Tom Jones: Episode 1.5

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: Episode 1.5
BBC
7 December 1997
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

After more drama, Tom and Sophia find their happy ending, and the series ends as well as it started.  This episode is more focused and features more of such characters as Squire Allworthy, Aunt Western, Jenny Jones, and indeed Henry Fielding himself.  It's a nice touch to make the blind judge in Tom's case Fielding's real-life brother, beyond the symbolism of course.  Characters are punished or rewarded as they deserve, with Blifil sniveling and blaming others, and Partridge looking relieved that Mr. Allworthy has finally admitted the injustice done to Tom's supposed father.  (Beesley plays his own father in flashbacks.)  Overall, this adaptation averages out to a B and I recall the 1960s movie paling in comparison.  Also, as a fan of Honour (the character) I was pleased that she gets more to do in this last portion of the story than in the novel, where Fielding just pushes her aside with one admittedly funny farewell letter.

Tom Jones: Episode 1.4

The History of Tom Jones: Episode 1.4
BBC
30 November 1997
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

Lady Bellaston and Lord Fellamar scheme against Sophia and Tom, so that it's almost a relief (to Sophia and the viewer) when her father shows up and carries her off, even though he's still determined to marry her off to Blifil, who also arrives in town, with Allworthy and Dowling.  Meanwhile Tom arranges for Nightingale to marry Nancy.  This is a darker episode than the others, although still of course with comic relief, mostly from Partridge.  Gang Leader Simon Smith would return for the final episode.

Tom Jones: Episode 1.3

Decadent Lady Bellaston

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: Episode 1.3
BBC
23 November 1997
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B-

In this episode, we're introduced to Mrs. Miller and her daughter Nancy (Celia Imrie and Kelly Reilly, the former being the future Una Alconbury in the Bridget Jones movies), as well as a highwayman who turns out to be her brother (Roger Lloyd Pack, who would go on to be Barty Crouch in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), cousin in the novel, and her tenant Jack Nightingale (Matt Bardock).  More significantly, we meet Sophia's cousin Lady Bellaston, with a performance by Lindsay Duncan that is definitely the highlight of this episode where characters arrive in London and adjust to city life.  With her friend Lord Fellamar (Peter Capaldi, yes, that Peter Capaldi), she will create much unhappiness for Sophia and Tom, but Duncan does a marvelous job with this villainess.

You'll notice that we've again gone down a notch in the grading.  While there are things I like, including the remarks about London and the increase in nudity (mostly male), I do have to go below a B because of the scene where a drunken Partridge rolls onto Honour and she says no several times, before hitting him.  It's played for laughs, and happens during a riot at the theater, but it leaves a bad taste, especially knowing that the characters will end up together.  Partridge in the novel does some foolish and wrong things, but he never tries to take a woman against her will, and to have a comic relief character attempt it in the miniseries is a misstep dramatically and otherwise.

Tom Jones: Episode 1.2

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: Episode 1.2
BBC
16 November 1997
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This episode introduces Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick (Richard O'Callaghan and Michelle Fairley), and Fielding helpfully tells us that Mrs. F is Sophia's cousin.  They add to the farcical complications, especially when they show up at an inn the same night that Tom goes to bed with "Mrs. Waters," whom Fielding tells us is Jenny Jones, unlike in the book where this is a surprise revelation fairly late.  (But then they'd have to disguise Camille Coduri heavily for viewers not to make that connection.)  Tom also meets his supposed father, Partridge.  I'll note here that, unlike in the novel (where Partridge ends up with Molly Seagrim), the Partridge/Honour ship is set up in this episode, as if he's charmed by her putting on airs.  Kathy Burke is perfect in the role, maybe older than I imagine when I read the book, but managing to be more endearing than annoying.  I also should note that James D'Arcy gives an understated performance as Blifil that nonetheless shows why Sophia hates the very idea of marrying him. 

This episode is just an hour, but that's not why I give it "only" a B, rather than a B+ like the previous episode.  There's a little too much yelling and ranting, especially but not limited to Brian Blessed.  Part Two picks up where the previous one left off, with many of the characters on the road to London, but easily sidetracked, literally and figuratively.

Tim Stern, who was on one episode of Paul Merton, the Series, plays Mr. Harris.  Julian Firth, who had the very different role of Bicky on Jeeves and Wooster, plays Northerton.  And Doreene Blackstock makes her first appearance as Mrs. Fitzpatrick's maid Abigail.

Tom Jones: Episode 1.1

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: Episode 1.1
BBC
9 November 1997
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

This first part of a five-part miniseries runs an hour and a half and covers everything from the finding of the foundling to his departure from his foster father's estate in disgrace.

Regular cast:

• Max Beesley as Tom Jones
• Brian Blessed as Squire Western
• Kathy Burke as Honour
• Camille Coduri as Jenny Jones
• Ron Cook as Benjamin Partridge
• James D'Arcy as Blifil
• Frances de la Tour as Aunt Western
• Christopher Fulford as Mr. Square
• Brian Hibbard as George Seagrim
• Sarah Kestelman as Mrs. Wilkins
• Sylvester McCoy as Mr. Dowling
• Samantha Morton as Sophia Western
• Tessa Peake-Jones as Bridget Allworthy
• Brian Pettifer (who was on one episode of Paul Merton, the Series) as Parson Supple
• Richard Ridings as Reverend Thwackum
• John Sessions (several years after his Whose Line Is It Anyway? appearances) as Henry Fielding
• and Benjamin Whitrow (Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice a couple years earlier) as Squire Allworthy

Also, Laura Harling, who plays Young Sophia, was the younger version of Samantha Morton in Jane Eyre as well.

Simon Burke adapted the Fielding novel and, while not a word for word adaptation of course, it manages to capture the flavour of the classic story.  Having Sessions narrate as Fielding, onscreen in period costume, is a clever touch, helping to not only keep some of the (quite extensive) narration but also give us someone who reacts to the onscreen antics with indulgent amusement.  Sessions, who was stage-hogging and literary on Whose Line, is perfectly cast, although the characters interrupt him far more than Paul Merton, Tony Slattery, and others ever did.

The casting is overall solid, with characters looking straight out of Hogarth and sounding (I imagine) as they would've on the 18th-century stage.  Beesley and Morton don't look like Fielding's descriptions (one thing I particularly remember about Sophia is her lustrous black hair) but they inhabit the characters satisfactorily.  The best performances are those of Whitrow, using his Mr. Bennet sanity and dryness as the least cartoonish character, and of de la Tour, who manages to both plausible as the sister of scenery-devouring Blessed and a very human aunt.

The direction by Metin Hüseyin manages to go back and forth among slapstick, romance, pathos, and what you will.  The scene of Blifil's father falling off a cliff is not in the book, but we've already grown to despise him so much in his few minutes onscreen that it's OK that the fall is drawn out, with a visual punchline that the book he dropped was Statistics on Mortality.  

Music, costumes, everything is well done.  Possibly the best literary adaptation for television that I own.  (And on a level with novel, reviewed here: http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/tom-jones.html.)  We'll see how the other episodes hold up....

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.6

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.6
BBC
29 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

The series concludes, feeling a bit rushed rather than a bit slow, but still overall satisfying.  (For instance, I would've liked them to include Lizzy telling her father of all that Mr. Darcy did for Lydia.)  The best scene here is probably the Lizzie vs. Lady Catherine scene, but it's nice to get at least glimpses of nearly everyone.  The overall average is B, worth watching, perhaps worth owning.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.5

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.5
BBC
22 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This covers only six chapters, but it does things like show some of what Mr. Darcy is going through and have Mr. Collins visit the Bennets rather than just send a letter (with Kitty understandably avoiding him).  This is as good a place as any to address that many people find Steadman annoying as Mrs. Bennet, but I think she (like everyone else) is well cast and Mrs. Bennet is annoying in the same way in the book.  Also, it makes a great contrast with Whitrow's understated Mr. Bennet.   Another thing I should mention is that Jane and Lizzy's friendship is very important in this series, arguably even more than in the book, because Lizzy confides some things in Jane onscreen that she does not in print.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.4

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.4
BBC
15 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

I'm bumping this episode up to a B+ because of scenery, and, no, I don't mean Colin Firth in a wet shirt.*  Darbyshire and the Pemberley estate look stunning, and it's believable that Lizzy falls in love with them as much as with the now surprisingly kind and humble Mr. Darcy.  The episode covers nine chapters, starting with Darcy's letter, telling his reasons for breaking up Jane and Bingley and for falling out with Wickham, the latter in part because of Wickham's attempt to elope with Darcy's sister Georgiana (glimpsed in the previous episode and here seen in flashbacks, including when she's supposed to be only eleven; Emilia Fox would get more to do in the next episode, and appear briefly in the conclusion).

Because of the trip to Darbyshire, we see more of the Gardiners (Joanna David and Tim Wylton) than we did in the previous episode, and they would also be in the last two episodes, but less.  Their four children-- played by Jacob Casselden, Julian Erleigh, Marie-Louise Flamank, and Natasha Isaacs-- would return in the next episode.


*When this series originally aired in Britain, it was a major event, must-see telly if you will.  To this day, the wet-shirted Darcy scene is probably the one thing most associated with the mid- to late '90s Austen revival.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.3

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.3
BBC
8 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

In this episode, covering fourteen chapters, Jane goes to London and Lizzy goes to Kent, where she re-encounters Mr. Darcy and meets his more amiable cousin Col. Fitzwilliam (Anthony Calf), as well as their not all at amiable aunt and cousin, the de Bourghs.  Jane discovers that Caroline Bingley's friendship for her has faded away, and it appears that Mr. Bingley no longer cares for her. As for Elizabeth, Mr. Collins and the de Bourghs are as she expected, but Mr. Darcy's behaviour is peculiar, leading to a surprising and insulting proposal.  After two and a half episodes set around the Bennets' home of Longbourn, it's nice to get some variety of scenery and characters.

This is the 2500th show I've reviewed.  I doubt we'll make it to 3000, but we'll definitely hit 2600.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.2

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.2
BBC
1 October 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

This episode (which covers eight chapters) introduces Lynn Farleigh as Mrs. Bennet's sister Mrs. Phillips (three more episodes after this one), David Bamber as Mr. Collins (in every episode from now on, although not always as much as in this one), Adrian Lukis as George Wickham (also continuing through the rest of the series), and very briefly (without lines and only in a flashback) Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh (three more much more prominent appearances), Nadia Chambers as Miss Anne de Bourgh (three more episodes), and Harriet Eastcott as Mrs. Jenkinson (one more appearance).  While the other characters all have something to do (for instance, it's fun to watch Mary's reactions, since she has a whole little backstory that you can pick up on that way), this episode is primarily about Lizzy's interactions with the two men she meets, and how they affect her impressions of Mr. Darcy.  (If we hadn't got Firth's point of view in the first episode, we'd wonder why he looks pissed off all the time.)  Mr. Collins's courtship of Lizzy is played for laughs even more than in the book, while Wickham's charming her is at this point shown without subtext, although the astute viewer/reader will wonder why he's telling his life story to a new acquaintance.

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.1

Pride and Prejudice: Episode 1.1
BBC
24 September 1995
Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

Other than the leads (mentioned in the synopsis below), the regulars:

• Roger Barclay would be in three more episodes as Capt. Carter;
• So would David Bark-Jones as Lt. Denny;
• Christopher Benjamin would be Sir William Lucas thrice more;
• Anna Chancellor would be Miss Bingley in every episode;
• Judy Chetner appears in two more episodes as an uncredited Lady at Dance;
• David Coastworth appears in all six episodes as the uncredited Gun Keeper;
• Lucy Davis is in almost all the other episodes as Maria Lucas;
• Victoria Hamilton and Paul Moriarty would be in two more episodes as Mrs. and Col. Forster;
• Roy Holder would be Hodge the gardener twice more;
• Kate O'Malley appears in two more episodes as Sarah the maid, but Annabel Taylor would be Maggie the maid only once more.
• Neville Phillips, who was a Member on Jeeves and Wooster, would return once more as Fossett the footman;
• Lucy Robinson would be in all the other episodes as Mrs. Hurst;
• Lucy Scott (yes, there are a lot of Lucys here) would be in nearly every episode as Charlotte Lucas;
• Marlene Sidaway, who was a Pub Landlady on J & W, would make three more appearances as Hill the Housekeeper;
• Christopher Staines would be Lt. Sanderson once more;
• Norma Streader as Lady Lucas would be in two more episodes;
• Annabel Taylor would return as Maggie the maid;
• and Rupert Vansittart would be Mr. Hurst thrice more.

This is a reasonably faithful, if sometimes slow-moving, adaptation of the first dozen chapters of the classic novel, which I reviewed here: http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/pride-and-prejudice.html.  A mismatched couple (Whitrow and Steadman) have five marriageable daughters (Susannah Harker as Jane, Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy, Lucy Briers as Mary, Molly Maberly as Kitty, and Julia Sawalha as Lydia), so when young, handsome, rich, and eligible bachelors Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) and Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth in the role that defined him) arrive in the neighbourhood, they must be "in want of wives."  The basic set-up and characters are established in this episode, although the setting and circumstances will change as the story progresses, and a couple very memorable characters (Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine) have yet to be introduced.  Overall, the casting, costumes, music, acting, etc. are solid and I can't think of anything terribly wrong, just that the magic of the novel is hard to capture in full.

Simon Langton, who directed the '91 J & W episodes, directed every episode of this series.