I’ve been watching quite a bit of television of late. I don’t know whats got into Foxtel, but they’ve actually been broadcasting programs, on the ‘History’ channel, that have claimed my complete, and undivided, attention.
Of course, being the perverse people that they are, they air them late at night, when all octogenerians should be asleep, dribbling the night away, or semi-comatose wondering where the bed is, and if they’ll wake up in the morning. And then there are those like me, who don’t seem to have much to do, so they turn on the telly!
Naturally, it was too much too hope for, and everything went back to normal; garbage or American basketball. Why do the persist in showing this to Australian audiences? U.S.Basketball that is!
I must admit to watching the American Gridiron, which for some unknown reason is referred to as ‘football’; they also refer to the world championships of this ‘football’ which is incomprehensible to me; – the world championship that is-, as they are the only people that play the game.
However, I’ve learned to enjoy this game, of four quarters,each of 15 minutes duration, that lasts for 3 hours or more, and am now the fan of the Packers and the Broncos. The Packers have a good quarterback, the thrower of the ball, who had a very good game against the Detroit Lions yesterday.
As usual I’ve drifted off course, (wouldn’t have made much of a navigator ) which isn’t hard to believe.
So, being at a loss I turned to my old faithful, steam driven computer. (I’ve been told that I have to keep using this one, as I’ve gone through too many already.) where I remembered this thingy with the word ‘Go’; which is the Foxtel thing, that enables me to watch just about everything on their network; although I suppose that I’m paying for it somewhere along the line.
Feeling daring, I opened this ‘Go’ up, and browsed through the many programs listed, and I noticed this program, with an unusual name, listed on BBC First “Unforgotten”; “
“What a strange name for a TV program,” says me ” wonder what this is all about?”. Being of an inquisitive nature, I decided to go have a look see; and what I saw just blew me away!
What caught my attention at first, was the lead actress, Nicola Walker, who. you’ll recall was Ruth, in the “Spooks” series. Always enjoyed her performances; a class act is Nicola! Read the synopsis and thought”this’ll do me for 45 minutes; so I hooked the O.F.S.D.C, up to my big screen TV set, rearranged my speakers, (would be like watching a silent movie otherwise) and settled back.
Did I say 45 minutes? I was completely hooked after 5 minutes. Typical English TV production; scruffy looking, real people who could actually annunciate real words. clearly. A cop show and not a gun insight.
There are that many twists & turns, I know I digress most of the time; but this program made it seem that I’m stuck in a rut.
There are four different groups, seemingly unconnected. A mixed race Cockney couple, played by Ruth Sheen (no relation to Charlie, and a true thespian to boot!)& Brian Bovell, who coach young football players, not to be confused with gridiron, the game where they actually kick a ball around, with the sole intent, of boring me to death.
Trevor Eve, with his usual sterling performance as a London SPIV, who obviously knew how to climb the ladder, to become a knight of the realm. The always excellent Bernard Hill plays a married priest, obviously of the High C-of-E persuasion, he crosses himself, who in his younger days, didn’t mind a bit of hanky-panky, as it turns out.
Tom Courtney & Gemma Jones, are cast as a ‘nutter’; her, and a paraplegic, him! That live down at Southend-on Sea,; or as we Cockneys are wont to say “Soufen’0nSea”.
There are six episodes, and slowly this divers group come together, as our Nicola/Ruth/D.C.I. Cassie ably assisted by D.I. Sammy; Sanjeev Bhaskar, (a newcomer to me); gradually unfolds the mystery, surrounding a body, accidentally found after nigh on 30 years!
And the crunch?
I got so caught up after the first 10-15 minutes, that I sat, and watched the entire six episodes, one after the other, oblivious to time. 270/280 minutes of a police/crime show, not one gun, not one speed chase; just great dialogue, delivered by real actors, and actresses. Superb!
Just in case anybody is interested, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgotten will give you a much better idea of this series. If you haven’t seen, it and get the opportunity, I recommend it most heartily.
🐻
Oh by the way, I started this about a week ago and have just remembered it; the Packers game I referred to was on the 4th I think, I am now going to turn the telly on and watch them beat the Giants XD
Note done in green, Go Packers
🙄
LordBeariOfBow 
I will have a look after that review. Then I will watch World Series Two which is played between Coober Pedy and Innaminka and not an American entrant in sight.
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Don’t tell me that Oodnadatta’s been eliminated! How will I sleep? 🙄 😈 🐻
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They’re in the Northern Conference. When we play the Super World Series at the Dust Bowl I’m sure they’ll be there.
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Well I should hope so!
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I have had a post waiting in a side room until it was time. It’s time. You reminded me of it. You will see why in the first papagraph.
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Can’t wait to get to that first papagraph; whatever that is 😈 🐻
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Sorry my Lord, I made a bit of a mistake. I had already published the post I refer to. It was http://wp.me/p6LpSr-nZ and you have seen it. It was about cricket and war.
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No guns?
. . . I’m going to watch “Hitman” instead.
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Well good for you, young man, one day soon you may be able to join we grown-ups 😈
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I done think I be well past grown-ups and waiting for them to catch up . . . which it don’t look like it be happening, sad to say.
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Packers. Good choice. I was a fan of theirs as a kid, when the league was still young. Broncos are my hometown team, but I’m not wild about them. Probably because my son and I had become Seahawk fans before either of us moved to Denver.
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I was cheering the Seahawk’s along yesterday when they beat the Lions.
I’m very fond of the ‘Cheeseheads’, I’ve met many and they have all been delightful people,I think it’s time that Michigan gave back the land that was given to it after the war of Toledo war of 1835.
However I do wish their governor would stop sending me email’s; I told them to stop as I’m not fond of the GOP but they will persist.
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You’re like a flippin’ teenagers, binge watching that series in one hit. It’s such a rare treat to find something in the great arid land of TV, that captures your attention so completely.
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The second time I’ve done that, Yvonne; I must admit, that I did watch the 1995 production of Pride & Prejudice, in one go, when I bought the disks. But then again I’ve read the book many times, sometimes in one hit.
🙄
Nothing wrong with me
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Oh, have you seen The Barchester Chronicles? Another good Brit production.
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No, I haven’t come across that; it’s probably been on many times, but it’s only relatively recently. that I started wasting a lot of time on the tv stuff 🙂
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Looks as if we’ve missed something. Thanks, Brian.
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As you see Derrick, I found it quite by accident.
I wonder why the English/British, don’t push their superiority in programming, for the TV more. The work that comes out of the BEEB and ITV, make everybody all else, look perfectly amateurish.
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We tried to find it on catch up. There we discovered that series 2 has started. We watched and enjoyed the first episode..
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I can’t wait until series 2 is completed and available here for me to watch in one sitting. XD
To hell with the suspense of waiting one whole week between episodes, 🙄
Hope you can get to watch the first series, it’s really not to be missed.
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We’ll watch out for it.
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I thought that I may be just a bit over the top with my praise of the first, I must admit that I’m a great ‘fan’ of Nicola/Ruth and now Cassie. She is a fine actress.
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Brian,
if you enjoyed “Unforgotten”, then you will also get hours of on-the-edge-of-your-seat viewing from “The Fall”. It is one of the best crafted TV series I have ever seen, full of suspense and sexual tension (a Bitish/Irish production). There is some violence, because it is about a serial killer, but no guns ( why do the Americans ruin their crime stories with these mindless shoot-outs; perhaps they still think they live in the wild west? I see they had another mass murder at one of their airports this week. Will they ever learn re guns?).
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(TV_series)
Neill.
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Neill,
I have an idea I did see this some time back.
By the bye did you know that the actress, in the lead roll, in that program, is an American,. Gillian Anderson,; she was born in the USA, and her parents moved about quite a bit.
She spent quite some time in England, hence her ability to speak like an Englishwoman. She now resides in England.
The other American actress with this ability is Jennifer Ehle, however, her mother is an English actress.
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A crime series without at least one shootout and chase in the first five minutes seems strange, but for it to go on that way for nearly five hours is scarcely credible!
I wish I had more (any!) time to watch TV, but other things always seem to get in the way. The last series I saw was ‘Victoria’ which I thought was quite well done.
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I think you’re pulling my leg regarding Victoria; I’ve never seen so much garbage / codswallop come out of English TV.
Didn’t you notice, and think it odd , that a scullery maid, was also the Queens hairdresser, personal maid, and at times confidant; who’d go walking the streets alone? Flogging bits and pieces that she’d got from the queen one way or the other? Don’t you think it more likely that lowly maids would have been ” confined to barracks”? 😈
Where were all the footmen and flunkeys? Nowhere to be seen!
But then there were not many servants in THAT royal household; perhaps 9 or 10. One chef? Did all the cooking for the palace? Who wrote this drivel?
I must confess I watched. in vain, for 3 episodes before I realized that this was going to be it! 🙄
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I am surprised it struck you that way. Julian Fellowes is a stickler for historical accuracy, and such small deviations as were allowed were under vociferous protest from him. The facts, backgrounds, costumes and settings were true portrayals of the era as it has been documented. I found the sub-plot of the promoted scullery maid credible, if complex to follow, and tying in well with the theme of Albert’s greater enlightenment regarding the aspirations and the plight of the common people. The acting was good to excellent in portraying the subtle political undercurrents, as well as the arranged match which against probability became a romance.
Regarding servants, they were well-trained in that time to be visible only when needed, so I don’t think their relative absence detracted.
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This alone would confirm that a scullery maid would NOT be attending the queen
“The ladies-in-waiting, who are in personal attendance on the Queen on a daily basis, are formally styled either Ladies of the Bedchamber or Women of the Bedchamber. They are notionally overseen by the Mistress of the Robes – historically the senior female member of the Royal Household, but today a ceremonial position” from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Households_of_the_United_Kingdom.
Queen Elizabeth, has around 8 chefs for a normal day and up to 20 when a state dinner is on. I imagine that the food these days, considering the Queens eating habits, would not be on such a grand scale, as in the days of Empire.
Besides the chefs there has to be a considerable number of lesser beings, slaving away in the royal kitchens.
Then there are the footmen to serve, not the cooks and scullery maids.
Buckingham Palace has more bedrooms for staff, then guests, 188, so obviously there are many, many more, than portrayed in that series of twaddle.
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Brian,
it’s so much easier being a republican!
Neill.
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‘Looking at the situation in the USofA I’m not quite sure I agree at the moment.
As an Englishman I’m a staunch royalist for England, as an Australian I’m a staunch supporter of a Republic.
The system suits England down to a T, and they are better off with the kings & queens, but here we definitely don’t need it.
When PJK was PM, in the good days. I had every hope of Australia becoming a Republic on the first day of the new century. 1st January 2001,in fact I’d planned on it and was prepared to demand the Number 1 spot in the nationalization ceremony; after all, there were not many who’d waited 50 years. I refuse to accept Australian citizenship whilst it’s a colony!
Sadly we were thrown under the wheels of john howard and as h say the best laid plans…………………
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Totally agree, except if you’re English and living in England. They don’t have any trouble with Head of State nonsense, and it costs a lot less to have them than have a president and have to pay for their security. More people want to have a pot shot at a pres than the queen, millions pay to see her, she’s worth a fortune to the country and more than pays her own way when the truths known. I think she’d be more than happy to be just queen of England Scotland Ireland and Wales, bugger the rest.
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You mistake the duties of Ladies in Waiting. They were not used as servants. Victoria’s hairdresser and confidant was actually a Miss Skerritt (as per the film) but was the daughter of an army officer. It is surprising that the ‘scullery maid’ angle, though used as a means for illustrating the growing awareness of social differentials, has not been picked up and criticised. The wounding of Albert in the assassination attempt, on the other hand, was roundly condemned (he did fling himself across her, but was unscathed).
To depict footmen and other menials swarming like hornets would have been distracting and historically invalid. They were there when needed, and had their separate stations.
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I forgot to say I didn’t like it! 😀
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Unforgotten sounds like a must-see. Thanks for the great summary and promo. Also, thanks to Yvonne for mentioning The Barchester Chronicles–now on my list as well. 🙂
Elouise
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