Covid Regulations Lifting

Saturday. 7.30 a.m. Today is the 1st of May! It's incredible to believe that we're almost halfway through 2021.

 It seems that the covid vaccines are working and reducing infections and thankfully, deaths. This means we are gradually coming out of this pandemic lockdown and even more so, HOPEFULLY, we won't have to have any more in the 'relatively near future.' On the 21st June, as part of the Government's 'roadmap' out of this situation, we can get back to some sort of normal.

Sunny and bright out and really pleasant. Let's hope it stays that way.

I took Alfie out at gone 2 o'clock. Sunny and bright. There were lots of people on and around Oldbrook Green. A group on the far side playing cricket. Children playing football, or at least kicking footballs into the goal in the tarmacked area on the 'Cricketers' side. There is a board which has 'Oldbrook Green' emblazoned on it and a list of 'does and don't (More don'ts as you would expect from a beaurocracy, Campbell Park Parish Council.) One of them says 'no cricket,' 'no organized games.'What about disorganized games? But, please explain what you mean by an organized game? So, what on earth is the point of this large piece of grass if it's not for playing games? I must say it was great to see people enjoying themselves and not being locked up in their homes because of the pandemic. So, what happens if you get caught playing cricket? Not that I'm a fan, but I'd love to see how they could stop this sort of thing. Sounds a bit like life under Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Would you get arrested and shoved into a van with handcuffs on? Staring out through bars? Clapped in irons? Makes you wonder. Would be mean you get a criminal record? Look a bit silly on your record: arrested for playing cricket. Who makes up these rules, and why?

Later. 10.00 p.m. I've been watching a musical version of 'The Wind In The Willows' on BroadwayHD. It has music and lyrics by Styles and Drew who did the additional songs for the Cameron Macintosh/Disney stage musical of 'Mary Poppins.' Book by Julian Fellowes, who wrote the ITV series 'Downton Abbey' and did the adaptation of 'Mary Poppins.' Bright and breezy and very clear story-telling, At least the animal characters aren't dressed in obvious costumes. Suggestions that they are a particular type of animal by the addition of hats, ears stuck on, tails, etc., while the actor's faces are kept clear. No real attempt to be 'realistic' which includes the set design.

Sunday. We have to book tickets for church through something called Eventbrite. As we can only have 40 people in the hall, including musicians, it seems the best way to keep control of the numbers, to make sure we adhere to the government's regulations. I thought I had booked my ticket, but it turns out that I hadn't. Just can always trust technology.

More of . . . The Same!

The more of the same old same old. What more can I say at the moment? So what has changed? Ab-so-lutely nothing! More sitting around reading or watching television. Though I'm glad that I have Sky Arts on my Freeview box as they're currently  running Sky Arts Landscape Artist of 2021. I wasn't sure whether it's a repeat of a past series, but it's new. It makes me wonder how they could film it with social distancing in force. The first episode came from West Wycombe Park, a National Trust property which Carol and I visited a few years ago. It seems to be a favourite location for quite a few television dramas such as Downton Abbey, The Crown, Austenland, Cranford, the more recent film version of The Importance of Being Ernest which starred Dame Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell and many more. I have recognised it in many period dramas over the year. In fact, I would say it's becoming somewhat over-used.

(Friday) 7.55a.m.  I've just got back from taking Alfie out and as we walked down Strudwick Drive I could see someone standing on the grass with what I assumed was a blanket wrapped around themselves. Then, as I gradually walked along I could see an ambulance parked on the road. There was no indication what was going on. I've had to call an ambulance enough times to know what was likely to be going on inside. Then, further along the pavement with Alfie, the door of the ambulance slid open and a youth came out, also swathed in a blanket. The paramedics were obviously coming to end of examining the youth and then slid the door shut and both the youth and the woman walked off in the direction of Milton Keynes centre, going through Oldbrook Green. I still had no idea what was going on and probably best not to know. 

Some delightful soul has seen fit to abandon a supermarket trolley at the intersection of Oldbrook Boulevard and Strudwick Drive. It was marked with 'Morrison's' on it's handle, which made me think, someone had pushed it a long way from Morrisons, which is a couple of miles away. If they'd bought it thus far, why not return it? Also, another electric scooter, abandoned nearby. As we walk past, Alfie cocks his leg against it! Good for you, young man, that's a good way to mark the thing, cluttering up the place as it does.

Washing done. Everything back on hangers and in drawers. Thank goodness that's finished for a week. Washing-up also done and kitchen tidy. Domestic duties done.

Later. I've been out again with Alfie. There were Council workmen, dressed in day-glo clothing, litter-picking. Why do people insist on dropping so much litter? More particularly discarded face masks. No intention of even doing the thing and putting them in the many and various bins located around Oldbrook Green. Just not nice and something of a health hazard.

It's a bright and almost spring-like day. Not a lot else to report.

2.05p.m. How quickly the weather changes! As I write this, it's pouring with rain and I'm wondering whether Alfie is going to appreciate getting soaked. I doubt he will enjoy it, so I will have to wait until the rain goes off.

Later. The rain doesn't go off. I take the plunge and gear up to take his nibs out. It's raining hard. No sooner does he get out than Alfie turns tail and takes me home. Probably just as well as it's teaming down. No sign off it easing off. Better to be inside in the dry. Alfie had on his Regatta coat and I had on my bright yellow Regatta rain coat. I'm so glad I purchased it when I did!

1300th Blog Post- More Television Viewing

So, I've reached another landmark in my blogging. This is the 1300th blog post! I admit that not every post is a brilliant literary masterpiece, but at least I've kept it going. So, read on and be  either intrigued or bored silly!

I've signed up to Netflix. After I was lent the first series of 'The Crown' on DVD I couldn't wait to get into season 2, so it was a simple matter of signing up to this streaming service, and there's so much to see on there that it's worth the £7.99 a month. What I like, compared with Sky, is that there's no commercials! Sky and ITV are funded by the sale of advertising, but an hour's drama (or any other type of show, come to that.) has at least 15 minutes of advertising. That's about every 15-20 minutes. It annoys me that you have to endure a bout of yawn-inducing commercials about stair lifts, car insurance advertising and sofa adverts when there is only barely 10 minutes of a show left before it finishes. Not so on Netflix. I've got only two more episodes of season 2 to go and I can't wait to get to the next season. I'm intrigued to see how Olivia Colman portrays H.M. Queen. Clare Foy has been quite brilliant, particularly getting the accent right as well as the tiny expressions, the fold of the arms, those little looks with the eyes. It's not always what a character says that counts, but often the little non-verbal things that make a bit of acting work so well. So it is with her performance. I didn't think I'd enjoy it so much as I have. How on earth did they manage to film so much at Buckingham Palace? The exteriors of course. I don't think for one moment any of it could possibly be filmed inside, but how could you duplicate the iconic front elevation, the gates and the Victoria Monument? I imagine there must be a certain amount of trickery with C.G.I., but then the rest must have been in those famous locations. Alright, I admit that the show is really a glorified soap, but it's soap done with real conviction and truth. I'm wondering what permission they had to have in order to portray not just Her Majesty, but other still-living characters. It's so much better than a lot of what more traditional television has to offer, such as Downton Abbey. Such boring characters, I mean the aristos. Robert, Earl of Grantham, as portrayed by Hugh Bonneville, is such a stuffed shirt that there's nothing to like about him. It's the 'downstairs' staff where all the action is. They're far more interesting and believable. I can see why the Americans love it and it was apparently more popular there an over here in Britain. Perhaps because they seem to enjoy anything that smacks of class divisions, deference and so on.

I love anything to do with history. We're spoilt for choice. at the moment. Lucy Worsley, doing a series on American history, called, 'American History's Biggest Fibs,' and revealing that some incidents aren't all they seem and that history is written by the winning side or for propaganda reasons. I really love her to bits. She makes history fun and not boring, which is what probably put me off when I was at collage in the 1960's and attempting to do A Level History. She really throws herself into everything she does and loves dressing up! Why couldn't I have a teacher of history like Lucy? I've signed up to something called 'History Hit,' which is run by Dan Snow. It's a sort of Netflix of history, streaming documentaries and podcasts with a history connection. I have it for £1 a month for three months and then it's about £5 a month, but well worth it. Nothing on there that talks down to you, treats you as if you've got half a brain, thank goodness. If you go on BBC iPlayer there's lots of archive stuff. A lot of back-catalogue material, not just documentaries, but drama. One such I'm rewatching is the BBC adaptation of 'Bleak House,' which was done more like a soap-opera, in 30-minute episodes and definitely not done in the usual 'classic serial' style. Rapid cutting, no lingering shots, just gets to the guts of the plot and the characters and no hanging around. Adapted by Andrew Davies who seems to have made a career out of adapting costume drama. 

What's On Television?

As the days draw in, the children go back to school and everyone (presumably) stays in and watches television, the new Autumn television schedules start in earnest. 'The Great British Bake-Off" started it's latest series on Channel Four on Tuesday. I can't say I'm all that bothered with it. I can't say I'm that interested in cake-baking competitions. I did see some of last year's episodes, but I don't know why this has taken the nation by storm. I know there was a great deal of fuss when the BBC lost the show to Channel Four because, basically, the makers of the show got greedy and wanted more for making it. I still don't see how it can be worth something in the region of £5 million pounds. After all, they don't have to pay actors, writers and all the host of production staff that you would need for, say, a costumer drama, or any other sort of drama. Nor would they have to do endless takes as you have to have when making drama. I actually prefer the similar show where potters have to produce ceramic items. 'The Great British Throwdown' or something. I think it's made by the same production company that makes 'Bake Off,' called Love Productions. They also do something else called 'The Great Sewing Bee,' both shows were on BBC2. Having done a Google search I find that the pottery competition has been cancelled after two series and another says that the company who makes it is 'looking for contestants.' So, which one do I believe? I know you can't believe everything you see on the internet, but it seems a pity that the BBC had to fall out over 'Bake-Off.' Independent production companies are great, but I think some have let things go to their head. Money, that is. The format of 'Bake-Off' isn't exactly original, let's be fair. We all know it's 'formats' for television shows like this that sell. Different television 'territories' around the world, remake their own versions and the originating production companies make a lot of money from this. No doubt there are many versions of 'Bake-Off' being made in other countries. But if it wasn't for the broadcasters, such as the BBC, ITV or Channel Four, they wouldn't be able to survive without their money to make their shows, which they seem to forget. If the BBC hadn't commissioned the show in the first place, and looked after it on BBC2, where it started life, and then, eventually, moving it to the higher-rated BBC1 where it really took off, then they couldn't have managed to hike the price when it caused the trouble when the BBC realised they could no longer justify the higher production costs, hence the move to the commercial Channel Four, who can at least recoup the costs with sponsorship and higher advertising revenue. 

We have a host of new drama series coming up, most notably ITV's Sunday evening costume drama, Vanity Fair. I notice it's also being shown on Mondays, so presumably they're hoping that viewers will be so hooked on to it on a Sunday evening that they will want to switch on the next evening. But surely, with catch-up technology, it makes no difference when you watch. I also see it's in seven parts, which at least means they're giving it enough air-time for the story to be allowed to breathe. I was concerned that it might only get four episodes, which certainly wouldn't be enough, because it's a long and rambling novel which has lots of subplots, similar to a Dickens novel. Having read it, Thackeray, it's author, spends ages going somewhat 'off-topic', wandering off from the plot to discuss certain pertinent matters, a bit like Victor Hugo in 'Les Miserables,' where he also spends whole chapters discussing things that aren't all that central to the matter in hand. (This is also going to be adapted for BBC television, as a non-musical version, by Andrew Davies, who has adapted many of the more successful BBC classic dramas, such as 'Pride and Prejudice.') 'This 'Vanity Fair' is  being co-produced with Amazon money, so no doubt you'll be able to see it if you have an Amazon Prime account and a Fire Stick. This is at least the third version of Vanity fair done by television. I remember that the BBC did a version in the late 1970's which had Susan Hampshire playing Becky Sharp and it was probably the first classic serial they did that was in colour, no doubt on BBC2 which was the first channel to go over to colour in 1967. There was a production in 1987 and then a more recent one in 1998. It therefore seems quite a popular book to adapt for television. The newest one is the first done by ITV who don't seem to do a lot of costume drama, unless you count 'Downton Abbey' which definitely isn't (or wasn't, as it has ended it's television run) a classic drama. No doubt the thinking behind this being adapted is that audiences love classic, costume drama, which the BBC seems to have the lead in producing them, when one thinks of the 1995 version of 'Pride and Prejudice,' which has become the blueprint for adaptations of this type. I even hear that ITV is now developing a new version of this Jane Austen book, although one wonders how they can better the BBC, Andrew Davies scripted version. Perhaps it's because these novels are now in the public domain so they don't have to pay royalties to produce them.

I've now seen the first two episodes of 'Vanity Fair.' Having enjoyed the BBC's adaptation which was broadcast in 1998, which I enjoyed enormously, and read the novel, this new version had plenty to live up to. Part from the opening sequence with Michael Palin as Thackerary, and the vision of a carousel and so on, it wasn't particularly inventive in style or production and no more different from any other classic period drama series.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by what they'd done with 'Vanity Fair.' It must be difficult to do a classic novel such as this which has had so many previous adaptations, all having been produced by ITV. There are people on social media, such as Twitter, complaining about nit-picking things such as, why have C.G.I. in a 19th century serial? Doesn't make sense. Nor does the fact someone doesn't like having characters speaking directly to them, breaking the proverbial 'Fourth Wall.' But this has been done plenty of times before, in such shows as 'Lovejoy' and 'House of Cards.' All very petty and why not just enjoy the story and not find fault with things?

The BBC has 'The War Of The Worlds' in the pipeline, the H.G.Wells classic novel, which has been adapted quite a few times, notably the Orson Wells Mercury Theatre radio version which caused panic across the U.S.A. in the 1930's because of the way it was produced, as a sort of 'live' radio broadcast. Then it was made into a 1950's movie and more recently Stephen Speilberg made his own version, starring Tom Cruise. All these had in common was that the story was set in a contemporary period, but this new television version is to be set in the Virctorian era, like the original novel. Great that they are at least setting this production in the period in which the novel is set. I'm intrigued to see how they do the alien war machines and other sci-fi things such as the heat rays, and in particular, the way they do the opening scenes with the Martian spaceships crashing into earth and making the crater and the unscrewing of the capsule which gets buried on Horsell Common. With C.G.I. effects at their disposal they can make the war machines a good deal more realistic than trying to use miniatures which can look really pathetic. Wells gives the novel quite definite locations in places in and around London which gives it a reality amidst the fiction. That is why it works best being set in England and not in America as the two Hollywood films do.

As for comedy, well, sitcom in particular is rather thin on the ground at the moment. That is, if you mean by sitcom something shot in a studio with an audience, more like a stage play and it's done more or less 'live.' In this vein I can recommend 'Upstart Crow,' which is a sort of spoof on the life of William Shakespeare and starring David Mitchell as The Bard Of Stratford-Upon-Avon. It takes liberties with the perceived knowledge about his life and how his plays were written, but it's very funny and can even mention anachronisms which make the whole thing work. It's now in it's third series, which surprises me, because I was almost certain when it was announced that it would be produced in 2016 as part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death that it wouldn't survive much more than one series. How wrong could I be when it seems to have become almost to have gained a cult following, similar in style and tone to 'Blackadder." Indeed, it is written by one of that show's co-authors, Ben Elton.

Costume Drama Cliches

I've just been discussing the latest BBC1 adaptation of Wilkie Collins's novel 'The Woman In White.' Unfortunately such adaptations are open to much cliche. It's a pity that such television drama should have so many over-worked elements. It's almost as if the commissioning people decide that, should such an adaptation be produced, they have to have certain 'stock' elements. 'Big' costumes, wigs, hair, sets and locations. Which equates to 'expensive' and therefore 'big budget' which a money-strapped BBC doesn't have, so they have to get co-production finance and therefore go cap-in-hand to an American television company to get money to make these 'lavish' productions. Americans (apparently) love anything 'English' or 'British,' (obsessed by such shows as 'Downton Abbey,' or about our Royal Family, aristocracy or our history (or so the story goes. Is this true? How accurate that is, I'm not sure.) So, an adaptation which uses our landscape is going to get huge audiences and then those Americans are going to want to visit our shores to see the real locations for themselves.

There are cliche elements you almost expect to see in a costume drama on television (or film, if it comes to that.) A long carriage drive through the countryside, a carriage drawn by horses. Usually it's the poor, central character, going to start work at a large country estate. Possibly going to work as an artist, a writer, painter etc etc. (usually lower-class, hard-up.) As they are seen being taken to their destination, we get glimpses of this large, usually classically-designed mansion in the distance. Sometimes with mist rising, or fog. Weather used to denote state of the central character's mind, fog or rain to suggest depression, sun to denote happiness etc etc. Gathering clouds to denote something awful is about to happen, scudding clouds, thunder and lightening, war is about to be declared, revolution or some such momentous historical incident is about to begin. The main character not of the same class as those who own or run the classically designed mansion. Looked down on by the servants at the mansion.

Any scene in a churchyard or cemetery has to be set at night. There's bound to be lots of fog or mist (if it's early morning). It will be conveniently moon-lit. It would be no use being a night without a moon, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything. Drifting clouds, usually, obscuring the moon at times.

In Victorian dramas, London is almost always depicted as shrouded in fog. You'll get a hansom cab or two drifting past somewhere or other, or the central character is seen riding in one. Gaslight, candles. And how is it that you can see people so clearly when there's so little light in a room at night?

Films made by the Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory, producers of films such as 'Remains of The Day' and 'A Room With A View' and 'Howard's End,' which have high production values and are period-set, are often disparagingly called 'Heritage' productions. They don't manage to have cliches in them, and are generally thought of as high quality, not falling into the category of 'blockbuster' as they appeal to a niche market. They generally have a polish and sheen that avoid all the usual cliches. Just well-made cinema classics, with an eye for detail not seen in many other period films. Their film version was far better than the recent BBC version of 'Howard's End.'

Watching Television

If you read my blog posts regularly, you will have discovered by interest in history. So I'm glad that the good old BBC has decided to make yet another of the Great Railway Journeys on BBC2 at 6.30 throughout the week. What I like is not just the railway journeys that Michael Portillo makes, but the interesting bits of history and information he puts in. This series is built around the Bradshaw's timetable and in particular the Edwardian period and he visits places along the way that are connected with King Edward VII. It begins in Cromer and goes through Cambridge, into London and on south towards the coast and along towards Bournmouth and Poole.

Michael Portillo makes a good presenter and doesn't shirk when there is an activity to get involved in, although I'm not so sure about his excessively garish clothing, bright pink trousers and green jackets. As I'm watching this show when writing this, he is now wearing a mauve jacket and custard-yellow trousers. Where on earth does he buy these outfits, and how many sets of these jackets and trousers are there in his wardrobe? Must be fun to film this series, all that travelling on trains all over the country and looking at all those interesting things and visiting such fascinating places along the way. I bet the British tourist industry love him to bits as he shows off all those places that you've probably never heard of and would love to visit.

The BBC is doing a lot of good factual television at the moment. Makes a change from so-called 'reality.' We watched a fascinating documentary last night presented by Sir David Attenborough about dinosaurs. Anything that Attenbrough does is always worth a look. We thoroughly enjoyed the  natural history documentary series 'Blue Planet II,' which featured some of the most amazing photography featuring fish and other sea creatures. It's good that we don't have to endure endless game shows and stupid soaps. Just as well that the BBC is still eager to continue it's public service remit to 'educate, inform and entertain.'

We love a bit of television drama. Who doesn't? Carol was keen on watching the new Kay Mellor series on ITV called 'Girlfriends.' I don't think it's aimed at a male audience, but I gave it a go. A good idea, but it wasn't engaging enough to invest a lot of time and effort on a whole 6 hours of television time. I love Miranda Richardson and Zoe Wanamaker as well as Philis Logan (last seen as the housekeeper in 'Downton Abbey.' Unfortunately, this first episode had far too many characters and plot lines to make it worth watching. Just confusing, who was whom and what was what and why? It seemed as if it was an early draft of something better.

Sky did a one-off drama over the Christmas period called 'Ratburger,' based on a David Williams book. He played the central villain character and Sheridan Smith played the mother of the little boy who has a pet rat which can dance. Good old fashioned family entertainment. No doubt, if you haven't seen it, it will be on catch-up. Meanwhile, on BBC1, there was another David Williams adaptation, this time called 'Grandpa's Great Escape.' His books are extremely popular and sell extremely well. He seems to have taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl, as they have the same sort of style and flavour of his books.  It seems we watch most television on catch-up and not as it is broadcast. Well, it does mean you can watch whenever you want and not be tied to the schedules.The BBC's adaptation of 'Howard's End' was worth a look. Bearing in mind that it had a great deal to live up to, comparing it to the 1993 film adaptation which starred Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It did mean that they could explore the story in greater detail as they had more hours of screen time than you would have with a film.

Watching Doc Martin

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will have discovered that Carol and I enjoy television dramas of a wide variety. We like many of the 'whodunnits' that abound across all the channels, from Father Brown on BBC 1 to Grantchester on ITV to Broadchurch (although that was rather drawn out over three series. The first series was good and the second was just a rehash of the first and the third was reasonable, but all in all it was rather over-egged. Probably just to keep the rating high.) I have mentioned Downton Abbey in earlier posts so there's really no need to rehash what I've already said. The downstairs characters were so much more interesting than the upstairs lot. Nothing further to say on that score.

We're currently watching Doc Martin on catch-up. Fortunately all the past episodes are available through our Sky Q box as a box set. I'm not entirely sure how many series or even how many episodes there have been. We started watching through the Amazon Fire stick, when the first couple of series (seasons to American television audiences) were free. The newer episodes you suddenly had to pay for, which we somewhat objected to, so we stopped watching and then Carol found the later episodes on the ITV Hub through the Sky Q box. And, you don't have to pay for the privilege.

What I in particular enjoy about Doc Martin is that it's so quirky. The central character played by Martin Clunes has so many quirks, particularly his lack of empathy with his patients, his brusque manner with everyone he meets and indeed most of the people he comes into contact with. Then there are the locals, his patient-base, if you like. Most have some weird illness or at least have some odd quirk which makes them interesting. It certainly has a heart and soul which a good deal of modern television drama seems to lack. From the completely incompetent receptionist in Dr Ellingham's surgery to the agorophobic policeman Joe Penhale. You can identify with the characters and they are almost part of the family. Which is why you want to keep on watching. Then there's the location. Portwenn is actually Port Isaac in Cornwall. It looks such an inviting place to visit. I don't expect I'm the only viewer of this show to want to visit and I expect the show hasn't done the real place any harm by attracting visitors and greatly helped the local economy.

There are many television drama series which have managed to use the locations in which they're set to establish character and definite anchor for their storylines and character bases. Look at shows such as 'Inspector Morse,' set in and around Oxford, 'Lovejoy' in and around East Anglia or 'Bergerac' on the Channel Island of Jersey. There are, of course, many more.

Grandson George's Christening

On Sunday we went to Worcestershire for my grandson George's Christening. I have to come clean and admit that we were late. An hour late and missed the actual Christening. For some reason we thought it was at 2 p.m and not 1 p.m. I know, we should have checked, but we didn't.

We started out at around 9.30 and used the newly-acquired SatNav. It's becoming really helpful, because, if you've been reading any of my earlier posts on here you'll know that our sense of direction if fairly awful and we've spent a lot of time attempting to find a whole lot of places during our outings. It's actually quite assuring to able to rely on this technology to assist in finding places which we haven't been to before.

When we drove to Chloe's graduation in Worcester a few years ago we had to be at Worcester Cathedral (where the ceremony was held.) at something like 9.30 a.m. and we went via the M1/M5 and, as it was early morning we hit a lot of traffic on the way and it took a good deal longer than it ought to have done. The time before last (a couple of weeks ago.) we went on a Friday and went via Buckingham and then onto the Motorway beyond Brackley. It took a little over 2 hours. Had we gone that way on Sunday, even though it was the weekend, we would have got caught up in traffic going to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, so it was as well the SatNav directed us up the M1. We weren't going directly to Claines, where Steve and Chloe live, but to a National Trust property called Hanbury Hall and Garden as we needed to get something to eat as we weren't likely to get anything to eat until around 3 p.m. (or so we imagined.) This turned out to be a really interesting house and we managed to get in a group which went into the house to hear a presentation by one of the staff on the history of the house and the Vernon family who had lived there for around 250 years. It was very interesting and worth the time to listen to.

Hanbury Hall from the front

The gardens at Hanbury Hall

Pavilion at Hanbury

We had a very pleasant lunch in the restaurant, which was at one time the servants' hall when it was lived in. Reminding us very much of "Downton Abbey." Our meal consisted of cottage pie followed by apple and blackberry crumble and ice cream. We spent a little while wandering around the garden (which is when I took the above photographs.) and we then left to drive the short distance to Claines. It was as we got to the church and saw all the guests outside in the churchyard that we realised that the Christening was over, unfortunately. We then drove to the village hall for a rather pleasant tea (actually, I wasn't in the least bit hungry because we had eaten at Hanbury Hall. It was a pity we missed the actual Christening, but it was a chance to meet up with my brother Robert who I haven't seen in a long time as well as my aunt Jasmine (Aunty Jas as she was always called when we were children. My late mother's sister.)

The tea didn't go on too long and we were soon driving home and got back to Milton Keynes by around 7.30. A long day but worth it.

Watching Amazon TV Series 'The Man In The High Castle'

Besides having Sky as our 'television provider' we also have Amazon Fire, which is linked to Amazon Prime. A couple of years ago Carol bought a Kindle Fire, and as part of the deal, we got Prime free, which meant we got anything we purchased through Amazon came with free delivery as well as Amazon's 'on demand' television service. When the first year ran out we had to decide whether to continue with it and pay £79 a year and to purchase a Fire Stick. This we did and set up the Fire Stick which connects to our Sky wifi router. You then get a wide range of 'apps' which allows you to watch television shows and films free but also some which you have to pay for through the Amazon account. There are quite a few similar services besides this Amazon service, including Netflix. We can get the main channels 'on demand' such as BBC, through their iPlayer as well as Channel 4, Channel 5, as well as a few more besides. Very good, except you can't download and keep the programmes as you can with your Sky+ box. I'm not sure whether the newer Fire box which Amazon recently introduced allows this, but it costs a good dea than the Fire Stick (which I originally bought from Argos and costs around £34 which, considering what it does seems very reasonable, particularly if you don't have Sky, Virgin or any of the other 'television providers.') We used to have Freeview at this address but found that, because we didn't have an outdoor ariel, the signal was poor. So we looked around for a solution and found that Sky was perhaps best. It was when we were searching around that we discovered that Virgin wasn't available in this area because Milton Keynes, although a modern city, didn't have a cable network to carry the Virgin television or telephone network.

It's great having Television 'catch-up' services such as iPlayer and similar as you can not only watch programmes you might otherwise miss when they are originally broadcast (usually up to a month.) but there is quite a lot of what I'd call 'back-catalogue' material. We've watched 'Doc Martin' through the Fire Stick which also means you can miss the advertising. We did start watching 'Downton Abbey,' having recorded episodes on the Sky+ box but the adverts we so annoying and irritating that we didn't bother to watch any further episodes but eventually caught up with the final series when it was on the I.T.V. 'player.' It now appears that all six series are on Sky+ 'box sets.' With Netflix producing a remake of the B.B.C. series "House of Cards" with Kevin Spacey in the lead role, and the fact you can 'binge' watch all the episodes and don't have to wait a week before the next episode is available to watch, you can see why companies such as Amazon are making their own television shows for 'instant' download or steam. (Incidentally, I was a 'Walk-On' in the BBC version of 'House of Cards.")

I am currently watching an 'Amazon Original' series called "The Man In The High Castle." It's based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, who is best know for writing the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," which was the basis for the film "Blade Runner." That film was directed by Ridley Scott, who is also Executive Producer of "The Man In The High Castle." I am enjoying this series immensely. It is set in an alternative future where the Nazis won the Second World War and rule America jointly with the Japenese. This shows that television can beat cinema when it comes to story-telling because you can the time, over 10 hour-long episodes, to allow the narrative to breathe and characters to develop over time, which you cannot possibly have with a film which for no more than three hours.

This is dark and brooding and has a real chill to it. I think it's because it's believable. We know that the Nazis obviously didn't win the war, but this could so nearly have happened. It's this that gives it the edge. Only only criticism is that many of the scenes are in almost impenetrable darkness, to such an extent that you can barely see what's going on. I realize that this under-lit quality adds to the suspense and atmosphere, but it doesn't really help that you can't see clearly what's going on. I do like the fact that you, as the audience, has to actually work hard to make out what's going on, they don't give everything away. I like being able to make conclusions for myself. A lot of modern television and cinema is far too obvious. It's almost as if the makers assume you don't have the intelligence to work things out for yourself. It have a certain cinematic look, well photographed and the set design and costumes are well executed. I would imagine they had a fairly large budget to be able to give it that 'look.'

Warmer Weather

A real increase in the temperature as the weather improves. I can't believe I'm going out without a jacket on. I've managed to cut the grass. It seems to grow a good deal faster once it's mown. I still refuse to term it a 'lawn.' It has absolutely no attributes for a lawn, such as very short grass, with those distinctive stripes and ironing-board flat. It's more like a meadow, but without the cattle chewing the cud. Or sheep, roaming about. It's got so many undulations, it's more like a scale model of the Pennines. 

We've begun to fill the collection of pots we have scattered around the place. Several had been sitting on the front bit of paving for I don't know how many years. We were given some by someone who worked with Carol at the Academy as well as a rather nice planter which originally had a Christmas tree in it but then the tree died and the remains of the tree were still in it. We never seem to have any success with Christmas trees. I suspect it's because, once Christmas is over, being the middle of winter, any chance of the poor little fir tree surviving is so remote because the weather is so cold. When I lived in Cardington we always had a real Christmas tree, and once the festive season was over the tree was planted out in the garden and lasted for many years until it grew far too big to be brought indoors. Ours always seem to die and I'm not sure what we can do to prevent it happening again. Anyway, we have had quite a few plants from various garden centres we've visited over the past few weeks, including strawberry plants and bedding plants which were free from Homebase with an offer which was in last weekend's Daily Telegraph. 

I have also been clearing all weeds and moss off the front drive, in between the paving slabs and the block paving where the car stands. It's beginning to look really clean and tidy. Quite a hard job, but now I've started it I want to complete the job. I don't think this has been done in a long time. Certainly not in all the time we've lived in the house.

We have a bird feeder in the garden. We had one a few years ago, but I'm not sure what happened to it. This thing is described on the box it came in as a 'dining station.' We got it from Amazon. I always thought of Amazon as being the place on-line to buy books, and nothing more, but it seems you can buy virtually anything on there. I got a case for my Canon digital camera. To keep it safe when I carry it about. I used to own a traditional film S.L.R. Camera, a very good Olympus, and it had it's own case which it lived in, which was fixed to the body of the camera by the screw underneath which you used to fix it to a tripod. Nothing, unfortunately, like this for a digital camera. The Olympus case was made of a fairly rigid material which kept the camera within safe from knocks and folded down when in use. Unfortunately, you have to remove the camera completely from the Canon case and won't fold out of the way like the Olympus case.

As I was mentioning, the bird 'dining station' came with a central metal pole which you stick in the ground and then attach the feeders onto the hooks at the top and then fill each of these wire feeders with nuts or other food. It has proven very popular with the small birds which live in and around the garden. We had a group of starlings who seemed to enjoy the coconut we had hanging on the dining station.' So much so that they have completely devoured the coconut and as I write I can look out and see the completely empty shell of the coconut. I will have to go out and buy some more. The content of the feeders needs replenishing.

I got a knock at the front door earlier this morning. A man dressed in bright orange work gear, the sort of  colour used for people who work in possibly dangerous situations. I can't think as I write what the term is, but I'm sure it will come to me once I've finished this.  I have now remembered what the term is, and it's 'High Vis' a shortened version of 'High Visability'. I can see why they wear it as it's very bright and they are certainly 'Highly Visable.' It turned out he was an employee of Anglia Water. He said he was working with a gang further along the road and, as their van was blocking our exit, if I wanted to move our car, to just let him know. I'm not entirely sure what they're doing. I thought it might have been something to do with water meters or something unless someone further along the street has a water leak. Never mind. At least he had the decency to let me know, as a lot of people never bother to tell you, and then when you want to drive out, you can't, because their vehicle or other equipment is in the way.

I'm currently reading 'The Lady In The Van' by Alan Bennett. I bought the DVD of the film which was based on the book and play which he wrote and about Miss Shepherd, the old lady who lived in a van in his garden. She is played by the amazing Maggie Smith. I've always been a admirer of this actress. The part is light years away from the character she plays in 'Downton Abbey.' I also love anything Alan Bennett writes. I'm really surprised he had the patience to put up with such an eccentric old woman living in such strange accomodation in his garden, and for fifteen years.

Further Thoughts on 'Downton Abbey'

Warning: Spoilers

We have been watching the television series 'Downton Abbey' on catch-up. Over the last few weeks we have more or less 'binged' on the show.  The earlier episodes have been shown on the digital channel I.T.V Encore and then put on download or 'catch-up' through our Sky subscription, but we were stuck at the end of series 4 and there were no more episodes so we were left stranded, mid-air, as it were. We now have an Amazon Fire Stick which allows you to watch films and television shows which are streamed via the internet and, as members of what is called Amazon Prime, we can see a lot of stuff free (although we pay a £79 annual subscription which also means we can get free postage and packing when we buy anything via Amazon's website which is very convenient.) We did attempt to see the first episode of the series when it first came out, but, having watched it including advertising, we gave up. It has been taken over by so much advertising we couldn't cope with it, and  one of the advantages of catch-up television is that there's no advertising every ten minutes or so. Ads for sofas, car insurance and mobile phones is enough to put anyone off. We discovered that 'Downton Abbey' was one of the many television series we could watch, but up until the end of series 4. It appears that the final series is not free to watch. We will have to pay considerably more to watch it, but it's likely to be free once the final, Christmas episode is shown on Christmas Day. I have mentioned the show in previous posts but since watching it up until the end of series 5 (sorry, I refuse to use the American term 'season.') there is a good deal more about it which I want to discuss.

I'm still more interested in the 'downstairs' staff than the 'upstairs' family. The Earl of Grantham, as played by Hugh Bonneville, is a real stick in the mud. Reluctant to break with tradition and see the estate move forward into the 20th Century, or so it seems. Likewise, Carson, the Butler, seems to do anything to avoid any sort of modernisation. Why do the ladies need maids to help them dress and undress? Likewise, the gentlemen, can they not dress themselves? I understand that, during the earlier period, the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when the women wore corsets, loads of petticoats, had lots of hooks and eyes in their boots and shoes and cross-lacings in their dresses which would require a lady's maid to help, and the men wore stiff collars and cuffs in their shirts and the fact that clothes needed more care because they needed folding neatly, but it seems the aristocrats are incapable of any sort of work. But in the later period, for example the 1920's when clothing became simpler, ladies wore lighter dresses without any sort of lacings, they wouldn't obviously need assistance with their dressing and undressing. I can see, as regards plots, the valets and ladies' maids are integral to the storilines as they have to keep secrets divulged by their misstresses and masters. As regards the kitchen staff, as time goes on there are more appliances used in the kitchen which made the staff's lives much easier. We have visited many National Trust properties and seen the kitchens, notably Crag Side in Northumberland and Ickworth in Suffolk and they have modern (or at least, modern at the time they were introduced in, say, the 1920s and 30's.) At Cragside, for instance, the whole house was run using hydrolectric power. Infact, I believe it might have been the first country house to use any sort of electricity. The power generated worked such things as spits for roasting and even a lift between floors of the house and lighting. In 'Downton Abbey' the introduction of the telephone and radio seems to cause a huge stir amongst the artistocratic members of the household and the downstairs staff. At one point Carson is horrified by the thought of having to use the telephone but after a while relents and uses the thing frequently.

The 'downstairs' staff have more interesting 'story arcs.' Daisy has had the most interesting 'story arc' and has definitely grown as the show has gone on. She is now considering an education and hopefully will be able to break free from a life of drudgery downstairs. All this bought about since she had lessons with the schoolteacher, a rather firey character with Socialist leanings. In one particular scene when she comes to dinner at the house, she gets on the wrong side of the Earl of Grantham with her left-wing views. At this point we see a different side of Robert not seen until then. I think the way the stories have managed to utilize historic events, such as the sinking of the Titanic at the very beginning of the first series, the First World War and it's effects on staff and family, the move forward into the 1920's, the 'Jazz Age' and the introduction of such things as motor transport, radio, telephone and so on has been well done. Also, how the class system has shifted and how ordinary people has aspire to greater things rather than be stuck in a rut at the bottom of the pile. However, it will be interesting to see how the aristocracy cope with change as they have to come to terms with this shift in the class system and how they manage to deal with declining estates, the upkeep of large houses and also their fortunes being eroded by higher taxation etc etc.

The Grantham family run and own a vast estate with acres of land and property and they are often seen on horseback. But only minimally. I think there has been a foxhunt at some point and we've seen one of the ladies on horseback at a steeplechase. I think the fox hunting element has been only seen on a very small amount  of screen time to avoid upsetting the politically correct contingency, but let's be honest, the aristocracy have not been known to avoid upsetting people with their hunting, shooting fishing and generally ill-treatment of the wildlife of the countryside. There has been some shooting going on, but what else do these 'types' get up to? Compared to the downstairs staff, they're generally a very dull lot. 'Stiff upper lip' describes them well. Don't show your emotions (the men, of course.) except when the dog dies, not show any affection for your better half. Reserved, stoical etc etc. Meanwhile, the women are self-centred, moody, emotional, and thoroughly heartless in some cases. Mary spent episode after episode moping after the death of Matthew (understandable, up to a point I suppose.) And then she became a man-chaser. Building up the hopes of many men and then ditching them at the last moment. Lady Edith has been seen moping over her child which she had illicitly and then tried to palm the poor child off on a farmer and his wife who live on the estate and then pretended that she wasn't her child. What a tangled web etc etc.

I suppose 'Downton Abbey' does have it's appeal. It's well enough made, written and acted. A lot of time and effort has gone into the look and feel of the thing. The period is evoked well with both the settings and costumes. But to be honest it's somewhat dull. It can best be described as 'chewing gum for the eyes.' What I mean is, it doesn't take many risks. It's typical Sunday evening entertainment. It fits the so-called 'Ovaltine Television' mold. We always seem to get either vets, nurses, midwives and other assorted professions in our weekly dose of drama on a Sunday night. And invariably costume drama of some sort. It's the sort of last thing we see before we go to bed as the weekend draws to a close and have to contemplate going back to work on Monday morning. It's totally inoffensive, doesn't upset anyone in any particular way and is thoroughly Middle Class. We get our fill of nostalgia, although, as someone or other said, 'Nostalgia's not what it used to be.' It moves along at a snails pace. No speeding cars, police chases, guns being fired. It won't 'frighten the horses' as someone else also said. I don't dislike it and it gives employment to a great many good actors. I have to say it's great to see Dame Maggie Smith in something and definitely in her element. As I've said in an earlier post, she does seem to get the best lines.

The upstairs characters are not really characters I can identify with. They're rich and arrogant. Can't they see that their lifestyle is gradually coming to an end? Would they not have had some idea that things would change after what happened in Russia in 1917 with the Revolution? As would have happened when Charles I was beheaded and Cromwell took over with the Commonwealth? I can't really identify with them. They don't in general terms have 'character journeys' because they don't have to strive for a better life because they have money, position, power and so on. Meanwhile, the downstairs staff have to not only work extremely hard, but if they want to break free from their lives of drudgery, they have to work harder than most to get anywhere away from the confines of the house. Although, saying that, they do have the protection of the house and the family, security up to a point, a roof over their heads and free board and lodging.The best drama comes when the characters have to go on a journey, a really good story arc, which means that by the end of the novel/play/film or whatever they have changed from how they started at the opening of the story. Think of Oliver Twist or David Copperfield or even Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean changes gradually during the course of the story.

I have seen documentaries on television which give a relatively accurate picture of what life in a country house would have been like, similar to the large house depicted in 'Downton Abbey.' Yes, I know, it was never intended to be a documentary. It's more of a soap opera for those who want to have aspirations above their current position in life. Similar in some ways to 'Dynasty' or 'Dallas.' But there are aspects of life on a country house and estate which seem to have been conveniently forgotten. Such as the fact that the staff have to get up extremely early each morning (usually before 6 a.m.) to make up the fires, carry coal in buckets great distances from goodness knows where, empty the slops (or to be more accurate, the bed-pans, 'guzunders' etc etc.) because most of these houses didn't have sanitation as we know it in the 21st century. Then there's the matter of slave ownership, as many aristocrats made their fortunes by owning slaves who worked for them on cotton plantations. And then when slavery was abolished many former owners got large sums of money in compensation from the British government which they then often used to invest in such things as the railways, canals and many industries. And I suppose to be fair, 'Downton Abbey' is set in the early part of the 20th century when most of what I have mentioned in this paragraph would have been eradicated. Also, many of the owners of these houses and estates were fair employers, who treated their staff with respect and gave them decent wages, for the time.

Watching "Downton Abbey"

We are currently watching "Downton Abbey." We are watching the 'box set' of this highly popular and successful I.T.V. series through Sky +. We had watched an early episode when it was first broadcast but gave up because it had so many commericials in it. I realise that I.T.V. is funded by the sale of advertising, but they really have too many breaks within an hour's programme. It actually runs for around 45 minutes so there's a least 15 minutes-worth of commercials. You can record programmes and then fast-forward through the commercials, but there are so many adverts for sofas and car insurance you can take, believe me.

It's an enjoyable show, if a little slow. Nothing much really happens. It is actually little more than a soap. The sinking of the Titanic as well as the First World War comes into the story, along with some other historical points in early Twentieth-Century history, along with such things as the Spanish Flu epidemic which kills off some of the central characters along the way. The 'downstairs' characters are far more interesting than the 'upstairs' characters. They seem to have far more interesting storylines. The Hugh Bonneville character, the Earl of Grantham, is somewhat one-dimensional. He is rather passive and as such a bit boring. He never seems to have much to do. He's dominated by the women around him. He has all daughters (hence the longwinded storyline regarding the succession to the title.) His mother-in-law, his wife as well as his mother, as well as his daughters, all know exactly how to wrap him around their little fingers in order to get what they want. He doesn't seem to have a great deal of control of his family, his household or the estate. He can't be much good at financial matters, hence the storyline about how his investments have gone pear-shaped and the threat to the future of Downton Abbey. How on earth would anyone be advised to invest all their fortune in just one company, and an American one at that? Just doesn't ring true somehow. And a member of the aristocracy? Please. I know it's only fiction, but it's a bit far-fetched. Also, why is it none of his household staff are unable to iron his nightshirts? Whenever we see him in bed, or preparing to go to bed, and he's dressed in a nightshirt, it looks so creased and obviously un-ironed, or even poorly ironed. I realise that in the early 20th Century there weren't the kitchen gadgets we take for granted today in our homes, for example, electric steam irons. But are we to honestly believe that the male head of the household will put up with so poorly ironed clothing? How many staff are there in the kitchen? Why is it that the Head Butler, Carson, makes such a fuss of the slightest thing, even insisting that His Lordship's newspapers are ironed, but not his nightshirt? This is a real slip-up. Having worked as a supporting artiste on various television shows over the years I know that the wardrobe department is generally very particular about the standard of their costume-care, so to have the central character's nightshirt looking so shabby is really poor. Also, the storyline concerning the mis-laying of His Lordship's shirts. Not realistic in the slightest.

We love the Dame Maggie Smith character, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. She seems to get all the best lines. She manages to out-act virtually everyone else on-screen when she has a scene, along with up-staging everyone. A sheer joy. Love her to bits. I remember seeing her on stage with her late husband, Robert Stevens, when they were acting together on stage in Noel Coward's delightful play "Private Lives." It must have been in the 1970's. She was also in the film version of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." Also, another film I enjoyed called "Hot Millions" with another favourite actor of mine, Peter Ustinov.

What also makes watching "Downton Abbey" so enjoyable is the fact that we know so many of the locations they used to film it. Some scenes were shot at places we've been as members of the National Trust, such as Waddesdon Manor, West Wycombe Park and Basildon Park, which we visited only a a couple of months ago

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and other great British Television Drama

We've been avidly watching the B.B.C. Television adaptation of the Susanna Clarke novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell." I have to say that when I had first heard that this was to be adapted for television I had reservations, but now we are into the fourth episode of a seven-part adaptation, I am more than pleased with the result. I enjoyed the novel, and read it when it first came out in 2004. It is a weighty novel, the original hardback edition is some 780 pages long. When it eventually appeared in paperback I noted at the time that it was published in two volumes in a slip-case. I was concerned that if it was made into a film it would be condensed considerably to fit into a reasonable running time. Which is why it works best as a seven-part television adaptation as it allows for the story and the characters adequate space to develop. The special effects don't detract from the rest of the drama and are used sparingly and don't look, like a lot of computer generated effects in television and film, as if they've been stuck onto the film rather like using Photoshop and seems to fit in very well. In 'Doctor Who' (the revised version which began in 2005.) many of the C.G.I. effects, particularly many of the alien creatures, look 'stuck on' and very fake and not very scary. (I have to admit to being a 'Doctor Who' fan and saw the very first episode when it was first transmitted back in 1963. I have enjoyed the reincarnation of the show, but for some reason it just doesn't have the magic of the original. Those stories may have been somewhat 'low-tech', having very unconvincing sets, wobbly or otherwise, but the stories were always 'edge-of-the seat.' You always wondered where the Tardis would end up in the next stories when the good Doctor and his companions left at the end of each story and it was a surprise when they ended up on some weird and wonderful planet or different historic time and then meet the alien or lifeform that lived there. Spending more on the new Doctor Who episodes don't always mean that the stories or monsters will be better. In some cases the new stories are just not up to standard.) Back to "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell." The setting is totally convincing. For once someone has spent time and effort with the dialogue and it sounds genuine. It seems that when they adapt a classic novel the dialogue which is used doesn't always sound convincing. In fact, in some other types of drams, particularly science fiction and fantasy, the dialogue is really awful. It's a wonder the actors can bear to speak such utter drivel. A good example is "Atlantis." Some of the dialogue in that was really poor. It's no wonder this series was cancelled.

I love British television drama. So we've seen a bumper crop of really excellent home-grown productions recently and the sort of shows that you want to tune into week after week and keep you guessing what is going to happen next with the characters and storylines. One of these series was called "In The Club" which is yet another excellent show written and created by Kay Mellor who always seems to come up with brilliant ideas. It's set around a group of women and their partners who are pregnant and each week we see the trials and tribulations of their lives leading up to the birth of their babies in the same hospital's maternity ward. Another Kay Mellor-scripted series is "The Syndicate." I haven't seen any of the earlier series of this series, which tells of the different groups of characters who's lives are changed with lottery wins. This one features Lenny Henry who seems to be making a career change from comedy to more serious acting roles. Yorkshire seems to be the location of a whole range of dramas (including the previously-mentioned "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.") Over the years we've had "Heartbeat", "Last of The Summer Wine" and of course the Granada Television series of "Brideshead Revisited"  which was filmed there, particularly the central location at Castle Howard. I suppose it does provide a very wide range of locations. Scarborough in particular is used a great deal and features in the new series of "The Syndicate." "Downton Abbey" is supposed to be set there, but is actually filmed at Highclere Castle in the south of England. The locations for the fictional Downton village is filmed in the Oxfordshire village of Bamford. We began watching "Downton Abbey" when it was originally shown but gave up because it had so many commercials in it that it was ruining our enjoyment of the show. I realise it's the advertising which pays for commercial television, but having ads every ten minutes or so for sofas and stupid car insurance really drove us mad at one point. So it was fortunate that we can currently watch this series from the first episode through download from Sky and watch without the interruption of the confounded adverts. I suppose as regards earning money from advertising this isn't such a good idea for I.T.V., but from the perspective of the viewer who has to endure the adverts which breaks up the shows it's a godsend.

We are enjoying 'Downton Abbey.' I have to say, though, that the stories revolving around the 'downstairs' characters are far more interesting than those of the 'upstairs' characters. The Hugh Bonneville character is somewhat wooden. Although it's supposed to be set in Yorkshire, there is absolutely no feeling at all that it's set anywhere in particular. Some of the characters mention places in Yorkshire, but you don't see anything at all that might suggest 'Yorkshire,' nothing of the scenery of landscape. They have used that village in Oxfordshire which I have mentioned earlier supposedly because it has houses that are made of a similar stone to that you find used in buildings in Yorkshire, but I don't get any feeling of 'Yorkshire.' The best character is that played by Dame Maggie Smith who seems to get all the best lines and a lot of the humour revolves around her character. We visited a National Trust property recently, Basildon Park, which is used for a lot of the interiors in 'Downton Abbey' and it seems that another National Property, Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, is used for the interiors of another of the fictional houses in the series.

Another drama series which we have enjoyed considerably has been "Last Tango In Halifax.' Again, it's set in Yorkshire. In fact we have had holidays in this part of Yorkshire and stayed on one occasion in a rented house not far from where this series is filmed, in a small town called Cowling. The plot, if you didn't watch it, revolves around Celia and Alan, who are re-united after 50-plus years. At age 16, Alan's late wife failed to pass on his letter with apology for missing their first date and forwarding address. Both now have daughters with their own relationship problems. Derek Jacobi plays Alan and Anne Reid plays Celia. It also stars Sarah Lancashire and Nicola Walker. The series is written by Sally Wainwright and apparently it is based loosely on real events and situations. The series started in November 2012 and has now reached it's third series.

Yet another series we've seen is called "Ordinary Lies" which is set in and around  .J.S. Motors. Each episode tells a story from the angle of each of the central characters and how they tell lies to get out of a situation and how such lies causes problems for themselves and those around them. For example, the first episode revolves around Marty, one of the company's salesman, who is late for work consistently and then makes up the story that his wife has died. He is played by Jason Manford, not known for playing parts in television drama. It also stars Sally Lindsay, Mackenzie Crook (best known for his appearances in 'The Office' and the film 'Pirates of The Caribbean.'), Jo Joyner (EastEnders), Rebecca Callard, Max Beesley and Michelle Keegan (another former 'Coronation Street' actor.) It is written by Danny Brocklehurst.

Later episodes centre around the other characters. One is about receptionist Tracy who gets involved with fellow receptionist Viv when they get immured in a drug-trafficking charge into the Dominican  Republic when they go on holiday abroad.

Bournmouth Visit

We have been down to Bournemouth today to visit Carol's mum and dad. The last time we went was in August 2013 when we came back from our holiday in Ilfracome and tied in with Chloe and Steve's wedding in Ipplepen. We were due to go last Wednesday but Carol had developed a really bad sore throat and we didn't think it was a good idea to visit due to the possibility of infecting them with the bug. I was also threatening a similar thing but thankfully it didn't develop into anything.

We left Milton Keynes at around 7.a.m. and drove steadily towards the M40 and then onto the A34 just beyond Buckingham, the same route we took the other day when we drove for our day out at the National Trust property at Basildon Park. We hit roadworks on the way at the turn-off for Reading and were held up for a while but then the traffic began to flow steadily and we were able to maintain quite a good speed all the way down south. We stopped at a service area near the roundabout which lead westward towards Highclere Castle, another location for the television series Downton Abbey and also further on to the village of Burghclere which we visited several years ago when we went to the Sandham Memorial Chapel which houses painting of Stanley Spencer and also managed by the National Trust. We bought ourselves coffee to share in Costa Coffee and the drove on and eventually arrived at Carol's parents flat in Moordown, just outside Bournemouth. From there we all drove to Hengisbury Head for a walk along the seafront. This is a famous visitor spot in the area between Poole Harbour and Bournemouth and forms part of the main division between Poole and Christchurch Bays. We walked along the patch and stopped briefly at the newly-opened visitor centre. It was quite a walk and we went through some really attractive wooded areas and saw a lot of families with children and dogs enjoying the sunshine. We eventually arrived on the sandspit opposite Muddiford and the Beach House Cafe where we stopped for lunch, by which time we were well and truly ready for a rest and sit-down as it had been a good half-hour walk or more to our destination. I can, for one recommend this as somewhere for families to eat. The service was good and the food excellent, considering how busy it was. On the return to the car-park Carol's mum and dad decided to walk but myself and Carol returned using the land-train which was a pleasant way to travel. I don't, in all honesty, think we would have been able to walk back ourselves as by now we had been driving and walking more or less non-stop since very early this morning so a sit down on this mode of transport was well in order. We left the carpark once Carol's mum and dad appeared and got back to their flat a little while later. We left Bournemouth at around 6 p.m and I drove some of the way back on the A34 and got home to Milton Keynes a little after 9 p.m.

Visit To Basildon Park

Easter Monday. A day out is in order. The weather is fine and sunny. New car in good order. Full tank of petrol. National Trust membership up-to-date. We decide from considering the options to go to Basildon Park for a visit. Having viewed several maps on-line, one being Google Maps, we decide it's not much more than 60 miles so we leave at around 9.15. It's no point getting there too early as it's not all open until 11.00. We drive towards Buckingham and then on towards the A34, a route we know well as we drive south regularly to visit the in-laws who live in Bournemouth. On Saturday we had hoped to drive up the M1 and visit a National Property, Caulke Abbey or another the other side of Derby, but when we get onto the Motorway we soon discovered a high volume of traffic and on actually getting on to the carriageway that there are roadworks all the way north past Newport Pagnall services and that you can't drive more than 50 miles per hour (or aren't supposed to.) It takes us around and hour and a half to get as far as the turning off for Weedon and Leamington Spa so we decide that we're not going to get much further and won't get to our destination this side of midday so we come off the Motorway near Coventry and come back across country and back through Buckingham where we drop in to the newly opened Aldi branch and do a shop for the evening's meal and then return to Milton Keynes and home.

Yesterday's trip was considerably better, but we were supposed to get on the M40 and then onto the A34, but due to roadworks we couldn't get onto the Motorway and instead had to make a diversion towards Oxford and find the A34. It seems that the road network is currently plagued by a good deal of roadworks at the moment. I think if we had been altered earlier it might have saved us a good deal of time and effort and not a fair amount of frustration. Unfortunately you don't learn these sort of deal until after the event.

Yet another great mass of roadwork activity on a vast roundabout when we come off the A34 towards Reading, which means we have to circle the confounded roundabout again so that we are facing in the right direction for Basildon Park, but as a result it is a worthwhile journey as the scenery is very pleasant. We eventually arrive at our destination to find that the sunshine has brought out a large crowd of visitors. I think this may be due in large part to the fact that Basildon Park is one of the locations for filming of the I.T.V. drama series Downton Abbey. I have to admit to having only watched one episode and then I wasn't immediately drawn to watching further episodes as it's not really the sort of programme I enjoy.  Probably actually better to watch via catch-up as there are adverts around every 20 minutes or so and who wants to sit through endless ads for sofas, double-glazing and shampoo? The fact that it's so full of advertising is enough to put any one off watching. The acting is very wooden and the storylines are cliched and full of anachronisms. It is a pleasant place to wander around and take in the scenery. On arrival we make for the cafeteria but then discover an extremely long queue of similarly hungry and by now quite frustrated visitors. It takes us a good 20 minutes to reach the counter, make our selection of sandwiches and lattes and pay and then find a vacant table to sit and eat. We wander into the garden to find a lot of families enjoying the sunshine and the views across the valley from the garden a truly spectacular and you can clearly see why someone would choose to build a property in such a location. We then enter the house and wander around the various rooms and in particular those which are used as interiors for not only Downton Abbey but the recent film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as well as several other film such as The Duchess. The National Trust staff in each room are extremely knowledgeable and it's interesting to hear from them about the history of the house and the families who used to live in the house. Having finished our tour of the house we leave and go back to the stable block near the carpark which is where we came in and find the shop to buy the handbook about the house as well a to buy ice creams which we take to eat sitting at some picnic tables conveniently placed near the carpark. We get back to the car and drive home which seems to take less time than the journey out.

Re-visiting Brideshead

I am currently watching the Granada Television series "Brideshead Revisited" which is currently being re-run on Sky Arts. I remember seeing it when it was originally shown in the early 1980's.  Couldn't help then being captivated by it then and the same can be said about it now. It seems to have stood the test of time remarkably well. It's amazing to think that Granada, in those days a single company within a 'federated' ITV would produce something as lavish as this series. It runs to 11 episodes and if I remember rightly the first and last episodes run for 90 minutes. So that's around 12 hours of running time! Seems amazing that you would even think of making a drama series that ran that long in the 1980's, but nothing would be made with such detail and with such a superb cast in the early part of the 21st century. I do have some sort of link to it, having worked as an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970's and was involved in a play written by John Mortimer called "A Voyage Round My Father"  (see earlier post where I give much more detail on this.) John Mortimer was credited with writing the screenplay, but, having just looked on I.M.D.B. I discover that his screenplay wasn't used although his name remained on the credits. I wonder why. Anthony Andrews portrayal of Sebastian is quite mesmerising. It's the sort of acting which has you hooked. It would have been easy to have gone 'over the top' and played him as just camp, but he seems to avoid this quite admirably. There's no acting that comes up to this sort of standard on television that I can think of at the moment, intact, there's nothing that equals this series on anywhere on television at the moment. I can't think of anything which keeps you so hooked, where you have to find out 'what happens next' and look forward to the next episode.

I can't say that I'm actually over-enthusiastic about it as a piece of television drama. I know I watched it way back when it was first broadcast in 1981 and I read the book, but I have to say the characters are so arrogant and hateful I can't say they exactly draw you in. They are all self-centred, don't exactly show any redeeming features and are not particularly likeable. The central character, Charles Ryder, the narrator and played by Jeremy Irons, is so totally boring that you can't latch on to him at all. He goes about being to ally miserable all the time. He's supposed to be a painter but he's not very convincing. Who would bother hiring him? Sebastian, the character played by Anthony Andrews, is an interesting character, but he doesn't have to work as he's got money, presumably from being a aristocrat. He drinks himself stupid. Who would employ him anyway? None of the characters have to work, which is one reason I can't possibly engage with any of them. I have to say that the filming, direction and settings are excellent, but I can't imagine this series being produced with such a lavish style in the early part of the 21st century. It has a very downbeat ending to it and not exactly leaving you with a feeling that any of the characters find happiness in any way shape or form.

There is another connection I have, although vaguely with 'Brideshead Revisited.' I mentioned earlier that I had worked on 'A Voyage Round My Father' at Greenwich. During the run of the play, there was much talk of it transferring to the West End. It did eventually make it to the West End, but I don't think it was the same production and if so it had a different cast. I know that Alec Guinness played the central character of the Father, and if memory serves he did come to see the Greenwich production which had Mark Dignam playing the Father. Laurence Olivier came to see it and came back-stage after the performance. He played Lord Marchmaine in 'Brideshead, although he doesn't actually have a major part and is only in two episodes, when Sebastian takes Charles to Venice and in the final episode when Lord Marchmaine returns to England and there he has a somewhat long and drawn-out death. I remember when I first saw the series in the 1980's this episode, which runs for 90 minutes did seem a little over-long. But I can at least say I have been in the same room with Laurence Olivier, although not to speak to! Much later on Thames Television did a new television version of 'A Voyage Round My Father' and Oliver was in that. Another actor from "Voyage" has a small part in "Brideshead Revisited," John Nettleton, who played the commanding officer at the beginning and the end of the series, from the time that Charles Ryder, played by Jeremy Irons, revisits Brideshead Castle when he is an army officer and billeted at the house at the beginning of the Second World War. And I did notice in the closing credits that an actor I worked with at  Ipswich Theatre in the 1970's, Stephen Mallatratt, had a minor role. He went on to adapt the Susan Hill book "The Woman In Black for the stage and which has become a huge hit in the West End and on tour. He wrote scripts for many television series including "Coronation Street."

Compared to current television dramas it's light years ahead of, say Downton Abbey. I have seen one episode and I can't see what all the fuss is about.  Not particularly engaging characters and the story lines don't convince. I think the big problem  Carol and I have is that there are far too many adverts on I.T.V. I think within an hour's running time you get three breaks which is every 20 minutes. It's actually better to record on Sky+ and then when the advertising breaks come up just fast-forward through the commercials. I realise that it's these commercials that pay for programming on I.T.V., but when it's for such things as car insurance and sofas, then it does get incredibly boring. And can someone explain why these sofa companies are always having sales? We watched something else the other evening and there were no less than three adverts all for sofa companies? 

Having been to Castle Howard in Yorkshire, which is used throughout as the location for Brideshead Castle, and thoroughly loving the place, and the fact that it was filmed in various other locations throughout England, together with an exceptional cast, this is one television series well worth seeing again. I  can recommend it highly.

Why is it that so much of television today gives me a headache? I don't mean the subject-matter so much as the fact that directors insist on using some really headache-inducing camera techniques,
 what they call 'whip-pans' and something which makes me feel positively sick, where you have a couple of actors standing still and the camera spins around them? What on earth is that all about? You get things chopped up in the editing suite so you get a lot of very brief 'clips' and it's hard to make out what it is. Another is when they insist on having the actors walking along and the camera follows them, but instead of it being a smooth 'dolly shot' where the camera runs along a specially-constructed track, you get a really horrible wobbly hand-held camera shot which makes you feel queasy. Not nice. Well, none of this seems to be used in the making of 'Brideshead Revisited.' I presume it was made when such techniques weren't used much.  Is it because these unpleasant filming techniques are a way to cut costs? No reason can I give except that it's 'trendy' or 'arty.' Actually means that I'm not going to endure the show and just turn off or find something else to watch.  it seems that producers treat their audience with a great deal of contempt because everything seems to be in short time spans, that is, scenes are short as if the audience can't concentrate on anything for no more than a couple of minutes at a time. This was true of things like 'EastEnders' (which, incidentally, I can't stand as it's full of such hateful characters who are always falling out with each other and always shouting. Not good for one's nerves. Just not enjoyable viewing.) where you have several concurrent story lines and they keep on switching between them and you never know exactly what is going on unless you watch regularly.  Then there's the drama series adapted from a novel or something and instead of adapting it in sufficient episodes to make it worthwhile watching it's done in perhaps two or there when perhaps six or even more episodes would be better. No doubt this is because of budgetary constraints. This was evident a few years ago when they did a series based on 'South Riding' which was done in three episodes and the plot line was telescoped so much into the timeframe it was incomprehensible. None of this occurs with 'Brideshead Revisited.' In some ways it's incredibly slow and there are whole episodes where virtually nothing happens, but at least there is some character development. I know there is a newer, film, adaptation of 'Brideshead' but it makes me wonder how on earth you can telescope so much story into a running time of about 90 minutes without it seeming rushed. Well, with the vast running time of the Granada version of the book there is definitely space for the story to develop along with the characters.