29 July - 15 October 1981
3489 - 3522
continued
There’s been high drama over in the Brownlow household as well. Iris is out of prison and Ron Brownlow has fallen in love with her, causing no end of friction. It has been quite amusing that everyone’s concern stems from the fact that he’s shacking up with troublemaker Iris, rather than the fact that he’s shacking up with his first cousin. Glenda in particular is understandably livid that Iris has seduced both her husband and now her brother.
On this note, the dynamics at the Brownlows are particularly fascinating. Indeed, Glenda has felt very much like the kid in
The Emperor’s New Clothes. She has repeatedly blurted out the truth while most of the family is walking round on an entirely different plane and telling her not to be so silly (Kath) or selfish (Ron). Once again, Arthur has been a voice of reason and even grace. He has agreed with Glenda and given Ron some home truths, but for the sake of family he also gave in to Kath’s outrageous demand that they should have Iris over for dinner, and once the decision was taken he didn’t make waves with Iris.
I’ve read quite a bit about Arthur being miserable (in her
Soap Box book, Hilary Kingsley suggests it’s his defining - and only - characteristic), but I really don’t see it. So far I’ve seen a man who gets nothing but grief from his family and is dealt no end of bad cards in life, but he handles all of this without fuss or drama which gives him a quiet kind of dignity.
On the other hand, Kath - with her friendly round face, matronly home perm, smiling eyes and thoughtfully furrowed eyebrows - might easily be perceived as a warm, kind, open and generous character, but just beneath it all (as with so many aggressively gushy and “warm” people), she is a self-centred, controlling, toxic nightmare. When the family dinner with Iris as guest of honour inevitably turns out to be a disaster and Ron moves out, she takes it out on Arthur in a scene that carries a “I’ve been downtrodden by this man all these years and now I'm finally going to speak the truth” subtext. Conveniently, she fails to acknowledge nor even seem to recognise what a huge toll her ridiculous demand will have taken on Arthur who indulged her yet again (having his arm twisted to welcome into his home the girl who would have happily seen him in prison for a heinous crime he didn't commit, no less). And his previous-but-recent sacrifice of promotion to indulge
another of Kath's petty demands is already forgotten.
Something this series does well is showing people at their ugliest, and Kath is a great example of this. Pamela Vezey really nails the fake duality to the character by giving her a slightly different tone (a sing-song, almost falsetto elevation) and even different mannerisms when she speaks to or interacts with "outsiders" to the immediate family unit (particularly those she perceives to be her social superiors, such as Arthur's boss or Meg). This is most clear when she puts down the phone to become "herself" again. Very few people see the real Kath, and those that do all seem forced to suffer through it. I think I’d prefer to take my chances with Iris than Kath. Certainly now that Iris has gained at least a bit of humility.
It’s strange to think how relatively recently the Brownlows have come into the series and how well they’ve integrated. I suppose they’ve replaced the Harveys as the series’ concession to a traditional soap family, living in a bay windowed suburban semi. Like the Harveys, their home scenes feel curiously isolated for being the only one of their kind in the series.
The Brownlows being a little like watching a spinoff-within-a-series, this latest run of episodes has seen a spinoff-from-the-spinoff as Iris has moved into drab digs that make Fiona Thompson’s boarding house look positively open and airy.
Never mind Amy Turtle, surely the real inspiration for
Acorn Antiques’ Mrs Overall is Iris’s new landlady Mavis Hooper! The similarities are uncanny: The pinny. The broad Brummie accent. The hair that’s “very grey indeed”. The hunched shoulders. The reflective remembrances in slightly out-of-focus close-up. The more I watch her, the more I see Mrs O. I’d put money on Victoria and Julie having watched an episode featuring Mavis when prepping the spoof.
Meanwhile, another character formerly associated with the Brownlows has spun-off back to the “main” series at the motel. Kath and Arthur’s former lodger, Gilbert Latham got his photography hobby off the ground in the former recording studio* in the motel’s basement. It all began with a comical “bathing beauty” set he did with Diane at her flat (the stills of Diane gurning in her Naughty Nineties bathing costume and cap memorably accompanied the closing credits, along with a shutter sound for each one). Then he became infatuated with Miranda Pollard, putting Diane’s nose out of joint (Diane had initially done her usual “a man is watching me. Let’s tell all and sundry I have a creepy stalker to show them how alluring I am” affirmation routine with Gilbert). And finally he photographed “stunning until she opens her mouth” receptionist Halli, who stole his photos and used them to get in with a top London modelling agency, setting her on the road to stardom. You could say we have Gilbert to thank for actress Helene Hunt becoming a Bond girl.
Gilbert’s now left, having turned down both Miranda’s proposal of marriage
and J. Henry’s generous bribe to not marry his daughter. Perhaps Gilbert saw the baby bump beneath Miranda’s maxi dresses (these must be the episodes filmed during Claire Faulconbridge’s pregnancy, as
@Angela Channing mentioned earlier). I think he’s gone for good, which is a shame as he’s one of the more endearing characters. Royce Mills seems a very spontaneous and quirky actor, creating great energy no matter who he’s paired with (while Adam disliked Gilbert, I appreciated that Tony Adams couldn’t seem to conceal his amusement and enjoyment when working with Royce). His light relief character felt rather
Corrie-esque (not that dissimilar from someone like Derek Wilton, for example), and it hurt not that Royce was also rather dishy.
Benny's just returned to the old Cotterill farmhouse (newly renovated by Kevin Banks, with enough changes to suggest it will remain a fixture) . The main new tenant is Benny's mysteriously wealthy traveller friend: an amiable Welsh man who resembles Matty from Brookside. I'm interested to see where it will go.
- Something I entirely neglected to mention in the previous batch of episode was the Kate Robbins arc. Knowing her mainly from her Eighties impressions, her voice work in Spitting Image and as slow-witted Babs from Urmston in dinnerladies, she was quite a revelation as singer Kate Loring in a proto-Ciji “hot new discovery” storyline. Kate has a nice voice (rather Cilla-esque) and it was great fun to watch one of Xrds’ “blatant horizontal marketing” attacks with her original song, which featured not only in nightclub performances and recording sessions but also in numerous extravagant montages of Adam and Kate sailing on his boat as the song played in full. Simon May’s More Than In Love was very catchy and - thanks to such saturation - several times I caught myself whistling and humming it round the house. I may even have to seek it out on CD.
