Heidi Thomas (1) (1962–)

Watched with the family in 2006, with my husband only twenty years later.

It's a slightly surprising 'gothic' style film, based on the book by Dodie Smith. Bill Nighy is perfect as the writer who hasn't published anything for twelve years, and Romola Garai excellent as 17-year-old Cassandra, who records her experiences in diary format, and narrates the story.

It's basically a coming-of-age novel about love, with some confused feelings, and examples of class consciousness. Set in the 1930s. show more Well made, and overall quite enjoyable.

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I always loved the book 'Ballet Shoes' by Noel Streatfeild, so wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a made-for-TV film of less than 90 minutes . The story is about three adopted sisters who are determined to make their mark on the world: Pauline as an actress, Petrova as a pilot, and Posy as a dancer.

Emma Watson (best known as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies) plays Pauline, the eldest of the Fossil children. There are other well-known faces in this film, including Victoria show more Wood who isn't entirely convincing as Nana.

Although, inevitably, a fair amount of the book was condensed or cut out, the storyline mostly stuck to what's in the book; the three sisters are very good, with Posy outstanding as a promising ballet dancer. I wasn't too impressed at a light romance being thrown in at the end - decidedly NOT in the book! - but that kind of thing appears to be compulsory, even in children's films these days.

Well worth watching for a light evening's entertainment. The sets and atmosphere of London in the 1930s are very realistic. Suitable for adults or children, rated PG due to smoking being seen as normal.

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For some strange reason, I always like reading books about television programmes in January. Is it because there’s nothing to actually watch on TV then? A plan to reminisce over previous series? Getting ready for the new season? Who knows? This year I went off my usual Top Gear track and received the companion book to one of the most delightful series of the series, Call the Midwife. (Due to all the ad breaks, I simply couldn’t stomach Downton Abbey when it was on).

Call the Midwife is a show more deceptively simple series – that of a group of midwives in 1950s London – that touches the heart with its stories of life, love and friendship against a backdrop that our parents and grandparents still remember. It’s not completely rose tinted, for the series is set in a poorer part of the East End (Poplar), but there’s more good parts than sad. The series came from a real life memoir by Jennifer Worth (you can read my review here) and there is a detailed diary where the writer and author of this book, Heidi Thomas, meets with Jennifer during the development of the series. (Jennifer – or Jenny Lee in the series - initially thought of casting Miranda Hart as Chummy, which was a fantastic move!)

You’ll learn all this and more as the book takes you through the first idea for a TV series to the green light for the second series. It’s a fascinating insight into the TV world behind the screen, where things seem to move dreadfully slowly. There are also interviews with both the characters and the cast, as to be expected. But this book goes into much more than the series and is quite an interesting read on life in the 1950s. Many topics are covered, including the inception of the National Health Service (not as boring as it sounds!), food, fashion, medicine, religion and what life was like in Poplar. I literally could not put it down!

The hardcover was also incredibly pretty under the dustcover – it’s cream with the insignia of a nursing college. Well done to all who worked on this book – it’s both a written and visual feast.

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A new BBC adaption of Little Women and Good Wives. It was OK but lacked something. The pacing was off - lots of time spent on some things and then a rush at the end to close the story. Jo and Professor Bhaer in particular was so rushed, it didn't seem likely. All the actors were good but sometimes not served well by the scenes chosen for the story. Very average. The Susan Sarandon film is better.