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The Last Post

170 replies

Hepzibar · 01/10/2017 21:31

Group Captain Townsend, Jenny Lee, desperately trying to get their previous characters out of my head.

Liking it so far, not a period I know much about.

OP posts:
PollyHasAKettle · 23/10/2017 04:05

The BP Club looks amazing - did it exist?

Yes it existed. Even today the big oil companies have their own beach club if thats what the climate demands and I may have been at one a few days ago.

It could have been used in the programme as nothing much changes in those kind of places.

ImListening · 23/10/2017 18:26

This has grown on me. Not liking captain Joe though. I think he may have another agenda.

gazzalw · 23/10/2017 18:36

Loving it. Hoping for some type of semi 'happy every after' for Alison and Laithwaite.

Don't like Joe at all. There's something rather oily about him - he's a slippery eel.

Rhubarb01 · 23/10/2017 18:47

I haven't rewatched this but did the journalist - I want to refer to her as Miss Fisher all the time - say something to Joe about having read his story and referred to a Valerie Cotton? Did I imagine this or was there a suggestion he's been involved in some news story before or did she mean he'd written a story? It was quite late when I was watching so I might have imagined it.

I keep wondering about Ed and Alison and why he's so accepting of her behaviour and her affair and why she's so miserable and I've begun to wonder if ...he's gay? Obviously it was still illegal in 1965 and definitely not permitted in the army for a long time after that. It might explain why he seems to love her but doesn't kick off about what she does and the fact he knows she's pregnant but has said nothing. Perhaps they were happy once and he tried to conform particularly with a career in the army but she didn't know at the start of the marriage. I expect this is total rubbish but I really find it hard to understand what is going on with them. Any one got any other theories?

gazzalw · 23/10/2017 18:58

I didn't get that bit at all but there was something rather strange that passed between them in the hotel scene shown in last night's episode (wasn't properly paying attention).

That's a good theory Rhubarb01 - I wondered if he was impotent for some reason? Or maybe there's another reason why Alison drinks so much - not just unhappiness with Ed but something bigger?

Onwardseveronwards · 23/10/2017 19:05

Yes, Miss Franklin did refer to Joe's 'story' and Valerie Cotton - Joe was very upset by this and then had to stop the car on the way home to scream/shout. My impression was that he had somehow been responsible for something awful happening to Valerie Cotton.

Unlike other mners I like Joe! - he agreed keep his promise to hush up the note to Tony. But I think that he has a thing for Miss Franklin, which won't end well.

My theory on Alison was just that she is a 'free spirit' and the constraints of army life/army wifedom are what's driven her to drink (contrast with Mary Markham who is the 'perfect wife'). But the theory about Laithwaite does make sense - would explain why he's so forgiving.

Rhubarb01 · 23/10/2017 19:07

Yes gazzalw it was very strange in the hotel room almost as if we'd missed a bit somewhere. Joe also said something about making the worst mistakes when you're in love and I wondered if he was talking about a bit of a whirlwind marriage to Honor, who I do like very much despite her innocence and I really think Alison values her too. On the other hand did it sound almost as if Joe was in Aden because of possibly blotting his copy book somewhere.

I'm a bit concerned that it's not going to get properly explained by the end of episode 5 and the BBC will do that annoying thing of deciding not to commission another series and we'll never know. I heard the actors playing Joe and Mary on Radio 2 the other week and they were implying they'd like to do another series and it could run to another series but I suppose it depends on ratings as usual.

Onwardseveronwards · 23/10/2017 19:10

Oh no is next week the last episode? - I was hoping for at least two more!

Rhubarb01 · 23/10/2017 19:16

Yes, sorry, just checked RT onwards it is 6 episodes - phew! Possibly two more will do it.

I think you're right that he made some sort of mistake and the journalist knows but how she found out in those pre-internet days I'd like to know. Unless she rolled up there deliberately to find him. Oh it's curious isn't it.

ImListening · 23/10/2017 19:17

I like your theory Rhubarb

Onwardseveronwards · 23/10/2017 19:24

oh good, glad to hear there are two more to go.

I was slightly doubtful that the doc would have been able to tell that there were twins at this stage - Alison is not that many weeks pregnant is she?

I'd thought that Honor was asking Joe if he was gay when she said 'is it me? is it you?' and he responded with a 'you're being ridiculous' face. But as per, I do think he is attracted to the journalist.

Rhubarb01 · 23/10/2017 19:38

I'd guess that she couldn't be very pregnant. I'm not sure how many weeks it is since Page died - was it September or October when it started? I also have to say that for someone apparently expecting twins she looks remarkably slim even at the early stages - I have to confess here that I have twins (hence the earlier comment) and they weren't diagnosed before 13 weeks with a scan - so somewhat surprised in a more low tech era that he could tell with a stethoscope unless a very skilled obstetrician which seems unlikely in an RAF hospital in Aden.

diddl · 23/10/2017 21:21

Does everyone know/suspect about Alison's affair then & her being pregnant would confirm it somehow & make her husband a laughing stock?

Was there no contraception available?

unicornface · 23/10/2017 21:34

Only Mary knows that it's not Laithwait's baby (well apart from Laithwait himself of course) and she won't tell as it's not the done thing.

diddl · 23/10/2017 21:39

I wondered why she wanted to abort?

I guess because she & her husband would both know?

gazzalw · 24/10/2017 09:43

Ed seemed quite sanguine about it when Joe's wife told him Alison was pregnant. Alison seems to be genuinely not keen on children at all - maybe a defence mechanism for some reason????

I certainly get the impression that for some reason Ed hasn't lived up to Alison's expectations - maybe to do with non promotion?????

Really hope there's going to be another series, as I find it hard to believe that we're going to get to the bottom of the Joe and Alison/Ed mysteries in two more episodes (presumably both will still be focused on rescuing George?).

LittleWitch · 24/10/2017 10:40

I watched the first two episodes on catch up last night. Enjoyed it and love the way it looks, the lighting, make-up, clothes - fab. DFiL was in the RMP in "the colonies" (not Aden) in the early 60s and from what they have said, the lifestyle was very much country club, servants and gin. They had the advantage of being in a relatively safe place and weren't in any danger, and in a beautiful country rather than the desert.

I have no idea about the accuracy of the military part of it however as DFiL is now dead, but no doubt as a senior officer he would have had something to say on the matter.

diddl · 24/10/2017 11:26

I had the impression that he wasn't promoted due to Alison.

Not sure of his age/years of service-perhaps he should be higher up?

Are they/she the wrong class?

Peregrina · 24/10/2017 11:41

I think it's probably her drinking and with it the possibility of being indiscreet which has stopped his promotion.

gazzalw · 24/10/2017 11:47

Don't think they're the wrong class. I think they come across as more pukka than Joe and his wife?

Ed seems a bit of a maverick maybe? And Alison too. They don't 'tow the line'???

He doesn't seem at all disgusted by her drinking though, does he? He almost indulges her and defended her to the hilt against Joe's comments re her over-indulging in alcohol?

PollyHasAKettle · 24/10/2017 11:57

I think Laithwaite just loves Alison unconditionally. That there is nothing more to it than that. The way he told someone he wasn't embarrassed when she was at the Beach Club, and the way he was holding one of her scarves to his face and inhaling the scent of her said it all.

There doesnt have to be any 'big' thing behind it. He just loves her.

diddl · 24/10/2017 13:03

She seems to hate him as much as he loves her.

I think he does mind her drinking-hasn't he said something to her or did I imagine that?

He was hardly going to say that to Joe though.

PollyHasAKettle · 24/10/2017 13:26

She seems to hate him as much as he loves her.

I think she does love him but she cant understand why he would love her when she doesn't love herself.

Im hoping for a happy ending.

Optimist1 · 24/10/2017 14:21

I think the drinking is symptomatic of the meaningless of her existence as an officer's wife in such a posting. She's obviously very intelligent but has no career, no children, nothing to focus her life on except her husband. He's a decent sort but can't help her find more meaning to her life and as a result turned a blind eye to her infatuation with OM.

GirlsonFilm · 24/10/2017 15:26

I think that the symptoms Alison has experienced, vomiting and fluttering, are due to liver disease due to her drinking and not pregnancy, and I think that there may not be a happy ending (although I really like Alison and want her to be happy).

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