Edge of Darkness Mondays 10pm BBC4

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  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,615
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    Better be as good as everyone says. Missed it first time around being as it was in my post-student, impecunious, TV-less years.
  • via_487via_487 Posts: 1,244
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    mike65 wrote: »
    Bump!
    Thanks for the reminder. Just set to record. :)
  • bigbadmartybigbadmarty Posts: 39
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    Thought I recognised the guy speaking at the student meeting ?
    Any ideas
  • hyperstarspongehyperstarsponge Posts: 16,696
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    Well it is a okay watch, Not outstanding but passable.
  • Doghouse RileyDoghouse Riley Posts: 32,491
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    Well it is a okay watch, Not outstanding but passable.

    Exactly.
  • Molly HuntMolly Hunt Posts: 840
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    Thought I recognised the guy speaking at the student meeting ?
    Any ideas


    Michael Meacher MP
  • Heston VestonHeston Veston Posts: 6,495
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    Well it is a okay watch, Not outstanding but passable.

    I think that was my reaction when it was first shown. I was thinking "what's all this country and western singing about?". By the end of the second episode I was hooked.
  • Doghouse RileyDoghouse Riley Posts: 32,491
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    I think that was my reaction when it was first shown. I was thinking "what's all this country and western singing about?". By the end of the second episode I was hooked.

    Yeah,

    I like some country and western, but I'd not say I was hooked.

    Being serious for once, second time round, the drama seems to have quite a bit of "padding" in it, but maybe that's because I'm more used to modern drama "series" which financial restraints often compress the story into three episodes.
  • pburke90pburke90 Posts: 14,758
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    I have never seen this but I did have the unfortunate luck of going to the cinema to see the big screen version with Mel Gibson and Ray Winstone which was terrible!
  • Doghouse RileyDoghouse Riley Posts: 32,491
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    Unfortunately, we're in a situation where there are some good TV dramas being "resurrected" which are beyond the memory of many younger viewers.
    Despite the quality of the stories, the fashions at the time can make it slightly hard to take them seriously on occasions.
  • Alleycat666Alleycat666 Posts: 8,737
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    I'm in two minds about this - I've recorded it but I'm not really sure whether I want to watch it again. I loved it when it was first shown and I'm just nervous that my older and more jaded self might pick it to pieces and spoil the memory.

    To view or not to view - that is the question....
  • DJW13DJW13 Posts: 4,277
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    I watched the film recently on TV - what a let-down!

    I do have the DVD (I don't know which version - I'm not sure that I even watched it) and will have to dig it out so I remember that rather than the film. One thing the film omitted strangely was the Eric Clapton theme, which for me really added to the TV drama.
  • The GathererThe Gatherer Posts: 2,723
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    Well it is a okay watch, Not outstanding but passable.

    Agreed. Never understood all the hype. Digital Spy even had a headline yesterday, something like "Edge of Darkness, BBC's greatest drama"? Short answer: "no".
  • Trsvis_BickleTrsvis_Bickle Posts: 9,202
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    cathrin wrote: »
    :D:D:D

    Worth watching for Darius Jedburgh alone, I reckon! :)

    Ah, Joe Don Baker. Great actor and sadly under-rated. He's still around - I saw him in Mud last year.

    I've got Edge of Darkness on DVD and it is strange to think that the BBC used to put out drama this provocative and of such a high quality. Brooding, unnerving, sinister - best TV drama I've ever seen.

    Stupid thing is, I subscribe to the BBC4 newsletter and the daft sods didn't even mention it on the last one. Half a page on some drug-taking cyclist (is there any other kind?:p) and nothing on Edge of Darkness. Idiots.
  • montyburns56montyburns56 Posts: 2,011
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    I didn't bother recording this as it clashed with some other shows and I just presumed that it would be on iPlayer, but for some reason it isn't available! I guess I'll just have to wait another twenty or so years to watch it then.
  • Joe40Joe40 Posts: 1,532
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    If you're wondering if you should watch this or not, it's the best drama series ever made.

    Hope that helps :D
  • mike65mike65 Posts: 11,386
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    Yeah,

    I like some country and western, but I'd not say I was hooked.

    Being serious for once, second time round, the drama seems to have quite a bit of "padding" in it, but maybe that's because I'm more used to modern drama "series" which financial restraints often compress the story into three episodes.

    You needed to pay attention to the lyrics! That song was not a random choice.
    It was the time of the preacher
    When the story began
    With the choice of a lady (his daughters clandestine other life)
    and the love of a man (her dad)

    How he loved her so dearly
    he went out of his mind (her death)
    When she left him for someone
    she'd left behind

    He cried like a baby
    He screamed like a panther in the middle of the night (his reaction)
    And he saddled his pony
    and went for a ride (got in his car and went to London)

    It was the time of the preacher
    in the year of 01
    Now the preachin' is over
    and the lesson's begun (what he does from here on)
  • Trsvis_BickleTrsvis_Bickle Posts: 9,202
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    I didn't bother recording this as it clashed with some other shows and I just presumed that it would be on iPlayer, but for some reason it isn't available! I guess I'll just have to wait another twenty or so years to watch it then.

    Yes, baffling as to why it is not on iPlayer.>:(. Pick up the DVD for a fiver or something from Amazon. You won't regret it.
  • Doghouse RileyDoghouse Riley Posts: 32,491
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    mike65 wrote: »
    You needed to pay attention to the lyrics! That song was not a random choice.

    Ah!

    The significance escaped me, as I didn't like the tune, so didn't really listen to the lyrics.
  • hyperstarspongehyperstarsponge Posts: 16,696
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    Yes, baffling as to why it is not on iPlayer.>:(. Pick up the DVD for a fiver or something from Amazon. You won't regret it.

    Maybe they didn't want to embarrass the other content on iPlayer by having it as most watched.
  • ElanorElanor Posts: 13,326
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    I have to say, I'm loving it! It took a bit of getting into, and I certainly found half of the first episode a bit on the dull side.... but it's really grown on me, and I can't stop thinking about it. I don't find that it works in a modern way of watching telly, where I usually watch but also eat and/or browse the net and/or talk to the cat and/or do something else. But when I put everything else aside, turn off the lights and actually give it my full attention.... bloody hell it's good! I can't get the Eric Clapton guitar bits out of my head (although I can't help thinking they sound like the Bergerac theme!)
  • mike65mike65 Posts: 11,386
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    Elanor wrote: »
    I have to say, I'm loving it! It took a bit of getting into, and I certainly found half of the first episode a bit on the dull side.... but it's really grown on me, and I can't stop thinking about it. I don't find that it works in a modern way of watching telly, where I usually watch but also eat and/or browse the net and/or talk to the cat and/or do something else. But when I put everything else aside, turn off the lights and actually give it my full attention.... bloody hell it's good! I can't get the Eric Clapton guitar bits out of my head (although I can't help thinking they sound like the Bergerac theme!)

    and thus it was revealed how stupid so much modern telly is! Or is it just the viewers who are a bit daft? ;)
  • Westy2Westy2 Posts: 14,510
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    With the exception of Totp, why can't they fork out for extra showings the same night of the archive stuff?

    Luckily my Sky Plus hasn't clashed with anything so far with this repeat, but there has been other stuff at times.
  • ilovewallanderilovewallander Posts: 42,019
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    I didn't bother recording this as it clashed with some other shows and I just presumed that it would be on iPlayer, but for some reason it isn't available! I guess I'll just have to wait another twenty or so years to watch it then.

    I set the box to record the first episode but it didn't record it>:( I had a feeling it wouldn't be on the iplayer because when Alan Bennett's Talking Heads was on recently it wasn't on the iplayer and I missed them as I stupidly assumed they'd be on there! I'm not sure if Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was on there either. It seems to be the older stuff.

    I saw the second episode anyway and I really enjoyed it, I'm intrigued about how it's going to progress. I like the way his daughter's with him but she's already gone. I'll buy the dvd as well one day, I have to see the first episode.
  • EraserheadEraserhead Posts: 22,016
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    It's been great to re-watch this so far. I'd forgotten the clever way in which Joanne Whalley appears and disappears as she floats in and out of his imaginary conversations with her. It's one thing which really elevated the show above a lot of other decent TV dramas at the time.

    I wish the BBC would show more old stuff like this. I thoroughly enjoyed watching I Claudius, which I was too young to see first time around, and there must be so much more classic drama in the archives.
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