Years & Years

[unique1986]

Starts tonight 9pm
Family drama that flashes forward into the future.

Thanks for the link BarnOwl. Apart from this: grandma Muriel (Anne Reid), oblivious to change, sits at the story’s margins as a reminder of an increasingly less recognizable past (laughably wrong) it’s a very nicely written article.

A very perceptive review for the most part. I hope Y & Y does brilliantly in the US. Both because of the quality of the writing and acting and because, like us, America really needs to reflect on its recent past and where the fuck it's heading.

Insightful article, except for this bit when listing the careers of the four Lyons siblings: "Rosie relies on [state] assistance as a woman with a handicap."
Really? She had a job in school catering and then started up her own business.

That too!

I thought that too! Like, have you actually seen Rosie?!

There is that bit at the beginning where she's giving birth and she needs Daniel to be there, but she's giving birth! It's nothing to do with her disability. Old cliches die hard, i guess.

At first I thought that, if this is shown in the US, Trump would go ape at the notion that he was responsible for the use of the bomb just before the end of his presidency.

But, on second thoughts, I'm worrying that he'll be sitting there thinking "Oo, what a great idea".

Britons live in the memory of what had once been; they are citizens of a power that exists now in memory and ritual but no longer as the defining force on the world stage.

Really?

I also didn't understand this bit of the review:

"Most character’s journeys, here, bring them closer each day to hell on earth (Rosie, oddly enough, is living it up, a Rook supporter vindicated at every turn)"

How can they think she's living it up and vindicated in circumstances where she ends up on a sort of ghetto under a curfew, and isn't allowed to run her business?

I doubt Trump has the concentration span to follow it Isatis.

I actually thought that comment about Britain was quite accurate Soupdragon and one of the key motivators for the Brexit brigade.

I don't think the people who wrote those reviews actually watched the programme, if they did they didn't understand it.

Britons live in the memory of what had once been; they are citizens of a power that exists now in memory and ritual but no longer as the defining force on the world stage. It might define some of the 'Brexit Brigade' but not the other 48% or the people who didn't vote so t's a bit of a sweeping generalisation.

I thought the grandma was at the very centre of everything really. She was the family 'rock'.

Well, it's not an ideology i subscribe to personally but regardless of my personal views, it's the ideology that got us into this stupid mess as a nation captain.

I think it's telling that the baby boomers, the ones born directly after the war, and after the end of empire, were the biggest Brexit demographic. I think it was a confused collective expression of them mourning their parents generation and an idealised and heavily edited version of a world they'd never known.

Interesting that Muriel lived through WW2 and saw Viv for what she was. Perhaps if the Brexit vote had happened when most of her generation were still alive the result would have been very different.

I thought the bit about our living on a glorious past was pretty spot on, actually ...

Really? Do you spend your days waxing lyricalabout how great the British Empire was?

Do you spend your days waxing lyricalabout how great the British Empire was?

Hah! Clearly we haven’t met.

I didn’t interpret the phrase as meaning anything like that. To me it seemed to be referring to a collective consciousness of what Britain ‘stands for’ - which is a thing very much seem through a prism of memory and ritual but having little practical relevance now. Sentiment rather than politics ...

Interesting that Muriel lived through WW2 and saw Viv for what she was
yes but didn't she also vote tory so not that liberal then? Or are we putting that down to her failing eyesight?
Perhaps if the Brexit vote had happened when most of her generation were still alive the result would have been very different
Not sure how accurate they are but ipsos estimated that 63% of voters aged 75+ voted for Brexit.

I’m so torn over the plot. Because on the one hand the fact that Stephen was able to do so easily something that killed Daniel - travelling to and from mainland Europe - seems like weak plotting. But of course it is exactly the case for anyone with a British passport - while we watch people drown on our TV screens every day. So that casual epilogue takes on enormous significance.

I have her down as a lifelong One Nation, pro-European Tory voter Rage. With a house that size in Manchester it's unlikely she'd have come of age voting Labour

In Drama on 3, on now, Signor is called Rose! ( The Invisible Radio 3).

I'm going to try and listen to that as a podcast for when I run.

"Really? hmm She had a job in school catering and then started up her own business."

I don't remember the school catering job, but if you mean dinner lady, that's just a few hours a day and doesn't pay enough to sustain a family. I don't think the business ever really got a chance to get going either as she was prevented from running it by some kind of licensing authority, wasn't she?

She was a catering manager

"Britons live in the memory of what had once been; they are citizens of a power that exists now in memory and ritual but no longer as the defining force on the world stage.

Really?"

Yes, this is true isn't it. A lot of people here think Britain is a great power when it isn't.

My point about Rosie is that in the article, her siblings were identified by their career/job/role, whereas Rosie was identified by her disability.

I'm not sure being an activist would have provided Edith with enough of an income to live on.

Yes, this is true isn't it. A lot of people here think Britain is a great power when it isn't.

No, it isn't. The article claims we are all living in the glow of historical "glory" when in fact it's only a few.