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Post by goodhelenstar on Dec 28, 2023 21:41:44 GMT
According to RT it was filmed at Sorn Castle and in Tyninghame, in East Lothian.
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Post by marion on Dec 28, 2023 21:48:49 GMT
Just watched the breakfast scene and there was this HUGE amount of steam in front of Fitzwilliam. I thought whatever kind of cauldron have they got going in at the table. It was from ONE cup of tea! 😂
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Post by linseed on Dec 28, 2023 22:04:51 GMT
Very good, I thought for one minute they were going to change the murderer, but they didn’t
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Post by technicolour on Dec 28, 2023 22:53:55 GMT
Oh. Not sure why High Definition colour gives it a 1950s feel.
Thanks though!
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Post by kakewalk on Dec 28, 2023 23:56:24 GMT
Just watched this (both episodes) tonight. Found it very enjoyable, but wondering how close it was to the book. Having now read this thread I see not too far 👍
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Post by Miranda on Dec 29, 2023 0:03:25 GMT
The only thing I didn't like about it was Lord Whitfield and the murderer were played by actors that were way too young. They should both have been at least 10 years older, much nearer to the age of Penelope Wilton.
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Post by spinninghead on Dec 29, 2023 9:41:32 GMT
It's interesting that the overall reaction here is that this adaptation is enjoyable. Over on another prominent forum it's one of disappointment.
I faced a bit of a dilemma with episode 1. I had been watching a Christmas episode of Vera on ITV3. Now that ITV has shut down ITV3+1, I couldn't catch up with Vera after an hour, after ep 1. I decided to stick with Vera.
Reading reviews on that other forum I was relieved to have stuck with the detective in the old coat and her land rover.
One complaint that several people pointed out was the 'orangey' look of it. A typical technique these days.
The Christmas episode of Sister Boniface looked cold and blue/grey in tone. It was probably filmed in the height of summer and the colour adjusted to make the thing look wintery. Of course, there was snow. Every Christmas episode of anything must have snow. But, that's another story.
I won't bother watching this on iPlayer. The 'am-dram' acting reported on that other forum isn't something that I'd enjoy either.
By the way, I am an Agatha Christie fan, and fondly remember a 1980s adaptation with Bill Bixby and Lesley Anne Down.
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Post by beverley61 on Dec 29, 2023 19:15:08 GMT
OK I have watched both episodes and reflected.
I think it's unfair to call it Am Dram. These actors are good, they've all been good in other things. They were not bad in this.
For me the problem was the production. The lengthy shots of people doing nothing except raising an eyebrow or squinting in the sun for no purpose. They didn't heighten tension, they didn't always lead to an explanation. The close ups of inanimate objects like tomatoes glaring in the hyped up colour.
The other issue was the script. However rural and isolated this village is, we didn't get the feeling that people knew each other very much at all. There was no sense of community. Nobody said much a lot of the time and the murderer was not fleshed out at all. No actor can do much about this.
The time change, moving from the 30s to the 50s. This made the lack of investigation into mysterious or purported accidental deaths not credible. Post mortems have been standard for unexpected deaths for decades. Every death needed an action by someone else and not investigating would not have been the decision of a local policeman. Post mortem and the NHS went hand in hand. Plus we now had the NHS and in the first years GPs were monitored to ensure they were treating the poor as well as the rich. So that period change didn't work. I think we'd all like to see this still happening.
I didn't hate it. I thought the introduction of the protagonist was well done. I thought the racism was thought through but not allowed to take over.
I would watch it again but I do think if this had been one episode instead being two, things would have been tightened up for the better. 90 minutes would have done it.
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Post by Miranda on Dec 29, 2023 19:46:07 GMT
I agree it was a bit overly coloured and the camera shots were a tad daft. But that's the director's choice and each one wants to do Christie in a different way to those who came before.
Interesting about the change of time. It certainly worked better in the pre-NHS original.
A lot of people are saying there's not enough racism in it but don't seem to have realised that class has always been a bigger division in this country than race. The MC was very well dressed and well mannered and obviously came from money. So would get into places and circles that a working class black man would never get near. And nor would a white one. These days people often assume that every black person tells the same history.
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Post by beverley61 on Dec 29, 2023 20:30:41 GMT
Exactly money talks. As did colonial connections. Otherwise half the black and Asian Tory MPs wouldn't be in the party.
Black people have been in this country since the Romans, if not before. It is wrong to presume people were unaware of them. Nobody in that village might have met a man from Africa in their village but they had already met two women from India. In the 50s we had doctors and dentists coming over. Teachers soon followed. If he has been the new GP in the partnership after a couple of months people would be happy to see him.
I thought they gave this the treatment it warranted. It wasn't dumbed down. Some awful things were said to him, but not by everyone. He had money,good clothes, an education, was accepted at the hall. Had he gone into Whitehall he would probably have done well.
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Anymore to come?
