Beyond the Roundels

I've been doing this series of gifsets on tumblr for a very long time now. I've been meaning to crosspost them ever since. I'd (ironically) just drafted up one such post shortly before I accidentally deleted my whole tumblr that time in 2018 or whenever it was, and if I'd been faster about it, I wouldn't have completely lost some of them. Anyway, I've been meaning to finally get around to it, and today I went out so am ill and was thinking that I want to magically have a post to post and it should be about James Maxwell in some way and also probably this episode because it is a go to tired-episode. And then, I realised, that that was entirely doable for once.

[These are no longer in the original order, because the whole deletion thing wrecked that anyway. Format = tumblr gifset + original blurb. This, as you can probably tell from the gifs, was one of the earlier ones - originally no. 5/?]

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Original post here on tumblr.


Favourite Episodes of old telly: Enemy at the Door 1.10 "Treason" (London Weekend Television, 1978). (Written by Kenneth Clark; dir. Jonathan Alwyn.)

( We fought, he said, and you were not there; cut for gifs )

Perhaps more a favourite episode rather than best (but then ‘best’ in Enemy at the Door would include all the spoilery, continuity-heavy episodes, so let’s go with my odd choice here, why not). I just appreciate hugely an episode of TV that’s all about people feeling sidelined, bored, trapped, frustrated and despairing to varying degrees. Chiefly, it focuses on Major General Laidlaw (Joss Ackland), his spirit being slowly eaten away by inactivity and small humiliations and the visiting grandee, Generalmajor von Wittke (James Maxwell) - Laidlaw’s brother-in-law - who is, as it turns out, just as trapped as everyone else.

Enemy at the Door s1 on the Internet Archive | Treason at YouTube.

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(I still love this episode. It is a strange one, and the writer's style is circular and repetetive, which I can see would not be everyone else's cup of tea, but it works for me. Jonathan Alwyn's direction is reliably great, and I like the constant understated background sound of the storm that underpins most of the episode. I still appreciate so much an episode of TV which explores the inability to do things, and revolves around something that doesn't and can't happen, and the unspoken implications of what consequences will follow. I wrote fic for this, and there is so much detail in the stated backstories of the two main guest characters that make them inverted mirrors of each other in ways that are fascinating and muddy the morality even further than is immediately apparent in the episode. Also James Maxwell wants to kill Hitler and Richter and Freidel finish up with a knowing Julius Caesar reference. ("He is an honourable man. They are both honourable men!") EatD knows how to make me happy, or certainly cathartically sad in all the right ways.)

(This is not the best one of these sets to begin with, because it's an episode that probably nobody but me would list as a favourite. Except maybe hyarrowen, but idk if that was just because I went on and on about and then wrote fic. But when I'm ill, I just want to talk online about "Treason" and this once, I actually can!)

I have (in news that will surprise no one) now completed my fic for the two generals from episode 10 of Enemy at the Door because apparently I have forgotten my New Year's Resolution to be less obscure and weird in my fic already. It does, however, fill a square for both hc_bingo and genprompt_bingo, so there is that.

(The M rating is for the suicide, not the shippage, btw. Alas. I don't know why I insist on writing EatD fic that's actually more depressing than the series itself, but there you go.)

some chosen curse (4249 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Enemy at the Door (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: George Laidlaw/Generalmajor von Wittke
Characters: George Laidlaw, Generalmajor von Wittke
Additional Tags: Community: hc_bingo, Community: genprompt_bingo, Episode: s01e10 Treason, Backstory, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, World War II, World War I, Soldiers, Suicide, Nazis, 1930s, 1940s, Character Death, Dark
Summary: "He is an honourable man... they are both honourable men." General Laidlaw, Generalmajor von Wittke and the road to treason.

Enemy at the Door walks a fine line in dealing with these things, and usually pretty well. Hopefully, I've managed to follow suit, but if not, that's my fault and not that of the series.


(I would like it to be said, though, that I still wish someone else would write this backstory, and write it better. Probably with more stiff-necked repressed pining and things. I'll share my notes, promise! However, that is probably too much to ask for, so the world will have to put up with my efforts. At least, the one or two people in the world who would be interested, that is, of course... ;-p)

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.

( Have some hats )

I'm determined to get a line for my trope_bingo for amnesty, and I'm so near - I just need to type a couple more things up! So, I went to my notebook and instead typed up this for hc_bingo (for "nausea," although mostly the metaphorical kind), because I'm contrary like that.

(I had to rewatch an episode for it. Probably I shouldn't have done it quite so soon after watching the OUaT finale, because in comparison the special Christmas episode where someone has to murder their dearest friend ever felt like a Dementor in TV-form, sucking all the joy out of life. Knowing where it ends up, I have to say Manhunt is the most cynical, bleak, twisted up look at WWII I've ever seen. My experience isn't massive, but even so...)

Anyway, as I may have mentioned, Vincent, one of our Extra Specially Terrible Resistance agents has top Nazis falling over themselves to die for him, one way or another, so I wrote fic about it. Even if old telly means never knowing how to spell anyone's surnames.* Spoilers abound, though, so this will probably be read by no one ever, alas. But I feel accomplished. (I just need to write Nina/Vincent/Jimmy now for my trope_bingo "huddling for warmth" square, because if you have a practically canon OT3 who have to hide in barns and hedges in a freezing winter, it would be ungracious not to do it, really. After I've typed up the squares that'll get me an amnesty Bingo.)


War Is Love, Love Is War (1342 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Manhunt (TV 1969)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Joseph "Vincent" Reynolds/Paul Menard, Joseph "Vincent" Reynolds & Wolfgang Gratz, Joseph "Vincent" Reynolds/Ann-Marie "Nina" Poitiers, Joseph "Vincent" Reynolds/Egon
Characters: Joseph "Vincent" Reynolds, Paul Menard, Egon (Manhunt TV 1969), Wolfgang Amadeus Gratz
Additional Tags: Spoilers, Episode: s01e19 The Death-WIsh, Episode: s01e04 What Did You Do in the War Daddy?, Episode: s01e08 A Different Kind of War, Episode: s01e25 What Next?, Canonical Character Death, fathers and sons, World War II
Summary: “What is war? War is love.” Vincent, and the Fascists who love him.

(Or, if you're a fellow old Brit telly lover, this fic is mostly depressing, but partly Peter Barkworth/Julian Glover, and Peter Barkworth/James Maxwell, and Peter Barkworth/Robert Hardy (ish). Blame canon, not me.)


* Why, yes, I have just given myself quite the wrangling tangle to sort. /o\

Some Enemy at the Door fic, written for Hyarrowen, who wanted something to do with the Atlantic Wall and who shares my appreciation of Martel and Richter (and Committee Man!). I don't know if this was what was wanted, as it's mainly Martel & Richter discussing some consequences of the Wall for the Islands, but it's what I came up with:

Waiting For the Sky to Fall (1218 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Enemy at the Door (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Philip Martel & Dieter Richter
Characters: Philip Martel, Dieter Richter
Additional Tags: Vignette, World War II, Starvation, Post-Canon, Stealth Friendship
Summary: Autumn 1944, and the situation on Guernsey grows ever more bleak, but there's always some slight consolation to be had, if you look for it hard enough.

I made various icons for NaArMaMo, but halfway through the month, I started on an utterly pointless large set for Enemy at the Door. (NaArMaMo is just for having fun and experimenting, so I did.)

Teaser:



( A lot of people need help - they don't know how to fight or even what to fight sometimes )

I am only linking this here because a) snowflake_challenge, because maybe icons you made ages ago is cheating a bit and b) this is what I did with the future fic square for trope_bingo. Hence I'm skipping it this time. If I'm going to write unnecessarily long and gloomy fic, at least I can do it for hc_bingo where you'd expect this sort of thing.

Outcomes of War (5430 words) by lost_spook
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Enemy at the Door (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Philip Martel & Dieter Richter, Ernst Freidel & Dieter Richter
Characters: Dieter Richter, Ernst Freidel, Philip Martel, Olive Martel
Additional Tags: War, World War II, Suicide, Execution, Starvation, Post-Series, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, 5 Times
Summary: "Whatever may be the abuse of man, that is the use of nature - first survive.” Three things that may have happened to Major Richter and two that definitely didn’t.

(This is what happens when people go and leave a TV show unfinished and I start looking at the history books for answers. I wasn't going to finish this, being far too late for the bingo, but it nagged at me. It's surprisingly unspoilery, but I can't imagine it'd have any appeal to anyone who hasn't seen the series. And limited appeal even then.)

I fear my next fic may only be better by virtue of being shorter, but after that I solemnly vow to try and write things that people might actually want to read. (Or, in short, I have a lot of 500 Prompts left... ;-D)