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Rogue Male (1976) directed by Clive Donner

Peter O'Toole as Sir Robert Hunter

Maureen Lipman as Freda

Ray Mort as Gerald

#peter o'Toole #maureen lipman #ray mort #rogue male #bike #egg #kiss

Haunted: The Ferryman (Granada, 1974)

"The success of The Ferryman is not that it's simply another witchcraft story - it's true, surely?"

"No, it's not true."

"Yes, but it is based on fact."

"No, it's not based on fact. It's, uh... I write fiction."

#haunted #the ferryman #Single play #horror tv #granada #kingsley amis #julian bond #John Irvin #jeremy brett #Natasha Parry #Geoffrey Chater #Lesley Dunlop #Andy Bradford #Ray Mort #Denise Buckley #Bruce Boa #Helen Rappaport #There's precious little information out there about what exactly the idea behind Haunted was: basically‚ it was two single dramas with a #Supernatural feel shown over the Xmas period in 1974. If it was a pilot for a proposed new anthology series then it was unusual in showing #Two episodes a week apart. If there was no series and these were only ever conceived as single dramas (perhaps as ITV's answer to the BBC #Ghost story for Christmas: The Ferryman was actually shown the same evening as The Treasure of Abbot Thomas‚ one of the most effectively #Spooky GSfC) then it's still unusual for giving both plays an umbrella title and a dedicated Haunted opening sequence. Whatever was behind #The idea this is a modest success; it benefits enormously from the casting of Brett‚ perfectly placed as the slightly supercilious but #Still sympathetic author who seems to have been caught up in one of his own stories. There's a few good scenes of disconcerting weirdness #But alas this comes unstuck a little around the ending‚ which is frustratingly abrubt and unsatisfying. I suppose that's probably a fault #With Amis' source; a curious choice to adapt‚ as it's neither a classic ghost story nor anything particularly modern or contemporary #Still‚ a diverting little play and a nice change of pace from the crime dramas I've been steeped in most recently

Play for Today: The Fishing Party (BBC, 1972)

"There'll be entrées."

"Entrées?"

"What's entrées?"

"Don't be ignorant."

"Entrées! You've seen it on the side of a meat bottle label, haven't you?"

"I never read meat sauce bottle labels."

"You ought to start. A revelation, they are. It says on the label: to be taken with fish, cheese, meat, and entrées. And that's what we'll get. Entrées."

"Well, I don't know what entrées are!"

"Oh, well, leave it on the side of your plate."

#play for today #The fishing party #Peter terson #Michael Simpson #Single play #Brian Glover #Ray Mort #Douglas Livingstone #Jane Freeman #Frank Moorey #John Comer #Deirdre Costello #James Garbutt #The PfT team were well known for tackling controversial issues and turning a harsh light on social injustice and societal ills #What's sometimes forgotten is that they weren't above a little comedy now and then. Terson wrote this play for them in 72 and it was #Successful enough to spawn two sequels‚ also under the PfT banner. All three concern the misadventures of a trio of miners and their #Interactions with an increasingly middle class world; the three fit the classic three stooges mould‚ if somewhat softened. Glover is the #Self appointed leader‚ slightly pompous and concerned with the betterment of his two fellows. Mort is the easygoing follower‚ content to go #Along with the others. Livingstone (himself a prolific writer who had already contributed scripts to PfT) is the one more liable to #Challenge Glover or to sound a note of negativity. Regardless all three are thoroughly loveable creations and it isn't hard to see why they #Were brought back. The play is honestly a delight‚ as the trio‚ seemingly oblivious to the hostility and price gauging of their guest house #Hosts‚ attempt their best to behave well and make a good impression; as well as doing some fishing and avoiding the call of the brown ale.#Of course they can't resist too long and the fishing trip itself quickly becomes a doomed enterprise. The plot is really secondary here to #The sheer joy of spending time with these three wonderful characters‚ and hearing Terson's typical blend of the poetic with the earthily #Naturalistic‚ in the hands of three brilliant actors. Glover plays this perfectly‚ so that his character never becomes overbearing or #Frustrating (even when he insists the three should not occupy the same room at any point in the guest house‚ it just not being done) nor #Making him a total fool or figure of fun. Rather‚ his over concern with appearances and matching his middle class hosts becomes endearing #Ultimately‚ despite their attempts to present an enhanced version of themselves‚ in their simple honesty and good heartedness the three are #Already the superior to their hosts. Not that this is as patronising as I may be making it sound. Really‚ it's just a simple little tale #About three friends whose camaraderie and affection can overcome anything; even their own over enthusiasm..

Play for Today: The Evacuees (BBC, 1975)

"It wasn't German, it was Yiddish!"

"It's the same thing!"

"It never is, is it mam?"

"All the Yiddisher talk Yiddish, that's why they're Yiddisher."

"It's German!"

"So it's German! Does that make it German?"

#The evacuees #Jack rosenthal #play for today #Single play #alan parker #maureen lipman #Gary Carp #Steven Serember #margery mason #Ray Mort #Paul Besterman #Barron Casenov #Margery Withers #aubrey edwards #Ian East #Ivor Roberts #Laurence Cohen #Classic Rosenthal in its gentle examination of particular life experience (of being northern of being Jewish of being poor)#And in that wonderfully authentic ear for very real very funny very devestating dialogue. Unusual Rosenthal in both its scope #(being set over a comparatively long time span when compared to much of his single day or even less work as well as the numerous locations)#And for being so directly biographical: Jack always drew from the well of his own life experience but rarely so openly and so nakedly.#Lipman gives one of her quietest and most dignified performances and her challenge is met by the wonderful Margery Mason whose cruelty and #Prejudice is so deeply rooted and layered so thoroughly that she is convinced of her own kindness and innate goodness. Two powerhouse #Performances but where this falls down is in the wider casting. The boys are all very good (the two leads as well as their various #Classmates) but in casting non Jewish actors in vital Jewish roles the production team make a vital (and easily avoidable) error. Ray Mort #Was a fine character actor but he simply doesn't convince here and his uneasy delivery of typically Jewish mannerisms and speech patterns #Grinds his scenes into stilted unevenness. Margery Withers goes too far the other way and becomes caricature. It's deeply frustrating and #Really quite inexcusably lazy casting (and something Jack himself was deeply unhappy with per Lipman's intro on the dvd).#Still this is a writer very near to the top of his game (his best work for my money would follow in the second half of the 1970s) and there #Is a lot of joy to be taken from a now familiar narrative told from such a unique and under represented point of view

Special Branch: Stand And Deliver (4.4, Thames, 1974)

"My brother and Ron Murray have had enough of poverty and squalor, enough of so-called democracy's lies, deceits, dishonesty. They've taken a stand, they've put themselves at risk - it's called courage, Mister, courage to buck the system, and you just can't understand that can you?"

"Oh yes I can, Miss Gosling, I understand it very well: it means violence and bloodshed. It means bereaved families, orphaned children, it means violence met with violence - it means a long leap on that road to hell, Miss Gosling, the hell that is all law and no order. The police state, I believe you call it Miss Gosling."

#special branch #Special branch rewatch #stand and deliver #1974 #classic tv #george sewell #patrick mower #paul eddington #Frederick jaeger #dennis waterman #Ronald radd #Ray mort #Stephanie Turner #christopher benjamin #Edwin apps #Barrie Cookson #Lynn Dalby #Jonathan Elsom #Eric Mason #charles farrell #Michael J. Bird #Tom clegg #Special branch is often described as (accused of?) being a Sweeney blueprint. Here we get George Carter himself Den Waterman and his #Screen wife from that later show Stephanie Turner (who would herself star in Juliet Bravo the following decade). The story is a pretty #Unlikely one as two hapless labourers wander off with a high tech missile launcher and Craven and Co must convince them not to blow up #London. It all ends on a credulity stretching high note of tweeness too (SBv1 would probably have killed everyone off. Well maybe not but #Callan definitely would have). Still it's a nice character heavy ep with Eddington finally getting to do something other than lurk in the #Shadows (his explosive reaction quoted above is a highlight; not that he's right or that the audience necessarily agrees but Eddington #Absolutely sells that he believes himself to be right). Christopher Benjamin floats around as a dotty scientist and Radd grumbles about the #Youth of today in what is undoubtedly a minor but quite satisfying outing for the gang

Doomwatch: The Battery People (1.11, BBC, 1970)

"I was wrong. The Minister wasn't on the same track."

"Not on about his constituents?"

"No, he was on about us, and a very familiar track indeed. He wants a little quietude. Nice, quiet spell, he said, no bother, no uproar."

"Doomwatch keeps it's nose clean?"

"Doomwatch presses on regardless, let there be no doubt on that score!"

#doomwatch #The battery people #1970 #classic tv #Bbc #John Paul #Simon oates #robert powell #Wendy hall #Joby blanshard #jeremy young #Emrys jones #david davies #Ray mort #Mary hignett #Eliza ward #Edward evans #Michael Newport #Jay neill #Elwyn jones #David Proudfoot #I'm still processing this episode so forgive me if I'm not fully coherent. Of all the things i might have expected from this show..#A welsh mining village being rendered impotent by fish farming was not something i could have guessed. This would make an interesting #Double feature with the green death.. Not a great advert for wales tho at least the writer is actually welsh. Some good stuff: the #Doomwatch team actually seem to be getting along for once and toby is even cracking jokes (good old toby i can't wait to see more of him..)#Lovely to see David Davies and John Paul onscreen together (they had starred together in Probation Officer in the late 50s so the reunion i #Sweet). A good cast. But yeesh that library footage of the battery farming is... Strong. You wouldn't be able to show that without a #Warning now im sure. And cockfighting? In my comfy old tv? What is going on???#I just checked wiki and this is the last surviving series 1 ep which means i don't even get to see toby blown to smithereens :(#OH! And Quist just... Allows a murder to happen??? What is going on with this show jeez

#ray mort

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