Tenko/Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

[thisbluespirit]

Another of the things I've watched in the period since May, courtesy of the Drama channel, is the 1980s BBC WWII drama Tenko.

I knew that this featured Stephanie Beacham and Louise Jameson, and was largely written by some of the people who were responsible for Wish Me Luck (and some of The House of Eliott), and was about women PoW in Japanese internee camps in Singapore in WWII. And since I like both WML & HoE (both v female-centric 80s & 90s historical dramas) and also things that feature people trapped in relatively small spaces and ensemble casts, I recorded it.

I would write a sensible review, but what I didn't know was that:

Stephanie Cole is in it as a curmudgeonly lesbian atheist doctor who winds up making fast friends with a fearsome Dutch nun, even though she doesn't understand how that is a thing that is a thing. MY HEART.

But, yeah. It's addictive, your mileage will almost certainly vary, has a high death count (something like 14 regulars, mostly in the first season and a half, die, on or off screen), and MY HEART. I think probably I shall be requesting it for Yuletide.

It walks quite an difficult line and mostly, I felt, pretty well, given the subject matter and the fact that the majority of its main characters are privileged and prejudiced, being British (and Dutch) in Singapore, save for one storyline in The Reunion (which isn't bad as such, but they needed a whole series to tackle it properly if they were going to go there; as it is, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth). But YMMV, and I was a bit distracted by all the HEARTS IN MY EYES for most of it.

Anyway, this is why I'm relieved I can watch Secret Army and mostly just think, "Hmm, after this, I have to rewatch 'Allo 'Allo, don't I?" I can't go round casually giving my heart to every problematic old TV show that comes along, or what would be left of me?


I also bought S2 of ITV's 70s anthology series, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes with my birthday money. As the name implies, this is a set of dramatisations of other late Victorian detectives who aren't Sherlock. I got S2 because it promised me more Douglas Wilmer (BBC 1960s Sherlock), and a guest appearance from Suzanne Neve. I'll talk about the rest sometime, as I've deserted it for Department S for the moment. (Not because it was bad, but because it cries out to be watched in winter, and also I wanted a series to get into as opposed to an anthology.)

Anyway, Suzanne Neve guested in "The Absent-Minded Coterie", featuring Charles Gray as M. Valmont, France's greatest amateur detective (which you can find here at YT if you weren't lucky enough to get it in the Network sale), and I will pause to note it here, because it turned out to be made of all the things I like. I mean, if you combined Inspector Neele/Mary Dove's dynamic with Poirot and Sherlock Holmes and Adam Adamant, this is pretty much what you get, with bonus Suzanne Neve. Anyway, clearly a thing calculated to please me is not going to please everyone else, but I am delighted to inform you that France's premier amateur detective is not up to outwitting Suzanne Neve and that she gets to appear mysteriously out of the fog and commit crimes and then be smug while wearing epic hats. I recced it to john_amend_all because the above things are a lot of where our likes meet, and he informed me that the original story doesn't even have Suzanne Neve's character (Miss Mackail) in it, so sometimes 1970s adaptors take the best liberties with things.







Scotland Yard and France's finest amateur detective are baffled!




The only downside was that it was quite hard to get any good shots of Suzanne rather than her hats.

Anyway, that was a thing that I shall no doubt rewatch on several occasions.

Comments

[jekesta]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Beatrice/SisterUlrica is my ONE TRUEST OF TRUE slash pairings of all time. They are probably one of only three femslash pairings that I think actually have proper emotion in them and that I love for what they are, not waht they almost are. I can't even get over Stephanie COle and her emotions, I nearly didn't make it through tenko because oh my god, but it's beautiful, and they're just so amazing at love, and they're complicated and real and beautiful, and make me want to tear things up. I will not tell you everything I love about them, but if you ever want pictures and quotes to PROVE THEIR VERY LOVE, I wrote a stupidly long post about them, here.

[john_amend_all]

In the original story, Miss Mackail's counterpart is Mr Macpherson, and he outwits Valmont and the police in much the same way. But he doesn't flirt with the detectives or wear elaborate hats.

[damzel]

Your description of Tenko is catnip to me...

[hyarrowen]

Tenko is brilliant, but hard going... I re-watched the first series a couple of years back and that was all I could cope with. But I used to know a Dutch lady who spent time in a Japanese prison camp when she was a child, and she said it was very true to life.

[liadt]

Well done for watching Tenko: it looks too hard going for me. Melancholic Tudors are my limit. I'm glad you've got something shiny for YT too.

Yay for hats!

[aralias]

the rivals of sherlock holmes sounds intriguing - i await more news on this :)

[whuffle]

Heya, is there a good way for you and I to have a quick AO3 wrangling chat at some point?

[thisiszircon]

Tenko was my very first drama obsession. In the actual eighties. Way before interwebs and fanfic and being able to talk to other fans. I adored the show when I was about 11 (and probably a bit too young, really, to be watching and appreciating storylines like Rose's tragedy). I've never lost my love for Tenko.

The novelisations are worth trying to get your hands on. They aren't spectacularly well written or anything, but some of the plots that were watered down on screen are treated more realistically in the novels.

In the last year or two a brilliant book was brought out on the series, with some fascinating historic detail about just how much work it took to get the series commissioned in the first place. It's called Remembering Tenko and it is by Andy Priestner.

I love Bea. (How can you not love Stephanie Cole in everything she has ever done?) But the character that always intrigued me the most was one quite a bit less likeable. If I ever wrote fic for Tenko, I'd probably make it Dorothy-centric.

Love that you have found and embraced this show!

Oh, and have a smashing visit with your family this week. :)

[dimity_blue]

Her hats certainly are epic!

I think I saw a bit of Tenko way back when. Stephanie Cole is always awesome.

[clocketpatch]

TENKO!

I watched it a few years ago and was head over heels with how good it is, despite it also being as depressing as all get out, and that thin line it has to walk between drama, respect, and historical accuracy (which as you say, it does a good job with considering when it was made). Bea and Sister Ulrica's interactions were one of my favourite things as well.

I thought about asking for it in Yuletide too, but then I couldn't bring myself to do so, because even though I thoroughly enjoyed the show, asking for fic set in a POW camp felt off.