PBS Update- The Bletchley Circle, Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge

I just wanted to give two of these series currently running on PBS a big thumbs up (or a 5 teacup rating, whichever you prefer) and the other one a resounding meh!

The Bletchley Circle is soooooo awesome that ITV can't possibly leave it at just one 3 episode series. Oh, please, please, please make this a recurring series. We need more mysteries solved by these brilliant code cracking females!

If you haven't yet seen this amazing series, you were able to catch up online at the PBS website: The Bletchley Circle until they took the first episode down, the stinkers.

Someone has uploaded all three episodes to YouTube. The link is here: YouTubeBletchley. Enjoy it while it lasts!

My other 5 teacup rating goes to the second season of Call the Midwife. I was a bit skeptical of whether the BBC could keep up the amazing quality of the first season but wow, they sure have. One really gets the feel of the emerging improvements in medical care in the second half of the 20th century when you watch this show. And it always seems to make me cry and yet not seem depressing somehow. I gotta read the book when this series finishes!

Just be careful when you are watching this. Inevitably, someone either male or under the age of 18 will walk into the room just as you are watching a delivery with the midwife between the poor mother's legs!!!!

Haven't been following? Catch up here: Call the Midwife Season 2

So here comes my lukewarm assessment of Mr. Selfridge. It's okayyyyyyyyy....

Two and a half teacups (with the tea running out of the half cup)? I have been watching it. I haven't been enthralled or enthusiastic but I leave it on after Call the Midwife. A friend of mine used to work out in the same gym as Jeremy Piven and described him as "very small and squirrely".  Perhaps that is part of it but the scripts must be at least partly to blame. I love the main character Agnes Towler (played by the marvelously named Aisling Loftus) and Frances O'Connor is her usual luminous self as Harry Selfridge's wife Rose.

I will give it a few more weeks however as I did enjoy the latest installment with the Suffragettes. They are dear to my heart and you will find my post devoted to the Suffragettes here: Mary Poppins and the Suffragettes.

What do y'all think of these three PBS series?

Downton Abbey Season 3 and Call the Midwife Christmas Special

Just in case you have missed the latest PBS membership drive (and DO please donate to keep this series going) Season 3 of Downton Abbey starts on Sunday January 6th, 2013 in North America. If you donate enough, PBS will send you the entire series on DVD before the general release at the end of January. They don't say when it would arrive at your door, but think about it and dig deep to support PBS my friends, whether or not you give enough to get the DVDs. Remember, we get it without commercials. The Brits have to contend with lots of ads on ITV.

I will whet your appetite by telling you that there is a wedding (or two), a tragedy (prepare the tissues please) and some great new characters. In my humble opinion, Shirley MacLaine was just meh, but you will have fun with the new staff downstairs! And the characters you know and love already are going to feel like old friends at the end of this series. So prepare the tea parties now! I think Series 3 is significantly better than Series 2 (I am screening the series early in order to post weekly right after each episode airs).

If you haven't already discovered the lovely ladies of Call the Midwife, do yourself a favour and add the DVDs of Series 1 to your Christmas list. Then you will be able to catch up before Sunday December 30th at 7:30 pm (check local listings), which is when we get the Call the Midwife Christmas Special.

If you have already fallen in love with these angels of the East End of London (circa 1957), then you will be watching with me as we see how Chummy is getting along in married life. I believe she directs the Nativity Play in this episode. Mayhem will inevitably ensue! My big sister will be doing a guest post on this episode on Dec 30th so come here right after you watch it for a re-cap.

So dance along with Trixie, and raise your glasses for a wonderful 2013! Period drama is finally gettin' some respect!

Downton Abbey Episode 3 on Masterpiece PBS

Matthew and Lady Mary- Will they get together or won't they?

A budding romance is starting to appear between the heir to the estate, Matthew Crawley, and Lady Mary, even after the scathing things that Lady Mary said over the dinner table last week (you remember, "our kind of people" and the Andromeda barb).  Oh, well, at least she seems at bit chastened by last week's crazy events.  She was starting to annoy me with her haughtiness and her bitchiness.  I think I may quite like her after all.  Now, what can we do with that annoying Edith?

Lady Edith, Lady Mary and Lady Sybil, the Crawley sisters of Downton Abbey

Lady Sybil was so cute in her new dress and seems to be really stirring things up with Gwen and now her new friend, Mr. Branson, the chauffeur.  Mrs. Hughs' suitor gave a nice twist to the servant's story line and Molesley's allergic reaction was fodder for more wonderful fireworks between Violet (the Dowager Duchess) and  Isobel (Matthew's feisty mother).  The flower show was rather cute too.  Now if only Thomas and O'Brien would get sacked and the "Mean Girls" Lady Edith and Lady Mary would stop their petty cat-fighting nonsense...well I suppose that would get boring, but still...

I did wonder about Lady Mary and her mother Cora discussing Mary's situation so openly without closing the door.  Doesn't everyone look at the door if one is discussing something that is not common knowledge to see if someone like Lady Edith or a nosy Parker like Thomas or O'Brien might be listening?  I mean they even named names!

Robert Bathurst/Mr. Weston/Sir Anthony Strallen

Did anyone else recognize Sir Anthony Strallen as Robert Bathurst, better known to me as Mr. Weston from the most recent version of Emma 2009 with Romola Garai?  It was bugging me where I had seen him before.

The line of the night had to be,
Mrs. Isobel Crawley: "I will take that as a compliment."   
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham:  "Then I must have said it wrong!"

Gwen (sweet as sugar) and O'Brien (was she beaten as a child?)

I rather enjoyed the slower pace of tonight's episode after last weeks frenzied storyline.  Stay tuned next Sunday night for the conclusion of season one of Downton Abbey.  It sounds like next January may be the time that Masterpiece airs season two, as the UK gets it in the fall, but when will we get the Christmas episode that the UK gets at, of course, Christmas?  Perhaps Christmas in July?  Or will it be Christmas 2012, which seems a crazy long time away.

By the way, if you want more Downton in your life, go to Masterpiece Classic on PBS and you can read Q and A's with Hugh Bonneville and Dan Stephens (The Earl and the heir), participate in a live chat with Dan (Matthew) tomorrow-(Monday January 24th at 12:30) and even watch full episodes of the show that have already aired-if you live in the US that is.  Canadians are shut out from all video of Downton on the PBS site (as is the rest of the world I presume).  I have already complained to PBS but to no avail.  Something to do with airing rights.  Same reason I can't watch anything on the BBC sites either.  Dangit!

My Downton Abbey DVD is already on order so I can replay this in February at my house!  Now, I think I may have to order all four seasons of The Tudors to get me through the rest of this deep freeze of a winter!

Downton Abbey Episode 2 on MASTERPIECE on PBS

All the presentable servants-poor Daisy's not included!

I love January this year!  Normally, January is a very cold, dreary month in this part of Ontario, Canada (for me anyway) but this year it is Downton Month!  Can PBS arrange their schedule so that next year has something equally amazing to look forward to every Sunday night in January?  I'd say it sounds like a good cure for Seasonal Affective Disorder wouldn't  you?

So, my head is spinning after last night's episode.  Poor Lady Mary, she really did have an exciting time of it last night.  And I must say, I really enjoyed the almost constant looks of consternation on Maggie Smith's face as the Dowager Countess had to deal with Matthew's mother over the hospital issues.  Gwen, the housemaid had me rooting for her and her little typewriter.  I did wonder, however, how she was practicing typing without anyone knowing about it.  And I must say, I am liking Lady Mary and Lady Sybill more and liking Lady Edith much less.  I mean really, throwing herself at Matthew like that...really!  And I thought Lady Mary treated poor Evelyn Napier rather poorly when her head was turned by the Turkish diplomat...you know...whatshisname.  Oh, well, Mr. Napier is in the recurring character category so we can hope to see him again perhaps.

Dame Maggie Smith as the formidable Dowager Countess

If you need help keeping the names and numbers of all the players straight, the list below may help.  I got the info from Wikipedia, but there are major plot spoilers on the Downton Abbey page (think Wiki leaks for Period Drama), so do not go there if you haven't seen the entire series.

Crawley family

Actor	Character
Dame Maggie Smith	Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
Hugh Bonneville	Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
Elizabeth McGovern	Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham
Penelope Wilton	Mrs Isobel Crawley
Dan Stevens	Matthew Crawley
Michelle Dockery	Lady Mary Crawley
Laura Carmichael	Lady Edith Crawley
Jessica Brown-Findlay	Lady Sybil Crawley

Staff

Actor Character Position Jim Carter Charles Carson Butler Phyllis Logan Mrs Elsie Hughes Housekeeper Lesley Nicol Mrs Patmore Cook Brendan Coyle John Bates Lord Grantham's Valet Siobhan Finneran Sarah O'Brien Lady Grantham's Lady's maid Rob James-Collier Thomas First Footman Thomas Howes William Mason Second Footman Joanne Froggatt Anna Smith Head Housemaid Rose Leslie Gwen Dawson Housemaid Sophie McShera Daisy Kitchen/scullery maid Allen Leech Tom Branson Chauffeur Andrew Westfield Lynch Groom Kevin Doyle Molesley Matthew Crawley's Butler and Valet Christine Lohr Mrs Bird Matthew Crawley's Cook

Recurring characters

David Robb	Dr. Clarkson	Family Doctor
Robert Bathurst	Sir Anthony Strallen	Family friend and Lady Edith's romance
Brendan Patricks	The Honourable Evelyn Napier	A possible husband for Lady Mary
Samantha Bond	Lady Rosamond Painswick	Lord Grantham's sister
Charlie Cox	Duke of Crowborough	Family friend and Thomas' lover
Jonathan Coy	Mr George Murray	Lord Grantham's lawyer
Nicky Henson	Mr Charles Grigg	Former friend of Carson's

The Earl and Countess of Grantham

In Downton Abbey news, ITV in Britain has commissioned a Downton Christmas special to air after season two in the fall of 2011 finishes.  Yippee!!!  Christmas at Downton.  I can't wait!  Lord only knows when we will get them over here, but if Masterpiece/PBS is smart, it will try for sooner and not later.


And finally, with respect to the Golden Globes, yay to Colin Firth for winning best actor.  I watched the Golden Globes pre-show and the first hour before I switched to Downton Abbey and then back for the final half hour of the GGs.  Heaven forbid he get a Harley Davidson and risk his life!  We need many more years of film making Colin...

Masterpiece Theatre tidbits- Emma 2009

There is a wealth of great reading and viewing on the PBS Masterpiece Theatre website, so I will explore this treasure trove in the next few weeks.

Every time Masterpiece airs a new miniseries, they create a great new page or pages on their website.  So you can even go back and look up older favorites like Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion or even Miss Marple in their Archive and see what they have.

One of their latest offerings, Emma 2009, has a great audio interview with Romola Garai, who plays the titular character.  She is natural and affectionate when she talks about the production and the other actors in this marvelous miniseries.  About 5 minutes long, it has lots of lovely photos from the production which are synchronized with her commentary.


There is also a wonderful Q & A session with screenplay writer Sandy Welch (who also adapted Our Mutual Friend and Jane Eyre for the BBC) where she reveals some of her thought process and inspiration for this project.  Very interesting and insightful.

If you have even more time to waste, try the Bachelors of Highbury Quiz to see if any of the single men in this production would be "right for you".  Silly but mildly amusing.

A bit more highbrow piece, entitled Reading, Writing and Emma.  This is authored by Dr. Gillian Dow, of the Chawton House Library and the University of Southampton in England.  It covers general topics such as how well read females were in the Regency era and specifics such as how Austen was regarded by some of her contemporaries.

There are also four Behind The Scenes videos, which are similar to the BBC You Tube clip below, but cover different topics.  These are very fun to watch.  From costumes to casting there are some wonderful snippets of interviews which just whet your whistle for more, so see my next post for the BBC version of a Behind The Scenes video.

Lastly, there are general Jane Austen links such as a short Biography, Selected Resources consisting of helpful links to mostly Austen related websites, and a Jane Austen House Slideshow, which shows some amazing photos of her beloved home in Chawton, Hampshire.  Lots to keep you busy for a while on the PBS Masterpiece website.

Jane Eyre 2006

This is the most recent adaptation of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and, most would agree, the best.  The book has actually been adapted for film no less than 22 times, the first being in 1910 (a century ago as a silent film!), and the latest version, a film destined for the movie theater will be released in 2011, so stay tuned.  My sister will be interested to note that in that latest, as yet unreleased version, Judi Dench plays the housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax, Mia Wasikowska as Jane (the lead in Alice in Wonderland from this year), and Sally Hawkins, from Persuasion 2007, as the evil aunt Mrs. Reed and Michael Fassbender from Inglorious Basterds as Mr. Rochester.

But now back to this 2006 version, which is a miniseries length. I happen to really love this dramatization of Jane Eyre.  The leads (Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester and Ruth Wilson as Jane Eyre) are slightly more attractive than they are described in the book, but they are both a little unusual looking by Hollywood standards and so they work very well.

I have a fondness for this book (my favorite Bronte sister book) and also for the main filming site which was at Haddon Hall in Bakewell, Derbyshire.  The Squire (my husband) and I stayed in Bakewell for 3 days last summer and spent a lovely afternoon at Haddon Hall (pictured above in The Squire's photo).

The history of Haddon Hall is interesting, in that it was a secondary residence of the family of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, and it lay dormant from 1700 until the 1920's when it was restored to a habitable state by the 9th Duke of Rutland, John Manners.  It has parts that are virtually unchanged from medieval times and so has been used for filming other favorites such as the latest Pride and Prejudice and The Princess Bride.  Also not surprisingly, The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth used Haddon Hall as a location.

Back to the adaptation of Jane Eyre, this mini-series works well because it's greater length allows the story to develop without being rushed.  There is truly too much story to be squashed into a 2 hour film (so good luck to the current Judi Dench production).  The script by my new favorite script writer Sandy Welch manages to get most of the book's essence distilled into this production, although it is always best to read or re-read the book to get all of the best bits, especially if the mini-series has only whetted your appetite for Charlotte Bronte.

Toby Stephens, who is the son of the incredible Dame Maggie Smith, really fits the bill as Mr. Rochester.  He often plays bad guys, as in the Bond flick Die Another Day where he played Gustav Graves, so in this he is comfortable with the multiple layered personality of this character.  He has the females swooning, and the chemistry between him and Ruth Wilson is rarely found and well appreciated.  The development of the friendship between Jane and Mr. Rochester, which blossoms into something more passionate, is deftly handled.  The repressed feelings of both leads are conveyed without words, which are not needed here to show us the emotion felt between them.  It will have you both swooning and sobbing in parts.

Ruth Wilson was barely out of film school when she filmed this, which makes her sensitive portrayal of Jane all the more remarkable.  She has more recently been doing contemporary drama such as the UK crime drama Luther, and she is rumored to be playing Jaqueline Kennedy in Flying Into Love, a "re-imagining of JFK's assassination" as seen through Jackie's eyes.  You can see from her unusual looks how she would be good for that role. In any case, her Jane Eyre is luminous, showing huge emotion with no dialogue whatsoever, at times.  One look conveys all she is feeling. Even if this is the only thing she ever did, she would be remembered as a wonderful actress.


There has been some criticism of the screenplay, in that it uses less of Charlotte Bronte's original language than some viewers would like, and there is no doubt that it has a more modern feel than it might have, for a four hour miniseries.  However, Sandy Welch tends to like a more modern feel to her screenplays, as we saw in the latest Emma, which I think draws in a much younger audience than it might otherwise.  And that is not a bad thing.  I think it will entice many a teenager to read Jane Eyre, although hopefully not a vampire/monster version (such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) which is probably in production as we speak!  (although there is already a graphic novel version-i.e. comic book for us ancients).  Every generation seems to want to claim works such as Jane Eyre for their own, and the fact that it has been filmed for a full century, and still in print in many incarnations, would be a source of amazement to the Bronte sisters.  I doubt that Charlotte would object too strenuously to changes made to her work for adaptation to film, considering that the works of most of her contemporaries lie languishing in dusty libraries untouched for decades.  She might perhaps draw the line at Mr. Rochester as a vampire, although who am I to say?

 This is a photo of Hadden Hall from the courtyard.  This was just before a little shower, during which we poked around the inside of the house, including the wonderful long gallery, a small portion of which you can see below.

 The Squire got a great photo of the garden with the house in the background after the sun came out that afternoon.  If you click on the photo, and then again to magnify it, it will give you a much larger version of the photo and you can see some of the amazing architectural detail, which makes it such a great filming location.

So if ever you find yourself in the vicinity of Bakewell, Derbyshire in the Peaks District of England, not only will you want to take a peek at Haddon Hall shown here, but you will only be a few miles from Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire and location of many other films such as Pride and Prejudice 2005 and The Duchess, both starring Keira Knightley (and interestingly enough, the new 2011 version of Jane Eyre).Stay tuned for more on this production as it has finished filming and is in post production.

Well, now I will have to decide whether to go back and view Jane Eyre 2006 again, or read the book again.  Or perhaps both, although not simultaneously as I cannot multitask as well as my teenage sons who are at this moment studying, watching the World Cup Soccer and texting friends.  Sigh!