This unfinished tale mustn’t end just yet
YOU MAY NOT CARE for period drama, harrumphing at its lack of modern relevance, but compared with this week’s considerable dearth of good television, Jane Austen’s Sanditon (ITVX, Wednesday) was a brightly shining gem which should get another series, not the axe.
Indeed, it’s not even a “full” Jane Austen, as the novel – originally adapted by Andrew Davies – was “unfinished”.
While running to a mere 200 pages, she was clearly just getting going!
This is currently series three from ITV but it’s not known if the “finish” is the same as the great writer’s.
No spoilers here, but I would hazard a wager on a spectacular, long-anticipated wedding, which has been prevented for some reason.
It might return you a good result.
One aspect has kept me watching this Austen – Sanditon’s unexpected comedy.
The opening scene at the splendid pile of Lady Denham (Anne Reid) sees her with Dr Fuchs (Adrian Scarborough), a quack who is also foreign, discussing his effort to cure Sir Edward (Jack Fox) of his dissolute behaviour where the ladies are concerned. It’s on the rise – and seems particularly rife at seaside resorts. Let’s blame the bracing air. Dr Fuchs’s cure? A manual pump-action hosepipe for drenching the victim until he pledges to stay away from temptation.
The cure lasted but minutes before a lady in a bonnet alighting from a coach drew his concentrated attention. He’s far from fussy – she is more so, one would hope.
Elsewhere, star turn Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), the desirable catch in Sanditon throughout this series, has arrived back in town with the dullest fiancé imaginable.
He’s even called Ralph. He can’t help it, of course.
Over an aperitif the poor man didn’t know his Shelley from his Keats. It was a complete faux pas, even for farming stock.
For goodness’s sake, give the man a proper thrashing until he can recite a poem from each romantic poet while he’s being doused with a torrent of freezing water.
A similar treatment should have been meted out to the culprits at the centre of
(ITV, Sunday) although that would have fallen far short of what was required.
The Cambridge spies as a collective must have been responsible for so many deaths resulting from countless acts of breathless treachery.
Kim Philby tops this hideous league of liars, landing a job as head of MI6 in Washington. It beggars belief.
As supposedly intelligent people, it was obvious to anyone that communism wasn’t a credible alternative to anything, and especially so to anyone with
The Real Spies Among Friends
knowledge of Soviet Russia, which they supposedly had. Nothing makes sense in this story, not least how MI6 rehired Philby on his return from Washington.
The security services during this period appear to amount to a company of fools with their own Keystone Cops moment, as Burgess and Maclean made their successful dash for freedom to a humble ferry port.
It took Margaret Thatcher to unmask Blunt in the House of Commons, only for us to learn that the Government had known for 15 years about his treachery, as had the Royal Family, and yet did nothing.
You couldn’t make it up. And no one would believe you if you did. A fine documentary, most of which I’d rather not have known.
I congratulate the makers of a one-hour TV journey called Alison & Larry: Billericay To Barry (Gold, Monday) which felt like an eternity. I’m talking about Steadman and Lamb respectively, from TV sitcom Gavin & Stacey.
If you haven’t heard of that, please drop me a line, which I will treat in confidence.
They play Pam & Mick who rub along wonderfully as Gav’s parents. And they got on well here too, nattering away like a couple who hadn’t seen each in months.
The biggest revelation? The Essex town of Billericay was never filmed in the sitcom, which was all shot in Barry. So this was their first visit to beloved Billericay.
The local council did what councils do – asked them to plant a tree and sink a plaque in the ground.
It turned out Larry hadn’t had a drink for 10 years. The put-upon viewer may feel slightly different as this trip continues.
Steadman was on the G&TS. She may opt for something stronger, too.
Finally, Henpocalypse! (BBC Two, Tuesday) was quite easily the worst thing I’ve seen on television this year, and that’s a crowded market place! It was written by the sister of author Caitlin Moran, Caroline Moran – how did that happen? The set-up, such as it was, was a hen do which is caught up in a Covid-like catastrophe. Even the title is a sloppy pun.
What about Hend-ofthe-world for everyone concerned with this project? The BBC will probably commission another series.