The Daily Telegraph offers this rather downbeat description in its TV schedules of the 2008 Brideshead Revisited film adaptation:
In the light of the 1981 TV version of Evelyn Waugh’s novel, you do have to admire the chutzpah of anyone else giving Brideshead a go. Julian Jarrold’s attempt suffers from a desire to force modern conventions upon a story defined by the mores of upper-class interwar Britain. Hayley Atwell and Ben Whishaw are the Flyte siblings, but Catholicism, the tale’s engine, is only pernicious, never seductive.
As metioned in an earlier post, the film will run on BBC2 at 11:25 pm tonight. It will follow a new production of King Lear featuring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson (who also plays Teresa Flyte in Brideshead). The 2008 film keeps on finding hard acts to follow. It will be available on BBCiPlayer for streaming from tomorrow.
The first two episodes of A Very English Scandal managed to combine docudrama and comedy in about the right measure. Ben Wishaw who plays Sebastian in the 2008 Brideshead does better in his role of Norman Scott (Jeremy Thorpe’s former lover) in this series. This is the story of the downfall of Thorpe, who rose to be leader of Liberal Party. As noted previously, Auberon Waugh played a part in the story, making his own contribution to its comic side. The Oldie earlier this month posted an excerpt from Auberon’s autobiography summarizing his participation in the affair. Alexander Waugh has also written an essay on this subject entitled “Rinka’s Revenge” in the current issue of The Oldie. Maybe Auberon will get a mention in the final episode next Sunday on BBC1. A better title for the series, from Auberon’s perspective at least, might have been “The Dog It Was That Died.” The first two episodes are now available for internet streaming on BBCiPlayer.
The Madrid newspaper El Pais interviews Spanish entertainer Javier Garruchaga about his band’s new album ¡Noticia Bomba! (title taken from Spanish translation of Scoop) mentioned in an earlier posting. The El Pais story also includes a video of the interview for those who understand Spanish. There are no subtitles but the interview is transcribed in Spanish in the paper.
UPDATE (30 May 2018): References to The Oldie added.
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