Lost in Austen: Episode 3

Lost in Austen: Episode 3
ITV
17 September 2008
Fantasy, Historical Comedy, Romance,
DVD
B-

This episode introduces Lady Catherine de Bourgh, played by Lindsay Duncan, who was Lady Bellaston in the '97 version of Tom Jones.  It has some meta moments, like when, after Darcy proposes to Amanda, she asks him to reenact Colin Firth's wet shirt scene.  But I find it a bit hard to swallow that Darcy would invite not only Amanda, but Mr. and Mrs. Collins, and Lydia and Mrs. Bennet, to Pemberley.  Note that the romantic entanglements are getting even more entangled, including a pay-off to Amanda in the first episode telling Bingley she's a lesbian in order to speed up the transference of his affections to Jane.  And in case you're worried that Darcy won't end up with Lizzy, he has to dump when Amanda when he finds out she's not a virgin, although he does admire her honesty and bravery in telling him.

Lost in Austen: Episode 2

Lost in Austen: Episode 2
ITV
10 September 2008
Fantasy, Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B-

This episode introduces Tom Riley as Mr. Wickham and Guy Henry (who was John Knightley in the 1996 Emma TV-movie) as Mr. Collins.  Both men produce complications for the Bennets and "Miss Price," but not the ones of the original novel.  Amanda dislikes both men the moment she meets them, and not just because she's read the book.  However, they're both drawn to her, Collins proposing and Wickham propositioning.  She reluctantly accepts Mr. Collins, hoping to get out of it somehow and trying to prevent Jane marrying Mr. C out of duty.  However, after she rejects Wickham, he spreads a rumor that she's the daughter of a fishmonger.  Collins breaks the engagement, which is good, but then he proposes to Jane, who accepts, which is very bad.  Amanda is very angry at Mr. Darcy, who has discouraged Bingley from pursuing Jane, but mostly Amanda is mad at herself for the mess she's made.  (Charlotte despairs of ever marrying and so decides to become a missionary in Africa.)  I went with a slightly lower grade this time, since it felt odd for Amanda to pretty much confess to an indifferent Darcy that she's been a fan of his love story with Elizabeth for the past fourteen years.  Still, I am curious to see how all this is going to be untangled, since the episode ends soon after Collins and Jane's wedding.

Lost in Austen: Episode 1

Beware of strangers you meet in your
bathroom, even if you feel like you know them.

Lost in Austen: Episode 1
ITV
3 September 2008
Fantasy, Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B

Those who would be in at least one more episode:

• Gemma Arteron as Elizabeth Bennet
• Ruby Bentall as Mary Bennet
• Hugh Bonneville as Mr. Bennet
• Morven Christie as Jane Bennet
• Christina Cole as Caroline Bingley
• Elliot Cowan as Mr. Darcy
• Florence Hoath as Kitty Bennet
• Alex Kingston as Mrs. Bennet
• Michelle Duncan as Charlotte Lucas
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Piranha
• Tom Mison as Mr. Bingley
• Daniel Percival as Michael
• Jemima Rooper as Amanda Price
• and Perdita Weeks as Lydia Bennet

Guy Andrews wrote all four episodes of what is so far a funny and charming program.  I'm not technically re-viewing it, although I'd heard of it of course and had intended to watch it after my ex-husband burned it for me.  I will admit that I tend to be wary of things like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, which sound like they don't understand the true spirit of Jane Austen.  This mini-series, however, while it does mock the Austenian world, specifically of P & P, does so lovingly and intelligently.

The premise is that Lizzy Bennet is able to enter a modern London flat through one of the walls near the tub.  The owner of the flat, Austen-superfan Amanda Price, gets curious and goes through the wall, only to find that Lizzy has locked the door behind her, yes, hence the title.  Now it's up to Amanda to not muck things up too much.  (That she knows the story of P & P by heart turns out to not necessarily be an advantage.)  This episode takes us from the set-up, shortly after Mr. Bennet has secretly visited Mr. Bingley, to Jane's visit to Netherfield, on Amanda's urging, partly to get Mr. Bingley off his infatuation on Amanda, who did admittedly kiss him while she was drunk.  It looks as if the rest of the series stays specifically in P & P, although it would've been interesting if this had run six years and Amanda could've gone into all the novels.

Dan Zeff directed all four episodes.

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 3

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 3
BBC One
13 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C+

In this episode, we see things that didn't appear in the '95 movie (although they were in earlier drafts of Thompson's screenplay) and for the most part happened off-page in the novel.  Two of the scenes involve Brandon: the duel with Willoughby and his visit to "Miss Williams."  The scene of Willoughby showing up during Marianne's illness is changed so that, one, he comes across worse, two, Elinor expresses no sympathy to him, and three, Marianne gets out of her sickbed to eavesdrop!  The main reason for this getting a C+ rather than a B- is that Marianne's falling in love with Brandon, which she does out of sequence with the novel's timeline, is compared to a horse or hawk being tamed, ick!

If you're curious, my review of the book is here http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/sense-and-sensibility.html
and the '95 movie here http://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2015/04/sense-and-sensibility.html .  I want to add that the humor of both is mostly absent in this adaptation, which is why this is "a historical drama" (as the then recent Mansfield Park was), but Pride & Prejudice was a "historical comedy."

This is the 100th show of mine I've reviewed from the '00s, and yes, we're almost done with the decade.  Unless my collection changes dramatically in the next few days, we will not reach 200.  But, hey, the Oughts outdid the Fifties at least.

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 2

The Steele sisters

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 2
BBC One
6 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
B-

Those who join the cast and will also be in Part Three:

• Leo Bill as Robert Ferrars
• David Glover as Foot
• Daisy Haggard as Miss Steele
• Anna Madeley as Lucy Steele
• Tim McMullan as Mr. Palmer
• and Tabitha Wady as Charlotte Palmer

This episode gives more for both Willoughby and Brandon to do than they had in the '95 version, and arguably in the book.  Even Edward gets his first visit to Barton Cottage restored.  Miss Steele pops back up from the book.  The Palmers on the other hand are short-changed.  Note that Edward being described as shy and diffident doesn't fit this version of Edward.

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 1

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 1
BBC One
1 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
B-


The cast who are introduced in this episode and would return at least once more:

• Linda Bassett as Mrs. Jennings
• Lucy Boynton as Margaret Dashwood
• Dominic Cooper as Willoughby
• Mark Gatiss as John Dashwood
• Caroline Hayes as Eliza
• Rosanna Lavelle as Lady Middleton
• Janet McTeer as Mrs Dashwood
• Hattie Morahan as Elinor Dashwood
• David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon
• Morgan Overton as Little Henry
• Claire Skinner as Fanny Dashwood
• Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars
• Charity Wakefield as Marianne Dashwood
• and Mark Williams (then well established as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter movies) as Sir John Middleton

Considering that much of the script, by P & P's Andrew Davies, steals from Emma Thompson's award-winning 1995 screenplay, this is better than you'd expect.  The acting and casting are generally solid, sadly with the notable exception of Colonel Brandon.  (I realize that Alan Rickman's shoes were impossible to fill, but it doesn't help matters that this Col. B actually criticizes Marianne's piano-playing!)  I probably would've gone with a C+, but I do like the dramatic coastal scenery, rather than Barton Cottage being plunked down near reedy swamps.  This episode covers through the reunion of Brandon and Willoughby, different than both the book and the '95 movie, but not bad.

John Alexander directed this and the other two episodes.

Mansfield Park

Modest and unassuming

Mansfield Park
ITV
27 January 2007
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C

Well, this is at least better than the 1999 Patricia Rozema big-screen travesty.  The truth is, no one wants to present Jane Austen's Fanny Price.  (The '83 TV-movie is better but does have the heroine hearing voices in her head.)  Much more than Emma Woodehouse, she's a heroine that (almost) no one but the author likes.  What's peculiar here though is how literal the title is.  Not only don't we see Portsmouth or London (even in flashbacks), but there's no Sotherton or even parsonage.  Every scene, whether it makes sense for it to happen this way or not, takes place in the mansion or grounds of Sir Thomas's estate.

A similar skimpiness means that supporting characters are erased, not just most of Fanny's family but the Grants, Mr. Yates, and anyone not absolutely necessary to the main action.  Even characters we see onscreen we don't necessarily get to know at all, and that includes Maria and Julia.  And then there are the characters who are simply misunderstood: a shrewd Lady Bertram and a slightly annoying but oddly attractive Mrs. Norris being the most obvious.

Which brings us back to Fanny.  Now, I'm not saying there might not be roles where a romping, laughing, bleached-blonde, pouty-lipped, cleavage-baring Billie Piper would be welcome (and not just Dr. Who or, going by her looks, porn), but this isn't one of them.  As always, when the shy, judgmental, but loving Fanny of the book is replaced by an impostor, I have to ask, to what purpose?  If she's perfectly capable of mouthing off to Mrs. Norris, or seeming to welcome Henry Crawford's attentions, then don't have dialogue that contradicts this.

What works here?  The costumes, sets, and music are serviceable.  Much of the dialogue remains intact.  Blake Ritson is quite good, until we get up to the Edmund-gets-twitterpated-with-love-for-Fanny sequence.  Still, I wasn't laughing bitterly like I was at the Jane Eyre adaptation of '97.  Verdict: for completists.

James D'Arcy is almost unrecognizable here as the dissolute but redeemable Tom Bertram, the polar opposite of his villainously priggish Blifil in '97's Tom Jones.  This adaptation is by Maggie Wadey, and the direction is by Iain B. McDonald, neither of whom worked on any other of my shows.

Room 101: Ross Noble

Room 101: Ross Noble
Channel Four
1 December, 2003
Talk Show
DVD
B-

Despite his dislike of cats, I mostly enjoyed the Geordie comic's interactions with Paul here.  He has a high success rate of banishment, ironically his only failure to get into the Room being his objection to people who look like cats.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7
Channel Four
8 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

The other formerly missing episode features Eddie Izzard and never seems to get going.  This doesn't really affect the C+ the average for Series Seven though.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4
Channel Four
18 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Ah, so I do have Caroline's Whose Line debut after all.  The best thing here is probably Helping Hands, where Richard seems unsure whether he's going to provide piano accompaniment to Ryan-Colin's lounge singer act, although it's also fun to see the Press Conference where Tony's head has been attached to a dog.

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park
ITV
21 October 1997
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

This has a slow start but stay with it, as the two-person show gradually moves from small talk to shared confidences to confessions of love to...treason?  Paul and Josie again work very well together and it's a pity they didn't appear more regularly as a team on television.  (Even on Whose Line is It Anyway? it was never more than a couple times a year.)

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss
ITV
16 February 1996
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

The concept behind this programme was that Paul would act in updated G & S scripts that had been performed more than 30 years earlier.  As I haven't seen the earlier versions, I won't compare them.  On its own terms, this is solid, not only giving Paul/Josie shippers much fodder but being an interesting character study.  The humour is gentle and, yes, a bit old-fashioned.  Note that both characters lie and their lies are never revealed, but at some point she'll presumably see photos of his father and the truth will come out.  And, amusingly (in light of Caroline Quentin's Room 101 items), Paul's character refers to a Teasmade.

This is sort of the 200th British show I've reviewed, although I guess I should've counted the music videos of Paul McCartney, the Spice Girls, etc. as well, but not all of those were shot in Britain, despite the national origins of the performers.  It gets a bit murky sometimes with the tags.

Room 101: Caroline Quentin

Room 101: Caroline Quentin
Channel Four
15 September 1995
Talk Show
DVD
B

I was going to go with a B- on this, but the closing clip of a horribly choreographed '60s rendition of "Dancing in the Streets" bumped it up.  Poor Caroline gets only one item (rats) into the Room, but it is interesting to know that she was in the chorus of the first cast of Les Miserables, and that her then hubby Paul Merton was bad at gift-giving.  (The Teasmade does not make it into the Room either, but it is nice to finally see one after Tony Slattery referred to the product on an early Whose Line Is It Anyway? episode.)

Room 101: Tony Slattery

Room 101: Tony Slattery
Channel Four
8 August 1994
Talk Show
DVD
B

Host Nick Hancock has celebrities bring in a list of pet peeves that might be banished to the title location (a 1984 reference).  Tony fails to get his bad '80s soap Gems in there but does manage Snoopy and a couple other peeves.  This episode is laugh out loud funny, but I of course didn't get every reference, so B is as high as I can go.  Contains an adorable photo of "mean, moody, and magnificent" Tony at 16.  (Note, I would've reviewed this sooner but I was thinking all my Room 101 episodes were from the later Paul Merton era.  Obviously it would've been interesting to see Paul and Tony reunite but it was not to be.)

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....

Jane Eyre (1997)

Jane Eyre (1997)
ITV
19 October 1997
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
D+

At the time I reviewed the 1983 adaptation, I either didn't own this version, or I was unaware that it was packaged with my DVD of Emma.  This version makes that look all the better, because this one is a mess, and not just as an adaptation:

1. Horribly miscast in every role, particularly that of St. John, who (in his less than ten minutes of screen time) comes across as warm and accepting, rather than stiff and distant;
2. Horribly directed by Robert Young (not that Robert Young), who did the 1990 series of Jeeves and Wooster and seemed to then have some sense of period acting, albeit twentieth-century rather than nineteenth;
3. Horribly acted by in particular Ciaran Hinds (who was fine in Jane Austen's Persuasion around then, if not who I picture when reading that book); Hinds spends much of his time ranting and shouting, so that Bertha looks saner than her hubby, and we get none of the other sides of Rochester's personality, making Jane's love look far more masochistic than in the novel;
4. Horribly edited, unlike '97's Emma, which knew where to cut and still keep continuity; to take just one example, we get only a glimpse of the Reed family and servants, so when Bessie shows up and Jane recognizes her, we don't, and then Jane's visit to her Aunt Reed as an adult happens completely offscreen, which has an effect on the St. John plot, as well as Jane being an heiress when she returns to Rochester;
5. Horribly written, not just with Brontë's words being tossed out but with what replaces them, especially Rochester's lines, like "This may sound silly but..." and "You'll never know a love as pure and fine as this," which made me roll with laughter;
6. Samantha Morton isn't bad as Jane but, although her screen persona (seen also as Harriet Smith in Emma and soon to be seen in Tom Jones as Sophia Western) isn't exactly Xena, she can't do self-effacing and this, with Hinds's unhinged performance, throws the "romance" further off balance;
7. The worst onscreen kissing I've ever seen (not counting kisses that are meant to be bad), with sometimes only one or two lips involved rather than four;
8. The scenery and sets and Gemma Jones's performance as a more-in-the-know than in the novel Mrs. Fairfax are fine, if less Gothic than the novel.  (The tree of the proposal scene, pictured above, never gets blasted by symbolic lightning.)

Of the three screenwriters Kay Mellor plays Mrs. Cooper, while Peter Wright gets the larger role of the nameless Clergyman, and Richard Hawley resisted appearing onscreen.  Richenda Carey, who was Lady Wickhammersley in Jeeves and Wooster, here is Lady Ingram.  Amusingly, Laura Harling, who's Young Jane, would be Young Sophia in Tom Jones, so I guess they thought she looked like Samantha Morton.