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Original poster

Toast, anyone?

164 replies

Numberfour · 30/12/2010 21:29

Nothing else on that I can see, and I don't particularly like Nigel Slater.... but so far the show seems very watchable.

OP posts:
moondog · 31/12/2010 16:24

Timing wasn't quite right. Some of it seemed very late 50s and yet they passed the (pantomime) hippies on the pier who dated from '66 at the earliest.

jonicomelately · 31/12/2010 16:29

I enjoyed this.

I did feel very sorry for his stepmum though. I thought she was actually quite nice and that NS only hated her because he thought she was common. He's a terrible snob.

OonaghBhuna · 31/12/2010 17:40

His stepmum emotionally abused him her behaviour towards him was worse than atrocious.He was just a young boy when she entered his life. He may be a snob but that is no big deal really. i got the feeling she was just after a better life and married his father for that.

jonicomelately · 31/12/2010 17:45

The level of emotional abuse you suggest wasn't reflected in the drama. I haven't read the book so I guess you're right Oonagh.

I got the impression that despite his obvious tragedy he was happy to portray himself as quite hard work at times.

'He may be a snob but that is no big deal really.'

Snobbery is always a big deal for me I'm afraid.

sharbie · 31/12/2010 17:58

i know it was autopbiographical but it was a bit me me me Grin

sharbie · 31/12/2010 17:58

that is a rogue p

QuickLookBusySanta · 31/12/2010 18:25

sharbie there's no pleasing some peopleGrin

Who did you think he would write about, when he was writing about his own childhoodGrin

I thought it was brill

Original poster
Numberfour · 31/12/2010 18:27

I loved it, too. And PPs are right: HBC was fantastic. I just cannot quite get past the Planet of the Apes thing (despite not having seen the film).

OP posts:
jonicomelately · 31/12/2010 19:05

It seems a bit weird to me that he brushes off the sexual abuse in a casual way yet blames his step-mother for all his troubles.

QuickLookBusySanta · 31/12/2010 20:00

He hated his step mum because he wanted his real mum back.

He didn't want anyone replacing his real mum.

stainesmassif · 31/12/2010 20:05

I read the book pre ds's, no way would i dare watch it now, i'd be in pieces!

nigel slater's ruined himself for me by appearing on the telly, i love his writing, but in person he's virtually insufferable.

jonicomelately · 31/12/2010 20:11

I realise he resented his Stepmother. I just don't think she was that bad. By that I mean how she was portrayed in the drama. I've no idea the level of abuse he suffered at her hands. Still strikes me as slightly odd.

sharbie · 31/12/2010 20:29

hi stainesy how are you happy new year Grin

stainesmassif · 31/12/2010 20:51

sharbie! surprisingly good. new baby hormones, plus this time i seem to have got a sleeper. hope all good with you.

diddl · 01/01/2011 10:19

I really enjoyed it.

Who was the chap who played the pub owner´s son?

GettinFestive · 01/01/2011 13:24

I recognised the pub owner's son, and it's clicked that he played the Turkish Embassy Official's son in Downton Abbey.

I read Toast a couple of years ago, Mrs Potter came across as being very harsh and unloving towards him. In this drama, she came across as being not so bad, Helena Bonham Carter played her as being someone more likeable.

OonaghBhuna · 01/01/2011 13:37

Jonicomelarely - I dont like snobbery either but I suppose in the grand scheme of things relating to this life story I feel its not. At the end of the day he lost his mother at a young age and then his father as a teenager.That is alot for any child whether you like them or not.He probably would have disliked any women that came into his fathers life because he loved his mother.
Maybe the sexual abuse is still too difficult for him, maybe he is still in denial, who knows.
I thought his childhood was very sad, his Dad didnt give him much attention and always was disaproving, he must have been quite a lonely boy.

employmentlawquery · 02/01/2011 08:13

I saw the first bit but then got distracted by DC. I sat there with tears pouring dwn my cheeks.

I thought it was vv good ( what I saw).

One of the problems with showing affection through food is that you can end up"feeding up" your loved one as a result.

I love Nigel Slater's books and I have felt sorry for a long time that people (like Jamie and Nigella) who are, I think, less talented as writers sell more books because they are marketed so well as a TV package with all the supposedly sexy boyish charm or rather overblown sex kitten stuff. His recipes are better! Thank you.

diddl · 02/01/2011 09:22

"Turkish Embassy Official's son in Downton Abbey"

Ah, maybe that´s what I saw him in.

Couldn´t find a cast listfor Toast to google!

diddl · 02/01/2011 09:29

I think he was in Larkrise to Candleford as Daniel Parrish.

pagwatch · 02/01/2011 09:39

Actually I thought the timing was perfect

I hate it when they set dramas in the 60s and act as if everyone is living in the centre if London having bought brand new furniture, morals, clothing and attitudes in 1963.

I was alive in similar era and photis of my house etc in the 1960s was a. Mish mash of stuff my parents bought in the 50s and a gradual acceptance/acquiring of 60s stuff.

I thought the period was perfect. Highly evocative for me.

jonicomelately · 02/01/2011 09:40

OonaghBhuna. I understand how losing a parent so young, then losing the surviving parent as a teenager would affect a person. Somebody very close to me experienced this and I can see how it has affected them throughout their life.
Having said that, it hasn't made them a raging snob unlike NS.

OonaghBhuna · 02/01/2011 10:17

But everyone is different and loss is unique to each individual.

Showmeheaven · 02/01/2011 10:31

He's not a raging snob! He was a nine year old child when he said that. He was trying to verbalise why he didn't like his stepmum, pointing out any fault he could, he was grieving and angry. One comment said in haste as a child doesn't make you a snob.

jonicomelately · 02/01/2011 11:26

Exactly. Everybody's reaction to grief is different. He hated his stepmother because he thought she was on the make, common etc. It appeared to me he was an innate snob and that when she came into his life his grief was replaced by his hatred for her commonness.

His attitude towards her seems to have gone far beyond one single comment made when he was nine-years old. It certainly lasted into his teens and in view of the fact he chose to write about her in less than flattering terms, he maintained these views as an adult.

As I have already said, I haven't read the book so don't know the extent of the abuse he received at her hands. Having said that I detest snobbery and instantly dislike people who mete it out.