It is time to pay tribute to that excellent British actor, David Jason (White) OBE, and to mark the end of his police detective career as Inspector Jack Frost, with 42 films over 17 years.
Tuesday April 6th became a good but tiring day. I wrote and undertook other artwork activities in the morning and then as the weather improved, managed to begin work again on one of the patio walls, covering liberally with a fungus preventive solution. Mid morning on Wednesday I repaired the damaged areas and late afternoon gave this section its first coat of a light pink designed to enhance the Mediterranean feel of space which I look out on.
The day did not begin well though, and for much of it I was not at my most alert or perceptive. I was not sure, if following the Easter Bank Holiday on Monday, the garbage would be collected in the morning and went, misguidedly, to look for the recently circulated Council leaflet which I could not immediately find, although I did find those for the previous two years. There appeared to be no collection this week and for a few minutes I thought the local council had lost its political marbles, as the General Election was being announced later in the morning and to take place on the same day as those for the Local Authority on May6th. I then woke up to the obvious that the leaflet covers the collection of the environmental and recycled waste such as, newspapers, bottles, cans, and in the future garden waste, cardboard when in June July new special bins are issued with compartments. Silly me.
After completing work on the wall I belatedly set off for Newcastle to buy a replacement Cafetiere. I had not anticipated I would need to do so for several years as the previous unit had a attractive metal cover which I thought would prevent the glass container from breakage. It is still a mystery to me how it broke, but it did and a replacement is required and I knew the previous search, only last year that there was no supplier in South Shields. I therefore returned to T Max or whatever the store is called in the Monument shopping Mall (TK Max after checking) and which can be entered directly from the Monument Metro station. I could not find the item at first, in part because the area for kitchen and household goods had been changed and because the selection was reduced to two types with only a couple on display. I selected one which looked more appropriate for me although the support was in plastic and the better looking one had a metal base, and was chunky and family size. My purchase proved better than I thought because the colour is bright read instead of that shown in the packaging, a dull cream, and has a super top which maintains warmth although I have yet to work out the locking and cleaning system.
My first intention had been to take the car to Hewarth and the Metro from there, returning via a supermarket shop at Azda, but as I set off I decided to go only as far as Jarrow to see if Wilkinson’s had any black work albums in stock. I managed to work out how to get to the nearest car park to the metro station and knew I would find carrying a full back bag onerous on the way back as getting to the station involves a good climb up stairs to cross over the line.
After buying the Cafetiere in Newcastle I could not immediately remember the way to the Wilkinson’s I had discovered just over a week ago before attending the opera relay performance of Hamlet. I decided to try and retrace the route taken on that journey and this was a good decision as on exiting the Granger Market, the three floor store was opposite. Office stationery was at the end of the escalator on the first floor and there were six black albums available and where after collecting I rewarded myself with a cup of hot tea and three fingers of chocolate wafer biscuit for £1.50.
I then made my way back to the Metro station and let the first trains for Pelaw and then for Sunderland pass forgetting I had decided to get off at Gateshead to go to the Wilkinson’s immediately by the station as long as one exists the right stairway. I then went to the wrong end of the platform and was confronted with a steep stairway and a heavy back load and was then faced with a further set of stairs to get the where the store is located after seeking directions from a willing member of staff, I then chose the longer slope in the opposite direction, having to double back rather a third set of stairs which led directly to the entrance of the store, This route took me close to where the famous Get Carter Car Park remains to be demolished although the fencing has been around the area for the new supermarket and shopping development for over a year. The effort was fruitless for although the store had a huge supply of the 20 page albums there were none of the 40 which I use to create three complete sets.
Already weary I made my way to Jarrow and the Morrison’s Toilet before returning to Wilkinson’s which is located close to the car park through the underpass tunnel. There were only two black volumes here but I felt this part of the trip worthwhile. I then went to Azda where I had created a list beforehand. As it was then after 5.30 I thought it was a good time to check if there was any reached sell by date bargains. There were. I bought two packs of smoked Cod fillets which will provide three meals for £5 at a saving of £2. The bargain of the day was two medium size whole chickens, usually £7 for the special price of £4.10. There was also a pack of four Eccles cakes reduced by one third. There were also standards savings with £1 off grapes, another £1 of frozen small meals. Three packs of bacon for £5 and a massive £2 off the vitamins. This resulted in an overall reduction of £13 which was just as well on the monster restocking which included some beef sirloin, pork and lamb chops, Olives, large and olives stuffed, some bacon chops slices, brown sauces, biscuit crackers, mixed bean salad, salami and another Indian and Chinese meal feasts. I enjoyed a few liquorice twists on the way home.
I knew that after unpacking and food I would be sleepy, but there was time for Babylon 5 and a programme celebrating the coming to an end of the series A Touch of Frost before an early for me bedtime.
David Jason is only a year than me and first came to national attention as Del Boy Trotter, the elder brother of Only Fools and Horses which was a noble successor to Steptoe and Son. The series provided the best love moment in all of British TV comedy, has repeatedly voted by viewers in countless polls, when David goes to rest his shoulder on a bar top and finds that someone has opened the to collect glasses and he falls down. Does not sound hilarious but is one of the few times I have roared with laughter given the context in which the incident occurs and the background to the character and the series.
I did not enjoy his role as Grandville, in open all hours, but there was sheer delight in the whole series of the Darling Buds of May, His work both as a comedy actor and in serious drama has bought award after award with four national comedy awards and five national TV award, BAFTA fellowship and a Comedy Lifetime achievement award. To celebrate its 50 years ITV held a poll to find its greatest 50 stars which David topped.
His personal life became the basis for the character of Jack Frost a lonely detective married to his work after nursing his former wife during the period before she died of cancer. This is what happened to David after eighteen years of marriage although he subsequently married again and became a father at the age of 61.
A touch of Frost was produced for the first time by Yorkshire TV for ITV in 1992 and has always concentrated on single story films usually 100 minutes in length spread over 2 hours with the advertisements. There were six short films of 75 mins and the final over two nights episodes. During all the time of series Jack remained his own man, always on the side of the victims of crimes and with a determination to apprehend the villains, but without ever comprising the rights of everyone. His dislike of paperwork of any kind led to a chaotic office, relying in his real life brother ( Arthur White) who acted as head of the records office to remember previous cases which often helped to resolve contemporary mysteries.
Throughout the series, the bane of his series life was Superintendent Mullet, played by Bruce Alexander as a rather stock figure looking after his own back, playing golf with some who were major suspects, a conformist and media conscious. He had support from his colleague Detective Sergeant George Toolan, played by John Lyons who for the past five years had played on stage in the world’s longest running play- The Mousetrap. Married, George had a life outside of the police which Frost had become resigned to not having one again. For one series Frost took under his wing a young police detective and they shared a home together. However in a dramatic end of season moment views were left wondering if Jack, the Young Man or the villain had been killed as of camera two shots were heard in a stand off. The young man did not survive.
Jack came lose to having a serious heterosexual relationship at least once, but the problem was always the nature and hours of work and the need not to disclose information ion current cases which remains a barrier to those not in the police now and forevermore.. He was in this respect like Morse, always coming close to a relationship but something always intervened. In an end of series review Jason explained that everyone knew that if he did marry his main character would change and the programme would also fundamentally change, mentioning Midsummer Murders as the best example of a married lead investigating officer.
Unaware that there was be a final two part programme I watched the first part on the i player and was surprise that the opening focus appeared to be a raid on a dog fight. This did not immediately seem to me to be the stuff of an end of series finale. However it proved to be linchpin pin in more than one way. The raid had come about with the assistance of the local RSPCA team manager who and struck a warm relationship with Jack.
The raid was a failure in that by a stroke of luck the owner was delayed and he and his son and sons friend from next door arrived after the raid has taken place, They suspect the police was tipped off by a former friend from school, Brian, who been taken to a previous fights, had walked out and became a volunteer with RSPCA as a consequence. The father of one of the two boys turns out to be a professional villain whose main income is from illegal drug importation and distribution. He has a smart lawyer and lawyer/barrister girl friend who is also having a relationship with another member of the legal firm.
This father tells the boys to rough up their 6th form former friend and in the melee a knife is pulled and Brian is killed, launching a murder inquiry for which the boys are arrested having been identified by the unit manager. In one of a several twist the young who possessed the knife wants to own up but his father bullies him into pleasing innocence as he also bullies his wife and the parents of the other boy who has gained a place at an Oxford College.
As merits a final story in a series which has aimed at presenting the reality of contemporary policing are number of other story lines. A woman is knocked off a bicycle by an apparent youth and this is followed by threats to Jack with the tyres of his car slashed and a brick thrown through a window. As this coincides with threats to the manager of the animal rescue centre the audience is quick to assume there is a connection. There early indications that this is not so with the mugging have echoes in a case twenty years before and attacks on his home also having chords with what happened previously. Eventually through the collar of a cat found at the scene of another crime the criminal is found to be the daughter of a former colleague and family friend of Jack who he reported for fixing evidence and which had resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of innocent people. Her mother had died broken hearted by what had happened and her father had also recently died after spending years trying to bring down Jack with complaints about his behaviour and attempting to get back his career and reputation. In a roof top scene the girl pulls a gun and it she is who is shot and not Jack in this instance.
A little girl is knocked off the back of a bicycle ridden by her mother early one morning by the apparent stolen car of the solicitor who defends the drug dealer in relation to the operation of the dog fight, and his son and friend in relation to the death of their former school friend. She is in hospital in a coma. There is a small amount of cocaine in the boot of the car and this is traced through CCTV to having been bought from an employee of the drug dealer, which a man at the Met police has a major interest in, and who is identified as being responsible for setting fire to the animal rescue centre from which the manager is rescued as requires brief hospital treatment. In order to receive sympathetic attention from the police the solicitor discloses information about the distribution centre operated by the drug dealer. He also admits that he was alone when he returned home after a mixture of drugs and drink and remembers nothing what happened until the following morning. A post delivery van had passed the car stopped in a lay-by while the driver had been sick and because of this he had been unable to identify the individual except to say that there had been a female passenger in the vehicle. It is established that the female friend and the other legal colleague had called to collect their portion of the cocaine and finding their colleague beyond waking they had borrowed his sports car for a joy ride. The woman admits that she was the driver at the time the accident occurred.
The information supplied to Frost was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, the Drug squad and Interpol and they mount a joint operation on a farm which the drug dealer uses to intercept the arrival of a shipment.
Meanwhile driven by guilt the son of the drug dealer hangs himself and his mother leaves her husband never wanting to see or speak with him again. The friend who caused the manslaughter pushing Brian not knowing that the other had pulled out a knife, tells his parents that he is going to own up his part to the police believing this will end his place at Oxford University (this is not necessarily the position as his parents evidently have the means to pay for his place without state help). His parents should be prosecuted for their participation in the cover up whatever their motivation and the pressure from the drug dealer.
There was one additional story in the final film. This is the relationship between Jack and the manager of the animal rescue centre. She is a divorcee with two teenage children living in a cottage type house is a pleasant rural community. They go out for a meal and it is quickly apparent that they are attracted to each other. Their relationship is severely tested. She is nearly killed in the fire, she is threatened as are her children Jack is also nearly killed and their relationship also comes under scrutiny from the ex husband who has maintained a good relationship with the children and a relaxed one with his former wife since going on the wagon. He also has a penchant for anyone in a skirt. The realization that his former wife has found someone herself and that this will alter the relationship with his children drives him back to drink and he rams the car bringing Frost and Toolan to the Church just as they were getting out to be given buttonholes by Superintendent Mullet. Just as with EastEnders a number of different endings were filmed with only the writer and producer knowing which was to be used on screening day. In the alternatives Frost, Mullet and Toolan are each killed and in the final version shown, it is Toolan who has a heart attack and cannot be revived. Therefore everyone is able to shed a tear at his passing and the series ending. There is a final situation in which he explains to his new wife that Toolan had felt sorry for him because he knew that the reason why Frost put everything into his work is that he had nothing else in his life of value. Frost says that this was true but no longer. His life will now change for the better.
In the post series programme David also revealed that he was not retiring and that a new programme was already being planned, in production or even completed, he did not say which but that a new programme was coming. This is good news
There was opportunity on Thursday to view a film about the life of Fanny Kemble, the 19th century actress who married a Southern US Cotton, Tobacco and rice plantation owner believing he respected her views about independence and personal freedoms. Alas she quickly found out that he was a liar and fully supported the slavery system in operation on his estates, even if the life he provided was less brutal and savage than many others. The film concentrates on her growing awareness of the actual situation, her work for better conditions for the slaves and support for an escape route to the North. The film ends with bringing her double life to an end, separating and divorcing from her husband and returning to stage in the USA to support herself.
In real life she had already written and published a diary about her experiences among Northern US society. Pierce Butler was the grandson of one of the original settlers and the empire he inherited was vast, selling over 400 slaves at one auction after his business failed following the Civil War and the ending of the slavery. Fanny paid a high price for her opposition to her husband’s way of life losing custody of her two daughters until they reached the age of 21. She was 23 when she first travelled to the USA and 25 when she married. Divorcing and returning to the stage when she was 38. She continue to write, diaries and memories including Residence on a Georgian Plantation, and two plays, Her eldest daughter married the writer and author of the Virginian. The youngest daughter tended to support her father’s approach to life and wrote a book about her experience of their way of life. She married clergyman and their daughter was at the bedside of her grandmother when she died at the age of in England at the age of 84 where she had returned for the last years of her life. She became a friend of the then young novelist Henry James who wrote Washington Square based on family story she had disclosed to him.
Earlier in the week I saw the original Michael Caine version of the Italian Job. Although it has become classic with the three Mini car chase through the streets of Turin I found the film outdated that portrayal of criminals and the prison regime embarrassing and misleading. Noel Coward as the toff top criminal Bridger was hilarious although unintended, and Benny Hill played his favourite role as a dirty middle aged man. There are a few magic moments but the film could have been title Alfie goes to Italy.
I also saw my 101 showing of Casablanca one afternoon recently. This demonstrates that some films never date and remain enjoyable no matter how many times they are experienced, even if one becomes word perfect. I enjoyed every second and still get emotional when the Marseillaise is sung or when Bogart explains that in the great scheme of things their relationship is not worth a hill of beans, You must remember this, of all the gin joints in the world you walk into mine.............
The General Election was announced on Tuesday and the last Prime Minister’s Question Time of Parliament took place on Wednesday lunchtime. While the politicians are behaving as they have the past at such a time, refusing to give direct answer to specific question it is evident the media is not going to accept this and we have already seen persistent and insistent questioning which exposed the dishonesty and attempted manipulation of the politicians. This time the public is not going to be fooled and unless there is an immediate change in the approach there are going to be surprises and shocks on election day.
Tuesday April 6th became a good but tiring day. I wrote and undertook other artwork activities in the morning and then as the weather improved, managed to begin work again on one of the patio walls, covering liberally with a fungus preventive solution. Mid morning on Wednesday I repaired the damaged areas and late afternoon gave this section its first coat of a light pink designed to enhance the Mediterranean feel of space which I look out on.
The day did not begin well though, and for much of it I was not at my most alert or perceptive. I was not sure, if following the Easter Bank Holiday on Monday, the garbage would be collected in the morning and went, misguidedly, to look for the recently circulated Council leaflet which I could not immediately find, although I did find those for the previous two years. There appeared to be no collection this week and for a few minutes I thought the local council had lost its political marbles, as the General Election was being announced later in the morning and to take place on the same day as those for the Local Authority on May6th. I then woke up to the obvious that the leaflet covers the collection of the environmental and recycled waste such as, newspapers, bottles, cans, and in the future garden waste, cardboard when in June July new special bins are issued with compartments. Silly me.
After completing work on the wall I belatedly set off for Newcastle to buy a replacement Cafetiere. I had not anticipated I would need to do so for several years as the previous unit had a attractive metal cover which I thought would prevent the glass container from breakage. It is still a mystery to me how it broke, but it did and a replacement is required and I knew the previous search, only last year that there was no supplier in South Shields. I therefore returned to T Max or whatever the store is called in the Monument shopping Mall (TK Max after checking) and which can be entered directly from the Monument Metro station. I could not find the item at first, in part because the area for kitchen and household goods had been changed and because the selection was reduced to two types with only a couple on display. I selected one which looked more appropriate for me although the support was in plastic and the better looking one had a metal base, and was chunky and family size. My purchase proved better than I thought because the colour is bright read instead of that shown in the packaging, a dull cream, and has a super top which maintains warmth although I have yet to work out the locking and cleaning system.
My first intention had been to take the car to Hewarth and the Metro from there, returning via a supermarket shop at Azda, but as I set off I decided to go only as far as Jarrow to see if Wilkinson’s had any black work albums in stock. I managed to work out how to get to the nearest car park to the metro station and knew I would find carrying a full back bag onerous on the way back as getting to the station involves a good climb up stairs to cross over the line.
After buying the Cafetiere in Newcastle I could not immediately remember the way to the Wilkinson’s I had discovered just over a week ago before attending the opera relay performance of Hamlet. I decided to try and retrace the route taken on that journey and this was a good decision as on exiting the Granger Market, the three floor store was opposite. Office stationery was at the end of the escalator on the first floor and there were six black albums available and where after collecting I rewarded myself with a cup of hot tea and three fingers of chocolate wafer biscuit for £1.50.
I then made my way back to the Metro station and let the first trains for Pelaw and then for Sunderland pass forgetting I had decided to get off at Gateshead to go to the Wilkinson’s immediately by the station as long as one exists the right stairway. I then went to the wrong end of the platform and was confronted with a steep stairway and a heavy back load and was then faced with a further set of stairs to get the where the store is located after seeking directions from a willing member of staff, I then chose the longer slope in the opposite direction, having to double back rather a third set of stairs which led directly to the entrance of the store, This route took me close to where the famous Get Carter Car Park remains to be demolished although the fencing has been around the area for the new supermarket and shopping development for over a year. The effort was fruitless for although the store had a huge supply of the 20 page albums there were none of the 40 which I use to create three complete sets.
Already weary I made my way to Jarrow and the Morrison’s Toilet before returning to Wilkinson’s which is located close to the car park through the underpass tunnel. There were only two black volumes here but I felt this part of the trip worthwhile. I then went to Azda where I had created a list beforehand. As it was then after 5.30 I thought it was a good time to check if there was any reached sell by date bargains. There were. I bought two packs of smoked Cod fillets which will provide three meals for £5 at a saving of £2. The bargain of the day was two medium size whole chickens, usually £7 for the special price of £4.10. There was also a pack of four Eccles cakes reduced by one third. There were also standards savings with £1 off grapes, another £1 of frozen small meals. Three packs of bacon for £5 and a massive £2 off the vitamins. This resulted in an overall reduction of £13 which was just as well on the monster restocking which included some beef sirloin, pork and lamb chops, Olives, large and olives stuffed, some bacon chops slices, brown sauces, biscuit crackers, mixed bean salad, salami and another Indian and Chinese meal feasts. I enjoyed a few liquorice twists on the way home.
I knew that after unpacking and food I would be sleepy, but there was time for Babylon 5 and a programme celebrating the coming to an end of the series A Touch of Frost before an early for me bedtime.
David Jason is only a year than me and first came to national attention as Del Boy Trotter, the elder brother of Only Fools and Horses which was a noble successor to Steptoe and Son. The series provided the best love moment in all of British TV comedy, has repeatedly voted by viewers in countless polls, when David goes to rest his shoulder on a bar top and finds that someone has opened the to collect glasses and he falls down. Does not sound hilarious but is one of the few times I have roared with laughter given the context in which the incident occurs and the background to the character and the series.
I did not enjoy his role as Grandville, in open all hours, but there was sheer delight in the whole series of the Darling Buds of May, His work both as a comedy actor and in serious drama has bought award after award with four national comedy awards and five national TV award, BAFTA fellowship and a Comedy Lifetime achievement award. To celebrate its 50 years ITV held a poll to find its greatest 50 stars which David topped.
His personal life became the basis for the character of Jack Frost a lonely detective married to his work after nursing his former wife during the period before she died of cancer. This is what happened to David after eighteen years of marriage although he subsequently married again and became a father at the age of 61.
A touch of Frost was produced for the first time by Yorkshire TV for ITV in 1992 and has always concentrated on single story films usually 100 minutes in length spread over 2 hours with the advertisements. There were six short films of 75 mins and the final over two nights episodes. During all the time of series Jack remained his own man, always on the side of the victims of crimes and with a determination to apprehend the villains, but without ever comprising the rights of everyone. His dislike of paperwork of any kind led to a chaotic office, relying in his real life brother ( Arthur White) who acted as head of the records office to remember previous cases which often helped to resolve contemporary mysteries.
Throughout the series, the bane of his series life was Superintendent Mullet, played by Bruce Alexander as a rather stock figure looking after his own back, playing golf with some who were major suspects, a conformist and media conscious. He had support from his colleague Detective Sergeant George Toolan, played by John Lyons who for the past five years had played on stage in the world’s longest running play- The Mousetrap. Married, George had a life outside of the police which Frost had become resigned to not having one again. For one series Frost took under his wing a young police detective and they shared a home together. However in a dramatic end of season moment views were left wondering if Jack, the Young Man or the villain had been killed as of camera two shots were heard in a stand off. The young man did not survive.
Jack came lose to having a serious heterosexual relationship at least once, but the problem was always the nature and hours of work and the need not to disclose information ion current cases which remains a barrier to those not in the police now and forevermore.. He was in this respect like Morse, always coming close to a relationship but something always intervened. In an end of series review Jason explained that everyone knew that if he did marry his main character would change and the programme would also fundamentally change, mentioning Midsummer Murders as the best example of a married lead investigating officer.
Unaware that there was be a final two part programme I watched the first part on the i player and was surprise that the opening focus appeared to be a raid on a dog fight. This did not immediately seem to me to be the stuff of an end of series finale. However it proved to be linchpin pin in more than one way. The raid had come about with the assistance of the local RSPCA team manager who and struck a warm relationship with Jack.
The raid was a failure in that by a stroke of luck the owner was delayed and he and his son and sons friend from next door arrived after the raid has taken place, They suspect the police was tipped off by a former friend from school, Brian, who been taken to a previous fights, had walked out and became a volunteer with RSPCA as a consequence. The father of one of the two boys turns out to be a professional villain whose main income is from illegal drug importation and distribution. He has a smart lawyer and lawyer/barrister girl friend who is also having a relationship with another member of the legal firm.
This father tells the boys to rough up their 6th form former friend and in the melee a knife is pulled and Brian is killed, launching a murder inquiry for which the boys are arrested having been identified by the unit manager. In one of a several twist the young who possessed the knife wants to own up but his father bullies him into pleasing innocence as he also bullies his wife and the parents of the other boy who has gained a place at an Oxford College.
As merits a final story in a series which has aimed at presenting the reality of contemporary policing are number of other story lines. A woman is knocked off a bicycle by an apparent youth and this is followed by threats to Jack with the tyres of his car slashed and a brick thrown through a window. As this coincides with threats to the manager of the animal rescue centre the audience is quick to assume there is a connection. There early indications that this is not so with the mugging have echoes in a case twenty years before and attacks on his home also having chords with what happened previously. Eventually through the collar of a cat found at the scene of another crime the criminal is found to be the daughter of a former colleague and family friend of Jack who he reported for fixing evidence and which had resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of innocent people. Her mother had died broken hearted by what had happened and her father had also recently died after spending years trying to bring down Jack with complaints about his behaviour and attempting to get back his career and reputation. In a roof top scene the girl pulls a gun and it she is who is shot and not Jack in this instance.
A little girl is knocked off the back of a bicycle ridden by her mother early one morning by the apparent stolen car of the solicitor who defends the drug dealer in relation to the operation of the dog fight, and his son and friend in relation to the death of their former school friend. She is in hospital in a coma. There is a small amount of cocaine in the boot of the car and this is traced through CCTV to having been bought from an employee of the drug dealer, which a man at the Met police has a major interest in, and who is identified as being responsible for setting fire to the animal rescue centre from which the manager is rescued as requires brief hospital treatment. In order to receive sympathetic attention from the police the solicitor discloses information about the distribution centre operated by the drug dealer. He also admits that he was alone when he returned home after a mixture of drugs and drink and remembers nothing what happened until the following morning. A post delivery van had passed the car stopped in a lay-by while the driver had been sick and because of this he had been unable to identify the individual except to say that there had been a female passenger in the vehicle. It is established that the female friend and the other legal colleague had called to collect their portion of the cocaine and finding their colleague beyond waking they had borrowed his sports car for a joy ride. The woman admits that she was the driver at the time the accident occurred.
The information supplied to Frost was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, the Drug squad and Interpol and they mount a joint operation on a farm which the drug dealer uses to intercept the arrival of a shipment.
Meanwhile driven by guilt the son of the drug dealer hangs himself and his mother leaves her husband never wanting to see or speak with him again. The friend who caused the manslaughter pushing Brian not knowing that the other had pulled out a knife, tells his parents that he is going to own up his part to the police believing this will end his place at Oxford University (this is not necessarily the position as his parents evidently have the means to pay for his place without state help). His parents should be prosecuted for their participation in the cover up whatever their motivation and the pressure from the drug dealer.
There was one additional story in the final film. This is the relationship between Jack and the manager of the animal rescue centre. She is a divorcee with two teenage children living in a cottage type house is a pleasant rural community. They go out for a meal and it is quickly apparent that they are attracted to each other. Their relationship is severely tested. She is nearly killed in the fire, she is threatened as are her children Jack is also nearly killed and their relationship also comes under scrutiny from the ex husband who has maintained a good relationship with the children and a relaxed one with his former wife since going on the wagon. He also has a penchant for anyone in a skirt. The realization that his former wife has found someone herself and that this will alter the relationship with his children drives him back to drink and he rams the car bringing Frost and Toolan to the Church just as they were getting out to be given buttonholes by Superintendent Mullet. Just as with EastEnders a number of different endings were filmed with only the writer and producer knowing which was to be used on screening day. In the alternatives Frost, Mullet and Toolan are each killed and in the final version shown, it is Toolan who has a heart attack and cannot be revived. Therefore everyone is able to shed a tear at his passing and the series ending. There is a final situation in which he explains to his new wife that Toolan had felt sorry for him because he knew that the reason why Frost put everything into his work is that he had nothing else in his life of value. Frost says that this was true but no longer. His life will now change for the better.
In the post series programme David also revealed that he was not retiring and that a new programme was already being planned, in production or even completed, he did not say which but that a new programme was coming. This is good news
There was opportunity on Thursday to view a film about the life of Fanny Kemble, the 19th century actress who married a Southern US Cotton, Tobacco and rice plantation owner believing he respected her views about independence and personal freedoms. Alas she quickly found out that he was a liar and fully supported the slavery system in operation on his estates, even if the life he provided was less brutal and savage than many others. The film concentrates on her growing awareness of the actual situation, her work for better conditions for the slaves and support for an escape route to the North. The film ends with bringing her double life to an end, separating and divorcing from her husband and returning to stage in the USA to support herself.
In real life she had already written and published a diary about her experiences among Northern US society. Pierce Butler was the grandson of one of the original settlers and the empire he inherited was vast, selling over 400 slaves at one auction after his business failed following the Civil War and the ending of the slavery. Fanny paid a high price for her opposition to her husband’s way of life losing custody of her two daughters until they reached the age of 21. She was 23 when she first travelled to the USA and 25 when she married. Divorcing and returning to the stage when she was 38. She continue to write, diaries and memories including Residence on a Georgian Plantation, and two plays, Her eldest daughter married the writer and author of the Virginian. The youngest daughter tended to support her father’s approach to life and wrote a book about her experience of their way of life. She married clergyman and their daughter was at the bedside of her grandmother when she died at the age of in England at the age of 84 where she had returned for the last years of her life. She became a friend of the then young novelist Henry James who wrote Washington Square based on family story she had disclosed to him.
Earlier in the week I saw the original Michael Caine version of the Italian Job. Although it has become classic with the three Mini car chase through the streets of Turin I found the film outdated that portrayal of criminals and the prison regime embarrassing and misleading. Noel Coward as the toff top criminal Bridger was hilarious although unintended, and Benny Hill played his favourite role as a dirty middle aged man. There are a few magic moments but the film could have been title Alfie goes to Italy.
I also saw my 101 showing of Casablanca one afternoon recently. This demonstrates that some films never date and remain enjoyable no matter how many times they are experienced, even if one becomes word perfect. I enjoyed every second and still get emotional when the Marseillaise is sung or when Bogart explains that in the great scheme of things their relationship is not worth a hill of beans, You must remember this, of all the gin joints in the world you walk into mine.............
The General Election was announced on Tuesday and the last Prime Minister’s Question Time of Parliament took place on Wednesday lunchtime. While the politicians are behaving as they have the past at such a time, refusing to give direct answer to specific question it is evident the media is not going to accept this and we have already seen persistent and insistent questioning which exposed the dishonesty and attempted manipulation of the politicians. This time the public is not going to be fooled and unless there is an immediate change in the approach there are going to be surprises and shocks on election day.
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