Summer of Rockets [MNHQ warning: spoilers!]

[LoafofSellotape]

On iPlayer,all the episodes.

Anyone watching? Just finished episode one and am in Poliakoff heaven

I binge watched it. It was amazing - so evocative of the issues of the time. Really drew me in. Quality actors too; glad to see some golden oldies such as Claire Bloom in action.

Lots of Poliakoff stuff on iplayer at the moment. Trying to get into Shooting the Past (?) but I'm not really getting it at the moment.

I loved Shooting the Past,I'll download it if it's on iplayer.

I've just set the box to down load everything!!

I loved this! Got 100% absorbed in it, thought it was superb. Will probably watch it all again on a quiet day.

Timothy Spall was particularly excellent - he's also just as good in Hatton Garden. I remembered him as Barry in Auf Wiedersehen Pet - and would you believe it, that's currently being repeated on Drama channel! I've set that to record as well.

I've just finished watching it all on iplayer and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was fascinating, loved all the period details, great performances all round (loved the little boy playing Sasha) and beautifully filmed. One of my favourite viewings for a very long time.

I agree Rhubarb01 Sasha was brilliant (actor Toby Woolf according to the credits). So many close-ups of his little face, all beautifully acted.

Mark Bonner is reminding me of the guy who played Reg in Mum!

I think that my favourite Poliakoff was Perfect Strangers.

Timothy Spall & Toby Stephens were both in that.

Timothy Spall was also in Shooting the Past, wasn't he-loved that one was well.

I'm loving this so far - watching on terrestrial TV so only up to episode 2

Shooting the Past is one of my favourite ever series - definitely worth sticking with until the end!

The Norfolk accents are ridiculous 🙄

Just realised the house and gardens are open to visitors certain weekends of the year- I am SO going to visit!

Missed last one. I actually dozed off and missed it!

Last one is 1hr 20, I'm glad I didn't stay up to watch it!

I've finished it, I binged the whole lot.LOVED it!

It's on iPlayer Death when you feel less sleepy

Wasn't sure about the last one.

Who has seen it?

Can I post-not spoilers, but things that didn't happen that I thought would?

I watched the last epi last night and while I still really enjoyed it I found it ridiculously far fetched. I darednt say more though for fear of ruining it for those who haven’t seen it.

SPOILERS,YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

OK, post away as I want to discuss some things too

Not really spoilers but I'll start!

I thought that Anthony would have run away because he was gay.

Initially thought that Nicolas might have been Anthony & then thought that he might have been a Russian

Also thought that Hannah might have held her party at the Shaw's.

big spoilers

I thought the whole animal/ vegetarian thing ridiculous and unbelievable, and his accent changing after only 3 years, wtf? For ages I thought he was involved with the SS and I want really sure what his story brought to the overall plot.

When Shaw went bonkers and was crawling around on his knees, was he pissed then?

I still loved it though!

"When Shaw went bonkers and was crawling around on his knees, was he pissed then?"

PTSD I think.

Ahhhh,that makes sense! Thank you.

diddl I had the exact same three thoughts and yes, I think Shaw's behaviour was a combination of drink and PTSD. He clearly had an issue with alcohol and was trying to avoid it.

I'm not sure whether vegetarianism was considered a bit revolutionary in the 1950's. They were clearly in the minority and from the way Anthony had portrayed his visions in his drawings, you could imagine he might have been a forerunner of the animal liberation front or something like that - it was a bit scary. Also when he kept saying he wasn't Anthony, I kept thinking, why doesn't he take them to meet his parents or family to prove it - obviously, he couldn't. It seems as if his decision to disappear was also a result of knowing what his father and Lord (Timothy Spall) were planning. Who did tear down the posters? Was it Richard's lot to avoid publicity at a crucial time?

Overall, I just enjoyed the quirkiness of it - the whole idea of having the plot centred around a man who invented the bleeper - and the way it picked up on things like vegetarianism, the fear around nuclear war, the Notting Hill riots, the deaf community and developments in technology. I think it would have made an interesting novel.

Apparently it was semi auto biographical,I don't know which bits.

Did the daughter realise the script writer had written about everything she's told him or did she tell him on purpose so he'd write about it?

I think it was just coincidental loaf. He happened to meet her at the moment she was in a bit of a quandary over what her father had told her, he was about to pitch to the TV comedian, and it happened. I don't suppose she could have known he would use it. Lucky that it just happened to be on TV at the right moment to scupper real life events!

It was a huge coincidence that the comedy sketch was on tv just as the group planning their coup reached a critical moment in their plan. I couldn’t work out if the daughter told her writer friend with the intention of exposing the plotters or as Rhubarb says that she was just talking to him and he used what he told her.

Why would the Head confess to Sacha that he had been in touch with Antony since his disappearance? It seemed out of character and why would he bother telling an 8 year old pupil?

It seemed weird that Antony would disappear over his parents attitude to animals. And I agree re his new accent. I doubt he could have kept up pretending to speak like that and also doubt his accent would have completely changed in 3 years. Also the Petrukhins had very little detectable Russian accents. My grandparents were Russian and even though they left before their teens and started to learn English as soon as they arrived here, they never totally would have passed for native English speakers as they couldn’t shift their accents. I think the Petrukhins would have been more detectable.

The bits based on truth as far as I know from articles is that Poliakovs father did invent a pager and did make bespoke hearing aids for Churchill. He was falsely suspected of being a spy and possibly bugging the hearing aids and wasn’t allowed to see Churchill once this was suspected.

"It seemed weird that Antony would disappear over his parents attitude to animals."

I thought that it was more the plotting between Wallingham, his dad & the general?

Also re his dad drinking-when his mum I think said (paraphrasing) that they'd not been good parents-with her always organising whatever & his dad -was it his drinking or his political life that she said?

I thought ptsd as it was often referenced him being a war hero & he quite often made a point that he didn't drink.

Could have been drinking in secret though or had a problem with it in the past.

Yes the schoolmaster confessing to Sascha was odd, wasn't it?

Maybe just for his own conscience?

Otherwise why not tell the mum-at least that he knew Anthony was still alive!

I did love when Samuel was saying to his daughter about him having no accent now!