BBC's "The Pallisers"
BBC's "The Pallisers"
#1BBC's "The Pallisers"
Posted: 6/8/13 at 9:20am
I'm a sucker for England’s '70s-era period costume dramas. Having been produced just before my lifetime, I have no sense of how much exposure or popularity they enjoyed in America, before, of course, the Internet made the world so much more accessible. Did Americans regularly tune in to Masterpiece Theater? Or was it considered boring/for the high-brow sect only?
Growing up, I was aware of the more famous shows, even if only by their titles: “I, Claudius,” “Upstairs, Downstairs,” “Rumpole of the Bailey.” In my line of work, I’m very lucky to get regular exposure to the lesser-known series, and it’s great to come across amazing shows that time seems to have forgotten. Even something like “The First Churchills,” which is just okay by BBC standards, blows most things on American television (now or then) out of the water.
Is anyone familiar with this one? It doesn’t supplant “Poldark” as my favorite soapy British melodrama, but it comes close.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pallisers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075557
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pallisers-Complete-Collection/dp/B0002S648C
Based on six novels by Anthony Trollope and with a cast led by Philip Latham and Susan Hampshire as Plantagenet and Glencora Palliser (a Victorian-era peer/politician and his wife), “The Pallisers” is top-notch TV from start to finish. It covers about 20 years and details the political, social, and romantic entanglements swirling about them as Plantagenet navigates England’s political waters.
Mr. Latham excels as the rigid, stoic, and highly principled heir to a dukedom, and Ms. Hampshire is a marvel as his independently-minded, unpredictable, and dauntless bride, who, early on, gives up hope for true love to marry the man to whom she was promised as a young girl.
Not only is it impeccably written, directed, and compulsively watchable, but it’s also fun to play “spot the actor” (Jeremy Irons! Derek Jacobi! Anthony Andrews!) as the series moves along across 26 episodes. Standouts among the supporting cast are Donal McCann as the gallant, ambitious, and trouble-plagued young Irishman Phineas Finn, Anna Massey as his “will they or won’t they?!” love Lady Laura Standish, Derek Godfrey as the sniveling, petty, pious Robert Kennedy, and Roland Culver as the eccentric and lecherous old Duke of Omnium, who wants nothing more in his final days than the love of a rich German widow.
Anyway, has anyone seen/does anyone remember it?
The more I discover these shows, the more I want to share them with everyone who may also be unaware of their existence or may have simply forgotten them.
John Adams
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/13
#2BBC's
Posted: 6/8/13 at 9:55am
>> Did Americans regularly tune in to Masterpiece Theater?
<------- This one did. The draw for me is that they all have a "just enough" air of being exotic. The accents, the landscapes, the manners, and the architecture are all different enough to give me a sense that I'm in another world, yet not so far from my own reality that I feel overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity.
I'm a big fan of a lot of current UK TV, too. I love Sherlock and even Mrs. Brown's Boys (which I feel certain I would never watch if it were an American series, in a US setting, based on American characters).
Updated On: 6/8/13 at 09:55 AM
capnkidd
Broadway Star Joined: 9/11/04
Jose
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#3BBC's
Posted: 6/9/13 at 10:29am
Bravo! The Pallisers is one of the very best literary adaptions for televisions to date. I've watched it in its entirety several times over the years. The series turned my attention to Trollope's Palliser novels, and others, all of which are singular in his depiction of Victorian England. Truly something special.
Additionally, I would recommend the 1967 black & white adaption of Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. Kenneth Moore as Young Jolyn and a once again exquisite Susan Hampshire as Fleur. This original television adaption is far, far superior to the recent re-make.
#6BBC's
Posted: 6/10/13 at 2:43pm
I think you'd also enjoy "The Barchester Chronicles," also based on a series of Trollope novels. It features not only the hardworking Susan Hampshire, but also a truly lovely performance by Donald Pleasance and a terrifying one by the great Geraldine McEwan.
Oh, and also a young Alan Rickman!
Updated On: 6/10/13 at 02:43 PM
#7BBC's
Posted: 6/10/13 at 9:20pm
In the '90s as a teen a number of Bit-lit adaptations from this era aired on cable here (which is how I saw Upstairs Downstairs, too) The Palliser's is my absolute favorite I think--I should really look into the DVDs. I believe it was a big old hit--in the UK and the US even if it didn't become the water-cooler phenom that U/D did. A year or two back they had a special counting down viewers' favorite Masterpiece Theatre shows and I believe this made the top five. (Interestingly, the most voted for show was Brideshead Revisited--which would have been my choice but actually didn't air as part of the Masterpiece franchise so was not eligible.)
Forsyte is great soapy fun too--I believe it aired before Masterpiece Theatre but its huge success led to them developing that program (and indirectly to the even bigger hit that Upstairs Downstairs was.) There was a good remake a decade or so back, but really the original can't be topped.
I'll have to track down Barchester--never had even heard of it.
Jose
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#9BBC's
Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:39pm
I love how one leads to another.
"The Barchester Chronicles' is absolutely terrific as Reginald says. You must watch it.
"The Duchess of Duke Street" is quite wonderful too as Besty points out. I only just finished this series several months ago. Gemma Jones, whose work I didn't know before, is another terrific British actress. Back in January I got hooked on MI-5, the simply superb British spy series. What I didn't know at the time was that I was watching an older Gemma Jones as "Connie" during the last third of this 10-year series. She's brilliant. She was also the mother-in-law in the recent Woody Allen movie "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger."
Two other series which I highly recommend are "Wives and Daughters" and "North and South." Both wonderful. For one a bit more recent, check out "Sorrell and Son" which starts out in Edwardian England. It's a short series. It will break your heart.
A note about MI-5. If you decide to watch it (available on Netflix streaming), watch it from the beginning. The lead character is played by Peter Firth, yes, Peter Firth, the boy from "Equus." It is chock-ful of outstanding British actors, including Jenny Agutter, Lindsay Duncan, Keely Hawes, Nicola Walker. Three sexy British men enter, each for a third of the series and each playing a different second male lead: Matthew McFadden, Rupert Penry-Jones and Richard Armitage. This is high-quality dramatic series which I can't praise enough.
Updated On: 6/10/13 at 10:39 PM
#10BBC's
Posted: 6/10/13 at 10:47pm
North and South is a great series, though when we had to read the novel for a Victorian lit course, I realized how much the miniseries glossed over all the very central points about religion. (They also kinda play up the Mr D'Arcy-ness of the male lead, but I suppose it worked as apparently it was a huge surprise hit in the UK largely due to the soapy brooding romance angle.)
I lost track with MI-5, or Spooks as it was called in the UK, but loved the early years (when it premiered in the US, I believe first on A&E the show was badly chopped up to allow for more commercials.)
Jose
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
Jose
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#12BBC's
Posted: 6/10/13 at 11:08pm
Gosh, how could I forget "The First Churchills" which stars Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marleborough, maternal ancestor of Winston.
This 1969 Emmy winning mini-series is set in the late 17th Century.
Another superb British series to put on you list Themy.
#13BBC's
Posted: 6/13/13 at 8:01am
Wow, thanks for the info and suggestions, folks!
newintown, I’ve ordered the first novel of the “Alms” series.
Reg and bestie, I’ve put down “The Barchester Chronicles” and “Duchess of Duke Street” on my list; they looks fabulous.
Jose, I haven’t watched “Wives and Daughters,” but I have seen “North and South” – now, that’s the original 1975 “North and South,” with Patrick Stewart as Thornton. I haven’t seen the newer series. And I mentioned “The First Churchills” in my OP was one that I wasn’t crazy about, particularly in the writing of it. It seemed to meander and felt padded at times, though I did adore Ms. Hampshire in it.
“Number 10” is a fantastic and short series detailing the private lives of seven British Prime Ministers over 150 years. Each episode deals with a different P.M. The Disraeli (the fantastic Richard Pasco) and Asquith episodes are particularly good. I think this series was kind of an obscure one, and it finally got a DVD release a few years ago. Highly recommended:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256566/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Jose
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#14BBC's
Posted: 6/15/13 at 5:00pm
Themy, have you seen LOST IN AUSTEN?
I found it inventive, funny, quirky and quite special in its way, and recommend it highly. It stars Jemima Rooper (ONE MAN 2 GUVNORS) along with Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham, DOWNTON ABBEY) and Alex Kingston (Riversong, DR. WHO) as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.
It originally aired as a 4-part mini-series in Britain on ITV. Wikipedia says, "In December 2009 it was placed at 48 in the 'Top 50 TV Shows of the Noughties', a list published in The Times (London)."
Lost In Austin (2008)
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