- Awards
- 52
The 1977 TV series of the trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn was originally screen when I was a young child and I have a vague recollection of seeing previews for it but it was on TV too late as I was still in infant school and had to be in bed early. However, I was always intrigued by it and now in lockdown I have finally gotten around to viewing it.
The premise is a family of siblings and their partners gather at one of their houses for a weekend while one of the sisters (played by Penelope Wilton) is going to sneak off for a secret dirty weekend with her brother-in-law Norman (played by Tom Conti), and her plans are initially unknown to everyone else.
Even though the series is over 40 years old it doesn't feel dated and the writing and acting is first class, only the direction and cinematography looks like in belongs to a past era, or a modern soap opera, rather than a prime time drama.
There are 3 plays (although I think they may have originally been screened over 6 or more weeks when it was originally shown) and each tells the story of the weekend from a different perspective. It's cleverly written and there are scenes in one play in which a character leaves a room and enters in another room in one of the other plays.
I'm not sure of the timelines and which came first but Penelope Keith seems to be playing a variant of Margo Ledbetter from The Good Life only this time she is married to Richard Briers who appears to be playing a variant of his character in Ever Decreasing Circles which also starred Penelope Wilton.
Each of the 3 plays are self contained, and you can watch them in any order, although I think it easier to follow if you watch the third part (called Around The Garden first). It a comedy drama and although there are some genuine laugh out loud moments, I would describe it as being mildly amusing than a belly laugh every minute.
Penelope Keith won a BAFTA for her role in this but I think the stand out performance was from Tom Conti, especially in the first play in the trilogy, Table Manners.
If you ever get a chance to see it, it's well worth a watch.
The premise is a family of siblings and their partners gather at one of their houses for a weekend while one of the sisters (played by Penelope Wilton) is going to sneak off for a secret dirty weekend with her brother-in-law Norman (played by Tom Conti), and her plans are initially unknown to everyone else.
Even though the series is over 40 years old it doesn't feel dated and the writing and acting is first class, only the direction and cinematography looks like in belongs to a past era, or a modern soap opera, rather than a prime time drama.
There are 3 plays (although I think they may have originally been screened over 6 or more weeks when it was originally shown) and each tells the story of the weekend from a different perspective. It's cleverly written and there are scenes in one play in which a character leaves a room and enters in another room in one of the other plays.
I'm not sure of the timelines and which came first but Penelope Keith seems to be playing a variant of Margo Ledbetter from The Good Life only this time she is married to Richard Briers who appears to be playing a variant of his character in Ever Decreasing Circles which also starred Penelope Wilton.
Each of the 3 plays are self contained, and you can watch them in any order, although I think it easier to follow if you watch the third part (called Around The Garden first). It a comedy drama and although there are some genuine laugh out loud moments, I would describe it as being mildly amusing than a belly laugh every minute.
Penelope Keith won a BAFTA for her role in this but I think the stand out performance was from Tom Conti, especially in the first play in the trilogy, Table Manners.
If you ever get a chance to see it, it's well worth a watch.
