"The Hours" BBC Two Drama

[Mr Pee]

http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4384:the-hour-bbc-2&Itemid=27

[Stillhomewardbound]

it was a drama not a history lesson.

Ah, but when a series anchors itself so firmly to a particular era it is very much trading on that history, so there is an artistic obligation to respect the detail.

I'll let past the fact that there was virtually no female of that era in such a prominent post in the BBC's News and Current Affairs. Clearly, without that there wouldn't have been the affair.

I have a dread feeling that the next series will move on to TW3 territory. The short, curly haired actor was clearly a nascent Ned Sherrin.

[Curalach]

Yes, there were lots of things wrong with it, not least the very "stagey" demo in one of the episodes, but I quite enjoyed it.

[mangerton]

Ah, but when a series anchors itself so firmly to a particular era it is very much trading on that history, so there is an artistic obligation to respect the detail.

Quite. In addition to the anachronisms pointed out elsewhere, I noticed a number of 60s TV sets, including one from c1963 with a UHF/VHF switch on it, and worse still a Vortexion stereo tape recorder which first appeared in 1969. The BBC should certainly have got these details right, and once upon a time they certainly would.

[aeolium]

I thought in part it was a sort of fantasy-nostalgia for a time when the BBC would stand up to the establishment rather than (as it really did then and to a large extent does now) form part of it - especially on matters such as dodgy wars. The curious thing is that there were indeed producers who kicked against the traces at that time - most notably Charles Wheeler who in the very year in which The Hour was set, 1956, filmed the Hungarian reaction to the uprising, contrary to the orders of his bosses in the BBC. But the denouement of The Hour was pretty feeble by comparison, preferring to concentrate on private tragedies and personal relationships rather than those momentous events.

[Stillhomewardbound]

Some woulld argue that the BBC never really did sqaure up to the establishment and lagged behind the printed press. The difference was made by the birth of the commercial television and the introduction of more interrogatory figures such as Robin Day and Ludovic Kennedy.

However, your description of 'fantasy-nostalgia' is very apt and points tothe appetite to hit on a style or mood, rather than leading with the story.

[Ferretfancy]

I worked at BBC Lime Grove a very few years after the 1950s setting of the story, along with others older than me who remembered that period. I'm sorry, but they got virtualy everything wrong, even the studio equipment was anachronistic, and it should not have been that difficult to get it right. To me, this matters, so I gave up on it - as Jack Lemmon said of Tony Curtis impersonating Cary Grant " Nobody talks like that ! "

[aeolium]

as Jack Lemmon said of Tony Curtis impersonating Cary Grant " Nobody talks like that ! "

That quote could apply to the dialogue of so many TV dramas, Ff, especially period ones
(though it was a stroke of genius on Curtis' part to talk like that!)

[Stillhomewardbound]

The strongest TV dramatisations are those which have come out of novelisations. Of this era we can reference the likes of Glittering Prize (Raphael), Looking for Clancy (Mullaly) and Girls of Slender Means (Spark). These are deeply personal works and all the better for it; and there's still so much literature of that period which has not been tapped. Possibly, because tv execs feel they are faced with a pulbic desiring instant gratification, and certainly critics who will will go for the kill at the slightest hint of 'not quite there' or the like.

It's all about competition, I guess, except that the Beeb for some time has been locked in a bout of puglism that we only can call shadow boxing. ITV, shockingly has not made an original tv drama in maybe fifteen or more years (and to to think it could come up with the likes of Auf Weidershen, Pet or Out (Euston Films) or the docu/drama Shoot To Kill (Peter Kosminsky).

So, just who are they competing against and what drives their imperative to make a drama that must be this, be that, and be ninety other conflicting things so as to deliver the specifications of some focus group. If that was the appropriate nature of British broadcasting then Brodcasting House would be a bakery, TV Centre a dairy and Bush House a patisserie.

Moral of this story is, wanna tap into another era, evoke another time, plug into a particular zeigest, then base it on a work of, or near the time. Fashion it for a contemporary audience indeed, but tell a story, at least, which sits on firm foundations.

[Norfolk Born]

Would you not agree that, for example, Messrs. Potter, Bennett and Poliakoff have all produced strong TV dramatizations that reflect the spirit of previous eras but do not draw on existing works - 'Pennies From Heaven', 'The Insurance Man', 'The Lost Prince'...?

[Stillhomewardbound]

Entirely, Ofcachap, and mine was a somewhat sweeping statement (though wasn't 'The Insurance Man' a Kafka story adapted by Bennett).

I'm thinking of the kind of fare which used to form BBC2's classic serial slot which would air usually on Thursday and Saturday nights.

As for today, I can scarce see a Dennis Porter getting in the door with his idea for a 'Pennies From Heaven'.

****************************

Now very interestingly, here's a link to a film about the Hungarian Uprising, which shows how a love story can be suitably be set against an historical background:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ntrk3/Children_of_Glory/

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

accuracy is one thing ....can not find a word for what i mean but i felt i was watching something written for the stage [certainly the last episode] and not for tv ... so while i enjoyed the sugar buzz off watching the episodes unfold ... the after-taste is not nearly so good [i should have listened to the views around here ...] i found the denoument weak ... Eden and his amphetamines and Suez was a real crisis in our politics ... and that was the second time that Ike shafted the uk for its imperial pretensions ..... the espionage plot was melodrama ..., this was a period piece soap opera [and/or mebbe a very tight and limited budget?]

[Stillhomewardbound]

Regarding that denouement with Anton Lesser, I was thinking about it at the bust stop last night, spies never come clean, least of all in such a 'Scooby Doo - my plan would have worked if it hadn't been for you pesky kids!!' way.

[Norfolk Born]

Re. 'The Insurance Man': I'm pretty certain that it's a Bennett original, albeit it one inspired by the life and writings of Franz Kafka. And I'm guessing that this also goes for 'Kafka's Dick'!

[Stillhomewardbound]

Ooops, I should check these things before making such claims. Yes, I read that it was inspired by the true experiences of Kafka when he worked for an insurance company, but as you say, a Bennett original.

I remember it well.