New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 345188" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Two The New ManAnd not just a new man. There are new opening titles. A new kitchen maid, Ruby. And - most startling of all - a new household with a complete new set of staff.The spinoff-within-the-series has Rose “on loan” to newlyweds Elizabeth and Lawrence, with them getting off the ground in setting up the new place. In some ways it hits some similar notes to the first episode of Series One as we become familiarised with the new place though the eyes of those onscreen.This time, though, it doesn’t feel as though there’s a single protagonist who shares our view, as Sarah did before. This is primarily Elizabeth’s story, but we meet many of the new characters through Rose’s eyes, though we are also privy to Elizabeth interviewing The New Man of the title: Thomas Watkins.John Alderton must be one of those actors who is pretty good at accents. I last watched him in Calendar Girls where his North Yorkshire accent impressed me. In UpDown his South Walian accent is also rather decent, and seems to be fairly narrowed down to Torfaen/Rhondda Valley/Monmouthshire. This being the early Seventies, I’m sure Tom Jones would have been an influence.Alderton would have been fresh off Please Sir! at this point, so very much a known actor. Of course, I can’t help wondering if Pauline Collins’ presence in the series was a factor in his casting. They seem to do a lot of series together which, as someone whose work and home lives have always been nicely, neatly compartmentalised, I’ve never really understood, but they’re still married after over five decades so something’s working.Elizabeth and Lawrence’s marriage, on the other hand, feels doomed to fail. Watching their little spinoff feels rather like Lucy and Mitch in their condo on Dallas, though the dynamic actually has far more in common with that of Olivia and Harold over on Knots, with Elizabeth newly emancipated and learning to budget on her dowry while Lawrence enjoys the good life at his wife’s expense. Already he’s out all night, leaving poor Elizabeth to take her frustrations out on the frisky servants (Rose enjoying randy Thomas's game of kiss-catch as much as she did seems rather out of character, by the way).From what I understand, Series Two is going to be rather compressed in terms of the time covered (in order to keep it within the Edwardian era). This is a shame, as I’ve enjoyed and become rather used to the little time lapses. But I’m curious to see how the series works as a more conventional weekly visit.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?