The Village, BBC1 9pm Easter Sunday

[Pighills]

[Jim Clay]

Watched Foyles War and believe it or not we have a machine which was able to record Village so we were able to watch that immediately afterwards.

Kevin

#

Ee! Oo'd a thought it?!

(Tee hee, btw )

EDIT: and talkin' o' bus authenticitity, like we was, and o' that Foyle business on t'other side - didst 'appen to see t'Routemaster plyin' t' bombed out streets o' 1946 London last week? By 'eck, I thought I were watchin' t'Time Machine or summat! (That's quite enough rubbish Northern sendup, tha knows! - Ed.)

[bruce]

A saggar-makers bottom knocker in Bolton???

Heck of a daily commute to Stoke!

Now Bolton....home of the Norwegian Blue......lovely plumage....

Bruce

[Roger H]

Seriously, why is this in the Culture thread. This should be in Skindles.

Roger

[Seadog]

More misery and gloom

D Mail

http://www.dailymail...nton-Abbey.html

And for balance

Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/9961922/The-Village-the-most-accomplished-new-drama-of-the-year-so-far.html

Norman

[Kate Wills]

Roger,

I placed it in the Culture Pages because I was starting a discussion about a drama series set in the Great War period.

[healdav]

Couldn't that kid get his head out of the way so I could see into the hole in the bath-house roof?

Had no-one the decency to tell John Simm to sit up straight and hold his spoon properly when eating? I mean look how they thrashed the lad for writing incorrectly.

As for cliches - 'stone picking' - who would have thought?

Maxi

Not many years later my father was thrashed for having lousy writing; and the person who did it was the teacher who forced him, as a left hander to write with his right hand.

[spconnolly007]

More misery and gloom

D Mail

http://www.dailymail...nton-Abbey.html

And for balance

Telegraph

http://www.telegraph...ear-so-far.html

Norman

Is it only me, you and the Telegraph that enjoyed The Village Norman?

Perplexed,

Sean.

[Pighills]

No Sean, James and I enjoyed it too

[spconnolly007]

My apologies. Norman, is it only me, you, James, Kim and the Telegraph that enjoyed The Village?

[Steven Broomfield]

I thought it was b&ll&cks,personally: every grim old days cliche trotted out, with (as the Tottygraph points out) the luncheon party rolling out every possible opinion on the Matters Of The Day.

A sort of painting by numbers rattle through the Bad Old Days.

Having only ever watched one episode of the equally cliche-ridden Downton Abbey, I suspect I won't watch much more of this mirror-image.

Hate t say it, but there really was only one Upstairs Downstairs and there really is precious little point revisiting it. I'd rather spend an hour stuck in a lift with Norman.

[Bernard_Lewis]

Shiney Seventh - it were all right, bah gum. So add me to your list. Hope to watch it next week too, though one of my ferrets is a tad poorly and may need a visit t'vet...

[spconnolly007]

I'd rather spend an hour stuck in a lift with Norman.

That bad, eh?

Shiney Seventh - it were all right, bah gum. So add me to your list. Hope to watch it next week too, though one of my ferrets is a tad poorly and may need a visit t'vet...

Your on the list Bernard. Hope the ferret feels better before sunday

[squirrel]

#

Ee! Oo'd a thought it?!

(Tee hee, btw )

EDIT: and talkin' o' bus authenticitity, like we was, and o' that Foyle business on t'other side - didst 'appen to see t'Routemaster plyin' t' bombed out streets o' 1946 London last week? By 'eck, I thought I were watchin' t'Time Machine or summat! (That's quite enough rubbish Northern sendup, tha knows! - Ed.)

Thought it was just me that noticed that one - and, it wasn't even an early model...

[RobL]

If only we could all aspire to be you rather than watching a short TV programme! How do you know we didn't have amazing easter sundays up until 9pm too?!

[Stoppage Drill]

If only we could all aspire to be you rather than watching a short TV programme! How do you know we didn't have amazing easter sundays up until 9pm too?!

Yes, you are quite right to chastise me for a pompous post.

I have now recovered the almost Christ-like aura of humility that I admire so much in myself, and deleted it.

Thank you Rob. When you get to the Pearly Gates, any problems, mention my name.

[Seadog]

I am beginning to sense a distinct lack of informed, intelligent and erudite discussion of this important topic. Members will note that I have done my best to bring I believe some clarity as to the social conditions pertaining at the time by sharing with you some of the experiences of Sam Arkwright who unlike the rest of us experienced these times at first-hand and which are so splendidly portrayed in what was to me a televisual feast of the highest order. In an effort to get the discussion back on track may I pose two questions which have troubled me since Sunday

1. What was Father eating out of the bowl, it looked to me like three-week old boiled tripe but since this was a luxury served only at Christmas and funerals it must be something else so what was it is as it looked and sounded delicious?
   
2. Young lad after severe thrashing which he no doubt deserved then received a proper telling-off from Father in the field for laying “stooks” on the wrong compass bearing which was if I remember correctly on an East-West axis, what is the correct alignment of such stooks bearing in mind the ambient temperature, wind direction and of course humidity?
   

I hope that members will treat this post with the seriousness that it so obviously deserves

I remain

Respectfully Yours

Norman

Social Historian and good friend of Mary Beard

[Martin Bennitt]

I'm having a lot of laughs out of this thread, which is a fair warning not to bother with this series when it finally appears on the BBC Entertainment channel for foreign viewers in about three years' time. Is this adapted from anything or a home grown effort? I still jib at the BBC's treatment of such as 'Lark Rise to Candleford' and 'Cranford' by making up characters and episodes that were never in the originals.

cheers Martin B

[stevem49]

I was mainly freezing to death in various Berkshire fields/woods, attending a large international orienteering event over the weekend and therefore missed it (The kid won a silver in the Women's relay). My family actually came from a small rural village in Derbyshire and going by your various comments and the 'adverts' on the Beeb (why do they turn the sound up on these ads?), it seems that 'The Village' is somewhat far fetched. I think I will steer well clear of the piece of BBC history

For the record - Derbyshire village 1914 - They had motor cars (well my Gt Grandfather did), they mostly attended school except at harvest when the boys would use it as an excuse to bunk off. Not one of them ate gruel, although they did (and some still do) doff caps to the Duke. They even had a railway in them there far off days . Manchester brats would visit the farms and swim in the wimpling Wye on Gt Grandad's land, to give 'em a break from the grinding poverty of the big city.

[Andy Wade]

I enjoyed it. But then I watched it because it's related to a subject I'm interested in. I couldn't give a monkeys about the accuracy of the charabanc because the scene was about the reaction in the village to the bus arriving and not the bus itself. I mean, who really looked at the bus? Some people on here are blooming hard to please. Bloomin' spotters. I wonder why you even bother with a TV in the first place. Perhaps you should get yourselves a good tome, or a broadsheet newspaper to rustle indignantly from your winged leather chairs, you miserable lot. How on earth could programme makers portray anything from history without someone perceiving it as cliche ridden? Stop looking then, for goodness sake.!

Yes of course it was full of what you might call cliches, but we see these historical events from a great distance so the 'gritty life' is very distant and we can't imagine for ourselves what it must have been like to live in those times without a certain amount of guesswork and set pieces are necessary to the story.

It was nice to see the lads playing British Bulldogs and relishing the game. I recall playing it as a little lad in the Boys Brigade and at school way back in the day. I also liked the bit where they were lined up to enlist. Something I have often wondered about but not seen portrayed. You can imagine them all ending up serving together in a pals or chums battalion and eventually dying together with the consequent effect on the village. It's not wrong to portray it on film because it actually happened to a lot of villages. Because this time is our 'pet subject' we all know this, but how much of the general public are even aware of events that happened in daily life a hundred years ago?

...and rest.

Sits back to wait for indignant replies.

[spconnolly007]

Amen!

[Pighills]

Well said Andy, exactly my thoughts. I'll go back to my old cliche, seeing as the phrase is often bandied about on here, and say, 'it'snot a documentary', it's entertainment and whilst they try very hard, they won't get every single detail right.

I too liked the scene where they were enlisting. I especially liked the bit where one friend was already lined up and the lead man (forgotten his name -sorry) turns up late, but gets to stand next to his best mate anyway and they sign up together (even using 'their' phrase - 'we might get mucky') - thus re-enforcing childhood friends (Pals battalions) joining up together.

BUT it's still only entertainment

[stevem49]

BUT it's still only (Just) entertainment

[daggers]

Sticklers united! Who spotted Jerusalem, before its time?

[Steven Broomfield]

I played British Bulldog when I was a Wolf Cub, with the added benefit of a Patrol Leader from the local Scout Tropp kicking footballs at us very hard. What larks.