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.

Latest Television Viewing

We're totally captivated by Blue Planet 2. The photography is superb. I have to say I enjoy anything that David Attenborough attaches his name to. We had another wildlife documentary series on last year called 'The Hunt' which was just as captivating. Having recently bought a Hitachi 43 inch HD television,  this type of programme is a perfect viewing when you can see the amount of detail a set of this size reveals.

Carol recently bought a fish tank and we went to Dobbie's garden centre near Bletchley to buy two fish for the tank. I think the two fish are enjoying 'Blue Planet 2'. I'm sure they're watching the fish and other under-water inhabitants from the safety of their tank. There's a rock in the tank with a hollowed-out centre and they hide in this 'cave.' Meanwhile . . .  Alfie, or little Yorkshire Terrier, sits on the back of the sofa, just within view of the fish-tank which has been placed on a bookcase, and seems intrigued by our newest family members. It's difficult to judge what he makes of the fish, but no doubt it's the fact that they're moving about in their round home. We'll have to keep an eye on him to see that he doesn't interfere with the fish in their tank.

I have to say there's nothing like a really good bit of television drama. The BBC is renowned for it's classic adaptations of novels, probably best known for such things as 'Pride and Prejudice' with Colin Firth as Mr Darcey, which has to be the definitive version of the novel. So, when I heard that they were doing a new adaptation of 'Howard's End' I couldn't wait for it to be shown. At least if it's something that is adapted for television you know, generally speaking, that it will be given enough time to play out, unlike a film which will only have a couple of hour's screen time, in which case a great deal will have to be cut in order for it to fit a film's playing time.

'Howard's End,' the BBC adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel is extremely good. I have read the novel and saw the 1992 film version made by Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory and starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins. The new 4-hour production had a great deal to live up to. They seem to have spent a lot of time and effort on getting the period right. There's a real sense of place and the settings are well created.

We're currently enjoying a late-afternoon television show called 'Money For Nothing.' It's been running for quite a while. The idea is that Sarah Moore, a very clever designer/entrepeneur, visits local tidy-tips, where members of the public are taking their cast-off furniture, rubbish of all sorts, such as D.I.Y. remnants, doors, shelving, house-clearcut bits-and-pieces and takes stuff she likes (with these people's permission) and has it restored or made into new and exciting pieces of furniture which she then sells on, at a profit, and returns the profit to the people who took the broken and old items to the tidy-tip in the first place. It's part of the new culture of 'make and mend' or 'recycle.' Either this, or these items land up in land-fill. It just goes to prove that anything can be re-used or 're-purposed' into very stylish and chic pieces of furniture. This type of television programming makes a change from antiques and selling houses or mere trivial programmes about celebrities and gossip.

I love a really great comedy on BBC Four called 'Detectorists.' It's  written, directed and stars Mckenzie Crook together with Toby Jones. Very gentle, not laugh-out-loud comedy, doesn't have a cackling studio audience. Makes a change from a lot of comedy which is broad, noisy and brash. It's what I'd describe at thoughtful. There have only been two series and this will be the final series. A shame, but it probably went as far as it could. Hopefully McKenzie Crook will write more for television and probably film. Certainly a good start for a director and writer.

Sorry to say it, but I absolutely hate reality television and in particular, anything with 'celebrity' in the title. I'm certainly not a fan of things like 'Big Brother' or 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me out of Here.' 'Strictly Come Dancing' drives me mad. I don't mind the dancing, but the hype that surrounds it, plus the awful audience clapping along with the music like tame monkeys and all that surrounds it, just not my idea of entertainment. The Saturday episodes go on interminably, and the comments of such as Craig Revel Horwood are just plain nasty at times. The whole thing is set up so that they get free publicity in the tabloid press and on social media. I'm not convinced that it's all 'live.' The Sunday evening results show must be pre-recorded, basically because I don't believe they'd send the audience home and then bring them back for the Sunday evening show. I still reckon it's recorded after the Saturday night show once the results have been decided.