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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 103249" data-attributes="member: 23">Geoffrey Palmer has completely charmed me once again in As Time Goes By, which gave me the urge to keep watching him. This time it's a series I remember enjoying hugely in the Eighties but haven't seen in many years. We've talked about one of the cars a little, now let's properly drop in on Ria and co. in...<img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515A4Y9TEAL._SY445_.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://www.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/900x450/b/butterflies.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Butterflies came as a little bit of a shock after becoming so used to As Time Goes By. It has quite a different kind of voice. Don't get me wrong, I knew it would. I'm familiar with the series and with Carla Lane's work, but after the multi-strands and naturalistic performances in ATGB, Butterflies still felt a little artificial at first.It's many years since I've watched any Lane-penned stuff, and it jumped out at me how much her voice can be heard in the dialogue. ATGB made a true Bob Larbey fan of me. And perhaps that's telling. I adored properly immersing myself in The Good Life and As Time Goes By, but it's taken this long for Larbey's name to mean anything to me for the simple reason that the dialogue tends to be so subtle and natural it can almost go unnoticed. It's designed to be understated, to be part of the whole without being showy. Butterflies is almost the opposite. The dialogue is like a kind of poetry. One can't help noticing the use of words and phrases. They jump out and grab the attention. They're clever and they're less shy about letting you know it. To the point where the writing becomes a character of its own. In the first five episodes there have been a number of moments where I couldn't help thinking - in the most complimentary way - "that's so Carla Lane". It's almost at odds with itself. In essence it encapsulates the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of the audience, but articulates them in ways that most wouldn't. Butterflies allows the viewer to think "I wish I'd said that", where As Time Goes By's tone leaves the audience reflecting "that's exactly what I said yesterday". Neither is more right than the other - they're just different styles.As expected in a series about a woman contemplating infidelity, the tone is very specific. In the wrong hands this could have gone horribly wrong. Ria and Leonard could have been extremely ugly and unlikeable. But that's not the case. With Ben the oppressor and Ria seeking emancipation, the series seems grounded in the very specific feminist movement of the time. As it is, the show's feminist angle - like Ria itself - seems to be at odds with itself. In one moment, Ria is speaking meaningfully about not wearing a bra. In another moment she is screaming out that she wants to be raped (not the only rape reference so far). There's no way much of this would fly today, which makes the series even more fascinating - like discovering lost voices in a time capsule and being equal parts fascinated and uncomfortable. As a viewer it's almost like having eaten the apple in Eden. From 2017, I can look back in mild horror and yet marvel at the freedom.As the primary voice of Lane, Wendy Craig's Ria seems somehow to embody everything that makes Butterflies different from As Time Goes By. While Geoffrey Palmer's grouchy Ben is essentially a young version of his ATGB character Lionel, the chemistry with Craig could not be more different to that with Judi Dench. Craig is whimsical and poetic. Almost theatrically so. Some of her delivery was almost like seeing a rural am dram with a middle aged housewife directed by her husband (could this be the intent, I wonder? Is it that clever?) That's from where my sense of artifice came in the first episodes. But then something happened… Ria had a phone call from Leonard in which he offered her a job (so offering her the freedom, liberation and adventure we'd come to know she craved so much). Leonard did all the talking. Ria simply listened. But the camera stayed on Craig's face and the subtlety kicked in. In the silence, all of Ria's soliloquys, outbursts and musings made sense. Everything she had been trying to say was written on her face. Simply, and in the space of a few moments, I understood Ria and connected with her in a meaningful way. There have been a couple of moments like this. They're the moments in which I can forget the clever words of the scripts and simply be with the characters. And they make it all worth investing in.</blockquote>

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