Fortunes of War re-run BBC 4 - does the BBC help invent a Britishness that never existed but we now think it did?

[IwantToRetire]

I started watching this last night as didn't seem much else, and realised I had never see it.

But what was so strange was that it seemed like so many other BBC productions, that endlessly use certain aspects of I think english middle class rather than British life, not as story lines, but sort of comfort blanket mantras.

Maybe the novels are a bit more subtle, but at points I nearly laughed out loud, although I think it is meant to be very serious and full of meaning.

Doesn't help that Kenneth Branaghis the male lead and he was just as pompous and irritating as ever. Him being allowed to butcher the Wallander series was a real tv crime for me!

Maybe because it was made some time ago it seems a bit cliched. Just wondered if anyone else watched.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hqtl

I've been watching, but only managed one episode so far. It definitely has a certain feel about it which I put down to te time it was made (late 80s?).

I can't quite put a finger on it, but I'm finding Branagh and Thompson quite irritating. I notice Rupert Graves is in it too so maybe worth pursuing.. 😍

Yes they are both irritating. But after I posted I did later think that maybe it isn't the BBC endlessly reproducing dramas that seem all the same.

Maybe, some people were like that during the war!

I am keeping it in reserve, as not much else around.

The bbc adaptation is very true to the books, which are beautifully written. Olivia Manning married a British Council lecturer in 1939 and went with him to Bucharest (thence to Athens and Egypt), so Fortunes of War is semi autobiographical. I am pretty sure the people she met there and who he worked with really were like that. Some of the characters are based on people she knew. I have met British people a little like that in the past in my travels and in England when I was growing up. I don't like the Guy character much as he is rather obtuse and insensitive and does seem pleased with himself but I think the author intended us to see his flaws and what a lot Harriet had to put up with in her new life. In my experience, a lot of academics are uninterested in anything outside their particular subject. I saw this series in 1987 and loved it but I don't think, so far, this is Emma Thompson's best role - she does seem annoyingly blank-faced quite a lot of the time.

Thanks for the explanation. I think I'll probably stick with it and yes, I so agree with you about Emma Thompson's dopey blank expression. 😀

I'm haven't started watching it again yet, but saw it the first time round. I recall being very disappointed as the books were so much better. Beautifully drawn characters.

Yes, the books are better.

I met someone who knew Olivia Manning, she said the characters in the books were very recognisable - IHO. I'm not sure you could write characters who were so unbelievably irritating if they weren't based on real people 😀

I think there probably were people like many of the charachters. And think the Kenneth Branagh character is still around today. And in a modern form a wife who is only starting to realise he isn't as brilliant as he thinks he is, and certainly not much of a partner.

It all seems a bit smaltzy, hamming up Shakespeare to images of Paris being invaded. A bit too Boris Johnson for me!

But also I have a really clear memory of listening to Sword of Honour, and some characters may even be the same as ones in this (the man pretending to be a journalist for instance) but the tone of that was much more cynical and plausible. Though I see from one of those online crib web sites, it is mean to be about Catholic penance(?) which I think I didn't grasp.

I wonder if there is an audio of the Olivia Manning book. Might have a look see.

Its like watching till death do us part thinking it is just a comedy routine, and then people tell you they know or knew families like that.

Have found that Radio 4 did do an audio version. ohdbks.overdrive.com/ohdbks-statelib/content/media/8343585

I've also got a vague memory that the Beeb did the two trilogies as a series of Sunday afternoon plays on R4 . I read quite a lot of books on the back of those plays

Branagh’s character is supposed to be annoying.

Branagh’s character is supposed to be annoying.

I amsure you are right. But as so often happens, particularly on the BBC some people then think they are being presented with an admirable character they should aspire to.

Like years ago when the film Wall Street was released Michael Dougles (hope I have remembered the right actor!) was sure that his avaricious money maker role would turn people off. The next think he knew was that when walking down the streets people, or rather young men, were coming up to him saying how inspirational his portrayal had been!!!

Sorry hit post too soon.

ie that the BBC in endlessly doing lavish productions, many of which focus on either upper class twits, or seriously self absorbed academics, then turn them into role models.

I'm afraid I must have been watching an entirely different series. Comical amidst the tragedy. Compelling screenwriting, brilliant acting. Harriet's still face is wonderful: the slightest flicker expresses her emotions beautifully.

Olivia Manning was my grandmother's best friend! My mother is the legatee for some of Olivia's royalties.

I think it's interesting that you called it clichéd @IwantToRetire - if things made since are similar then surely it is they that are cliched? The cliche is in the repetition, isn't it?

I'm enjoying it, partly because of the cast - it's chock full of talent from a very particular period of British acting. And partly because I don't think they make television like this or about this sort of book any longer. There is something about that period of English literature that isn't fashionable, which is a great shame.

The books are marvellous, full of detail and nuance. I would recommend them.

Also, I think we tend to forget that it wasn't just the BBC that used to make this kind of drama.

The Jewel in the Crown and Brideshead Revisited were both ITV productions.

Drama was like that back then, on all channels.

Well, I'm not in line for any royalties, but I would also recommend the books. I'm rereading the first one atm, and it is really good.

I love these books - but despite that I couldn’t quite work out the characters even by the end, as I don’t think people behave like that anymore - or are adrift and on their own at such young ages as they were. I’m so glad I saw this post as had no idea it was on TV. Will take a look!

Following. Need to watch!

Its true I haven't read the books. And its true that given when it was made some of it seems more laboured than it might have been if made today.

And about the cliche comment. This is really about how a certain class and certain aspects of (our) history and endlessly portrayed on tv, so maybe it was more that I thought on no not another one.

But most of all I am afraid to say that I find KB such a ham, and remain disengaged when his is putting so much effort into see how I am acting. (He so miscast himself in the UK version of Wallander. And his Poirot was rediculous). And it is maybe this series that led to poor Emma Thompson being the oh so nice and stalwart character she always plays.

I haven't been tempted to finish watching.

I have no doubt in the sincerity of Oliva Manning's portrayal of her experience of that period of history. But if you have read others, some more hard nose and cynical its just a bit cloying.

But again no doubt there were any number of "nice girls" who got thrown in at the deep end in the turmoil of the pre war period.

I am not demanding that everything be what used to be called kitchen sink dramas, but I suppose it also reflects who writes, who get published as much as the BBC (and ITV etc.,) falling back on these type of books.

Don't tarry if you want to watch, @DorritLittle , I think it as only on for another week or so.

Emma Thompson always plays Emma Thompson imv.
It was too smug for me so didn't watch it but i had an aunt and uncle abroad as colonials in the 50/60s - Aunt was an utter snob and very privileged --despite being brought up in inner Glasgow--

I've absolutely loved watching this series - didn't see it first time round and suspect I wouldn't have liked it then.

It was great having a series told from a female gaze, and the slow discovery that the man she had married was extremely irritating, as a woman she could only be a trailing spouse getting secretarial jobs but discovering how she could make this situation work for herself.