The Pursuit of Love

[NurseButtercup]

Oh the absolute irony of the words of the character played by Dominic West in this trailer!! Wasn't he start shagging Lily James when he was filming this TV series???

This will be on BBC from 9th May - looks good.

[BestIsWest]

I never got past the first episode but having read that it got better I’ll go back and watch again. Loved the books.

Plus I wanted to add that I had an Auntie Linda born in 1905.

[Dibilnik]

Episode 2 is so much more enjoyable, for me.

It's very clear that the women have no autonomy whatsoever, and can only express themselves through their affiliations to men of power.

The "In Crowd" track was perfect for depicting Linda's wasted years with the wasted set, reminds me a lot of The Great Gatsby scene in the car on the bridge

[Dibilnik]

@Sandra15

@Butterbeers

How many women called Linda were around in 1920ish?

The character Linda was born in 1910 if she was 17 when the story began. I checked Ancestry and found 750 baby girls named Linda between 1909 and 1912 and then stopped counting because I got bored - there are more.

200 were named Linda in 1899, several more with it for a middle name.

I found a Linda Janet Green born in 1899. She sounds more like 1959 to me with a name like that.

I was very surprised.

My gran and her sisters, all children of that era, had fancy names from Italian romantic novels despite (or perhaps because of) being born into the slums of Birmingham. So names derived from Latin languages were very popular at that time.

"Linda" is Spanish for "beautiful" and I can't help wondering if Nancy got the idea when working with refugees from the Spanish Civil War.

[Dibilnik]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I am running behind the times. I finished reading The Pursuit of Love last week, loved it, and then found this series.

Watched episode 1 last night. Almost switched it off after 15 minutes, then found this thread, and watched the whole thing with a kind of horrified fascination!

Impressions from episode 1 echo those of PPs.

For me, Linda was totally wrong because she had a kind of casual, loose sensuality that's completely at odds with how I imagined her. Where is the tight, clipped language, the self-repression? The innocence, anxiety and shame?

The hints at red-hot lezza action were a bit ridiculous, presumably to cheer up the husbands forced to sit and watch it.

Such a shame about so many hilarious treats - such as Davey's hypochondria - being missed out.

The only way I can watch this is to try and accept it as a sort of Duran Duran video (brilliant!) loosely based on the novel but treating each character as though they are products of the 21st century.

[Sandra15]

@TrickyD

Apologiies if there is a similar post upthread.

We have been watching the 1980s TV miniseries combining The Pursuit and Cold Climate.

A thousand times better than the recent one!

Eight lengthy episodes, brilliant cast, Judi Dench as Sadie, Michael Williams as Davey and Michael Aldridge (never heard of him) as an Uncle Matthew, far surpassing Dominic West. Caroline Pickles perfect as Lady Montdoor. A few oddities but mainly incredibly true to the books. The timelines cleverly mingled.

Free and complete on YouTube!

This sounds brilliant I will check this out.

[Nora1978]

Loved it. Andrew Scott was fabulous as always and Fabrice was soooo hot! How did Lily James even notice Dominic West with Fabrice on set?! Loved the humour, it made me laugh several times and was a really good story.

[TrickyD]

Apologiies if there is a similar post upthread.

We have been watching the 1980s TV miniseries combining The Pursuit and Cold Climate.

A thousand times better than the recent one!

Eight lengthy episodes, brilliant cast, Judi Dench as Sadie, Michael Williams as Davey and Michael Aldridge (never heard of him) as an Uncle Matthew, far surpassing Dominic West. Caroline Pickles perfect as Lady Montdoor. A few oddities but mainly incredibly true to the books. The timelines cleverly mingled.

Free and complete on YouTube!

[JaninaDuszejko]

I thought it was great - and all the incorrect facts about the Mitfords on this thread are annoying me. Just chucking out weird stuff re. abortion clinics and such??

I think it is interesting that we are so fascinate by these aristocratic sisters even after they've all died to the extent that we still make up stories about them.

[CassandrasCastle]

I LOVE Hicham as Fabrice!! My word he is sexy...DP caught me doing heavy breathing while I spooned up my chocolate mousse as we were watching one of the Linda and Fabrice sex scenes

I thought it was great - and all the incorrect facts about the Mitfords on this thread are annoying me. Just chucking out weird stuff re. abortion clinics and such??

[Sandra15]

I just started reading the book. I've had it on my shelf for about three years, now time to pick it up.

[Coronawireless]

Plonplon😢

[Coronawireless]

Just finished watching. Got better and better. Last episode was wonderful and Lily James was fab!

[MsTSwift]

Linda was the name used in Nancy Mitfords book which she wrote at the time so obviously in use and a normal name then.

[Sandra15]

@Butterbeers

How many women called Linda were around in 1920ish?

The character Linda was born in 1910 if she was 17 when the story began. I checked Ancestry and found 750 baby girls named Linda between 1909 and 1912 and then stopped counting because I got bored - there are more.

200 were named Linda in 1899, several more with it for a middle name.

I found a Linda Janet Green born in 1899. She sounds more like 1959 to me with a name like that.

I was very surprised.

[SheldonesqueTheBstard]

Adored it.

Cried.

Plon-plon got it right.

[MsTSwift]

Really enjoyed this dh too. Read book but as a teen so couldn’t really remember details of it.

[Lizzie523]

I know @Clawdy it was fairly abrupt!

[Clawdy]

Didn't expect that sad ending.

[TheMoth]

I'm glad I didn't read it first. So many things I watch are ruined cos I've always bloody read them. I sank into this like a warm bath. And really didn't see the ending coming. Glad we didn't have the lights on; dh would have taken the piss.

[Heyduggee123]

I’ve loved this series

[andrewscottmaybe]

I've name changed.
I'm 99.9% sure I saw Andrew Scott out for a walk with his Mum today in Dublin.
" I'll be watching you tonight on the telly." I wanted to say to him
I didn't of course.

[ElderMillennial]

This wasn't really on my radar but I just finished watching series three of Motherland (for the second time) and this started playing.

I'm not going to watch it right now but the opening sequence drew me in slightly.

[diddl]

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

On the subject of Lily and DW having that fling, even worse is that his eldest DD was apparently in the drama too (playing one of the other children).

She played Jassy who went to Hollywood(land).

[TrickyD]

@LadyEloise

Oh Lordy ! How could Lily James play with that mouse ?

Why not? Our family rats loved a cuddle.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

Having read and really enjoyed the book more than once, I enjoyed this too. Ditto DH who’d never read it. IMO it was pretty faithful to the novel. People who haven’t read it may think it overdone or exaggerated, but there was a lot in the book that was outrageous by today’s standards.

I wish they’d included Uncle Matthew’s ‘classic’ ‘Abroad is unutterably bloody and foreigners are fiends!’
Ditto his practice of writing the name of anyone he disliked on a piece of paper and putting it in a drawer - in the hope that they’d die - and looking pleased but guilty if they did. 😱 but 😂 too.