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The Halcyon- ITV (January)


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Old 02-01-2017, 22:18
Babe Rainbow
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Lord Hamilton didn't last long.
Can't remember what it was but something early in the episode made me think he would check out by the end.
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Old 02-01-2017, 22:18
Amethyzt
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I thought it might be promising.

What is the exact relationship between Garland and Lord Hamilton? I think I missed something there.

I think Lord H knows something about Garland that Garland doesn't want anyone to know.
So I guess the bonus for Garland is that his secret is now safe...and the downside is that Lady H wants rid of him.
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Old 02-01-2017, 22:23
anyonefortennis
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Can't remember what it was but something early in the episode made me think he would check out by the end.
Probably because the actor was too busy filming The Crown to do both shows.
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Old 02-01-2017, 22:47
Halki
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I enjoyed it. Promising opening episode I thought.
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Old 02-01-2017, 22:52
Capablanca
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Quite enjoyed that. I wasn't expecting an awful lot, something like Mr Selfridge in a Hotel but I like it more than that.
Yep...Hotel Babylon meets Mr Selfridge. Good Sunday night nonsense
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Old 02-01-2017, 23:35
tgabber
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Presumably the bit before the opening credits was some sort of flash-forward? Cos it seemed to have sod-all to do with the rest of the episode!
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Old 02-01-2017, 23:46
M_J
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Presumably the bit before the opening credits was some sort of flash-forward? Cos it seemed to have sod-all to do with the rest of the episode!
A caption after the titles said 'seven month's earlier'.
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Old 03-01-2017, 00:08
eye3
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Yes I thought it was good drama and established the characters very well in the first episode. I'll be back next week. Should go well in the US
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Old 03-01-2017, 00:12
Scotlass
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Looks promising, looking forward to next week's episode.
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Old 03-01-2017, 00:18
Baz_James
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Oh come on! Somebody must have hated it, surely!
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Old 03-01-2017, 00:23
miss buzzybee
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A good replacement for Mr Selfridge for me. Yanks will love it
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Old 03-01-2017, 04:13
mickmars
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They have cracked it
With Mr Selfridge and Victoria there is a "unfortunate for them" true story that must be loosely stuck to
With this one,they can keep all the popular people and axe all the rubbish ones to suit the story
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Old 03-01-2017, 06:58
SeasideLady
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And one of the great things about it for me was that apart from Kara Tointon and Mark Benton, I didn't know any of the other actors ! So refreshing to see new faces for a change, you get sick of seeing the same old well known ones in everything you watch.

Also, good to hear all the accents delivered with clarity , whether upper class or working class. I don't think there will be any accusations of mumbling in this as there has been for some dramas such as ' To Walk Invisible and Happy Valley '
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Old 03-01-2017, 09:01
raymartin01
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I'd like to know what was going on with the AR...haven't seen that for a long time!
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Old 03-01-2017, 09:12
enna_g
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It was alright but I was expecting something a bit more and I can't explain what. I thought Mr Garland was an odious little man and I probably won't watch it again as I couldn't stand his character. There was nothing wrong with it but it didn't grab my interest.
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Old 03-01-2017, 09:56
Servalan
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Oh come on! Somebody must have hated it, surely!
I didn't hate it - it was pretty much what I expected, for the most part, and certainly more engaging than both Victoria and Mr Selfridge. But would I watch again? Dunno.

My only real issue was the totally weird teaser, in which a bomb goes off at a party … and then we never go back to it for the rest of the episode. I could buy a device like being used if this was a thriller and we knew one of the characters might have been killed, but we didn't know who … but, instead, it seemed randomly used as a cheap stunt to have an explosion to hook audiences in that was then dropped. Very odd story-telling indeed.
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Old 03-01-2017, 10:09
Servalan
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And one of the great things about it for me was that apart from Kara Tointon and Mark Benton, I didn't know any of the other actors ! So refreshing to see new faces for a change, you get sick of seeing the same old well known ones in everything you watch.

Also, good to hear all the accents delivered with clarity , whether upper class or working class. I don't think there will be any accusations of mumbling in this as there has been for some dramas such as ' To Walk Invisible and Happy Valley '
BIB - I can only assume that you don't watch that much film and TV, as there were loads of really well known faces in there: Liz White (Life On Mars, Our Zoo, Line Of Duty - also played the first thalidomide mum in last year's CTM); Annabelle Apsion (CTM), Alex Jennings (The Crown, The Lady In The Van), Olivia Williams (Case Sensitive, Dollhouse, The Sixth Sense) - and Steven Mackintosh (Inside Men, Our Mutual Friend, Luther, The Jury, What Remains).

There's no way ITV would put cast a high end drama without any big names.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:28
Granny McSmith
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I didn't hate it - it was pretty much what I expected, for the most part, and certainly more engaging than both Victoria and Mr Selfridge. But would I watch again? Dunno.

My only real issue was the totally weird teaser, in which a bomb goes off at a party … and then we never go back to it for the rest of the episode. I could buy a device like being used if this was a thriller and we knew one of the characters might have been killed, but we didn't know who … but, instead, it seemed randomly used as a cheap stunt to have an explosion to hook audiences in that was then dropped. Very odd story-telling indeed.
It was a German air raid, wasn't it? Not so odd in the middle of a war.

The screen caption then said "Seven months earlier", and we went back to the Phoney War, and events leading up to the first scene.

I don't usually watch stuff like this, but watched this because it was set in WW2. I liked what I saw so far. I'm interested to find out what happens next.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:32
G3rol
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Yep...Hotel Babylon meets Mr Selfridge. Good Sunday night nonsense
Except that is was Monday
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:33
Alleycat666
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It was alright but I was expecting something a bit more and I can't explain what. I thought Mr Garland was an odious little man and I probably won't watch it again as I couldn't stand his character. There was nothing wrong with it but it didn't grab my interest.
I agree with your opinion of Mr Garland - odious describes him perfectly.

I'll probably give it another go next week - not absolutely hooked, but also not completely uninterested - there's enough to keep with it for the minute I thought?

Loved Kara Tointon's line (sorry, can't remember the character name yet) about Him being the owner's son and You being the receptionist - she's probably spot on.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:34
fenlander
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Also, good to hear all the accents delivered with clarity , whether upper class or working class. I don't think there will be any accusations of mumbling in this as there has been for some dramas such as ' To Walk Invisible and Happy Valley '
Amen to that. I was also struck by the sound quality in Maigret recently. ITV could teach the BBC some lessons in the audio department.
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Old 03-01-2017, 11:54
tgabber
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A caption after the titles said 'seven month's earlier'.
Ok, I missed that thanks, and then when there was dialogue about a party being planned I thought we were leading up to the moment of the explosiion for the end of the episode but it never happened, so left me very puzzled.

I agree with another poster above that the opening does seem a bit random and just put there for 'impact' as we had no idea who any of the characters were at that point.
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Old 03-01-2017, 12:01
Servalan
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It was a German air raid, wasn't it? Not so odd in the middle of a war.

The screen caption then said "Seven months earlier", and we went back to the Phoney War, and events leading up to the first scene.

I don't usually watch stuff like this, but watched this because it was set in WW2. I liked what I saw so far. I'm interested to find out what happens next.
Yes, it was a raid - I should have been more specific - but your second paragraph highlights precisely the problem with the teaser: we didn't go back to anything leading up to the first scene, as there were two separate parties in the bar, within one episode, but at different times: the first one, seven months after the events in the rest of the episode, for the eldest son's birthday; and the second one, seen in the teaser (and only in the teaser) for the 50th anniversary of the hotel.

We never went back to the teaser - which is exactly what was so weird about the episode. Not as appalling as some of the narrative stunts pulled in Mr Selfridge … but not far off. Why put two parties in the same location within one episode, especially when some of the actors were wearing similar, if not exactly the same clothes (the eldest son, for instance)?
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Old 03-01-2017, 12:07
SepangBlue
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And one of the great things about it for me was that apart from Kara Tointon and Mark Benton, I didn't know any of the other actors ! So refreshing to see new faces for a change, you get sick of seeing the same old well known ones in everything you watch.

Also, good to hear all the accents delivered with clarity , whether upper class or working class. I don't think there will be any accusations of mumbling in this as there has been for some dramas such as ' To Walk Invisible and Happy Valley '
I'm a bit with you on this .. many of the faces were vaguely familiar, but one that did surprise me was Charity Wakefield as Charity Lambert. I'd never heard of her before the Doctor Who Christmas special, in which she played Lucy and looked absolutely gorgeous. Here, in The Halcyon, with that blonde wig that went totally against her natural colouring, she looked really brassy and frankly awful, which I suspect is much as the character was intended to look.

BIB - I can only assume that you don't watch that much film and TV, as there were loads of really well known faces in there: Liz White (Life On Mars, Our Zoo, Line Of Duty - also played the first thalidomide mum in last year's CTM); Annabelle Apsion (CTM), Alex Jennings (The Crown, The Lady In The Van), Olivia Williams (Case Sensitive, Dollhouse, The Sixth Sense) - and Steven Mackintosh (Inside Men, Our Mutual Friend, Luther, The Jury, What Remains).
I had a quick look on IMDB to see who these acting worthies were, because your attempt to identify them didn't actually serve to enlighten me at all.

I guess much of this is down to the sort of TV one likes to watch. Personally I'm really picky about TV drama, normally steering clear of ITV productions. I've been to the cinema once in the last fifteen years (can't stand all the crisp/popcorn rustling and people's mobile phones shining distracting lights back from their positions in the rows in front of me). As I know I'm not alone here, it's only reasonable to assume that many characters in these new dramas will indeed be pretty much unfamiliar.
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Old 03-01-2017, 12:16
Doghouse Riley
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I agree with your opinion of Mr Garland - odious describes him perfectly.

I'll probably give it another go next week - not absolutely hooked, but also not completely uninterested - there's enough to keep with it for the minute I thought?

Loved Kara Tointon's line (sorry, can't remember the character name yet) about Him being the owner's son and You being the receptionist - she's probably spot on.
Yes, but over eight episodes we will get the eternal feel-good scenario, "Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy," we all love that story.
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