Last Tango in Halifax

[Nick Armstrong]

A bit of a guilty TV secret, this, for me... Sunday night (or is it Friday? can't remember, it was programmed in the machine) superior soaps starring the likes of Sarah Lancashire don't usually detain me. And some of the soapy aspects were ...

But there were sufficient real gems - of performance, of writing, of bravura plotting - in each episode to make this a treat.

Ms Lancashire was brilliant, imo (although the plot made it utterly incredible that she was the head teacher of a large secondary school - having grown up in the household of one such) - she and the other younger female lead, Nicola Walker ("Gillian") were excellent foils for one another; and the third female lead Anne Reid was even more brilliant earlier in the series when she had more to do. (Reid, Rylance and Kitchen - the three best TV actors in the country at the moment, I think). They contrived effortlessly to upstage Derek Jacobi, no mean feat. The sublimely vile Tony Gardner made the skin creep and the teeth gnash; and a series of very good little comic turns from a young actor, Louis Greatorex provided other highlights.

The wheel changing scene in the final episode this week had me weeping with laughter - Sarah Lancashire coming off second best to a wheel-nut in her wedding gear, to Nicola Walker's attempted encouragement ( "it’s just horse-shit, that… it’s nice… it’s friendly, it’s good for you… they’re not carnivorous, so… you know… could be worse… it’s just grass…. it’s grass and bacteria, really…" ).

Well, I liked it (overall). Anyone else? Or is no-one talking to me now?

[Stanfordian]

Hiya Caliban,

I enjoyed the programme too. It made me thankful that my personal life is not as complicated as their's in Last Tango in Halifax.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes - I've enjoyed all three series so far: just on the cliff edge of sentimentality at times, but avoiding dropping over.

I never rated Sarah Lancashire very highly before these series - and the very different Happy Valley.


"I just wish you were here to ... I just wish you were here."
Blub-blub-blub.

[Anna]

Totally agree with Cali's every word - a joy to watch from start to finish! It seems that there is to be a Series 4
I also enjoyed Happy Valley, that's coming back I think.
Sally Wainwright certainly seems on a roll as a scriptwriter.

[Barbirollians]

I thought this series was much weaker than the first 2 . Poor old Derek Jacobi looked in obvious pain from his accident throughout and the son from a fling just did not ring at all true . The killing off of Caroline's wife was so predictable and rather lazy plotting maybe Nina Sosanya wanted out . The idea that the biological father would suddenly just move in like that to replace an alcoholic nanny was absurd .Whilst Gillian has become a caricature of herself sleeping with every man with a pulse . She also appears to have lost interest in the other characters . The behaviour of Caroline and Gillian's children throughout the series was nonsensical .

Teetering on the edge and saved by the actors especially superb performances by Anne Reid and the guy who plays the ex husband John .

[eighthobstruction]

Never seen it before ever....but saw most of last nights....It was very well done,humour-wise....enjoyed what I saw, which of course was the all out no holds barred denouement....

[Nick Armstrong]

the guy who plays the ex husband John

The sublimely vile Tony Gardner

[Barbirollians]

I don't think of John as sublimely vile - just very sad , needy inadequate and with no self-awareness .

[Anna]

I don't think of John as sublimely vile - just very sad , needy inadequate and with no self-awareness .

Such a true to life character, superbly written. I know so many men just like him, it was almost painful to watch at times.

I don't think it was absurd that the biological father would move it, he and Kate had been an item and he was very much in love with her so what would be more natural than to want to look after the baby, what was absurd was the alcoholic nanny being briefly featured just to allow Greg to enter the household.

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't think of John as sublimely vile - just very sad , needy inadequate and with no self-awareness

I think his capacity to lie wholesale about events to other people in order to cast himself as the victim went beyond mere lack of self-awareness.

Such a true to life character, superbly written. I know so many men just like him, it was almost painful to watch at times.

...certainly, painful to watch!

I don't think it was absurd that the biological father would move in

And it permitted that lovely scene where young Lawrence (the aforementioned Greatorex - another alumnus of the Nottingham Television Workshop), having previously detested the whole baby thing, realised that by coincidence, the biological dad is in fact a hero of his... suddenly, rather than being a drip the dad is an icon, and the baby is a good idea (cue: Sarah Lancashire look to the heavens at the ludicrousness of the males in her life! )

[Richard Tarleton]

Totally agree with Cali's every word - a joy to watch from start to finish! It seems that there is to be a Series 4
I also enjoyed Happy Valley, that's coming back I think.
Sally Wainwright certainly seems on a roll as a scriptwriter.

Excellent to hear it is returning. Sarah Lancashire is a tremendous actress - this and Happy Valley two powerful performances. A word for Nicola Walker, another very fine actress, who should by now be able to service a tractor, replace the clutch in a Land Rover, worm sheep.....

My only niggle with the series is that I find myself becoming the teensiest bit bored with the original leads - whose story provided the starting point of the series. I find Anne Reid's rusty hinge voice grates after a while.

Tony Roberts played another needy creep in Jack Dee's fabulous series "Lead Balloon" - I hope to goodness it's just acting

Sally Wainright also scripted (co-scripted?) the ITV series "Scott and Bailey" - a superior cop show also peopled by strong women and hopeless men.

[Barbirollians]

Tony Gardner also played the creepy lecturer in Fresh Meat .

I thought Lawrence's complete lack of sympathy for his mother and the absurd volte face about the baby simply because Greg did the illustrations for his favourite comic nonsensical .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought Lawrence's complete lack of sympathy for his mother and the absurd volte face about the baby simply because Greg did the illustrations for his favourite comic nonsensical .

After thirty-three years teaching boys of that age, I can confirm that it is indeed "nonsensical" - but also absolutely accurate! (There's just no accounting for hormones!)

[Barbirollians]

After thirty-three years teaching boys of that age, I can confirm that it is indeed "nonsensical" - but also absolutely accurate! (There's just no accounting for hormones!)

Oh his hero worship of Greg was perfectly feasible but I thought the way he reacted to Kate's death however was not. Frankly, I had the feeling that the writer had rather lost interest in all the characters except Caroline and Gillian.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Frankly, I had the feeling that the writer had rather lost interest in all the characters except Caroline and Gillian.

Yes. I think that's a fair point - from focussing on the Jacobi/Reid relationship in the first series, there was little for Anne Reid's character to do this series except react to everybody else.