Montalbano Titanic and Upstairs Downstairs end March 2012

On my way to the theatre on Saturday afternoon I tripped and fell forward onto the pavement springing my right wrist and banging by left knee. The wrist is improving although turning the top of a bottle of milk or using the hand to carry weight when rising from a sedentary position is difficult and not helped by the inability to use the left knee to counterbalance and take the weight. It is reminder of the need to take greater care and that I have had another lucky escape.

On Sunday the latest episode of Inspector Montalbano, a new four part series on the sinking of he Titanic and the latest episode of Upstairs and Downstairs together with Newcastle winning away having watched Sunderland’s win against QPR on first choice and Warrington winning just at Widnes on the Friday evening. The second Formula I race was a disaster for Jenson Button.

A blind man appears to have committed suicide but the death troubles Montalbano. The story provides the opportunity for the Inspector to visit one of the islands off the Sicilian coast. This is where the sister of the dead man lives with her husband and children running a small hotel devoid of the tourists which had been hoped for. At the heart of the story is a dog, the dog of the blind man.

The son of the man who formed an organization to help the blind in Sicily uses the association as a means for promoting his illegal activities notably drug distribution and selling. He has used the blind man to bring back drugs from the Island via a fisherman who collected them off shore and then brought a quantity back in a hollowed walking stick each weekend when he visited his sister and her family. Montalbano is suspicious of the fisherman when he visits his home learning that the two men were “friends” and notes communications equipment. He also notes that the fisherman has no fish to sell him claiming not to have been out to sea because of weather conditions. On the ferry the dog recognises a crew man who would provide an on deck seat for the blind man rather than attempt the steps to the passenger area. On a journey back to the mainland soon after arrival with his mistress after taking her to the island allegedly for a holiday, the Inspector learns from the crewman that in one instance the blind man has lost his stick over side and had become agitated until the crewman had fished it out of the water for him. This had led Montalbano to the idea that the stick was used to carry drugs.

He had been invited by the wife of the blind man who was too upset to talk about her brother when attending the funeral. He had no divulged the main purpose of the visit to his mistress when invited her to spend a few days there on holiday. Before returning to the office he persuades his reluctant deputy to go to the island to keep his mistress company. The deputy has become uncertain about his engagement and forthcoming marriage after being attracted by another woman he sees.

There is one red herring trail which the Inspector follows when a message is found in an attractive pottery wine urn with classical proportions purchased at the local market by the desk officer at the station. This contained a hand written note pleading for help to be rescued similar to another which had turned up elsewhere several months before. The investigation takes him to the urn seller who buys them wholesale but as it is the weekend it is not possible for the Inspector to make further enquiries until the firm reopens.

At the home of the seller he finds the man hostile and his wife who invites the Inspector into the house is told to go inside and for Montalbano to leave. Later he receives a message from the wife to visit the home after midnight. She reveals the story which Montalbano has partly discovered in that the man had received a warning for an assault on his wife who had not pressed charges. He had beaten her because of jealousy whenever she was in the presence of another male, in the latter instance because of a salesman who had called. She had placed similar notes in five of the urns a year before.

Since the birth of their son her husband had changed in his approach to her although he discouraged male visitors to the family home and now she was in fear her husband would find out what she had done hence arranging to see the Inspector at her home when her husband was away attending a market elsewhere to plead with him to take no further action.

At the start of the episode we had seen the blind man leave his home and another man enter and appear to tamper with a drinking glass by the bedside. The cause of death appeared to be gas poisoning as a ring on the stove had been left on and the gas cylinder was empty. Montalbano visited the company which supplied the gas and the delivery man explained that the gas was not strong enough to have caused the death and that in event it would have been low as it was within a couple of days of the regular delivery. Checking the house again Montalbano had confirmed that the cylinder in the house was not one provided by the company. What happened is that the man had a heart condition and had been affected by the sedatives placed in the glass beside the bedside while the blind man was out of the house. This enables the murderer to return at night, let the dog out of the house and change the cylinders.

Previously Montalbano had demanded that the property be swept for finger prints with the officer protesting because as the man was blind there would hundreds of prints, Montalbano demands that the any prints on the gas cylinder and light switches be checked. These had in fact not been taken and revealed the identity of someone with convictions for violence. The fisherman on the island is also found dead on ashore with his boat capsized at sea. However he is found not to have drowned.

Montalbano had also followed up the position of another blind man who had also died in circumstances of a suicide and where his bank account showed a small fortune.

And the dog the importance of the Dog? Montalbano takes to the dog that brings to his home pending relocation after the man dies. However he becomes quickly attached to the animal despite being warned that the animal had a nasty streak when another dog came in the vicinity. The owner of the charity requests the dog back so it can be reallocated to someone else. When someone comes for the animal Montalbano runs from his home beach side so it cannot be taken away. He takes it with him on the trip to the Island hence the contact with the crewman and also the fisherman with whom the dog is friendly and with the children of the family. However the dog reacts when approached by the dog of a policeman presumably a drug sniffer dog which is why the creature is regarded as special. The dog disappears from his home one day and Montalbano is distraught.

Bringing the various strands and evidence together Montalbano spooks the Charity owner into revealing the whereabouts of the man responsible for the three deaths who he visits with a pay off. Montalbano then dismisses his colleagues leaving him alone with the murderer who he threatens to kill unless he reveals the location of the dog. The animal had previously been used in dog fighting and the team raid a dog fight where they find the creature together with others which had been used for similar purposes.

The final scene is that of Montalbano playing with the dog on the beach at his home together with his mistress. She has another rival although they had enjoyed a couple of days together on the island when he had returned back from the mainland and agreed they would return.

The Inspector had seen the husband of the sister talking to a shady character on the island and for a time we were led to believe he was connected to the drug operation. What emerged is that coming to the island the new wife had established a restaurant as we knew early on that she had worked at the restaurant which the Inspector uses on a regular basis. They had then acquired the property to been used as a hotel although the tourists had not yet taken to coming to the island. The shady man was in fact a money lender and in financial difficulties it looked as if the venture was destined to fail with the bank threatening repossession. This was the motivation for the brother to commence the drug running but having acquired a sum sufficient to pay off the debts and provide for the refurbishment of the building he had indicated his wish to stop hence the decision to execute him. Interestingly while in the UK the money would have been confiscated Montalbano advises of its availability to the couple, solving their immediate financial problems.

The author of Downton Abbey has created a four part work on the Sinking of the Titanic coinciding with a hundred years since the tragedy and the release of a 3D version of the successful film. The approach of Julian Fellows is to tell the main part of the story up to just before the vessel sinks in the first episode and then retelling the same story from different perspectives of those in different classes of cabins culminating in what happens to them at the end of the fourth programme.

The first episode focuses on an upper class titled couple where the wife is a snob of the worst kind with a daughter who is playing the suffragette and a father who decides to take her on a trip to the USA in order to get away from before he cannot rescue her again from going to prison after she is accused of assaulting a police officer.

On board she meets up with the son of a wealthy American couple and after rejecting his advances finds that he has her measure and they fall in love. She is placed in the lifeboat while the young man remains on board. The wife who has behaved in obnoxious fashion insists on remaining with her husband who pleads with her to leave.

On board he meets with an employee in the second class on way to the USA taking some legal papers and accompanied by his firebrand Irish nationalist wife, Much to the horror of the titled lady she is pressed to accompany her husband at a tea with the couple who he brings up from the second class to the first class area She then raises the issue of Irish independence and later gives the titled lady a mouth bashing just before departing to a lifeboat. There is also the interaction with an actress and also the portrayal of someone akin to Molly Brown.

The relationship between the personal maid and manservant of the titled couple is introduced together with that of a dining steward whose brother is a Stoker in the boiler room and also someone who had been involved in building the ship arranges for his wife and children to emigrate to the USA on the ship and appears to have arranged a special cabin facility for them beyond which is to be revealed. The film is only of interest to compare with the blockbuster film Titanic as all the main features of the actual incident have been covered in countless documentaries, books and articles as well as films. Now that the vessel has been located and its treasures brought to the surface it is suggested that the impact of the story will diminish now that the survivors and the first tier of descendents have also died.

I am tempted to leave the latest two episodes of Upstairs and downstairs for one grand conclusion report but having deleted the recordings I fear I will forget the story lines. The signing of the protection pact with Poland makes the war inevitable and the latest episode ends with the lights being switched off as the blackout begins. I have previously reported on my experience of the day when the lights went on again and everyone went out of their houses for the moment when the street lights were switched on and the curtains left open with the lights shining out.

I begin with the stories of those downstairs. The Butler commences a relationship with a housekeeper who is assisting in the organising of the annual servant’s ball held at the Royal Albert Hall in which it is customary for the above stairs to attend for the first dance and then leave. The relationship between the couple blossoms to the point that the Butler has decided to suggest marriage. However she has found out about his conscientious objection during the First World War and tells him of her disappointment on finding out he is not the man she thought he was. He gets drunk and is found by the Lady of the house on the steps down to the servant’s kitchen and dining area. He is so embarrassed that he leaves the property and appears to be living on the street or in the park where the young lad and former borstal boy is taking him food supplies. The master of the house sits on the same bench one day and brings the Butler back to the house where the normal order is restored of a kind.

The young lad gets his medical papers for the call up and is passed A1 fit. He is seen sitting with the scullery maid. Assistant nurse maid former Dr Barnardo’s girl who agrees to write to him when he is away.

The main focus is on the chauffer and the nursery servant who has also combined duties as personal maid to her Ladyship. They have become, lovers after the chauffer had gone into the ring at the Boxing match attended by the King’s younger brother and other members of the household in which the former borstal boy should have fought but run off when he was the subject of a sexual advance from one of King’s brothers’ companions. The chauffer now wants to emigrate to the USA, applies for a special licence after blackmailing the master for £300 and for a reference to gain admission and for getting work on arrival.

The reason he is able to do this is that the master has commenced a sexual relationship with his wife’s sister. At the same time the relationship between husband and wife deteriorates to break point and separation. The starting point goes back to a mutual attraction with the sister in the first series and then to the behaviour of the sister who kisses him on the visit to Germany when she was till the mistress of the German Nazi Officer.

Then his wife becomes the interest of the American business man including nylon manufacturer who attends the dinner for the American Ambassador and visiting son Jack. She accepts an invitation to visit the factory where a shoot was planned for an advertisement and when the actress does not attend, her Ladyship is persuaded to step in and she is such a success that the campaign is extended with a second shoot on the South East Coast. When fog prevents an immediate return and a stay overnight appears necessary, her sister fails to pass on a message to say she had been delayed and steps in to replace the woman at a dinner being held. When comments are made about photos of his wife on London Billboards he puts his foot down about further contact and two agree not to see each other. The behaviour of the husband leads the wife to take her son to stay with relatives during which time the relationship between sister and husband develops coming to the attention of the household.

As war gets closer the Master is alerted at the Foreign Office that there appears to have been leaks about sensitive information which he works out must have come from within his household added to which the clasp on his briefcase has become faulty. He orders an investigation centring on his sister in law. He is warned against holding the investigation by the king’s younger brother who is now dressed in Naval uniform fitting in with the actual wartime service of the Duke of Kent. This again suggests a sympathy with the enemy alluded to in a previous episode. That he ordered the investigation is timely because separately his sister was being kept under surveillance arising from her contact with known London based Nazi intelligence. He breaks of the relationship with the sister and resigns from the Ministry as well as keeping quiet until she is arrested and imprisoned under the latest emergency powers.

Meanwhile his wife has returned and following comments by her personal maid commences to suspect her husband and her sister which is confirmed when a shirt is returned from the laundry with a message that the lipstick on the collar cannot be removed. She then smells the pillow on her sister’s bed and recognises the cologne used by her husband. When she freezes out the sister who is also ostracised by those below stairs, the sister falls and kills herself injuring the personal maid attempting to stop her.

While the couple continue to live in the same household the relationship remains strained despite the wish of the husband to start over again. Shortly before her discovery of the infidelity the American had visited to take his leave delivering a gross of the nylon stockings for her as a farewell present. The Master is appointed an equerry at the Palace.

The accident to the personal made means that she is not sufficiently well to travel to the USA although the special licence has been granted. The chauffer is therefore unable to avoid attending the medical where he is passed fit for service. He returns the money to the Master. Of less significance than previously with their stories having been covered in previous episodes is the housekeeper, the aunt and the former secretary of the Master’s mother.

Sopranos Season 5 4-6

The main viewing was a catch up on the Sopranos which I hope to cover before departure. As the series has progressed into its penultimate series the violent departure of Tony’s closest allies continued coupled with the disintegration of his family life. The fourth episode of the season commenced with the elimination of the New York couple caught up the war between the three rivals trying to take control of the Carmine crime family interests

The fate of Tony’s wife Carmela was much to the fore as she decided she no longer wished to cope with her son A.J ( Anthony Junior) and then embark on an affair she has previously verged at the brink, with a Priest, and two associates, the last being Furio who Tony is now having Italy scoured to bring retribution for having dared to fancy his wife. Carmela’s problem remains that of Catholic guilt and living off the proceeds of violent crime together with living with a man who has regular sex with the girls at the strip club and also attempts less clinical relationships with any woman who takes his fancy and reciprocates interest. About the only thing in favour of Tony is that he is not violent towards women, surprising given the way his mother treated him.

Son AJ continues to show all the signs of following his father and has become your average teenage scumbag, lying, cheating, make use of everyone to further his interests. This time in All Happy Families he is told to go and stay with his sister after a concert in New York City and not with his friends in a city hotel. Meadow is not enthusiastic as she is with her boyfriend so when AJ telephones to make excuse she covers for him and he and his mates get drunk and do drugs with the outcome that he wakes up with his face stuck to the carpet and his eyebrows shave off. When he uses the F word she decides to pack him off to Tony.

Having got Meadow into college she has the same ambitions for A.J who shows every indication of having no ability or interest. When his grades are below the minimum requirements for entry the parents are summoned to the Principal of the High School and he and Carmela have an instant sexual attraction so she accepts an invitation for a private lunch and later dinner.

Being Carmela she discusses her growing carnal desire with the latest priest who understandably advises against sin and suggests they talk the situation over with Tony. She cannot accept the strictures drawing attention that to her husband’s continuing infidelities in addition to his criminal activities which she feels are being sanctioned by the church.

A passionate sexual relationship develops in episode six of the season, Sentimental Education, in which the Principal leans on the Grade’s Director to fix it so that AG gets the minimum required. Understandably the Principal feels guilty about allowing his sexual passion to override his professional integrity and when Carmela begins to exert more pressure this time on helping to get AJ into a good college, he snaps and breaks off the relationship. Carmela who had briefly warned him about the implications of a relationship if Tony found out does not take the rejection well and utters a threatening warning.

Meanwhile AJ has quickly tired of being with Tony and pleads with his mother to return home. Earlier Tony has bought AJ the latest four wheel drive jeep vehicle built like a tank after hearing that a couple of kids from the High School were killed joy riding. AJ is told he can take the car out once and then it will remain in the garage with his mother holding the keys until he improves his grades. AJ’s solution is to cheat.

Tony is not coping well without a regular woman and he sends Dr Melfi a large basket of toiletries suggesting he wants to return as her patient. She discusses the development with her therapist and he suggest Tony is attempting a cleansing so as to start again. She is upset because the letter with the delivery indicates that he continues to blame her for what happened. He eventually apologies, profusely, and she takes him back as a patient where he admits his attraction to Christopher’s woman Adriana.

What I had no appreciated before is that her club is located in New York City and which perhaps explain why Tony and his crew use the office at the club to conduct meetings and other business under the misguided belief that as Adriana has no criminal previous the Feds would not be interested in her and therefore in them meeting there. It was when Tony and his crew were using the office for a private Poker game that attention of the group is focussed on what a desirable creature is Adriana. When Tony arrives one evening to use the office she is taking a snort of cocaine and invites Tony to join her. They talk and she admits she wishes he had been her father because of his kindness and understanding

Dr Melfi is pleased when Tony talks of his attraction before getting involved which she tells him is a sign of growing insight and maturity. As when Carmela discusses her situation with the priest and others she lists all the arguments against involvement but is seeking permission and approval. In Tony’s instance he subsequently makes his way to the club late evening bumping into his daughter Meadow who is there with boyfriend and other college friends who comment about her father’s commitment having said he has an office in the building (episode Irregular Around the Margins.)

Adriana is pleased to see him and expresses the wish that she could do a line of cocaine and Tony says he is not adverse so he drives her to her family home neighbourhood when she knows someone who can supply them. There is every indication given the lateness of the hour that a physical relationship is also on the agenda, However they have a major accident and while Tony escapes without a scratch she is badly bruised on her face and neck caused by the car seat belt. However that Tony was not injured but she was, becomes the immediate cause for gossip that she had been going down to him while he was driving. Just about everyone is laughing at the concept.

By coincidence Christopher had been sent away overnight on a job for Tony and when he returns he quickly learns of what is being said and goes ballistic. He collects the injured Adriana from the hospital and then beats her up and goes looking for Tony. In truth Adriana was being nice to Tony under pressure from the Feds to find out what he and his crew were using the Club for. She had also been suffering from irritable bowel syndrome brought on by stress which had not helped with her sexual and general relations with Christopher. She had become vulnerable and open to anyone paying her nice attentions, something which Tony has capability.

When Christopher goes for Tony the crew take him to a deserted spot with the intention of whacking him however Christopher reluctantly accept the explanation. They hijack the emergency doctor when he is coming off shift in order to convince Tony further. He takes his cousin, the one training to become a professional masseur who gets the doctor to admit that the injuries were consistent with those from a car seat belt. In order to cement the understanding Tony takes Carmela, Christopher Adriana, and a couple of others out for meal at a result where other crew members including the principal gossip, a fellow captain are also having a meal by prior arrangement. The gossip comes over to greet Tony’s party and he and Christopher shake hands. However there is every indication that bridges have been burnt, the die has been cast, etc.

My immediate memory is of two other stories. Tony is increasingly irritated by the behaviour of released from prison crime boss Feech La Manna who is always dominating conversation with tales of his past exploits. Because of his improved insight and a comment by Carmela Tony has been alerted that his crew humour him because he is the boss and they are afraid of they can do. She feels this is the same of the wives towards her. This is partly why she feels isolated and hankers for a meaningful relationship.

In addition to the garden work incident Feech does a deal with Johnny Sacks, the former New York Underboss who is part of the three way fight for control of the Carmine family interests. The daughter of the Jewish doctor and gambling group member is marrying and at the wedding Feech and his crew bring a car transporter and their weapons and load up the most expensive cars in the pound. The doctor appeals to Tony to find out those responsible and if he can rescue the vehicles. When Feech is summoned he brings Tony a cut saying that he got a better deal from Johnny than Tony would have offered using his joint operation with the Russians and Sicilians.

Tony discusses the situation with his associates and decides that he will not make the same mistake as before in giving people chances and will nip the situation in the bud. His advisers suggest a different approach to whacking him. Christopher calls one day on Feech to bring a bespoke suit he had promised. They are invited to drink wine with peaches but Christopher explains that they have to take some hot large flat screen TV’s to a garage. Feech cannot resist rising to the bait and offers them the use of his own garage lock up for a fee. His Parole officer supervisor arrives having been tipped off and demands to see inside his garage. We see Feech on his way from court back to prison where presumably he will now have a further long stretch to complete his originals sentence and contemplate revenge.

The other story also concerns another of the parolee’s, Tony’s cousin. He works hard at the Chinese Laundry and at gaining his professional Masseurs certificate. His boss is impressed with his effort that he offers to set him with his own business. His wife is delighted with his rehabilitation and in the first episode the couple with their two sons are invited to use the pool at the former Family home of Tony and Carmela although he is present for the event. Their new life is short lived. Tony the cousin finds $12000 and starts to gamble heavily at night as well as working to prepare the premises owned by his former boss and now partner. When the couple row and the partner visits Tony’s anger spills over and he beats the man up thus ending the relationship. In the final scene we see him meeting with boss Tony asking if the job Tony had mentioned with the crew is still open.

An excellent episode of Inspector Montalbano

I seem to have lost several notes on matters which were to be part of Birthday weekend 2012 reports but where the decision was taken as writing to commence to leave to leave until later. This has happened partly because I am so far behind the original plan which had included writing once or twice about important Leveson developments and finishing the Le Carré novel, The Russia House. It is now three thirty in the afternoon and I will continue for as long as I can today although there is some TV viewing to be undertaken as part of the catching up process.

I begin with the latest episode of Inspector Montalbano which I have seen twice having partly slept through the original showing on Saturday. It was the best yet but required close attention and a second viewing to fully appreciate. I have considered how best to present what is also the most complex and intriguing plot full of clever side issues which I shall now spoil by explaining the story from start to finish.

As with a previous episode the story also concerns an invitation for Montalbano to meet with the boss of a Sicilian Crime Family and as on that occasion there is an issue between the old order and their sense of honour and the new who have none. The man in question is ninety years old who has served a prison sentence for 20 years for the killing of 30 people members of his own or other crime families. The conversation is difficult to understand and he appears to be asking Montalbano to arrest his grandson so that he will live, albeit in prison rather than be killed by forces in the new order. He uses a priest to advise one of Montalbano’s closest associates to advise of location where the son can be arrested but when they find the location where he is been hiding, he is dead, his throat has been cut. Later it is established that in fact it is the Mafia family head who has arranged the killing of his grandson before the grandson killed him.

Why this is also the explanation for other mysteries of the episode will be revealed.

The story also involves the death of a young man who has left home and lives in an expensive apartment block. He has been killed by someone he knows having turned to face the person who called out to him as he was about to enter the apartment building where he lived. In the apartment he had the latest computer, camera and audio equipment, including a wide range of pornographic films. He also had half a dozen home made videos which are of sex with individual women.

Montalbano sends the station front office man and general factotum and something of bungling clown but who came top of the computer course to investigate the contents of the computer and he finds that there is only a large number of letters of a sexy nature written to one woman without identifying details and a novel. The man stays all night going through all the large quantity of CD and DVD Roms but is told to leave the videos.

Montalbano is also approached in the office by the son of a couple who have disappeared and at first he passes the case to a colleague until he is told the couple live in the same building as the murdered young man. There appears to be no immediate connection between the two events or with his meeting with the aging Mafia boss.

While these events occur his deputy is away and later the man calls at the home of Montalbano requesting whisky and advising that he is going to marry, the girl is a police Inspector, they both drink a bottle of whisky in celebration. What the deputy has not said is that they have decided that he will seek a transfer rather than the other way round. Their policed chief boss was delighted with the news saying it would break the mafia type band Montalbano leads.
The Inspector arranges with a friendly newsman to announce the disappearance of the couple and the concern of their son. This leads to the information that the couple had taken a coach trip which had stopped twice but also for a third time on the way back at the request of the couple who had stayed in the coach on the previous stops. They had sat at the back.

The coach driver operates two money making schemes. He bans the travellers from using their camera and then takes pictures which he sells to them. This includes a photo of the couple who appear to be looking at what appears to be a following car. It is arranged for the section to be blown up to enable the number plate of the following car to read. It proves to be that of the young man murdered outside their apartment block. Later the couple are found murdered, also shot in the head, at close range and holding hands as if they knew what we to happen to them.

Montalbano is also able to establish that the couple had dramatically increased their savings although the bank book had disappeared. According to the son they had visited an estranged sister shortly before her death but this did not appear to explain the sudden increase in their wealth. Montalbano calls on the former tenant of the sister who inherited the home in the Will and a copy of this reveals that the couple had been left a piece of scrub land and former stable and derelict building of no worth.

The other source of income for the coach driver is from a university student who tries to sell kitchen pans and ware from which he takes a cut. Montalbano arranges to meet the student in a restaurant and when his deputy arrives with information the Inspector senses their an immediate connection between the two so he suggests that the young woman repeats what she has said to his deputy while he has a meal and then make a formal report back at the station thus building on a possible relationship and taking him away from the attachment to the police Inspector who when she rings to contact the deputy Montalbano makes no effort to advise where he or get a message to him.

The sexy live letters appear to be written to a married woman hence the secrecy of the relationship, letters which were not posted but handed on meetings to spice up their relationship. The Inspector works out that because of the secrecy, any video of their relationship will have taped on an overprinted commercial tape but after the first ten minutes. This proves the right theory but still there is need to identify the woman. One of his colleagues suggests that that Montalbano should approach the former Nordic wife and swinger he encountered in a previous episode. She who offered herself but the Inspector resisted, with difficulty. The idea is she will know where a woman would go to have pubic hair professional removed. His colleagues arrange for them to have dinner but Montalbano is late back.

He has visited the former stables, isolated on the coast and locked up as a fortress. He has great difficulty in breaking in which includes trying to shoot the look out. The one lack of credibility in the episode is that he carries in his car the implements for breaking and entering including hacksaw, hammer and chisel. Given his behaviour in general perhaps this is not surprising. He notes that although isolated the place has a strong telephone and electricity connection and inside he finds a large disconnected power box with the inside otherwise seeming to have been cleared.

Injured from his efforts he struggles home to find the woman of his dinner date waiting for him. She administers pain relief lotion. She immediately recognises the woman in her video. It is a friend. The woman like her was a national from another country. She is married to an internally recognised transplant surgeon with an exceptionally valuable picture collection. Two weeks ago, that is before the murders she had suddenly returned to native land.

They sleep in the same bed clothed but there is innocent cuddle but nothing more. Later they have lunch after she has spoken to the woman in the video who has explained that has happened. She said that she taken her lover back to their home believing that the husband was away at his clinic and not returning home but he had and found them together in bed. She had been surprised by her husband’s reaction in that he had said nothing to her and she and the impression he was already familiar with her lover who he had driven home, He had then said she must go away and not return unless he said it was OK for her to do so. It is established that he has closed down the transplant critic who was heavily secure before and now there are armed guards. The man himself appeared to have become a recluse in his home.

The Inspector is then contact by the Mafia boss and this is the penultimate piece in the jigsaw he says he is in urgent needs of a liver transplant because his own is failing and that with the closure of the clinic of the famous transplant surgeon his life is doomed because there is a waiting list of 10000.

Montalbano also reads the novel which appears to be about Robots but when it ends he is sickened by the implications of what he understands to be the story.

This is what is worked out. The new Mafia order looking for new ways to make money had recruited the transplant surgeon with his liking for the expensive pictures to undertake transplants for the rich and famous in the circumstances of security and confidentiality. This would have been legitimate if was not for the use of captured able bodied men, women and children whose bodies are then buried or dumped in the ocean. The murdered young man had been a computer specialist and he had rented the use of the property owned by the couple living in the same block as a communication centre for the enterprise.

I did not understand how the young man had come to met the wife of the surgeon or why he was successful in persuading a number of attractive women not just to have sexual relations with him but to be filmed in such and open way given the lengths to which the criminal undertaking was being kept secret and the way it operated. I also did not understand why the operation had been brought to a sudden end because the surgeon discovered that his wife was having an affair with the young man. However the consequence was that it led to the closure of the operation and the elimination of everyone who could provide a lead to the providers and to past customers.

Montalbano assumed that any attempt to take action would be sat on because of the level and power of those involved as customers as much as providers and he works out a way of achieving the objective. He breaks into the home of surgeon late a night in an attempt to threaten the man into confessing, although there is also the suggestion that he was driven to kill the man because of what his greed had led to. He was being followed by his closest colleagues who intervene in whatever he was doing and takes the man into custody and is sufficiently scared to reveal all that he has been involved with.

The Inspector the wakes up his TV news contact and gives him the story of the arrest of the surgeon and also the connection with the death of the grandson of the Mafia Family boss, and which under his instruction he had kept out of the news until then. His only requirement was that the announcement should be made on the main lunchtime bulletin of the day in order to ensure that there was world wide reporting and therefore it was impossible for the authorities to attempt to cover up the connection with the illegal transplants and the Mafia.

The episode closes as his deputy announces his engagement to the university student the Inspector had introduced him to. They have had a whirlwind romance which the Inspector has encouraged at every opportunity. He was also most affected by the case where the organs of able bodied children had been used to the rich and the powerful. He had called his mistress and she had sense she was needed. She suggested they could also get married at the same time as the deputy. He agrees. They are at a romantic location but one wonders if this will in fact happen.

TV serials March 2012 -1

An up date on my 73rd birthday on recent television series viewed, I could not remember the name of the fourth episode of Inspector Montalbano but it was the best yet and an outstanding crafted work. As soon as I came to remembering the finding a terracotta dog in the secret chamber of a cave I remembered the title, the Mystery of the Terracotta Dog.

The former Mafia boss of Sicily has been on the run for twenty five years protected by his former associates. Inspector Montalbano appears to lead a substantial force raiding where the man is hiding out although unbeknown to them Inspector Montalbano has already met the man who wishes to give himself up but needs to give the impression that has been discovered as part of major raid. The capture is a major coup and brings Montalbano to the fore in terms of publicity and acclaim by his superiors. Because what happened is not what it seems Montalbano is reluctant to face the cameras and becoming a celebrity cop or gaining promotion is not on his immediate agenda.

The new Criminal Order now in operation on the island quickly find out what has happened and the criminal is shot and badly wounded during a dubious transfer between prison establishments and Montalbano himself is placed under threat. Before the former crime boss dies he gives Montalbano a gift for his understanding towards him. This is information about a cave in the countryside which is located with great difficulty. Inside there are two discoveries, the first is a large cache of major weaponry plus police uniforms and this only adds to his standing with the force and community.

The second is that he spots that there is a false wall in the cave and here is discovered two bodies both shot lying side by side together with some coins in a dish and a stone carving of a dog. He is twice contacted by his former schoolmaster. The first occasion is to advise that cave was well know in the past and used during the war by those engaged in the black market and on the second the headmaster reveals that the coins went out of circulation just before the allied invasion and also the story of an event which had occurred before then. It is the kind of mystery which Montalbano finds difficult not to try and resolve and brings out his romantic streak.

However before then he works out that there is a connection between the robbing of a supermarket, the new mafia order and the cave. In previous episodes Montalbano has made use of his school friend contact that has become minor criminal running women and low level activity and a useful source of information when required.

He is able to establish that the vehicle making a delivery to the supermarket also delivered the weapons to the cave arriving early. This brought into the frame the provider of the goods to the supermarket and when the station chief ignored Montalbano’s plea not to take precipitive action this results in a contract being placed on Montalbano and his friend. The man is shot dead and Montalbano is also ly wounded but not before killing one of the assassins and wounding the other. He needs a long period of convalescence and his girlfriend takes time from her work and travels to the island to care for him. The man who took out the contract is killed by the new order who is horrified at the attention his actions are bringing.

Montalbano visits the mother of his friend and they reminisce about the old days. He is also able to discover something about the couple in the secret chamber. They were a pair of star crossed lovers, the Romeo and Juliet of the Island, The girl was a favourite relative of the man who owned the cave and the young man an Italian sailor from a visiting vessel, also a Muslim. They had been discovered together by a jealous relative and shot. The placing in the secret chamber was to enable the couple to love for eternity according to an ancient belief hence the money and the Terracotta Dog. The story has a Christian and a Muslim background involving young men who hide in a cave to escape an enemy and are then seen several hundred years later. It is the Muslim version of the tale that the young men are accompanied by a dog to keep watch.

According to the headmaster the home of the man who had owned the cave had been flattened by a bomb and he had been badly injured. His wife who had known the girl had received a photo card which had shown the couple in the USA but no message. Montalbano then gains publicity for the couple by hiring a small plane to trail a banner about the couple at an important ceremony on the island. I thought the ceremony involved the opening of a site to establish a tunnel link between Sicily and the Italian mainland however there are plans for a tunnel between Sicily and Tunisia and for a Bridge between the Island and the mainland.

The publicity is International as Montalbano had hoped and he stays by the telephone anticipate a telephone call. In due course he is rewarded as the owner of the Cave contacts and returns home admitting that he killed the man who had killed the young couple. He is therefore able to satisfy Montalbano’s desire to learn the truth. The episode is also important in redefining the relationship between the Inspector and his mistress who flies to his bedside when he appears to be mortally wounded and remains to care for him but then leaves having reached the point of understanding that despite their love he is someone who needs to be alone as he is also a creative detective working outside the mould and not someone to functions best within a team unless he is its leader and functioning in an active rather than bureaucratic way. If I have not mentioned before the original ten book series was written by a woman who explains the particular slant of his character ands approach to the stories.

The human side of the Police New York side is the subject of the latest episode of Blood Brothers: The Job. Son Danny is driving home with his wife and two sons when a man suddenly runs in front of vehicle, is knocked down and killed. A man in a mask is nearby with gun and orders Danny to leave the area. Danny is able to retrieve the gun he has strapped to his ankle and manages to wound the man in his lower arm but not before the man shoots at the car narrowly missing one of his sons.

The incident has a traumatic effect on his wife and his son. Relationships are strained even more when Danny tries to help his son recover after being sent home from school because his distressed condition by getting him to understand the reality of guns and the weapon that he keeps in the family home. The situation also boils up at the famous Sunday lunch which the whole family are expected to attend. His wife and one other member of the family are of the view that Danny has become obsessed with finding the man who pulled the gun on him and his family and should pass the case to someone else but other members of the family disagree and this leads to his wife leaving the dinner table.

Danny is able to establish that the man responsible is a hot tempered neighbour with whom he has fallen out in the past and who is leading a campaign against a half way house established in the area. The man who was knocked down after being chased for his life was a resident at the establishment. He has difficulty in gaining a DNA sample which could prove the link with the blood found from the wounding and he hits of the idea of raiding the trash when it is being deposited and getting hold of items which the man may have handled. He forces the man to show his arm which is bandaged. The episode ends with him handing a box to his wife who holds his badge indicating his willingness to leave the force if it was to be a direct choice between his wife and family and his work. She says that is not want she wants although she also appreciates the seriousness of his declaration.

The second story concerns the unusual behaviour of the Commissioner. He disappears one day from his office without his driver or telling his PA and in fact he attempts to mislead her saying he is visiting the Media Director who then comes to her office looking for Frank. He has taken time out to visit a Psychiatrist/Psychotherapist but is resistant to all the questions and walks out realising this are not the way for him. He does not disabuse the Media Director when he thinks Frank is having an affair with someone which he wants to keep confidential for the time being.

The reality is that Frank is being troubled by his 9/11 experience when he was in the North Tower and his closest associate and friend was by his side but later after he had left the building for safety the associate had been caught in the collapse and damaged his lungs so that he had developed severe bronchial problems and was dying. The guilt Frank experienced since that day had resulted in his failing to keep in contact with the former colleague as he feels he should which only adds to his sense of guilt. The man dies. He comforts his wife and family and speaks at the special service held in the Cathedral.

I have only a vague recollection now of the previous episode called the Uniform. A police assistant similar to the position in the UK visits his uncle who runs a dinner and discoverers the presence of two men who tell the nephew to leave. There is a shoot out with the outcome one of the two men is shot, the other man disappears and the uncle also disappears as does the other police assistant but the incident is observer by a delivery driver who is in his vehicle when the incident happens and calls the police.

It takes time for Danny and his partner to unravel the mystery which includes finding a lock up belonging to the Diner owner and a stash of weapons. The nephew is also traced and is prepared to take the wrap for the situation and only cones to his senses when he realises that his uncle is prepared to see him sacrifice his future to protect his criminal interests. They are able to capture the other man involved. The police Assistant had wanted to be a full policeman and Danny finds that among the information about the NYPD in the man’s apartment is a poster photo of his father. An offence as a juvenile prevented his being accepted but because of his cooperation Danny advises that he should give him as a reference if he applies again.

The other story line in the episode is that of the youngest son, Jamie takes a second job working as a painter with his Sergeant in on order to pay off the loans for the Harvard Law School degree. This leads to the recurring discussion about his decision to join the police following the death of the eldest son and to the issue of second jobs taken by police officers and which ties in with issues raised at Leveson over the past two weeks.

The third episode of Luck with Dustin Hoffman is slight in content. Hoffman arranges for his legal firm to commence to free $50 million from his firm to commence to purchase into the Race Track with his ambition to build a Casino within the grounds and to also get even with his former business associate. To enable this he offers a bright Derivatives Trader with his Company $1 million to work for him on a special project for a year. Hoffman encounters the female representative of an organisation concerned with the welfare of races horses and appears interested in her and the gambling syndicate of former race track bums but the horse thy were interested at the Sellers Plate for a premium roughly three times the value of the selling price which involves pay the trainer who purchased the horse $7500 for his barbecue as a sweetener. They have contact with a horse for the first time with different experience. This is a gesture of solidarity with their comrade who was badly injured escaping from the two insurance agents who planned to kill him and claim the insurance they had taken on him and who had wanted to buy the horse as gift to the syndicate. The author of the gambling formula has returned to gambling at Poker after his recent success clearing his debts. The owner/trainer of the horse with a pedigree background is persuaded to give a ride to a jockey with drunk and drug problems that breaks his collar bone for the fifth or sixth time on his first outing.

Spartacus continues with its graphic portrayal of violence and sex as the hero decides to try and rescue the three surviving captured gladiators who include his former rival and closest associate Crixus and the former Trainer/Doctore who are to be put to death in the arena. The man set to lead the execution by combat is the hero and freed gladiator Gannicus. The plan is to infiltrate the arena from their knowledge of having worked there so to speak setting fire to the under structure to cause the collapse of stands in balls of fire. This is effective with hundreds to Romans killed and the rescue of Crixus and Doctore.

He challenges his former closest friend and ally that the man had a relationship with his wife which Gannicus admits. Doctore is badly wounded and just about survives. The remaining Gladiators and their supporters manage to find refuge in an isolated Temple close to Mount Vesuvius and here they prepare to defend themselves from the onslaught from the might of Rome after their successful daring raid and destruction of the arena. Gannicus believes they are doomed and is only interested in women and drink and goes off on his own. Crixus is joined together with his “wife” who was sold into sexual slavery by the wife of Batiatus after she discovered that sexual slave Crixus and her personal slave had become lovers. She, Lucretia has become something of a seer and prophet although admits the Gods deserted over failing to warn of the attack on the arena. She pretends to continues to be a friend of Llithyia the wife of Glaber who was responsible for the enslavement of Spartacus and his wife.

Lucretia prevents Llithya aborting the child she carries as a consequence of being tricked by Lucretia to have sex with Spartacus both wearing masks when she wanted Crixus. Glaber is aware that Llithya is plotting with her father to divorce from Glaber and establish a more advantageous marriage. Glaber takes the opportunity of the raid on the arena to kill her father and then sets about killing everyone who threatens his ambitions. He allows his wife to live because she is carrying his child! In league with Lucretia is Ashur and who manages to ingratiate himself with Glaber Ashur is the former Gladiator who worked as the bookkeeper and fixer for Batiatus and who was responsible for deaths and much treachery and survived the blood bath at the end of the first series by pretending to be dead under the corpse of a soldier. He is tested by Glaber after claiming that ordinary Roman soldiers will not defeat trained Gladiators and although he has become disabled and long since given up fighting he is able to defeat and kill three of Glaber’s men. This leads Glaber to ask Ashur to recruit a band of like minded cut throats and street fighters to help in locating and defeating Spartacus.

I will write separately on the next three episodes of the Sopranos.

Upstairs Downstairs Season 2 1-3

The problem with the revival of the 1970’s Upstairs Downstairs in 2010 is that it lacked the interactions of the original cast and concentrated on trying to upstage the ITV’s successful Downton Abbey by introducing historical contemporary characters such as Wallis Simpson and the abdication crisis as well as her relationship with Von Ribbontrop. It also had the black sheep of the family, the sister in law Lady Persephone Towyn running off to Germany with her Nazi lover suggesting echoes of Diana Mitford and her relationship with Adolph Hitler.

I am not surprised that so little attention has been given in the media to the second new series and even Wikipedia has ignored the showing of the first three episodes. Could it be that there is displeasure being exerted from some quarters? If so I can well understand the reaction.

Eileen Atkins who helped to create the original series appeared briefly as the mother Maud, Lady Holland, but she departed said to be in huff over the first season’s script which in addition to the abdication crisis also included the more notorious of the Queen’s uncles, Prince George, The Duke of Kent.

In the second series Lady Holland continues to play a role in the Household from a position on the mantelpiece that is her ashes. Her loyal friend and factotum, Mr Amanjit played by Art Malik and her sister Dr Blanche Mottershead who works at the British Museum and whose forte is organising, cataloguing and systems has moved into 165 Eaton Place and starts to sort out her sisters papers apparently as a self appointed Executor or stake holder in the property.

The opening episode entitled A Faraway Country about which we know Nothing follows the National events leading to the signing of the Munich Agreement with Peace in Our Time. Sir Hallam Holland works at the Foreign Office and belongs to the Churchill Eden viewpoint, who wants the country to rearm and prepare for war with Germany because of Hitler’s ambitions and because of Nazi methods. His wife is among those who plead for compromise and a peaceful solution and is anxious about her sister who lives in Germany as the mistress of a married Nazi officer.

Sir Hallam continues to be friends with the Duke of Kent, Prince George as he was, fourth son of the then late King. The Duke was bi sexual and was known for a series of high profile sexual relationships which included the African-American cabaret singer Florence Mills; banking heiress Poppy Baring; socialite Margaret Whigham (later Duchess of Argyll and involved in a notoriously scandalous divorce case); Barbara Cartland, later known as a romantic novelist; and musical star Jessie Matthews. Claims that he had a 19-year affair with Noël Coward were denied by Coward's long-term partner, Graham Payn.Intimate letters from the Duke to Coward are believed to have been stolen from Coward’s house in 1942 and reminds of a similar situation which arose in Downton Abbey. He was also said to have been addicted to morphine and cocaine and reportedly was blackmailed by a male prostitute to whom he wrote intimate letters.

Another of his reported sexual liaisons was with his distant cousin Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia; art historian Anthony Blunt who was a Russian spy was reputedly another intimate. The Duke was known to have attempted to court Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. She spurned the overture and married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld instead.

In addition to his legitimate children, the Duke is said to have had a son by Kiki Preston (née Alice Gwynne, 1898–1946), an American socialite whom he reportedly shared in a ménage à trois with Jorge Ferrara, the bisexual son of the Argentine ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Another reputed illegitimate lovechild was Raine McCorquodale, daughter of Barbara Cartland, whose step-granddaughter Diana Spencer married George's great-nephew Charles.

In the programme the Duke is portrayed as wanting to avoid War with Germany at any price with the thinly veiled suggestion that he was sympathetic to the regime and asks Hallam to take a letter with him to Germany for Hitler in secret when he is sent to Germany to try and stiffen the resolve of Chamberlain not to yield Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland or at least try and prevent the subsequent annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia. The programme sees Hallam storm out of negotiations after Chamberlain refuses to include key sentences suggested by him

Meanwhile back at Eaton Place there are preparations for war with the allocation of the gas masks and with Pritchard the Butler becoming the local Air Raid warden. Lady Agnes has given birth to her first child by Caesarean and she had the child barely survived. She is warned that further pregnancy could see her demise and that she must advise her husband to take appropriate action to prevent this. Understandably she is concerned about the fact that everyone in the household is provided with a gas mask except the baby and Pritchard uses his influence to bring home an experimental baby respirator. This concerns the rescued from prison Johnny Proude who tests out the device by placing Mr Amanjit’s monkey and turning on the car in the garage with the consequence that it suffocates. Unfortunately the attempt to hide the death fails as it is discovered by the Sir Hallam’s sister (she with learning difficulties) who has returned to Eaton Place because the institution has closed from the threat of war. She contacts the police who investigate and then arrest Pritchard who has taken the blame to protect Proude only to find himself under attack by Amanjit, the Housekeeper Cook, Mrs Thackeray and the arresting officer when it is found that Pritchard served time as a Conscientious Objector during World War I.

The first episode also sees the arrival a Nursery Nurse Beryl Ballard who sparks off in mutual attraction with the Chauffer Harry Spargo. Beryl has to share a double bed with Maid Eunice McCabe which both find unsatisfactory.

In the second episode The Love that Pays the Price the centre of the attention is a dinner party given for the American Ambassador who brings along his son Jack Kennedy and a wealth American business man Caspar Landry who takes the mutual eye of her Ladyship. The episode has the hosts taking out Jack to sample London Night Life with a visit to a club and dancing.

Relationships between Pritchard. Mrs Thackeray and Amanjit reach boiling point. Amanjit who served in the Indian Army during World War I is provided with a family hand gun by Sir Hallam who is off to Germany in case there is an invasion while he is away or duty. Amanjit undertakes some target practice in the grounds in order to make a point to Pritchard and its Lady Agnes who insists on a working truce. Pritchard gets his own back on Mrs Thackeray who meets up with her nephew and his wife and children when they come to England from Ireland where the nephews has gained a job selling insurance. She makes for him some special macrons and Pritchard makes her pay for the ingredients used and for the tin. However when the home baked Florentines which Mrs Kennedy has requested are spoiled Pritchard uses most of the macrons for the dinner party with their coffee. This is the last straw and Mrs Pritchard who decides to walk out and go and live with her relatives much to the surprise and questioning of her niece in law.
In Germany Sir Hallam has encountered his sister in law who he has fancied and given the limitation now placed on marital relations with his wife he responds to the challenging interest shown by Lady Persephone, who also states that she is content with her life in Germany even as a kept woman.

Meanwhile back at Eaton Place there is another historical moment introduced when Amanjit represents Sir Hallam at the residential school where the Jewish daughter the family took in has been placed. The head mistress expresses concern about the plight of other Jewish children and her wish for the school to provide refuge for others.

Amanjit becomes involved with a Jewish organisation besieged by request for help in a situation where the British Government is applying strict and time consuming rules. He turns to Blanche who throws herself readily in the task of going through all the requests and from this they help mount a campaign with the support of Sir Hallam and his wife first to persuade the British Government to change the regulations and then to recruit foster families for a train load of several hundred Jewish children who were allowed out of Germany and to come to the UK, the aspect which is based on fact.

There are three main aspects to the third episode which was shown on Sunday A Perfect Specimen of Womanhood, The first is the changing relationship between households and their staff. The accommodation, hours of work and conditions of service had been worked out by the original housekeeper for the series Miss Rose Buck played by Jean Marsh one the 1970’s series creators and actors. Unfortunately she had a stroke but has sufficiently recovered to have a brief appearance during this episode when Lady Agnes visits her in a Nursing home to transfer responsibility for the ex Barnardo’s Maid she employed to herself.

The new nursery maid has proved herself such an asset that Lady Agnes decides that she should also act as her personal maid changing the duties of others. However the outcome is longer hours for no additional pay. The maid makes contact with her staff association and the premises are expected with several changes required if it is not to be blacklisted. The two maids are provided with single beds. They are to have an upgraded toilet and proper breaks during the day. There is to be a comfortable settee provided in the servant’s quarters.

Mrs Thackeray quickly overstayed her welcome by providing the same kind of meals she prepared at Eaton Place thus amassing a great bill for which she had to use her savings and disrupting the household and their way of life. In order to financially help out the son who is not selling as much insurance as before because the threat of war increases, she gains a contract for her macrons which in turn creates havoc in he kitchen. Meanwhile the household is facing problems because of the absence of the cook and while it is all hands to the pump they are unable to deliver meals to the usual standards. Pritchard is forced to go and make peace and Mrs Thackeray returns in time for the new staff regime.

The domestic revolution occurred because Lady Penelope decided to participate in the Women’s League of Health and Beauty which are to hold a Torchlight exhibition in Hyde Park on evening. She insists that the younger maids join her using their official time off. However after the revolution they volunteer and participate in the display intended to herald the role women are to play in the Second World War and that class distinctions were to become blurred, a questionable fact.

Lady Persephone, Persie contacts her brother in law for help after being thrown out by her lover and Sir Hallam has to pull strings to bring he destitute woman back. She discloses to her brother in law that she is pregnant and wants his help to gain an abortion which he refuses. She insists that her sister is not told adding to the pressure on him. On a visit to Germany he makes contact with the child’s father who shows no interest or concern giving the impression that his attitude is part of the new German morality. He has three children with his wife. Back hone Persie as she is called within the family takes matter into her own hands and arranges a back street abortion going to recover at the Dorchester hotel but is cling suffering after effects and the chauffer contacts his lordship who is on his way back from Germany and they cover the situation by claiming that the flight back was delayed.

The main story line of this episode is the resurrection of love relationship between Blanche and another aristocrat who has written a novel about the relationship and which the media identify as the relationship between the two. There is considerable publicity and gossip. However the family and household take this in their stride as yet another indication of changing times. The women recommence their relationship. One wonders what more is to come in the three episodes which end with World War II.