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thisbluespirit) wrote2018-10-28 01:32 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote2018-10-28 01:32 pm
Entry tags:
Bill Brand & Fear of Shadows
I am all behind with what I've been watching, as well as other things. In the summer, I watched Bill Brand (Thames TV 1976), starring Jack Shepherd in the title role, as a ex-college lecturer and idealistic new Labour MP for an industrial northern borough. It also featured Lynn Farleigh as his wife, Cherie Lunghi as his girlfriend (amusingly, called Alex Ferguson) & Alan Badel.
It was quite a high-profile series at the time and earned Jack Shepherd a BAFTA nomination, but I had very mixed feelings about it. If I had watched it at any time other than this summer, it might have been easier, but as it was, completely unfairly, it kept feeling as if someone had made a TV series about the young Jeremy Corbyn and I really really did not want that. Poor Bill Brand. That is not in any way what it was; it was just unfortunate timing.
However, it's very much a game of two halves (well, it does have an Alex Ferguson in it), which is that the political stuff about Parliament and the Labour Party are brilliant, angry and fascinating, but I found everything about Bill Brand's personal life to be utterly tedious and unlikeable by comparison. (I never expected to be glad to see the back of Cherie Lunghi in a thing, but once she left and they stopped having semi-naked earnest socialist discussions about the right political way to have their affair, it was a huge relief. Lynn Farleigh hardly fared much better, although at least she didn't have to have semi-nude political conversations.)
So, yes. That was a thing. It's easy to see how it attracted in big names for five minute cameos, because the writing of the political side of things is very interesting and well done, but it was dragged down by the personal side, which has been done better and then some by Public Eye and things like that, none of which went around being pretentious about it, either.
Alan Badel as the cabinet minister who may or may not have sold out was a definite highlight, though, and we even got Arthur Lowe in the wild, which doesn't happen often. I think other people might like it, particularly if they're into the topic and haven't watched Public Eye. I just felt very frustrated by everything that moved away from the political stuff it was brilliant at to the personal stuff that just felt... worthy but terribly tedious and which made it hard to like its lead character in a way I'm not sure was intended.
I have also watched two (and a bit) episodes of the psychological horror anthology Shadows of Fear, which was put together by a lot of the Public Eye creative team, which fact I think put my hopes up a bit too high. Roger Marshall is always good, but he also seems to have disapproved of nearly everything that wasn't Public Eye and often shot off scripts that while still excellent (I'm not sure he was capable of outright bad) have horrible people turn up to be horrible, and it's always a shock to find Roger Marshall writing a 2D character. The brain does not compute.
Which is to say, the first one starred Michael Craig and Gwen Watford a couple who get burgled, but then the husband becomes obsessive about security and trying to get revenge on the burglars (accidentally egged on by Ray Smith as a rather more reactionary police inspector than Percy from Public Eye), which he eventually does. It is the usual Roger Marshall mix of sharp characterisation and dialogue, only the burglers are, as I said, such 2D villains, I'd almost have thought Roger Marshall was as reactionary as the policeman if I hadn't already watched so much of his other work. It was also directed by Kim Mills, and you cannot go too wrong with a Mills and Marshall combination. I suppose it would have been over the horror limits of the anthology if the burglars had been at all sympathetic before they came to their horrible end?
Me: :-S
The other day, after not knowing what to do with myself after finishing the Bognor serial with James Maxwell in, I watched the last Shadows of Fear, which features Suzanne Neve and Edward Fox. It was probably not that good, but I enjoyed it a lot.
To be fair, it was 15-20 minutes shorter than all the rest and broadcast nearly 2 years after, so I don't know if it was also affected by the strike & eventually got shown in a cut down form? The inside info explains the previous ep in b&w but offers no explanation for this one, but it's possible there some plot details got cut or something.
Anyway, as I have joked about Suzanne Neve's leading men from Portrait of a Lady stalking her about TV ever after (both James Maxwell and Ed Bishop were in further things with her), I was very amused to discover that Edward Fox was her co-star in this. Also it was a period piece, set in the early 1920s, and Suzanne Neve got some lovely outfits, although she did have to be American again, which sadly meant a slightly dodgy accent. But I am always so much happier for horror to be happening in the past! Even if the 70s is now the past. Plus it was also directed by Kim Mills. I'm not so sure his style entirely came off here, but at least he keeps things interesting, and possibly that is again due to whatever production disaster meant this turning up in this format.
The plot is one of those you can't think about too much (although I already have): the doctor tells Edward Fox that Suzanne Neve has a dangerous heart condition, but Edward Fox is clearly a right bastard - he decides to proceed to scare Suzanne to death by various means, including creeping up on her in uniform with a gas mask on, shutting her in the cellar with the rats, and having music play late at night and pretending he can't hear it among other things. He's also having an affair with his secretary.
However, as it turns out, Suzanne Neve is having an affair with the doctor, she doesn't have a heart condition, and, TO MY GREAT PLEASURE, she caused Edward Fox to fall down the stairs in the final act. \o/*
Except then Edward Fox got back up again and the credits ended with him presumably going to kill her after all. Or be stuck in deadlock, or maybe agree to a divorce or something, I suppose. Take your pick.
Plotwise, though, if you want to kill your husband, I'm not sure how "pretend you have a dangerous heart condition" is the way to go. (I can only suppose that she suspected he was a bastard/trying to kill her, so gave him a controllable opportunity to prove/disprove this, and on finally it being proved, tried to kill him. But I'm not entirely convinced the writer had given it as much thought as I just did then. Still, as I said, something obviously happened to disrupt this installment, so maybe there was originally some further explanation or flashback or something.)
I watched it twice, though. I hate to be bloodthirsty, but I am entirely in favour of Suzanne Neve pushing her male co-stars from Portrait of a Lady down the stairs, although it really should have been Ed Bishop or James Maxwell rather than Edward Fox.
I am now not expecting greatness from Shadows of Fear and am almost beginning to feel that I was mean to Thriller, except so far there has been no sign of any skeevy sex killers (unlike Thriller), which is something (although 1 American has already been terrorised). And there is a Richard Harris-penned episode with Gemma Jones in, which may mean greatness or just me being entirely freaked out...
Pictorial Evidence:
Suzanne Neve as Isabel Archer in the BBC 1968 Portrait of a Lady
... with Ed Bishop.
James Maxwell
... and Edward Fox.
And Suzanne Neve in UFO
... with Ed Bishop. (He threw her down the stairs, did I mention that?)
and Dracula with James Maxwell. She may have bitten him after the end credits.
(They were also in the BBC 1966 Hunchback of Notre Dame and a 1970s Yorkshire TV series called The Law Centre but one of these is burninated and the other has only 5 out of 6 episodes surviving and was apparently pretty terrible, so Network probably aren't going to release it for the sole amusement of me. Even though I would definitely be very amused.)
... and also with Edward Fox in Shadows of Fear.
More Shadows of Fear pics for you:
I do like the costuming in this. She also had a nice blue outfit that I don't seem to have caught a good cap of. The very early 1920s, where things are still rather Edwardian isn't used all that much, so it also has a certain novelty as well.
Edward Fox, being a murderous 1920s bastard.
Suzanne Neve looking far too pleased with herself to be an innocent victim. (Besides, I know the sorts of terrible things she gets up to in the 1970s anyway.)
"What heart condition?"
In order to find my old PoaL pics, I ran into my gifset of Gilbert Osmond making excessive love to Isabel Archer's hand. It's been a while and I giggled all over again. I mean, I remember how epic it is ("Oh, sorry, is this hand still attached to someone?"), but I always forget this bit:
I think he's polishing her nails for her, maybe, I don't know.
Anyway, as you can see, she has every reason to start going on criminal rampages in the 1970s. If you spend the 1960s being Victorian heroines, what else can you do?
* I am still grudgy at Ed Bishop for pushing her down the stairs in UFO. I am delighted she got her revenge, even if she got confused about which Ed she should be sending down the stairs. These things are perfectly understandable, and they were both mean to her anyway.
It was quite a high-profile series at the time and earned Jack Shepherd a BAFTA nomination, but I had very mixed feelings about it. If I had watched it at any time other than this summer, it might have been easier, but as it was, completely unfairly, it kept feeling as if someone had made a TV series about the young Jeremy Corbyn and I really really did not want that. Poor Bill Brand. That is not in any way what it was; it was just unfortunate timing.
However, it's very much a game of two halves (well, it does have an Alex Ferguson in it), which is that the political stuff about Parliament and the Labour Party are brilliant, angry and fascinating, but I found everything about Bill Brand's personal life to be utterly tedious and unlikeable by comparison. (I never expected to be glad to see the back of Cherie Lunghi in a thing, but once she left and they stopped having semi-naked earnest socialist discussions about the right political way to have their affair, it was a huge relief. Lynn Farleigh hardly fared much better, although at least she didn't have to have semi-nude political conversations.)
So, yes. That was a thing. It's easy to see how it attracted in big names for five minute cameos, because the writing of the political side of things is very interesting and well done, but it was dragged down by the personal side, which has been done better and then some by Public Eye and things like that, none of which went around being pretentious about it, either.
Alan Badel as the cabinet minister who may or may not have sold out was a definite highlight, though, and we even got Arthur Lowe in the wild, which doesn't happen often. I think other people might like it, particularly if they're into the topic and haven't watched Public Eye. I just felt very frustrated by everything that moved away from the political stuff it was brilliant at to the personal stuff that just felt... worthy but terribly tedious and which made it hard to like its lead character in a way I'm not sure was intended.
I have also watched two (and a bit) episodes of the psychological horror anthology Shadows of Fear, which was put together by a lot of the Public Eye creative team, which fact I think put my hopes up a bit too high. Roger Marshall is always good, but he also seems to have disapproved of nearly everything that wasn't Public Eye and often shot off scripts that while still excellent (I'm not sure he was capable of outright bad) have horrible people turn up to be horrible, and it's always a shock to find Roger Marshall writing a 2D character. The brain does not compute.
Which is to say, the first one starred Michael Craig and Gwen Watford a couple who get burgled, but then the husband becomes obsessive about security and trying to get revenge on the burglars (accidentally egged on by Ray Smith as a rather more reactionary police inspector than Percy from Public Eye), which he eventually does. It is the usual Roger Marshall mix of sharp characterisation and dialogue, only the burglers are, as I said, such 2D villains, I'd almost have thought Roger Marshall was as reactionary as the policeman if I hadn't already watched so much of his other work. It was also directed by Kim Mills, and you cannot go too wrong with a Mills and Marshall combination. I suppose it would have been over the horror limits of the anthology if the burglars had been at all sympathetic before they came to their horrible end?
Me: :-S
The other day, after not knowing what to do with myself after finishing the Bognor serial with James Maxwell in, I watched the last Shadows of Fear, which features Suzanne Neve and Edward Fox. It was probably not that good, but I enjoyed it a lot.
To be fair, it was 15-20 minutes shorter than all the rest and broadcast nearly 2 years after, so I don't know if it was also affected by the strike & eventually got shown in a cut down form? The inside info explains the previous ep in b&w but offers no explanation for this one, but it's possible there some plot details got cut or something.
Anyway, as I have joked about Suzanne Neve's leading men from Portrait of a Lady stalking her about TV ever after (both James Maxwell and Ed Bishop were in further things with her), I was very amused to discover that Edward Fox was her co-star in this. Also it was a period piece, set in the early 1920s, and Suzanne Neve got some lovely outfits, although she did have to be American again, which sadly meant a slightly dodgy accent. But I am always so much happier for horror to be happening in the past! Even if the 70s is now the past. Plus it was also directed by Kim Mills. I'm not so sure his style entirely came off here, but at least he keeps things interesting, and possibly that is again due to whatever production disaster meant this turning up in this format.
The plot is one of those you can't think about too much (although I already have): the doctor tells Edward Fox that Suzanne Neve has a dangerous heart condition, but Edward Fox is clearly a right bastard - he decides to proceed to scare Suzanne to death by various means, including creeping up on her in uniform with a gas mask on, shutting her in the cellar with the rats, and having music play late at night and pretending he can't hear it among other things. He's also having an affair with his secretary.
However, as it turns out, Suzanne Neve is having an affair with the doctor, she doesn't have a heart condition, and, TO MY GREAT PLEASURE, she caused Edward Fox to fall down the stairs in the final act. \o/*
Except then Edward Fox got back up again and the credits ended with him presumably going to kill her after all. Or be stuck in deadlock, or maybe agree to a divorce or something, I suppose. Take your pick.
Plotwise, though, if you want to kill your husband, I'm not sure how "pretend you have a dangerous heart condition" is the way to go. (I can only suppose that she suspected he was a bastard/trying to kill her, so gave him a controllable opportunity to prove/disprove this, and on finally it being proved, tried to kill him. But I'm not entirely convinced the writer had given it as much thought as I just did then. Still, as I said, something obviously happened to disrupt this installment, so maybe there was originally some further explanation or flashback or something.)
I watched it twice, though. I hate to be bloodthirsty, but I am entirely in favour of Suzanne Neve pushing her male co-stars from Portrait of a Lady down the stairs, although it really should have been Ed Bishop or James Maxwell rather than Edward Fox.
I am now not expecting greatness from Shadows of Fear and am almost beginning to feel that I was mean to Thriller, except so far there has been no sign of any skeevy sex killers (unlike Thriller), which is something (although 1 American has already been terrorised). And there is a Richard Harris-penned episode with Gemma Jones in, which may mean greatness or just me being entirely freaked out...
Pictorial Evidence:
Suzanne Neve as Isabel Archer in the BBC 1968 Portrait of a Lady
... with Ed Bishop.
James Maxwell
... and Edward Fox.
And Suzanne Neve in UFO
... with Ed Bishop. (He threw her down the stairs, did I mention that?)
and Dracula with James Maxwell. She may have bitten him after the end credits.
(They were also in the BBC 1966 Hunchback of Notre Dame and a 1970s Yorkshire TV series called The Law Centre but one of these is burninated and the other has only 5 out of 6 episodes surviving and was apparently pretty terrible, so Network probably aren't going to release it for the sole amusement of me. Even though I would definitely be very amused.)
... and also with Edward Fox in Shadows of Fear.
More Shadows of Fear pics for you:
I do like the costuming in this. She also had a nice blue outfit that I don't seem to have caught a good cap of. The very early 1920s, where things are still rather Edwardian isn't used all that much, so it also has a certain novelty as well.
Edward Fox, being a murderous 1920s bastard.
Suzanne Neve looking far too pleased with herself to be an innocent victim. (Besides, I know the sorts of terrible things she gets up to in the 1970s anyway.)
"What heart condition?"
In order to find my old PoaL pics, I ran into my gifset of Gilbert Osmond making excessive love to Isabel Archer's hand. It's been a while and I giggled all over again. I mean, I remember how epic it is ("Oh, sorry, is this hand still attached to someone?"), but I always forget this bit:
I think he's polishing her nails for her, maybe, I don't know.
Anyway, as you can see, she has every reason to start going on criminal rampages in the 1970s. If you spend the 1960s being Victorian heroines, what else can you do?
* I am still grudgy at Ed Bishop for pushing her down the stairs in UFO. I am delighted she got her revenge, even if she got confused about which Ed she should be sending down the stairs. These things are perfectly understandable, and they were both mean to her anyway.
no subject
Gilbert wishes he could go against convention and open a nail bar. Which is better Barry M or Gilbert O?
no subject
Gilbert wishes he could go against convention and open a nail bar. Which is better Barry M or Gilbert O?
It's what he wanted the money for, really. All that art talk was just a cover.
I am probably being dim here, but who is Barry M? But probably whoever he is Gilbert Osmond is the worst. JM was at his most skeevy for that whole serial. I nearly swore off him before I'd even started.
(And I'm still trying to think, and all I'm coming up with is Barry Manilow, which isn't helping.)
no subject
no subject
no subject
Anyway, Edwrd Fox so often plays a baddie that he undoubtedly deserved his turn of being pushed.
no subject
Anyway, Edwrd Fox so often plays a baddie that he undoubtedly deserved his turn of being pushed.
By that reasoning, she could rightly trip pretty much everyone down the stairs! Everyone was a baddie every other week!
no subject
And I'm okay with that. :oD