Category: Do You Know About?

Do You Know About The Royle Family?

The BAFTA award winning Royle Family is more Seinfeld than Seinfeld – it really is a show about nothing. And it’s a scream. All of the episodes take place in the Royle’s middle class Manchester home, usually in the shabby and hardly chic living room. As each episode opens, you’ll find Jim and Barbara on the sofa in front of the telly, Jim having lots of time for telly watching, as he’s on the dole. His wife, the scatter brained and chain smoking Barb occasionally works in a bakery. Speaking of smoking, the ashtray on the coffee table is almost a character in itself, as close shots of it appear regularly, showing it fill with the butts produced by Barb and her lazy, self indulgent daughter, Denise. Who is married to henpecked Dave. Poor Dave. Each night, Dave and Denise make an appearance at the Royle home, plopping themselves down on the couch in order to report to Barbara on what they had for tea. Or what Denise did that day (typically nothing). Details are exchanged as all eyes are glued to the telly in the Royle living room.

And then there’s the family’s teenaged son, Antony, who is by turns amused and disgusted by his kin and who is regularly dispatched either to the kitchen to make tea or to the store for “sweeties.” Next door neighbors, the Carrolls, occasionally drop by, or Barb will call Mary on the phone, prompting a tirade from Jim on the waste of using the phone when she could speak to her just as well through the window. But perhaps the best loved character is Barb’s mother, Norma, or Nana, as the Royle’s call her.

Episodes center on the mundane – Antony starting a band, Dave working as a DJ, Denise thinking that the never seen, but often maligned, Beverly has again been coming on to Dave, Nana’s cataract surgery, Denise’s pregnancy . . . I promise you, there’s not a bit of high drama or action to be found but somehow spending a half hour every now and then with the Royles manages to endear them to you, warts and all. And there are lot’s of warts. And farts and bad attitude and impatience and all the other foibles involved in family life. But through it all, even at their individual worst, the Royle’s become as dear and endearing as our very own family members.

There’s no laugh track and the show was shot on 16mm film, the resulting grain adding to the real life atmosphere. Not only that, but the show seems to take place in real time. The series ran from 1998 to 2000, with periodic holiday specials having been made thereafter. Loyal fans can’t get enough of the show and regularly write in to the powers that be urging them to bring the show back. The most recent special, ‘The Golden Eggcup’, was aired on 25 December 2009 at 9pm on BBC One and was the most watched show on TV on Christmas Day and for the entire week ending December 26, 2009, attracting an audience of 11.74 million viewers to become the highest rated episode of The Royle Family ever.

You can watch clips from episodes here, here and here. This last link will bring you to the Royle Family YouTube page, where you can watch to your heart’s content – pass the fags and someone put the kettle on!

P.S. Actress Sue Johnston received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth in 2009 – could Her Majesty be a fan of The Royle Family?!

Do You Know About Foyle's War?

Oh, boy. This one’s a winner. Not Regency, not Victorian, but a series that will quietly grab you and have you hooked by the end of the first episode.

I’d written this post in draft weeks ago and only found out yesterday from Jo Manning that the new episodes were being aired on PBS Mystery starting last night. Sorry, sorry, sorry for missing the boat on this, but there’s no time like the present to let you know about Foyle’s War if you aren’t familiar with it. And if you are, there’s no time like the present to tell you that next two new episodes in the series will air on Sunday, May 9 (Killing Time) and Sunday, May 16 (The Hide).

In early World War II Britain, as British soldiers and pilots valiantly resist the German forces on land and in the air, their kinsmen at home face head-on the effects of the awful war that has engulfed their nation. Food rationing, black-outs, German bombing raids, all these and more are daily reminders that no one is to be spared.

For Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle of the Hastings police department, a man who served his country in World War I and then rose through the ranks of the police force to his current position, sitting on the sidelines during this war is frustrating. Requesting more direct involvement but continually rebuffed by his superior officer, DCS Foyle is further frustrated by a shortage of manpower that impedes his powers of policing.

As Foyle quickly learns, however, the role he plays is in no way a small one, for the war has certainly not brought a cessation of crime. If anything, it has intensified the heinous nature of domestic crime when carried out against innocent people already suffering, sacrificing, and struggling to persevere in such a brutal time.

Each episode of Foyle’s War, created by Anthony Horowitz (Midsomer Murders), blends real-life war stories with tales of treachery and suspense. Whether investigating sabotage, looting, stolen food or fuel supplies, police brutality of conscientious objectors, treason, or murder, Foyle and his colleagues must wage their own personal war amidst the tumult of a larger one. But more than a period whodunnit, Foyle’s War is redolent with rich human drama subtly revealed through the lives of these main characters who make up the heart of the series. Steadfast and loyal to each other, they strive to uphold the values for which they and their countrymen – their loved ones – are fighting and dying.
 

Michael Kitchen, as Foyle, doesn’t say much and prefers fly fishing to socializing, but Oh My is he clever. The human side of the war is emphasized through continuing secondary plot lines that involve the ongoing love life of Foyle’s female driver, Samantha. She even has an ongoing fling with Foyle’s son, an ace fighter pilot. Foyle’s second in command, Sergeant Milner is a wounded vet who lost a leg in the war – a fact his wife is unable to deal with.

Foyle’s War was created in 2001 by author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV1 to fill the void following the end of long-running detective series Inspector Morse. Set in Hastings, it ran to 19 episodes and featured Foyle’s attempts to catch criminals taking advantage of wartime confusion. Now, three more episodes have been made (wooo hooo!), with Michael Kitchen reprising his role and Foyle’s peacetime exploits are likely to feature his female driver, Sam, more prominently. Foyle’s War will return to ITV1 with a “new style series” set in June 1945, after VE Day signalled the end of the conflict in Europe, but with the war against Japan in the Far East not yet concluded.

“Like everyone else, detective chief superintendent Christopher Foyle needs to feel his way in this new world. Keen to retire, but bound to his old job by the shortage of senior men, Foyle is thrust into the dangerous worlds of international conspiracy and execution, military racism and national betrayal,” ITV said.

The series producer, Jill Green, added: “This fascinating period post-VE day has rarely been featured on TV and once more Foyle’s War will be unearthing true stories that reflect tougher, moodier times.”

Did You Know . . . That You Can Have Your Very Own Blue Plaque?

Thanks to a great website brought to our attention by Jo Manning, you can now make your very own Blue Plaque and immortalize yourself as part of London history. Well, okay, you can make one that appears as a photo and then you can print it, frame it and hang it on your own wall.

Here’s some history behind them:

The scheme for blue plaques, which make a stroll down any London street all the more interesting,  has been running for over 140 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world. The idea of erecting ‘memorial tablets’ in London was first proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863. It had an immediate impact on the public imagination, and in 1866 the Society of Arts (later Royal Society of Arts) founded an official plaques scheme for the capital. The Society erected its first plaque – to the poet Lord Byron – in 1867. In all, the Society of Arts erected 35 plaques; today, less than half of them survive, the earliest of which commemorates Napoleon III (1867).

In 1901, the plaques scheme was taken over by London County Council (LCC), which erected nearly 250 plaques over the next 64 years and gave the scheme its popular appeal. It was under the LCC that the blue plaque design as we know it today was adopted, and the selection criteria were formalised.

On the abolition of the LCC in 1965, the plaques scheme passed to the Greater London Council (GLC). The scheme changed little, but the GLC was keen to broaden the range of people commemorated. The 262 plaques erected by the GLC include those to figures such as Sylvia Pankhurst, campaigner for women’s rights; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer of the Song of Hiawatha; and Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse and heroine of the Crimean War.

English Heritage is now in charge of the scheme and has erected nearly 300 plaques in London, bringing the total number to over 800. Blue plaques are among the most familiar features of the capital’s streetscape. They adorn the façades of buildings in areas as different as Primrose Hill, Soho and Wimbledon; some of these buildings are grand, others look very ordinary, but all are connected by the fact that a remarkable person lived or worked there at some point in history.

Do You Know About Doc Martin?

In Doc Martin, Martin Clunes plays the town of Portwenn’s local GP, Martin Ellingham, who was once a brilliant and highly successful London surgeon until he developed a phobia of blood that prevented him conducting operations. After retraining as a GP, he applied for a post in the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn, where he had spent childhood holidays.

Much of the show’s humour revolves around Ellingham’s clumsy interactions with the local villagers. Despite his surgical brilliance, Ellingham lacks vital personal skills and any semblance of a bedside manner and is often clueless as to the feelings of others. Much to his disgust, Dr Ellingham (referred arrives in town to find a surgery is in disarray, the medical equipment atniquated and the patients’ records a mess. He also inherits an incompetent receptionist, Elaine Denham, who would rather spend her day at work playing gambling games on the office computer.


The community is united in horror at their “misery guts” of a new GP.


Martin is joined by a cast which includes the perennially favorite actress Stephanie Cole as his aunt, Joan Norton, who provides him with emotional support in the face of the disquiet among the villagers. Caroline Catz plays opinionated primary school teacher (later headmistress) Louisa Glasson. Doc Martin is attracted to her, but finds himself unable to express this. Louisa appears to share this mutual attraction, but finds their personalities often too different, while she is caring and nurturing, Martin is emotionally detached and at times neurotic.

While much of the above might not sound like the ideal premise for a comedic television show, I assure you that it works splendidly – viewing numbers peaked at 9 million for the last series. Doc Martin is addictive. And ITV announced that Martin Clunes has reprised his role as the curmudgeonly GP in a new eight-part drama series that was filmed in Cornwall by Buffalo Pictures last Spring. So, prepare for these new episodes by watching the old – available via Netflix, Blockbuster and some local libraries. Or, you can watch previous episodes here.

Do You Know About The English Home?

The English Home magazine bills itself as Celebrating the Essence of English Style and it’s perennially been one of my favorite publications. It’s so much more than a style or decorating magazine. Each issue, you’ll meet the owners of period homes and learn the stories behind their search for the perfect property, the renovation process, their hunt for furnishings and their trials and tribulations with building departments, contractors and English Heritage, who holds sway over renovation decisions involving Grade I, II and III listed properties. The latest issue, March/April 2010, includes pieces on Colour Past and Present (period color choices), luxurious fabrics and fantastic period shoes made to wear today from Henry Kaye. They’ve also begun a new series, Guardians of History, this issue featuring the Duke and Duchess of Rutland and their efforts to maintain Belvoir Castle. The property section is always fun to read, with descriptions of each residence more in-depth than those found in Country Life Magazine – yet another enduring favorite of mine. The English Home is available on U.S. newsstands or by subscription. Enjoy!       Kristine