the rest hasn't been on UK TV at all yet or anywhere I could watch it, but, yes, I did like s1 very much!

[scripsi]

I saw that version of Tom Jones in my teens and remember that I loved it.

[thisbluespirit]

It was very good! Not quite as good as the 1990s BBC serial I've seen, but a serial is always an unfair comparison for a film. Quite a lot of the location work looked very familiar to me, even aside from the Bridgwater-set street scenes.

[scripsi]

Well, the 90s version do have BRIAN BLESSED, after all. XD

[thisbluespirit]

And two whole Doctors! And they hugged Ron Cook! XD

[edwardianspinsteraunt]

Oh, serendipitous charity shop finds are the best - especially when it's obscure stuff that you can't find easily online xD And it's always neat when you recognise a filming location in a period drama! I think one of (?) the Miss Marple TV series was filmed in the village where I went to primary school (it's the sort of quaintly pretty little place that works very well for a certain type of crime drama).

[thisbluespirit]

I think one of (?) the Miss Marple TV series was filmed in the village where I went to primary school (it's the sort of quaintly pretty little place that works very well for a certain type of crime drama).

Oh, that's cool! Murders everywhere, then, heh. XD

[pedanther]

This reminds me that I still haven't got around to watching the murder mystery that was shot in and around my home town a couple of years back.

(Well, my home town and the next town over - there are reportedly several instances where characters walk down the street and step into a building and are miraculously transported into the interior of a different building 25 miles away...)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, which one was that? You should definitely find it and do the obligatory "I know that place!" and "Well, that isn't next to there!" etc. etc.

[pedanther]

It was a TV miniseries called Mystery Road: Origin. I've had the relevant page on the relevant streaming site bookmarked ever since it came out, but it's one of those things where I could do it at any time and so I never make up my mind to do it.

[moon_custafer]

I don't want to keep linking to Sesskasays's reactions, but she made it unspoiled to Caves of Androzani

Oh, I think I saw her react to “The Visitation.” She shared my affection for Richard Mace (“You are a fascinating man” she declared at one point).

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, I think I saw her react to “The Visitation.” She shared my affection for Richard Mace (“You are a fascinating man” she declared at one point).

Yes, I'm pretty sure you followed her up when I linked to her a while back. I was late enough with making this post that she has now posted the first half of The Twin Dilemma. ("I feel I've been hit in the face." lol)

[moon_custafer]

https://www.tumblr.com/doctorbluesmanreturns/774870897060429824?source=share

[barbaratp]

Adoro DVDs que são 3 em 1 com filmes muito aleatórios que às vezes nunca ouvimos falar, esses no entanto já havia escutado sobre o An Ideal Husband, mas nunca ouvi falar dos outros nem da série. Mas achei tudo fascinante, principalmente que um dos filmes foi gravado onde você e seus antepassados cresceram. Lamento pelo fim trágico em uma fossa no entanto.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! <3

[paranoidangel]

ITV countered by cancelling McDonald & Dodds

Nooo! I really liked McDonald & Dodds.

[thisbluespirit]

I know! It's a shame. :-(

[liadt]

Nooo, it's a bummer about 'McDonald and Dodds', I enjoyed it. Hopefully, we won't have to wait ages for 'Shakespeare & Hathaway'.

Hurrah for a charity shop bargain!

[thisbluespirit]

Nooo, it's a bummer about 'McDonald and Dodds', I enjoyed it. Hopefully, we won't have to wait ages for 'Shakespeare & Hathaway'.

Yes, just as we were getting cheerful about the cosies, they committed more murder of our faves! Maybe they'll get resurrected, too?

Charity shop bargains are always something. \o/