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Great Canal Journeys
Porcupine
Posts: 25,250 Forum Member
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Did anyone catch this the other day ? It was on More4 I think but it was advertised quite heavily.
It 'stars' Timothy West and Prunella Scales on a long boat trip along the canals and it was a wonderful show. It has really made me want to go to Bath as the scenery was stunning.
I think it made it more poignant as Prunella has started suffering from mild Altzeimers and she forgets a little. They have enjoyed boat trips for 40 odd years and used to rush off to their boat whenever they could. But its proving a little harder now and at one stage Prunella said on the boat that she had no idea where they were and why they were going, but she was just enjoying the ride.
The love between them was lovely.
It 'stars' Timothy West and Prunella Scales on a long boat trip along the canals and it was a wonderful show. It has really made me want to go to Bath as the scenery was stunning.
I think it made it more poignant as Prunella has started suffering from mild Altzeimers and she forgets a little. They have enjoyed boat trips for 40 odd years and used to rush off to their boat whenever they could. But its proving a little harder now and at one stage Prunella said on the boat that she had no idea where they were and why they were going, but she was just enjoying the ride.
The love between them was lovely.
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It seems that they can never stop, "acting."
I quite like Timothy West as an actor, I've mentioned before that the series, "Bedtime" he maid with Sheila Hancock, would be well worth seeing again.
Looking forward to the others in the series, and think TW & PS are both good in it.
As someone else pointed out, the love between them is charming. I loved the bit where Prunella went off and had her hair "set" and Timothy liked it.
I could watch stuff like this all the time.
I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to see the other 2 - specially as the delectable Sam will be joining them! lol
I used to watch a programme Tim hosted and narrated years ago called Waterworld, about canal life. Their boat was on one of the episodes. Sam was using it cos he was appearing in a theatre nearby.
Tim has such a lovely talking voice and seems lovely all round.
It was nice to see him and Pru together for once as well.
I really loved the whole show. I'm recording them onto DVD's to keep them. I hope they bring the series out on DVD.
And I disagree Tim was always 'acting'. He was just being himself, but he's very good at presenting programmes on a canal!
Did the Leeds - Liverpool Canal a few years back with friends. Slow progress but very relaxing. Went through a tunnel that took 20 minutes which was long enough for me. Can't imagine doing 3 hours worth.
Found I had muscles I didn't know I had when doing the look gates. Fortunately there were five of us on the boat so could share the work out.
Wish I'd known about their love of canal boats. Would have had something to chat about when I met them a couple of years back.
Shame about Prunella's illness. Hopefully it won't get worse.
Pru says it herself in one of the episodes. lol
If you'd ever watched Waterworld you'd know about it. That programme was from 2003. Tim was always on a barge, hosting the show and narrating it. I discovered it on - ha! - the Discovery Channel years ago and taped all those I saw. I really enjoyed them.
He mentions the love of canal boats on that, and they showed their own boat moored in Oxford, that in one episode Sam used when he was in a play nearby. He mentioned the childhood holidays spent on the canals.
I love this series! They seem like a lovely family as well.
Is it repeated?
And yes, Sam is hot!
A Gem of a Series.:cool:
Saturday night 6.50pm.
I recorded that one last week because the V+ cut off the end of the programme on Monday!
However……I found myself holding my breath on far too many occasions as a couple in their EIGHTIES and one with a degree of Alzheimers were let loose on a canal, for a great deal of the time on their own.
I couldn't understand how their son just sauntered off at the end of his day with them and never glanced over his shoulder. There is no way, and I don't care how many years experience they have under their belt, that I would walk off if that was my elderly parents !! My nerves would be shot. But then, daughters think that way, sons just bugger off and expect someone else to be responsible .
Pru is 81, Tim is 79, and they were obviously both very healthy physically.
And they explained Sam was only there for the day. He didn't have to appear at all, but I assume it's because of the family thing he was there. Their other son Joe is in one of the other episodes.
Plus of course, we're only seeing what they want us to see. They'd never show any thing bad - assuming anything bad happened.
And they've been doing it 50 years, they're probably used to it, and used to taking things at a slower pace.
I'm just sorry there's only 4 episodes.
It's an absolute delight, and they're such lovely people. I've always like Timothy West as an actor (and a audio book reader!) but I've never seen him and Prunella in a programme together, and it's just been a delight from start to finish.
It's a lovely series and it's a narrow boat, not a barge.
Sam was wonderful wasn't he. I suppose he didn't worry about his parents as they have a film crew with them, but when the boat smashed against the wall and the windows broke ... that was a worrying moment.
I can't believe their ages. Don't they look good on it ? Pru in particular looks in her late 60s.
Not with the guy they had on the back of the boat there. I wonder if everyone has to have a chaperone.
The tunnel I went through had traffic lights at either end.
I can only assume everyone has a chaperone. I mean, what if someone took ill or had a panic attack in there - all in the dark with no means of getting out. I certainly couldn't do it as I have mild claustrophobia. I am fine in lifts and things, but I'm not sure how fine I would be after 3hrs !!!
Yes, everyone is accompanied in the tunnel by a guide
http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/279.pdf
Also as the tunnel is 3.25 miles long I would not think anyone would be in the tunnel for 3 hours. With a sedate speed of under 2 mph the time spent in the tunnel would only be 2 hours at the most, less speed than that and one would lose steering and would be constantly smashing into the tunnel sides.
In an upcoming programme the 307m Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the Llangollen is featured, it is not recommended to those with vertigo, walkable towpath one side of the boat but nothing above the gunwales on the other so step off the boat that side and there is freash air and a 36m drop (Health and Safety shut your eyes) A wonderful piece of engineering that is still standing after 200 years. with minimum maintenance. They built things to last then.
I remember in an episode of Waterworld they featured that Aqueduct and people going on it. I'd never seen it before, ever, so it's still stuck in my mind from that episode! The drop on one side ... makes me feel dizzy just thinking about it!
You can watch it on Channel 4OD
I've just finished watching and it was brilliant
She did BASILLLL at the beginning:)