Alan Plater (1935–2010)

You've seen the Beiderbecke DVD, you've heard the Beiderbecke music, now read the Beiderbookes. One more bullet shot from a bell, the tale of two teachers in the moonstruck outer limits of Leeds who, despite being diametric opposites, form one of the truly great and lovable romantic couples of the ages. The offbeat adventures, sparkling dialogue and larger-than-life characters all translate to the printed page perfectly, with the added benefit of Plater's witty, spiky prose skewering show more architecture and institutions and generally adding an extra layer to the affairs, tapes and connections. A gentle, even tender, paean to the principles of humour and decency and being clever in the face of faceless institutions filled with grey guardians tearing society down to build a motorway and saving the planet one leaflet at a time and being cool and listening to the music and going with the tide.

Of the three Tapes is the one that suffers slightly from variations with the series, most notably the sudden arbitrary appearance of Big Al and Little Norm is considerably weaker than the re-enactment of Culloden with a happier ending on the streets of Edinburgh, even if it does give us the fracas in the Plaka. The lack of Mr Pitt and the appearance of Hobson are less egregious and Plater wisely just whistles past any inconsistencies in Connections as if they aren't there, and the wise reader will do the same.

If it weren't for the series this would be one of the most delightfully singular, funny, angry, touching set of comic crime capers you could hope to find. As it is they are slightly undeservedly in the shadow of the series, and unjustly neglected, but let me reassure you, they are as lovable on the page as they are on the screen. show less

I needed something light to read in Sierra Leone, and Plater served me exceptionally well. As I lay in a hotel room while in the neighbouring room the two women with the guy screamed at each other all night, the perfect tonic was to chuckle away at Plater's 10-mile-an-hour car-chase in a caravan park, under my mosquito net and transport myself to the north of England at its most ludicrous. This is a bit lovey in places, but genuinely pays loving tributes to some of Plater's (and Barnes') show more very best unsung heroes, and I really enjoyed meeting them through Alan Plater's eyes. RIP, and thank you for keeping me company in SL. show less

Having just listened to the audiobook of The Warden and Barchester Towers I wanted to see this adaption to see how it went. I was a bit Um on it. Some bits were great - Nigel Hawthorne was brill as was Donald Pleascence and Alan Rickman. But I thought Geraldine McEwan was terrible - she acted as if she was on a stage not on TV - lots of shouty projection.
And someone watching would have wondered where the heck the romance with Francis Arabin came from? - it just happens with no development at show more all.
As someone on YT has said recently, drama production has changed a lot in the past 20 years - this is a good example of what it used to be like. show less

Watched over a few days with my husband and teenage son.

This is the BBC adaptation of the six Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope, and we thought it very well done indeed. None of us had read the books, finding them a bit heavy-going, so we don't know how close these episodes are to the originals - but it all flowed well. The story is of intrigue and jealousies amongst the clergyman of a fictional city, with a bit of love interest along the way.

The main character is the excellent and show more almost-too-good-to-be-true Mr Harding, but in the latter episodes the villainous Mr Slope rather steals the show, played brilliantly by Alan Rickman. We wondered if this was the inspiration that gave him, later on, the part of Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

It's inevitably a little long-winded in places and rather slow-moving, but basically very enjoyable indeed. show less