DEC4 Podcast - Studio 2

Fall of Eagles (BBC 1974) was a dramatised documentary series in 13 parts, narrated by Michael Hordern, following the fortunes of the three most powerful royal households of Europe; The Hapsburgs (Austria-Hungary), Hohenzollerns (Prussia and then a united Germany), and Romanov (Russia).

The saga begins with a young Emperor Franz-Josef (Austria-Hungary) overseeing the brutal suppression of Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848, and takes us through to the end of the Great War amid uprising and revolution. As the title suggests, after decades of international intrigue, war, family division, scandals and tragedy, there is no happy ending for any of the ruling families. (Nor for many of their subjects, in fairness).

Like many quality period dramas of the 70s, the casting was careful and wholly convincing, with a roster of very fine actors bringing to life the complexities of the protagonists. The principal characters are, for the most part, not particularly sympathetic; Wilhelm I of Prussia (Maurice Denham) is portrayed as elderly, bewildered, and prone to bursting into tears when confronted by any kind of decision. Bismarck (Curt Jurgens) is a dedicated and hardworking statesman, a lover of dogs and nature capable of personal kindness, but in matters of government an arch manipulator and bully. Wilhelm II (Barry Foster) is egotistical, overconfident and unwilling to take advice (although, funnily enough, strangely likeable in the hands of Barry Foster).

Perhaps two that do manage to come out of it quite well are Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (Son of Wilhelm I and father of Wilhelm II) and Princess Victoria (Vicky). Frederick (Fritz) is a courageous and honourable soldier, but like Princess Victoria a vocal proponent of democratic principles and a free press. This pits them against their own ruling family and particularly Bismarck, who remains deeply suspicious of perceived interference from England through the Princess, who was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s eldest.

Fritz ascends as Frederick III and reigns in Prussia for only 99 days before succumbing to cancer. The course of European history is set with the accession of Wilhelm II, who shares none of his parents' moderate ideologies.

Dennis Lill and Gemma Jones as Fritz and Vicky

Not even the ageing yet still formidable Bismarck can talk reason to the new Kaiser

We also follow the revolutionary movement in Russia, with Lenin (Patrick Stewart) determined to transform a bunch of committee-driven, pamphleteering windbags into an organised, 'professional' revolutionary force. In due course, the more democratically minded in the movement begin to see Lenin's dictatorial tendencies as not much better than the Tsarist regime they're trying to get rid of.

Krupskaya (Lynn Farleigh) is about to get a lecture on how to conduct a revolution by Lenin (Patrick Stewart)

Meanwhile, Tsarevich Nicholas (Charles Kay), on the eve of his accession at the death of his father, Alexander III, is warned that some democratic reforms might be necessary to help combat the rise of dangerous revolutionary sentiment. The Heir is unmoved, determined to carry on his father’s policy of Autocracy Under God.

The narrator, Michael Hordern, describes Tsar Nicholas II early in his reign as 'sentimental and petulant'.

In 1898, Franz-Josef receives word that his wife, Empress Elisabeth (known as Sisi) has been assassinated in Switzerland by an Italian anarchist, for no real reason other than she was of royal blood. Ten years earlier, their liberally-minded yet troubled son and Heir Apparent, Rudolf, had died in a suicide-pact with 17 year old Baroness Mary Vetsera.

Franz Josef (Laurence Naismith) sums things up succinctly, “Nothing has been spared me, in this world.”

In the new century, the Kaiser's personal foreign policy mission seems to be to split Russia away from France by means of a treaty and a new world order in which Kaiser Wilhelm is 'Admiral of the Atlantic' and Tsar Nicholas the 'Admiral of the Pacific', keeping the Asian races (and England) at bay. Unfortunately the Kaiser's forceful advice that the Tsar send the Russian Baltic fleet to finish the Russo-Japanese war once and for all ends in catastrophe and leaves Russia with practically no navy at all.

With St Petersburg paralysed by a general strike, and both Nicholas and Alexandra bereft over their son Alexis' haemophilia, the Tsarina suggests calling in the cavalry; the Tsar agrees, predicting that their presence at the looming Winter Palace protest march, to be led by Orthodox Priest Father Georgy Gapon, will have a 'calming effect'. (The result is Bloody Sunday, January 22nd, 1905).

Father Gapon (Kenneth Colley), although a campaigner for workers' rights, welfare and democracy, is a double agent and informer, also working for the Okhrana, the Tsarist security service.

And, inside a decade, things would get even worse for just about everyone.

A little eye-watering cricket history...David Lloyd looks back on when he was hit in a very painful area by a Jeff Thompson missile, and reflects on the total ineffectiveness of a critical piece of protective equipment...

As usual, legendary commentator Richie Benaud was able to offer some insightful analysis;

"...David Lloyd...said at a team meeting, that Thompson wasn't a worry to him, he said that he could play Thompson with what is laughingly known as his 'appendage'...and he set out and proved it..."

Bill Oddie

Remembering British actor David Warner, born 29th July, 1941, and passed away 24th July, 2022.

Just one example of his many fine performances is as Captain James Sawyer in two episodes of Hornblower; Mutiny and Retribution (ITV 2001).

Sawyer, a famous fighting captain and one of 'Nelson's Own', is commanding HMS Renown on a mission to the West Indies, but is suffering from a 19th century case of severe PTSD. He's paranoid, makes reckless command decisions, and mercilessly brutalises a young midshipman, Mr Wellard, by ordering frequent, savage punishment beatings with little or no cause. Sawyer has a nasty fall (with a little help) and his officers, including Third Lieutenant Hornblower, assume command after the surgeon reluctantly certifies Sawyer as unfit.

It's a testament to David Warner's performance that, in spite of Sawyer's irrational brutality, you can't help liking him personally, and being just a little on his side throughout.

With Sawyer confined to his cabin, the ship is overrun, and he and Midshipman Wellard find themselves together as enemy boarders are about to crash through.

One of David Warner's best moments, understated yet intense, is this reconciliation where, in a moment of clarity, he expresses regret over his behaviour. "Brave lad," he tells young Wellard, promising that they will face the enemy together.

David Warner was an acclaimed performer with the RSC in the 1960s, a familiar face on British television for decades, and his Hollywood work includes The Omen and two Star Trek movies.

According to his obituary at the RSC website;

"...David’s most iconic role for the RSC was as Hamlet in 1965, directed again by Peter Hall, with Glenda Jackson as Ophelia, and Elizabeth Spriggs as Gertrude, with Brewster Mason as Claudius and the Ghost. A tortured student in his long orange scarf, David seemed the epitome of 1960s youth, and caught the radical spirit of a turbulent age..."

Branded was a series 3 (1969) episode of Dad’s Army, in which Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) submits his written resignation to Captain Mainwaring, who is disinclined to accept it. (This is war, not Sainsbury’s!) Godfrey explains that he’d recently found himself unable to kill a domestic mouse, so therefore concluded that he would be no use to the platoon in combat. He also confides that he had been a conscientious objector in the Great War. Mainwaring is stunned and outraged, and is determined to humiliate Godfrey in front of the platoon. (I may not be able to tear his epaulets off physically, but by God I can do it verbally!).

Godfrey remains in the platoon pending a replacement, and in amongst the usual broad comedy there are moments that are deeply uncomfortable to watch, as he is ostracised by his friends, with Private Frazer (John Laurie) the most vocal and personally cruel.

The Walmington-on-Sea platoon join with the ARP Wardens for a training exercise that involves entering a smoke-filled hut, one by one, to rescue a straw-filled sack representing an unconscious casualty. Mainwaring is unhappy with the amount of smoke in the hut, and increases it to a dangerous level. He can’t resist a snide remark about Private Godfrey wanting to get out of the exercise, which Godfrey himself denies with his usual courtesy.

Mainwaring is the last one through, right behind Godfrey, but is overcome by smoke. When he fails to emerge from the other side, Godfrey reenters the hut and singlehandedly rescues Mainwaring, saving his life.

Godfrey is subsequently recuperating at home in bed, and a contrite and grateful Captain Mainwaring, along with the platoon, pay a visit. Mainwaring notices a picture on the wall, showing Private Godfrey in his Great War uniform and displaying the Military Medal. Godfrey’s sister explains that he had been a stretcher bearer at the Somme, and had gone out into no-mans-land under heavy fire to retrieve the wounded.

Amongst the apologies, Frazer unsurprisingly asserts, 'Speaking for myself, I never doubted you for a single minute'.

Captain Mainwaring’s discomfort at his own lack of medals is a theme that carries right through to the final episode. He asks why Godfrey never wore his medals, to which Godfrey replies that it would seem ‘rather ostentatious’.

“If I’d won the MM," Mainwaring replies, "I would have been so proud that I would have worn it, on my chest, for the whole world to see."

“That would have been all right, sir, because you look like a hero.”

And here Sergeant Wilson delivers the coup de grace to conclude the episode, “It just shows, sir, you can’t always go by appearances.”

Godfrey is appointed the platoon’s medic, for reasons that extended beyond the episode storyline. Arnold Ridley had fought on the Somme in the Somerset Light Infantry, and even more than 50 years on still suffered the debilitating effects of multiple wounds. He therefore struggled to parade with a rifle, so the Red Cross haversack was a useful compromise.

Remembering British film director and writer Sir Alan Parker CBE, who passed away July 31st, 2020, aged 76.

Born to a working class family in Islington, North London he made his early reputation as a pioneer of creativity in television advertising. He formed a creative partnership with David Puttnam and went on to become one of his generation’s most accomplished film directors.

He directed Jack Rosenthal’s television play, The Evacuees, for the BBC (BAFTA and International Emmy), and his first international cinema success was Bugsy Malone (1976), a musical gangster pastiche featuring a cast of children, including Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Andrew Paul (The Bill), Bonnie Langford and an uncredited Phil Daniels. He said that he wrote Bugsy Malone out of frustration, as his work was constantly being rejected on the grounds of being 'too parochial'.

He went on to create a commercially successful, diverse and at times controversial body of work, including Midnight Express (written by Oliver Stone: they didn’t get on), Fame, Pink Floyd-The Wall, Mississippi Burning, The Commitments, Evita and Angela's Ashes. His final feature film was The Life of David Gale in 2003.

According to his official website;

"...In all, his films have won nineteen BAFTA awards, ten Golden Globes and ten Oscars...In January 1998, Parker took up his post as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute and in August, 1999 he was appointed first Chairman of the UK Film Council; a position he held for five years...In November, 1995, Parker was awarded with a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the British film industry and he received a knighthood in 2002. He is also an Officier des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French Government..."

He was also fascinating to listen to on the subject of the film industry generally, and gave a number of entertainingly grumpy interviews over the years. In the mid 1980s, his Thames TV documentary, A Turnip Head’s Guide to the British Film Industry, which according to his own website ‘lambasted the British film establishment and film critics’, seemed to upset just about everyone but won the British Press Guild award for the year’s best documentary.

He was interviewed by Warner Brothers executives as a potential director for the first Harry Potter, however during a teleconference (from his kitchen table at home) didn’t seem to express enough interest or gratitude at being asked. When a Warner exec told him that lots of directors would just love to do it, Parker said, 'Well go and ask them, then', and that was the end of that.

In conversation with David Puttnam for a BFI function, Alan Parker explained why he gave up making films, and talked a little about his art and drawing.

"…I’m out of it, I’ve had enough, I think it’s time for someone else to do it. I get more pleasure out of doing my art…I’ve been directing since I was 24, and every day was a battle, every day it was difficult, whether you’re fighting the producer who has opinions that you don’t agree with, the studios or whoever it is, because film, unlike art, pure art, film is hugely expensive, and the moment it gets expensive, you have people you have to serve…I’ve been punching out, all my life…to fight for the work…for our right to make our movie, the way we want to do it, and that’s hugely difficult, because it seems that you’re forever punching out. There comes a time, when you think, I don’t want to do that…I showed (a friend) one of my art works, and he said, who’s your audience here? Because that’s what film people think. I said the audience is me, and that’s all I care about, if someone likes my art, fine, if they don’t, fine…If they don’t like my movies, I want to kill ‘em…"

He was Michael Parkinson's first guest on Desert Island Discs in 1986, (a great interview) and featured once again 14 years later talking to Sue Lawley.

Hitchcock is 2012 feature film starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role, with Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock's wife and creative partner, Alma Reville, and Toni Collette as script supervisor and production assistant, Peggy Robertson. (The Hitchcocks' daughter, Patricia, is not featured). It was directed by Sacha Gervasi and based on the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello.

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock is basking in the success of North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and made for MGM, but is contractually committed to Paramount for one more picture. Mindful of some chatter that he is getting past it (aged 60!), Hitchcock takes a risk by personally acquiring the rights to the book Psycho by Robert Bloch, which was based on the life of Edward Gein, a criminally insane multiple murderer and bodysnatcher. Paramount Studios, which had already rejected the book for its subject matter, refuse to to back the project, but thanks to intervention by the Hitchcocks’ powerful agent, the legendary Lew Wasserman, Paramount agrees to distribute the picture on a profit share basis on condition that the Hitchcocks finance the production themselves, which they do by mortgaging their home.

It’s not a happy time either on the set or at home. Hitchcock is jealous of Alma’s blossoming friendship and creative collaboration with screenwriter Whitfield Cook (played by Danny Huston, son of John Huston), while Alma is hurt and disturbed by Hitchcock’s ongoing voyeuristic obsession with his blonde leading ladies.

The Motion Picture Association censor is threatening not to approve release, and a pre-screening for the head of Paramount, Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow), is a disaster. Hitchcock and Alma manage to reignite their creative and marital partnership just in time, recut the film, satisfy the censors, and Balaban grudgingly concedes to a limited release. Thanks to an imaginative advertising campaign devised by Hitchcock himself, the premiere is a triumph and the film goes on to be a massive hit, returning tens of millions of dollars against its 800 000 dollar budget with Paramount finally getting behind it.

Other interesting cast members include Scarlett Johansson (Janet Leigh), Jessica Biel (Vera Miles) and James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins. (The film is not above a little Carry On humour; when Perkins addresses his director as Mr Hitchcock, Hitchcock informs him that he prefers things a little less formal, ‘Just Hitch, hold the cock’).

The portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock is generally sympathetic and illustrates just how much his success was thanks to his creative partnership with Alma. As great as Anthony Hopkins’ performance is in the leading role, it feels more like Helen Mirren’s movie, which perhaps is fitting.

On July 21st 1984, Status Quo played their ‘final’ show at Milton Keynes Bowl to an audience of 50 000, although they would reform for Live Aid and then continue to record and tour with some lineup changes, until their (most recent) final show in 2024.

The 2024 tour featured Francis Rossi and Andy Bown from the 1984 lineup.

A little golden moment from Not the Nine O'Clock News (BBC 1979-1982).

The Soviet nuclear missiles have been launched, with Armageddon just minutes away, but according to the panellists on Question Time, this is the least of Britain's problems.

In addition to his most notable work on Not the Nine O'Clock News and as a comedic duo with Griff Rhys-Jones, he acted on stage and directed a number of successful movies including The Tall Guy and Bean. He was also a very fine dramatic actor, as he demonstrated in the leading role in the 1982 (Central / ITV) political drama, Muck and Brass.

With Griff Rhys-Jones he co-founded the spectacularly successful Talkback Productions which they subsequently sold to Pearson Television (parent company of Thames) for 62 million pounds.

This is the third in our occasional series featuring luminaries of stage and screen with a strong personal or professional connection with Northeast England, inspired by @robbielewis. Previous profiles were of John Nightingale and Edward Wilson. This time, Jean Heywood.

She was born Jean Murray, in Blyth, Northumberland, to a coalmining family, in 1921. She worked initially as a librarian, married mechanical engineer Roland Heywood in 1945 (they remained married until his death in 1996), and became involved in amateur theatre, finally turning professional only after her children had grown up.

Following work in repertory theatre, she made her television debut in 1968, but her breakout role was as family matriarch Bella Seaton in 39 episodes of the Tyneside Depression-era drama, When the Boat Comes In (1976-77).

In 1978, she had a leading role in the acclaimed BBC Play for Today, Our Day Out, written by Willy Russell and directed by Pedr James, in which she played a dedicated teacher at a tough, inner city Liverpool Comprehensive school, determined that her struggling students, resigned to the fate of becoming 'factory fodder' according to The Guardian, should at least have a nice time on a coach excursion to Wales. Our Day Out became one of the BBC’s most successful European exports, leading to a memorable headline in The Liverpool Echo.

In a 2015 interview with television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, Jean Heywood talked about the similarities between Bella Seaton and Mrs Alton, her character in the final season of the original All Creatures Great and Small (1990);

"...It’s sort of the character of the women in my early life… I never had any money when I was young and had to make do and mend and manage…So I didn’t have to search how to play that kind of character. People loved my character in (When the Boat Comes In), a working class, good woman, quiet but very strong and I think Mrs Alton was a similar character…"

"…Rehearsing is like playing a ball game, you throw a ball off the idea of your character that you’ve formed in your head, you keep throwing it in the air and nobody has received it back, until you go into the rehearsal studio where you throw the idea from inside your head to the other person, it comes back differently from how you’d imagined, so the character develops and works much more excitingly than what you had in your head..."

With James Bolam as Jack Ford, in When the Boat Comes In

Her television career spanned over 40 years and included appearances in War and Peace, Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Kavanagh QC, Boys from the Blackstuff, The Bill, Our Friends in the North, Heartbeat, Casualty and on the big screen in Billy Elliot.

Her final screen credit was in 2010, and she passed away in 2019, aged 98.

Television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, recalls her undiminished charm, strength and generosity when interviewing her for his history volume on All Creatures Great and Small in 2015, when she was 94.

"River patrols! Half a dozen determined men, armed to the teeth, with a boat, they could play havoc with the Nazis..."

Believe it or not, these three sex symbols were amongst the top box office stars in the UK, in 1971.

The first spinoff feature film from the sitcom, On the Buses, which had been initially rejected by the BBC and found a home at ITV franchise holder London Weekend, made back around 28 times its budget (which was less than 100 000 pounds), and was #2 at the UK box office that year.

Remembering Reg Varney, who passed away November 16th, 2008, aged 92.

He was born in Canning Town, London, and having served in the Royal Engineers in World War Two, including tours in forces entertainment, he forged a career as variety artist on the tough club and music hall circuit, working with a young Benny Hill as his straight man.

By the 1960s he was also working in television, including the sitcoms The Rag Trade and Beggar My Neighbour. He also headlined a BBC anthology comedy series, The Valiant Varneys, in which he played a different character each week, but there are believed to be no surviving episodes as a result of the BBC policy at that time of keeping only limited archives.

He played a dramatic role in The Best Pair of Legs in the Business, a Yorkshire Television play and later an unsuccessful feature film, about a failing holiday camp entertainer, and finally gained international, lasting stardom, aged 52, as Stan in On The Buses.

He was also a talented fine artist.

Inn For Trouble (1960) was one of the early British sitcom-cinema adaptations, from the Peggy Mount-David Kossoff comedy series, The Larkins. (ATV 1958-60, 1963-64).

It was directed by CM Pennington-Richards and distributed by Eros Films (which went bankrupt in 1961).

Frank Williams (later the Vicar in Dad's Army) was cast by virtue of his appearance in one of the television episodes. In this audio clip, he recalls learning a valuable lesson from veteran character actor A.E Matthews...

(Special thanks to television historian Oliver Crocker for Frank Williams' audio memoir)

Remembering Irish-Australian character actor, Gerry Duggan, born in Dublin, July 10, 1910.

His first screen credit was in the 1959 Ealing production, The Siege of Pinchgut, filmed in Sydney. Although the film was not a major success at the box office, Gerry Duggan was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer BAFTA , at the grand age of 49. (He lost to 13 year old Hayley Mills).

He worked in British theatre in the 1960s, and as a supporting player on television (Emergency Ward 10, Wednesday Play, Coronation Street) and in feature films, including with Leslie Caron in The L-Shaped Room, directed by Bryan Forbes. He appeared in Goldfinger and (uncredited) in Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life.

From the late 1960s, he became a familiar and likeable presence, over more than two decades, in landmark Australian cinema and television, including films such as Newsfront, The Devil's Playground and My Brilliant Career, and on television in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, police dramas Matlock Police, Homicide, and Division 4, and in over 40 episodes of the hugely successful wartime family drama, The Sullivans.

Interestingly, he is also credited in a 1976 episode of the US crime drama, McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver, as 'old gent in pub'.

Two old masters at work: Tony Haygarth (1945-2017) and Peter Vaughan (1923-2016).

“Good morning, Richard.”

“Good morning, I trust you have an appointment.”

“Yes, and if this takes too long I shall be late for it."