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Raymond Briggs 'Ethel and Ernest' to be shown on BBC this Christmas? |
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#51 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
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That's where you are very very wrong, it highlighted important parts of history through their lives, the political changes were important historical facts.
Without it and without their different beliefs it would loose 50% of the story. Ethel was a strong lady with strong views, and from strength then lost her mind, it was poignant. No one should be trying to make something political out if this. It was a beautifully well told story, the politics should be a none issue. |
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#52 |
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They could have changed the story line to make it more exciting like a murder or an affair or the cat going postal.
It reminds me a bit of The Royale Family - not a lot happens but the conversations and everyday life is what makes is entertaining. |
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#53 |
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What a wonderful little programme that was and very moving in the end. No doubt some will complain that nothing exciting happened but for me it's charm was exactly for that reason. Nothing exciting does happen to most people, in our neighbourhood something exciting would be a powercut or the binmen coming on the wrong day when none of the bins are out. The show's draw IMO is the simple everyday occurrences and chatter about the sort of stuff anyone discusses and can relate to, no loud noises or fancy gimmicks, just two everyday people living everyday lives. And the best bit? No wretched CGI in sight, lovely to see proper artwork from a proper artist for once and nice to know that real animation does still exist.
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#54 |
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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This is the best thing on TV this Christmas. Gentle, affectionate and touchingly evocative of its time.
It is a true story about real people living through some of the most catastrophic and challenging events of the last century. In it's simplicity and truthfulness it is a testament to their resilience, humour and honesty when all is crumbling around them. It's about love and honour and hope, and not to be missed in my view. Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent really bring these two lovely people to life - depending on your generation they could be your parents, grandparents, great or even great great grandparents. Their story is mirrored by so many of their generation, and is thoroughly deserving of this tribute. |
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#55 |
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Join Date: Mar 2013
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Perfectly put and better said than me.
It was a beautifully well told story, the politics should be a none issue. It's just a viewpoint. I don't begrudge anyone's enjoyment of it. Probably the first and last pre-watershed animated pig sex, too. |
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#56 |
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And the best bit? No wretched CGI in sight, lovely to see proper artwork from a proper artist for once and nice to know that real animation does still exist.
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The computer animation deployed to render planes flying and cars in motion jars a little at first with the lo-tech, traditional look of animation elsewhere...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...-review-938090Quote:
The animators work with a computer software called TVPaint. All the other classic Raymond Briggs films – The Snowman, The Snowman and the Snowdog, Father Christmas etc – have been animated on paper; Ethel & Ernest is the first to be made 'digitally'.
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-...-ethel--ernest
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#57 |
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Well that's it. It ought to be. The animation, the story, the little vignettes of daily life through the war were excellent, but the ham-fisted political stuff just felt very forced.
It's just a viewpoint. I don't begrudge anyone's enjoyment of it. Probably the first and last pre-watershed animated pig sex, too. |
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#58 |
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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Wasn't forced at all. With the war and jobs back than, naturally politics was always going to be mentioned and it's based around real people so it's just being true to who they were.
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#59 |
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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A nice little bit of old England. Reminded me of the Orwell novel 'Coming up for air' which is set between the first and second world wars.
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#60 |
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It was absolutely beautiful. Probably the best thing I've seen on TV this Christmas AND this year. I find animation can be even more moving when done right.
I also loved those photographs on the credits. Quote:
I thought that was superb.
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#61 |
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I watched this with my mother who is almost exactly the same age as Raymond Briggs. We both enjoyed it and she recognised many of the household items used and remembered many of the events. But she did wonder how the family afforded their home on a milkman's salary.
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#62 |
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Absolutely beautiful and the best thing I've seen on television this Christmas, my husband and I were spellbound, It's ordinariness was the whole point, it reminded me so much of my grandparents who were about Raymond Briggs's age and lived in London.
As for the inclusion of politics, my grandparents were absolute political animals because of the tumultuous times they lived in. They lived through the 'hungry thirties,' then evacuation and serious injury during World War 2. The introduction of the welfare state was a huge deal to them (my Nan recounted vividly how amazing it was and how almost everyone in the older generation that she knew suddenly went from having no teeth and being unable to eat anything much to having a mouth full of false teeth in the months following the introduction of free dental treatment). Later on my grandfather did National Service in Korea and they both went on to live through the upheavals of the political and social changes brought about in later decades. To have divorced politics from their life story would have been to tell half a story and I'm sure it was the same for Ethel and Ernest. I find it bizarre how people have to have a political axe to grind regardless of what they're watching. This was a wonderful tribute to Ethel and Ernest - and Suzie the cat of course.
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#63 |
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Lovely animated drama
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#64 |
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I was thinking that. I made it over 20 years old ? They never said what happened to her either.
That was wonderful yet so upsetting. |
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#65 |
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A lovely film. And very moving. ![]() Quote:
Yes I was looking at each photo, love old photos, and thinking 'that sounds like Paul McCartney'.
![]() I did notice though that Rosie the cat didn't seem to age. ![]() But if it was supposed to be the same one as when they moved in, then it would be over 40. ![]() Quote:
I watched this with my mother who is almost exactly the same age as Raymond Briggs. We both enjoyed it and she recognised many of the household items used and remembered many of the events. But she did wonder how the family afforded their home on a milkman's salary.
Perhaps they inherited it, or rented it? |
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#66 |
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Join Date: Jul 2008
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It was lovely. I just knew there'd be people on here moaning that there wasn't much happening on it. Just observing the details of the animation is enjoyment enough for me, I wish there had been more of this quality on over Christmas.
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#67 |
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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Most working class people of the time would have rented - it was the norm in those days.
Maybe their cat always had the same name, I often call the current incumbent by the name of a previous resident! So many things are redolent of my own family history, I laughed and cried too. Mrs B's one-upmanship with the neighbour, not wanting to go out in the new car in her slippers, the first telly, the first phone, the first fridge, the iron plugged into the living room light, not wanting to make the bathroom dirty so washing in the kitchen sink, and most of all, Mrs B licking her hankie and wiping the dirt off her son's face - nearly everybody's Mum did that! |
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#68 |
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Join Date: Feb 2011
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Take a look at the bike again and the planes and cars.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...-review-938090 http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-...-ethel--ernest |
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#69 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: North-West England
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I thought they overdid the political aspects.
As for a mortgage on an £850 house over 25 years, that would have been roughly a fiver a month. They would have had to put down a sizeable deposit, and only his earnings would have been taken into account, but It still fell within the "two and a half times annual earnings" rule for mortgages. I thought it unlikely that the mother did not embrace the social changes too well. |
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#70 |
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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I thought it was meant to be two different cats, one called Rosie and one called Susie. Or else they always named their cats by the same name. I remember an aunt of mine who had at least three cats called Fred.
I loved the programme, but like someone else has said, I did wonder how they manged to afford the house and live fairly well on a milkman's wages. My dad was a hospital worker and my parents couldn't afford a telephone until the end of the 1960's and they never had a car. |
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#71 |
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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I thought they overdid the political aspects.
As for a mortgage on an £850 house over 25 years, that would have been roughly a fiver a month. They would have had to put down a sizeable deposit, and only his earnings would have been taken into account, but It still fell within the "two and a half times annual earnings" rule for mortgages. I thought it unlikely that the mother did not embrace the social changes too well. |
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#72 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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I thought it was meant to be two different cats, one called Rosie and one called Susie. Or else they always named their cats by the same name. I remember an aunt of mine who had at least three cats called Fred.
I loved the programme, but like someone else has said, I did wonder how they manged to afford the house and live fairly well on a milkman's wages. My dad was a hospital worker and my parents couldn't afford a telephone until the end of the 1960's and they never had a car. I spoke to some neighbours of hers at her birthday party earlier this year and they too bought in the 1960's and also never had well paid jobs throughout their lives. The husband worked in a local factory as a manual worker. Prior to the 1980's it was possible to buy a home (even in moderately desirable areas), based on the 3X salary and a good deposit. Your could save for a deposit without fear that the house was raising in value quicker than the deposit you were saving! Ps, Not that it is relevant but the nurse, bus conductor and their neighbour's mentioned all immigrated to the UK in the late 1950's and just didn't want to live in council housing. Pps. I should add, whilst my parents owned a house when many of my friends parents didn’t, there was no colour tv’s (until the 80’s), cars, foreign holidays, washing machines, modern hi-fi’s. That wasn’t their priority in life. |
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#73 |
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Join Date: Oct 2011
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Ethel was my nan, the bit where Ernest goes to make a cuppa because he doesn't want or try to explain homosexuality to her was perfect and brought but such memories of my nan.
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#74 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,342
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That was just so incredibly moving. Not ashamed to say that I was in tears watching it.
Wonderful animation. |
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#75 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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In an age when a tv personality is about to become the President it's fantastic to be reminded that the real heroes and heroines are people who manage to house, feed, and clothe their children, usually by doing jobs they hate but enjoying life through their families.
Ethel and Ernest managed to have their own home because Ernest had a secure income, did a lot of DIY at home, bought second-hand, and enjoyed all the benefits introduced by a Labour government after the war (nationalised utilities and transport, the NHS and education). Today's families have a real struggle by comparison. A little more interest in politics and a lot less interest in personalities and designer brands wouldn't go amiss. |
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