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The Mill
ChrissieAO
Posts: 5,143 Forum Member
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I have just noticed that a new series starts on Sunday called The Mill.
Apparently there was a series one which I somehow missed. Strange because I love that historic type of programme and I am a big fan of North and South.
Did anyone watch this and if so will I be able to follow series 2?
Thanks...
Apparently there was a series one which I somehow missed. Strange because I love that historic type of programme and I am a big fan of North and South.
Did anyone watch this and if so will I be able to follow series 2?
Thanks...
0
Comments
Thank you. I had no idea you could do that....
I missed this first time round, but caught up with it on 4OD just last week.
I thought it was ok but just very grey all the way through.
of episode one of series one. Painting by numbers type
of writing was what put me off! The sort of dialogue and
scenarios that made 'Brass' such a brilliant spoof of this
type of thing!
blame the poor for their poverty(at a time of economic crisis caused by corrupt bankers)
Starve the poor to make them work harder or die
Set one group of workers against the other so they blame each other for their respective difficulties
Turn a blind or contemptuous eye to the suffering of the sick and destitute
Import cheap outside labour and exploit both them and the home labour force
Brutally crush any dissent or protest
Continue for as long as you can get away with it and rake in the profits
I loved the first series but I'm struggling to care too much about any of the characters this time around, but that might because the lighting is so low I'm struggling to differentiate between all of the girls who all appear to look the same and I'm not really sure who any of them are apart from Esther.
Surely all TV should be in 16:9 format these days. This causes the 4HD ident to appear in the black band at the top of the screen making it very obvious and annoying. (it doesn't usually bother me)
Yes, me too. I normally like historical, but I found this heavy going and gave up.
I also found it difficult to remember who all the characters were from last time (apart from Esther, the two sisters and the old woman).
However I am pleased to see the actress who played Sambuca on Waterloo Road has got another TV role, i think she is a cracking little actress.
The first series was the same. The daytime scenes were fine but the rest were too dark to see what was going on. Annoying.
I know what people mean about the dark aspects of this series (and the rather confusing storylines which you've got to concentrate really hard on to follow).
I tend to watch it with a broader historical context in mind.
Although no-one believes me up here in Oldham, one of the reasons for me choosing what was the world's capital of spinning back in the late 1880's as a place to live due to a change of circumstances was my interest in industrial history in general but the cotton industry specifically.
(My GP told me, 'I tell people about you. Most people spend their lives trying to get out of Oldham and you've chosen to live here!!!)
This series is based on what went on at Quarry Bank mill in Styall Cheshire, just outside Manchester and the broad shots show the mill: it's a fascinating place to visit with tours, museum, shop etc.
The house I live in also looks out towards Manchester from a hillside on the way out of Oldham on the way to the pretty Saddleworth villages which were / are actually in Yorkshire before county boundary changes and had many wool (not cotton) mills.
Right in the foreground of my house are 3 large mills built in the last major mill building phase back in the 1880's and often in the early morning, I look out over them and imagine the shifts starting at 6.30am.
Even in the 6 years, I've lived here one by one, the mills across the borough which have not been turned into trendy flats have been knocked down, or in one case, burnt to the ground.
While there will always be many books about the mills, things move on and although I am interested in their history, I have no wish at all to look at them through with a rose tinted view.
Life in them was hard, very hard. Boiling hot in summer. Freezing cold in the winter. Terrible air quality. Accidents a plenty, especially for children who were in the early days forced to do the most dangerous jobs getting under the looms etc and relentless hard work with 6 days a week, 12 hours a day hours until the later Victorian age where Saturday afternoons were added to the time off.
(Good summary here)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nationonfilm/topics/textiles/background_conditions.shtml
Some older people who I've met here worked in the last days of the mills, post 1945 and some of the parents of these people worked for many years in them.
People don't miss the mills but do miss the sense of community which the industry / mills created with most people in the town working at the same occupation.
Aspects of the life like the Wakes weeks where the mills were closed for maintenance and while town headed off to the seaside for a week's holiday are fascinating as they were a major factor on developing many of our seaside towns like Blackpool, Morecombe and Southport. (Each borough had a different week - Ashton, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton etc)
If you are on the M62 heading westwards towards Manchester / Liverpool and head into Oldham from exit 23 across the moors, there are stunning views of Rochdale and then Manchester ahead of you. These views would not have been possible with all the smoke belching out of the mills at the height of the industry - very glad all that has gone.
I am used to having the subtitles on because of poor sound quality and mumbling actors, but this series needs Audio Description to tell us what is happening on screen.
I love this show. Series 2 looks to be better than series 1, with a new family.
Kerrie Hayes and Matthew McNulty both excel as Esther and Daniel.
This like a summary of last weeks newspapers ;-)