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Post by sootycat on Sept 2, 2020 11:11:25 GMT
I really loved this. It was like putting on a comfy pair of slippers watching this. Great casting and episode. Shame about the theme tune though (although I think I got the odd note here and there)
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Post by sleepyp on Sept 2, 2020 14:34:08 GMT
I did too I hear we're getting Diana Rigg as Mrs Pumphrey next week??
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Post by cakewalk on Sept 2, 2020 14:40:22 GMT
This was wonderful to watch last night (albeit rather loud!) but I too was disappointed with the theme until the programme ended - then it burst forth just like in the old days for the closing credits. I was all set have a little listen when Dad turned the telly off!
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Post by technicolour on Sept 2, 2020 17:34:23 GMT
You missed nothing because the announcer talked ALL over it!
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Post by cakewalk on Sept 2, 2020 17:38:38 GMT
He didn't did he?!!!! Wow ... I would've been dead annoyed if I'd heard that.
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Post by technicolour on Sept 2, 2020 18:04:46 GMT
It happens so often now I'm surprised they didn't use the decent tune at the start and whatever they did use, at the end.
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Post by vicky on Sept 2, 2020 19:02:01 GMT
Aaah, that was lovely, real feel good television. I do think Samuel West is very good as Siegfried and I already love Jess the dog.
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Post by geometryman on Sept 2, 2020 19:46:21 GMT
I'm not quite as positive as others here seem to be. It is entertaining and I'll certainly continue with it, but my general feeling so far is that I prefer the original BBC series, which if I remember right brought out the humour a bit more and was a bit less serious. However it's dangerous to generalise from just the first episode.
The scene at the railway station as he set off for his interview didn't sit well with me. I don't know how old James is supposed to be , but the real "Herriot" was 23 when he finished veterinary college - a bit old for mummy and daddy to be seeing him off at the station, keeping hold of his ticket for him and giving him sandwiches for the journey. I didn't get any such treatment when I went for my first job interviews at a younger age than that! Plus we heard a highly unlikely announcement about "the train for Yorkshire" being about to depart - a real announcement would give more notice and be much more specific, such as "The 10.30 for York will depart from platform x...".
I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about vehicles in period programmes looking far too clean and shiny. To their credit, this production did give us a suitably muddied-up car for James to drive (although there seemed to be a couple of continuity problems later as it looked alternately cleaner then dirtier again). (And they blotted their copy book by showing at one point a pristine and gleaming Fordson tractor, apparently straight out of a collection showroom).
They also showed them stopping to open gates at one point (though they seemed to drive off and leave one open - tut,tut!), which I remember James Herriot writing was the bane of their lives when he started in practice. Driving across agricultural land, you were constantly stopping to open and shut gates. Then cattle grids arrived and removed the necessity for them - they were an absolute godsend.
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Post by vicky on Sept 3, 2020 6:20:03 GMT
I also noticed that continuity was a bit off at times, most noticeably after James and Siegfried had been to treat the lame horse. James had to wade through mud wearing ordinary shoes, then the horse knocked him down a couple of times so that he was covered in muck but by the time he got back in the car his suit, shirt and shoes were pristine! At one stage too, he opened a gate for Siegfried to drive through but you could clearly see he hadn't left it wide enough to drive a car through. The next shot showed the car going through a gate that was wide open .... and they didn't stop to shut it as geometryman says. Living in the countryside I know what a crime it is to do that.
I still think it was a lovely antidote to the situation we are living in at the moment though.
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Post by cakewalk on Sept 3, 2020 7:49:00 GMT
I noticed both those continuity errors too vicky. Didn't really bother me though.
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Post by spinninghead on Sept 3, 2020 11:35:03 GMT
My contribution...
It's so nice to have something starting at 9pm that isn't preceded by a warning about strong language or scenes of a certain nature.
This is a different interpretation of the original novels, so it's fine with me.
And, I'm a BIG fan of the 'original' BBC series.
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Post by beverley61 on Sept 7, 2020 11:16:31 GMT
caught up with this on Sunday and really enjoyed it.
Had no problem with his parents seeing him off at the station and I thought it said 'train to York' not Yorkshire.
The only problem I had was the 5 hours he worked on that cow before he decided to put the loop around the calf's head. The cow had already been in labour a good while before the farmer came for him and that is a tried and tested technique that all farmers would know about. I am not sure why they waited a further 5 hours to try it and why everyone reacted in such a miraculous way. I was also a bit confused as to how he managed to get several nasty kicks in the face from a horse and not have even the slightest bruise or swollen lip. It happens but any vet would ask the owner whether their horse had a good temperament or not and it seemed very cruel of them not to tell him. He also did not tell the farmer to get his horse into a clean stable to keep the foot off the dirt in that farm yard.
That's me with my country upbringing pointing out niggles - which I did not let interfere with my enjoyment.
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Post by geometryman on Sept 7, 2020 14:24:44 GMT
On checking - subtitles confirm the announcement said "Train for Yorkshire's about to depart." It did go on to give a specific platform number (9) though, less audibly and not in the subtitles, which I hadn't heard.
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Post by beverley61 on Sept 7, 2020 18:09:09 GMT
OK I'm sure you're right. I only watched it the once. I wonder if they may have said that then "Train to Yorkshire platform 9".
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Post by geometryman on Sept 11, 2020 6:37:16 GMT
I have no niggles about the second episode and enjoyed it more. Good! The late Diana Rigg is a superb Mrs. Pumphrey.
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