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Original poster

Dorothy Sayers' Whimsey novels - do you know the (1980s) TV adaptations?

366 replies

JeanneDeMontbaston · 10/01/2015 11:33

I wasn't sure where to put this thread, but it feels as if it'd be more at home here that the TV threads. I love Dorothy Sayers. MN introduced me to her. I wish they'd do another adaptation, but the 1980s ones are surprisingly good.

The wonderful sconerhymeswithgone showed me the existence of these on youtube. (The link is to Gaudy Night, because that's what I'm watching, but there are lots of earlier ones).

What do you think? I liked the casting, but I have quibbles. And the ending to Gaudy Night is a travesty, right?

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HollyBdenum · 12/01/2015 12:20

I gave up after The Attenbury Emeralds which I thought was dreadful.

FriendlyLadybird · 12/01/2015 12:06

Oh what a lovely thread! I love DLS, though have always been bothered by Peter's 'slim shoulders', as I prefer them broad. I've got a thing about Donne too.

JPW's Wimsey books get worse the further away she moves from DLS. The last one was an utter travesty.

ArcheryAnnie · 12/01/2015 11:48

Mind you Erin - Lara Pulver - would be better. They'd almost have to unpretty her, though.

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 11:34

Esther Hall.

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 11:34

Who played Ellie in spooks? What about her?

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 11:32

Yes, he looks pretty convincing. He's got the chin.

ZeroFunDame · 12/01/2015 11:23

Ah - thread twinning.Grin (I've often thought this would be a good idea.)

I'm struggling slighty with a new cast list - outside Dr Who, Sherlock, Last Tango or MasterchefHmm I won't have seen them. Oh! I've remembered someone else. Loving this idea -

How about Maggie Gyllenhaal for Harriet?

HollyBdenum · 12/01/2015 11:08

My dad took up bell ringing in retirement, and has become very critical of DLS's depiction of bell ringing since then.

AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves · 12/01/2015 10:30

Another thespian family we could expect to invade The Archers, then...

PetulaGordino · 12/01/2015 10:28

uncle i think - i'm pretty sure he's emilia fox's dad and she and lawrence are cousins

AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves · 12/01/2015 10:19

Edward Fox would have made a brilliant LPW in his prime. Is he Laurence's father or uncle?

PetulaGordino · 12/01/2015 10:16

Thanks mimsy. I knew about posies etc but not that it would have extended to the courts in the 1920s, it's interesting

I haven't read Margery Allingham for years, must reread

ArcheryAnnie · 12/01/2015 09:16

He has the requisite mix of silly face, height, and intelligence.

Argh! I meant apparent slightness, not height! (Though I don't think he is slight at all, just that his height makes him appear so.)

ArcheryAnnie · 12/01/2015 09:14

Whoever mentioned Laurence Fox is a genius - I am absolutely and forever Team Petherbridge (won't even watch the Ian Carmichael ones), but Fox could do, even despite the height. He has the requisite mix of silly face, height, and intelligence.

Maybe what we need is a modern reboot a la Sherlock - I am also Team Brett, but love the Cummerbund/Freeman version.

Also seconded that we need an Allingham thread - I love her to bits, too, though DLS will always be my first mystery love. Though I made the mistake of reading the Allingham book that had been finished by her husband after her death, and - no. No no no. Terrible.

Also

IrenetheQuaint · 12/01/2015 08:38

That's interesting, thanks Mimsy!

It would be fun to have an Allingham thread. Her novels are often quite mad, but weirdly engaging.

AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves · 12/01/2015 08:12

No, I love it! Much as I am in a minority of Archers listeners who long to hear more of Bert Fry's poetry...

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 08:12

Thanks, Mimsy!

Montagu Egg doesn't drive you mad with his salesman's handbook stuff?

AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves · 12/01/2015 08:01

I don't really belong here as I can't stand LPW , although I have read all the LPW books, more than once. I like Harriet and I like the stories (especially Murder Must Advertise), it's just the tiresome LPW I struggle with. I much prefer her other detective, Montague Egg, who features in various short stories. He's a chirpy little travelling salesman in the wine and spirits trade who solves whodunnits while on his rounds.

Anyway, I just popped in to say that the flowers were a hangover from the days when nobody knew about bacteria and viruses and it was widely believed that illness might be a result of bad smells (miasma) of which there were many in London, before we had decent sanitation. People carried flowers to ward off the smell - so in Ring a ring a roses, the pocketful of posies was medicinal, in the hope that it would ward off the plague. It's suggested on the internet (which we all know is always right Hmm) that judges still sometimes have a posy on the bench at the Old Bailey.

There's a Margery Allingham book called Flowers for the Judge which mentions this too. Incidentally, I much prefer Margery Allingham, and for that matter Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie, to DLS.

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 00:35

I'm not sure this is exactly the timeline in my Kindle book but it does show the SP/NT/5RH interleaving.

SPOILERS!

plaza.ufl.edu/sibenny/project1/timeline.html

YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 00:30

Irene, sorry, missed your earlier post.

Nine Tailors is a split book, first there's the car crash (31 Dec), which the timeline puts at after Wimsey spent the Xmas at Denver where everyone told him HV did it. Then there was the discovery in April and the recall of Wimsey. Then later in the year there was the flood and the ultimate resolution of the problem.

It was referenced in Gaudy Night as a story Wimsey had told Harriet at one difficult dinner, time unspecified I think, when he kept talking to prevent a row.

Original poster
JeanneDeMontbaston · 12/01/2015 00:19
Grin
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YonicSleighdriver · 12/01/2015 00:14

"You will be right, though"

Have I said lately how much I admire your judgement?

Grin
RustyBear · 12/01/2015 00:12

Clouds of Witness is currently only 92p on Kindle! (the rest are £4-5)

I now also have Clouds of Witness on mine...

Original poster
JeanneDeMontbaston · 12/01/2015 00:07

(And incidentally, reading Busman's Honeymoon on the link I just posted, I am noticing Bunter's mother is 87 in Gaudy Night, so we are quite right that he is far too young in the TV versions - he looks much younger than EP, and even if he were only 40 or so, it seems unlikely his mum had him at 47, in those days.)

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Original poster
JeanneDeMontbaston · 12/01/2015 00:05

I need to re-read Strong Poison.

I suspect I'm influenced by the TV version, since I have just watched it, where it comes across as if it's just a speculative chat-up line, then he thinks she's talking to him because she's half-interested.

You will be right, though.

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