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49 Up - Missing character & Fave character

89 replies

Mojomummy · 23/09/2005 10:32

There were 14 children when this started & my friend & I can only remember 13 - who's missing ?

Friend thinks Neil had a pal with blonde hair, but we can't remember anything about him...any clues ?

And...who's your fave & why ?

OP posts:
franke · 23/09/2005 12:43

Yes I liked Bruce and Neil too. I think on 42up Bruce and Neil were both living in Hackney (Neil was a Lib Dem on Hackney council) and Bruce had become a really good friend to Neil - seemed to be really looking after him. Wish I could have seen 49up but I don't have British tv here...yet.

Tinker · 23/09/2005 12:46

this is him, Charles Furneaux

Marina · 23/09/2005 12:48

Good God tink that blows their "no surnames" right out of the water, for once I think Imdb is a blot on the landscape.

I was wrong, I thought it might be Charles Sturridge of Brideshead fame!

Tinker · 23/09/2005 12:58

Hadn't realised there was a "no surnames" policy until you mentioned it Marina.

Marina · 23/09/2005 13:01

Yep. the 7 Up team have always (correctly I think) made quite a big deal about it. I do wonder if some of the participants know their surnames are listed on Imdb?

aloha · 23/09/2005 13:06

Enid, ah, but you are Enidfromthevillage after all.

I cried at the end when poor good, damaged, fragile Neil was speaking about the butterfly and they overlaid his words with footage of him dancing so unselfconsciously as a child. Heartbreaking.

dinosaur · 23/09/2005 13:07

I'm glad I didn't see it, Aloha. That sounds too heartbreaking.

Enid · 23/09/2005 13:08

christ

thank god I didnt see that

would have been a total mess. Actually the trailer made me weep but I ended up missing him.

Tinker · 23/09/2005 13:10

You do wonder with Neil what went wrong and when? If anything? I mean, it seems obvious he has mental health issues so was he destined to lead such a lonely life or could some help have prevented/steered him away from that?

dinosaur · 23/09/2005 13:10

What age was he when his problems first became apparent, do you know?

moondog · 23/09/2005 13:14

Aloha,it was so poignant wasn't it,but something i really took to heart.He had realised that we are all only here for a moment and that we have to make the most of it.
I was so pleased that he seemed so much better.His physical and mental health had obviously improved enormously.

I loved Bruce too.

Only thing I watched all week (ditto last week) and so worth it.

tamum · 23/09/2005 13:15

That was intensely moving, wasn't it, aloha? I felt so insecure, being in possession of a currently 7 year old who skips happily like that. I think it's very harsh to say Neil's wasting his life, LM- he's overcome serious mental health problems, which is an achievement in itself, and is a councillor and lay preacher. Not a life wasted, I wouldn't have said.

Tinker · 23/09/2005 13:15

I think you can see a difference at 14, quite serious. Certainly by 21, had dropped out of University after 1st term after failing to get into Oxford. Assume a lot was expected of him and always felt pressurised and felt he'd failed.

moondog · 23/09/2005 13:17

Definitely not a life wasted!

dinosaur · 23/09/2005 13:19

That's interesting. I agree it doesn't sound like he's wasted his life, at all!

ScummyMummy · 23/09/2005 13:21

Who knows, tinks? The gaps in these programmes always seem as significant as the bits we get to see really. I was glad to see him a bit more settled but he seemed so sad still in some ways. Think the joyful uninhibited childhood footage contrasted with the melancholy sweet but slightly hopeless position in adulthood has always been the fascination of Neil. In fact the whole cohort seemed very depressive to me. No one seemed spectacularly happy and some- librarian Lynn and Ozzie Paul particularly- seemed to find it very hard to experience joy in their lives at all.

Ulysees · 23/09/2005 13:21

Neil is my favourite too I wonder what he'd think if he knew that he was our favourite by majority? Bet he has no idea.

ScummyMummy · 23/09/2005 13:23

hopeless in terms of lacking hope not in terms of being unskilled, I meant. Butterfly moment was lovely though.

Tinker · 23/09/2005 13:23

Fely librarian Lynn resented her involvement in the programme and just wanted to get it over with asap. Said her husband hated it. But, yes, she did seem very joyless.

moondog · 23/09/2005 13:24

Ozzie Paul was happy!
He has the love of a great woman.

marthamoo · 23/09/2005 13:25

That's exactly how it made me feel, tamum - you look at your children, then at all the damaged adults you see every day and you think how does it all go so wrong?

tamum · 23/09/2005 13:27

Yes, I thought Paul seemed pretty happy this time, and much more secure.

Marthamoo, it just seems inconceivable that things can go so badly wrong, doesn't it? I kept wanting them to say what a vile woman Neil's mother was or something, so that I could think aha my children will be fine then

ScummyMummy · 23/09/2005 13:29

Did you really think so, md? Isn't that weird? I honestly thought he seemed irreperably damaged. Doesn't have a bad life as an adult and as you say, nice wife and family, but seems unable to really enjoy them. And when you look at his life at 7 that seems unsurprising.

Tinker · 23/09/2005 13:29

Didn't he allude to his relationship with his father being difficult? Last big talk at cricket match before he died. Or am I reading too much into that?

ScummyMummy · 23/09/2005 13:30

Which is as good for us as the fact that Neil's descent into unhappiness is bad.