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My Mother and Other Strangers


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Old 14-11-2016, 14:06
Doghouse Riley
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Some numpty in the Mail was reviewing this programme and bangin' on about the Flying Fortresses being CGI. I mean who would in their right mind authorise the cost of finding and using real planes?
What we saw was entirely acceptable. At least they made the effort.

As a drama, it wasn't bad. That's high praise for a TV drama these days.
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Old 14-11-2016, 14:43
mb@2day
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Old 14-11-2016, 14:48
mb@2day
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I watched this drama and it surprised me how bad it was. For the nine o clock slot on Sunday I thought the Beeb would keep their quality up but not so with this one . Irritating for most of it throughout whether it was the storylines, characters or the cheap skate cgi effects.

I don't know how historically accurate this was but if I was american I'd have felt like leaving Northern Ireland for germany to take over and see how much the locals wanted to pick a fight then.
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Old 14-11-2016, 17:13
scarymary555
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Too Mills and Boon for me. Won't be watching again.
Me too I'm afraid, was very disappointed.
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Old 14-11-2016, 18:12
cuza
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1982 to be precise but East Anglia where USAF bases remain even today. Susannah York and British TV's tame American of the time, Michael Shannon, with an early role for Carolyn Pickles (most recently seen in Broadchurch).
Thanks

Well I enjoyed it. I'm a hopeless romantic, soppy and sentimental.

I loved Yanks too. One of my favourites.
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Old 14-11-2016, 18:44
Erinna
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I enjoyed it, not as much as Home Fires though.

Looking forward to the rest of the episodes.
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Old 14-11-2016, 18:51
myss
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I put this on planner and watched ITV, loved Home Fires, so will give this ago, tomorrow night.
I'd be interested in your view on this drama as I loved Home Fires as well but wasn't so taken with this drama.

I don't mind a slow start but it was just so dark and the hour seemed to be put together in a piecemeal format throughout the episode, that I fell asleep before it ended.

I'm not so interested in the 16 year old, the soldier and the angry dad story line, I could see that one coming along from far, but her mum/wife of the angry dad is an interesting character. She seemingly has an eye for another soldier and a need to prove herself to others as being competent as her husband. I may tune to see how her character develops.
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Old 14-11-2016, 19:19
China Girl
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It's not as good as Home Fires, but I liked it enough to watch again next Sunday.
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Old 15-11-2016, 01:21
Bannsider
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Didn't watch it. The USAAF Eighth Air Force was based in eastern England, not Northern Ireland. We are quick enough to criticise the Americans for rewriting WW2 history.
A very large USAAF contingent was based at Langford Lodge aerodrome on the shores of Lough Neagh. Glenn Miller gave a concert there on 13/8/44 and other famous visitors included Bob Hope, Al Jolson and Joe Louis, You do realise that the Atlantic is on the shores of Northern Ireland and much effort was put into that aspect of the war?
As for the drama itself, I thought it was very poor.
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Old 15-11-2016, 10:56
Gary Halliday
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A very large USAAF contingent was based at Langford Lodge aerodrome on the shores of Lough Neagh. Glenn Miller gave a concert there on 13/8/44 and other famous visitors included Bob Hope, Al Jolson and Joe Louis, You do realise that the Atlantic is on the shores of Northern Ireland and much effort was put into that aspect of the war?
As for the drama itself, I thought it was very poor.
Langford Lodge was basically a staging post for USAAF aircraft on their way from the US to operational bases. No combat crews were based there. The whole point of the US bombers being in Britain was to bomb Germany. You would not base them in a part of the UK so far from the target.
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Old 15-11-2016, 13:07
STUFFY
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I fully appreciate that to-days script writers would have had no personal knowledge of this country during wartime, however it constantly irritates me that these writers have no conception of what was meant by "the blackout".

Time and time again these wartime dramas depict a complete disregard for the blackout regulations in force at the time. There was a complete ban on the showing of any lights outside during the regulation hours, these were strictly enforced and there were heavy penalties for breaking the law, there were very few exceptions. They were not relaxed a little until near the end of 1944 and finally ended in May 1945.

This programme is another example of the showing of outside lights, the opening of outside doors thus letting light stream out and house windows lit up without any attempt to cover them with blackout curtains.

It is not the only offending programme, 'The Village' even had the gas street lamps alight with all the house windows uncovered.
Even in 'Foyle's War', which on the whole had an authentic feel, they showed a top-secret research facility with bright lights on the outside of the building.

I find it unbelievable that these writers do not conduct even some basic research into conditions at that time.

As someone who lived through the Blitz, I find this sloppy attitude to history unacceptable.
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Old 15-11-2016, 13:29
Neio
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I fully appreciate that to-days script writers would have had no personal knowledge of this country during wartime, however it constantly irritates me that these writers have no conception of what was meant by "the blackout".

Time and time again these wartime dramas depict a complete disregard for the blackout regulations in force at the time. There was a complete ban on the showing of any lights outside during the regulation hours, these were strictly enforced and there were heavy penalties for breaking the law, there were very few exceptions. They were not relaxed a little until near the end of 1944 and finally ended in May 1945.

This programme is another example of the showing of outside lights, the opening of outside doors thus letting light stream out and house windows lit up without any attempt to cover them with blackout curtains.

It is not the only offending programme, 'The Village' even had the gas street lamps alight with all the house windows uncovered.
Even in 'Foyle's War', which on the whole had an authentic feel, they showed a top-secret research facility with bright lights on the outside of the building.

I find it unbelievable that these writers do not conduct even some basic research into conditions at that time.

As someone who lived through the Blitz, I find this sloppy attitude to history unacceptable.
The Village was set between 1914 and 1920, not during the Blitz.
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Old 15-11-2016, 13:52
saralund
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I was bored; I felt I'd seen this kind of things loads of times before, and none of the characters held my attention.

I was also a bit puzzled as to why everyone was Irish, except for the mother whose accent seemed to be Home Counties English. Is this how it is in the book?
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Old 15-11-2016, 13:55
STUFFY
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The Village was set between 1914 and 1920, not during the Blitz.
Thank you for your correction. You are quite right, I am mixing it up with "Home Fires", set in Cheshire during the war
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Old 15-11-2016, 13:58
STUFFY
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I was bored; I felt I'd seen this kind of things loads of times before, and none of the characters held my attention.

I was also a bit puzzled as to why everyone was Irish, except for the mother whose accent seemed to be Home Counties English. Is this how it is in the book?
Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact it was set in Northern Ireland.
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Old 15-11-2016, 14:03
Baz_James
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I was bored; I felt I'd seen this kind of things loads of times before, and none of the characters held my attention.

I was also a bit puzzled as to why everyone was Irish, except for the mother whose accent seemed to be Home Counties English. Is this how it is in the book?
As one of the first pieces of conversation between man and wife centred on how he had met her when in England, I'm a bit puzzled as to how you can be a bit puzzled. The whole premise of the series is what it was like to be the only English woman in a Northern Irish community. And what book?
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Old 15-11-2016, 14:26
Baz_James
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I fully appreciate that to-days script writers would have had no personal knowledge of this country during wartime, however it constantly irritates me that these writers have no conception of what was meant by "the blackout".

Time and time again these wartime dramas depict a complete disregard for the blackout regulations in force at the time. There was a complete ban on the showing of any lights outside during the regulation hours, these were strictly enforced and there were heavy penalties for breaking the law, there were very few exceptions. They were not relaxed a little until near the end of 1944 and finally ended in May 1945.
But this is not London. Although the regulations applied to Northern Ireland they were openly flouted in Northern Ireland with little enforcement, considered as yet another example of interference in the governance of the principality from London. In 1941 there were a reported 1000 infringements a week in NI cities. Although that improved considerably after Belfast was bombed it would always be less stringently policed than in England and in a rural community such as the one pictured in this series largely ignored.
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Old 15-11-2016, 17:03
Willpurry
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Langford Lodge was basically a staging post for USAAF aircraft on their way from the US to operational bases..
As was the aerodrome in this, as was clearly implied in the dialogue.
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Old 15-11-2016, 18:16
saralund
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As one of the first pieces of conversation between man and wife centred on how he had met her when in England, I'm a bit puzzled as to how you can be a bit puzzled. The whole premise of the series is what it was like to be the only English woman in a Northern Irish community. And what book?
Ah, thanks. I missed the beginning, having gone to the loo after Planet Earth II!

But I'm even more bemused now. It doesn't feel as if it's about the experience of being an Englishwoman in an alien community. No-one, not even the US soldiers, mention anything about her non-Irishness. It didn't seem to have much relevance to what was going on. And she is significantly posh for her surroundings - she sounds wholly too upper-crust to work in a general store.

So far, this is essentially just Ciaran Hinds reminiscing about what happened when the Yanks came to rural Ireland. Call the Midwife could use this device, because the Jenny character had been an adult during the remembered events. Using a young boy's memories, as here, is a lot less credible.
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Old 15-11-2016, 22:02
Baz_James
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Ah, thanks. I missed the beginning, having gone to the loo after Planet Earth II!

But I'm even more bemused now. It doesn't feel as if it's about the experience of being an Englishwoman in an alien community. No-one, not even the US soldiers, mention anything about her non-Irishness. It didn't seem to have much relevance to what was going on. And she is significantly posh for her surroundings - she sounds wholly too upper-crust to work in a general store.
It must have been one hell of a long pee! The Irish lads tell Rose "your lot are taking a beating" meaning her English 'brothers' in the first few minutes (this scene is in one of the trailers too). As Americans famously have a lead ear for British accents and have less contact with Rose anyway it wouldn't be surprising for them to have missed out on the divide. There is a spat between Rose and her husband later in the piece which revolves almost entirely around the difference between what's done in England and in Ireland.

The tension is definitely there but kept under wraps for now - it wouldn't do to be openly hostile to the wife of owner of the only bar in the village! I think it's been well handled actually. There is a sense of eggshell walking going on and of a storm coming from afar off in this first episode just near enough the surface to get people watching next week to see how the cracks widen.
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Old 21-11-2016, 08:31
roddydogs
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No comments on yesterdays episode? Look like next week Rose spys the captain, & her eyes pop out of her head & fly across the room.
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Old 21-11-2016, 11:21
mb@2day
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No comments on yesterdays episode? Look like next week Rose spys the captain, & her eyes pop out of her head & fly across the room.

I saw about 5 minutes ( too busy with the Lotus on channel 4 ) that was enough to see his mother helping out the fishermen and their eel catching controversy. Nice of her to drop in and get her head round that problem for them !

Will she be so accomodating with the 'call me Rose' captain or can I wear you cap Captain ?
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Old 21-11-2016, 18:17
Jenzen
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The daughters storyline with... The Drs son (I think) is just terribly dull and its taking up too much screen time. Needs more hunky USAF instead
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Old 21-11-2016, 21:00
myss
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I did watch it last night and found myself getting lost then taking time to catch up with the plots as if the scriptwriters feel that you ought to know how things did run back in those days.

The pub landlord and his wife seemed to be loved up one minute and then falling out the next.
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Old 21-11-2016, 21:36
Baz_James
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The pub landlord and his wife seemed to be loved up one minute and then falling out the next.
So basically like 95% of all the married couples that have ever been then?
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