The Barchester Chronicles

13 January 2010 23:28

I was lucky enough to be given the DVD’s of The Barchester Chronicles as a Christmas present and I’ve just finished viewing it all. I think this was one of the few classic book adaptations which I saw on television before I had read the books, so I had no idea if the BBC had done a good job or not.

I just knew that I really enjoyed the series, well you can’t go far wrong with such a brilliant cast I suppose. It was the first time that I remember seeing Alan Rickman in anything and he made a wonderful job of portraying the ghastly Obadiah Slope. Barbara Flynn looks so young too, it was made in 1988, which I can hardly believe.

Donald Pleasence, Nigel Hawthorne, Geraldine McEwan,Susan Hampshire and Clive Swift are the main players.

The series is based on the novels The Warden and Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope. A newspaper sets out to rid the Church of England of nepotism, using a young local doctor to spearhead the campaign. The reverend Harding, who is well-loved in the local community is targeted by the newspaper and his name is dragged through the press. At times of great stress, Mr Harding (who is in charge of the church music) plays the air cello whilst he is in mid verbal flow. I thought this was a great way of showing how emotional he became and I was pleased to discover that it is in the books.

When the old bishop dies, he is replaced by Bishop Proudie (Clive Swift) and his wife (Geraldine McEwan), with Mrs. Proudie very much the one wearing the bishop’s hat. I think that this might be quite a common occurrence as at the time the series was first aired they were exactly like a certain bishop and wife couple of our acquaintance with a diocese in the west of Scotland.

Throw in Alan Rickman as Obadiah Slope, Mrs. Proudie’s sleazy side-kick and you have a very entertaining series. Don’t be put off by the ecclesiastical ambience of the whole thing.

Trollope seems to have had as much fun with names as Dickens did. One character is called Sir Omicron Pie and there is a Sir Lamda Mewnew, both doctors to the bishop.

It’s a good long while since I read the books but viewing the series again has whetted my appetite so I’m hoping that I enjoy them as much as I did after watching the series the first time.

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Categories: Books, DVDs, Television

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Delia versus Nigella.

6 December 2009 16:07

I watched Delia on T.V. during the week and it was just like coming home after a horrendous day out. There’s something so comforting about her, especially the Christmas programmes. Yes, I know that this was going to be a Christmas Free Zone – but we’re in December now so I suppose I should try to get into the spirit of it all.

Delia did go a bit weird at one point and started showing us how to make toast and such like and the tinned mince and frozen potatoes stuff was just horrible, but she seems to be back into normal mode now.

The great thing about Delia is that the recipes are so well researched that they always work, nothing is left to chance. I know that she has a team of people to help with this, it isn’t just Delia. The thing is that the recipes are obviously meant to be tried out at home, that’s the whole reason for doing the programmes. She tells you exactly how to do things and the correct times and temperatures, which is what you need.

It’s nice to see her walking with her husband in his Norwich City scarf too, and I suppose if you are into cats then you’ll be keen on that aspect of it. I wouldn’t mind cats if they stuck to their own gardens.

Nigella on the other hand is a different entity altogether. I watched her programme yesterday morning and yes the whole thing did look luscious but – she doesn’t go into the details of anything. It’s as if the whole thing was just a puff for Nigella and we just aren’t expected to actually want to cook any of the food.

The soup would be easy to replicate I’m sure. Well you can’t go far wrong with soup, but the pudding with the wonderful name of Girdlebuster Pie was the sort of thing that you need to know all the proper weights of the ingredients to get the correct consistency.

Nigella said, “Put some digestive biscuits, chocolate and unsalted butter into your food processor,” – and that was it.

Apparently the Girdlebuster Pie was a staple of American diners in the 1950s and it looked so delicious that I was determined to get the recipe. It wasn’t on the BBC website but my husband managed to track it down for me on The Daily Mail website.

So it seems to me that Nigella is just all about how everything looks. It’s Nigella as the soft porn and the food is her supporting act of pure hard core.

I suppose it’s aimed at men but really the lingering looks and flirtatiousness are taken to such lengths that it has just become laughable. She moves her head very strangely and it was making me feel quite sea-sick. She reminded me of a dusky Lady Penelope from The Thunderbirds. The head movements are just the same but Lady Penelope has an excuse for it – being a string puppet.

So all in all, I think that Delia wins hands down with her home cooking ways. I’m going to have to try that Girdlebuster Pie though. I think I’ll make it for my husband’s birthday cake. He is one of those poor souls who was born on the 24th December. I’ll post a photo of it then.

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Categories: Recipes, Television

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Scottish Words

15 November 2009 23:39

I think that the various countries and regions that make up Britain all have dialect words of their own which are in danger of being lost.

My son’s partner comes from Rochdale and the only word which she knows from that area is ‘crockle’ – which apparently means to go over on your ankle. I really like it, but it isn’t a word which you can use very often, unless you’re unlucky enough to have very weak ankles.

I’ve noticed recently that quite a few Scottish words have found their way into mainstream British vocabulary. The words manky and minging spring to mind and I think that possibly we have Justin and Colin to thank for those ones being taken up by the rest of the country. At first my attitude was — they’re nicking our culture, but I’ve decided that it is a better option than the alternative, which is losing the words altogether.

Scottish dialect words tend to be looked down upon by the so called ‘middle classes’, I think they are seen as being ‘common’, and we can’t have that can we? So quite a lot of words have been in danger of dying out, which would be a real shame.

To combat this I’m starting a series of weekly blog posts featuring one Scottish word each week.

This week’s word is – scunnered.

Scunnered means that you are sick fed up with something or someone, you are totally disgusted to the point of feeling ill.
In the childrens T.V. programme Supergran there was a character called Skunner Campbell, slightly different spelling but he had the name because he was a dastardly character whom Supergran was absolutely scunnered with.

I am scunnered with the government because they seem to be letting the bankers away with everything and won’t step in to stop them from giving themselves massive bonuses.

So you get the general idea of scunnered, I’m sure. Use it – don’t lose it.

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Categories: Nostalgia, Scottish words, Television

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Upstairs Downstairs

9 November 2009 23:34

I was really pleased to discover from enchanted serenity of period films that Upstairs Downstairs is being done by the BBC next year. It will be set around 165 Eaton Place again with Jean Marsh playing the part of Rose as usual. She now has the position of housekeeper and the action takes place in 1936.

When I first heard about this I thought that they were going to do a straight remake, just casting different actors in the parts of Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson and company, which I’m sure would have been disastrous, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Now I’m really looking forward to seeing the updated version, which should be very interesting given what was going on in the country at that time.

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Categories: Nostalgia, Television

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The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

30 October 2009 00:20

I first came across Elizabeth von Arnim when I was rooting around in a second-hand bookshop years ago. I saw a beautiful, small, slim volume bound in calf skin with lovely gold edges. I had to buy it whatever the contents were.

However I had struck gold as the book was called Elizabeth and Her German Garden and it turned out to be a book based on the author’s life as a wife, mother and gardener. As a keen gardener the whole thing appealed to me and I really loved it.

The book was first published in 1898 but my edition was printed in 1914, that fateful year. I was intrigued as there was no clue as to who the author was and as I bought the book before the existence of the internet I had to do a bit of detective work and I eventually discovered that it was written by Elizabeth von Arnim.

I managed to track down her other books and a few years after that (the BBC) made an adaptation of her most famous book, The Enchanted April.

It’s a story about four very different women who are unhappy with the lives which they are leading and are desperate for a change of scene. After seeing an advert in The Times for a medieval castle in Italy, available to rent for the month of April, they end up sharing it to make it more affordable.

San Salvatore turns out to be a magical place for them.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and went on to read everything else which von Arnim had written which I could find.

I later discovered that Elizabeth was the cousin of Katherine Mansfield, who was quite a famous short story writer. Katherine’s other claim to fame was that she ‘bolted’ from her husband after only one week of marriage. I’d love to know why she gave up so quickly. Must have been quite a scandal at the time.

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Categories: Books, DVDs, Television

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Jane Austen's Emma by the BBC

6 October 2009 21:14

I love reading Jane Austen’s books. I re-read them all from time to time, it’s comfort reading. I usually love watching any of the many productions, but even I think that the last thing which we need to see on our screens is yet another version of Emma. I really could scream. Everybody knows the story, upside-down and back to front, so why has the BBC made it again? At least they have made a decent job of the casting and everyone looks and acts the part.

It really is about time that they started taking some risks and giving us something entirely different to view. I know that costume drama is extremely popular, but anyone would think that there were only a handful of authors in the past as we only ever seem to get Austen, Dickens and the Brontes.

I’ve got shelves full of Virago books, any of which could be adapted for television I’m sure. But that isn’t likely to happen. I’ve come to the conclusion that the BBC is run by people who haven’t actually done any reading since they were forced to read for their courses – and guess what they read – Austen, Dickens and the Brontes.

I’ve just read in The Guardian that they are doing another version of David Copperfield. I won’t be watching it.

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Categories: Books, Television

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