"The Double Life of Saki" on BBC4

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"The Double Life of Saki" on BBC4

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1miss_read
Apr 28, 2007, 6:52 am

For those of you Saki fans out there, in case you didn't know there's a programme about H.H. Munro on BBC4 on Monday night at 9pm. I think it's repeated a few more times over the next few days, so you can still see it if you miss the Monday night airing.

Read more here.

I'm currently reading The Best of Saki to get me in the mood!

2miss_read
Apr 28, 2007, 6:52 am

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3miss_read
Apr 28, 2007, 6:53 am

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5Fey
Edited: May 2, 2007, 2:24 pm

Oh, thank you very much, Miss Read. I hope they have that listen-for-a-weak-after-broadcast thing for this programme. Or maybe I can find it on UKNova. I'm not hoping for any revelations though, after having read A.J. Langguth's excellent Saki: Life of Hector Hugh Munro .

6Fey
May 2, 2007, 2:27 pm

Thank you also for your other posts, Miss Read and everyone.

7thorold
Edited: May 2, 2007, 2:45 pm

Thanks for the tip, Miss R. - I recorded it last night (it seems to be on again three times tonight...).

Just watched it -- seems to be the standard collection of BBC literary talking heads (Will Self, Alexei Sayle, et al.), plus a bit of implausible and unnecessary reconstruction, and some random archive footage. Langguth is there and gets to talk about Saki a bit, but why they paid Jeffrey Archer to smile at the camera and Roy Hattersley to explain the causes of the Boer War, I don't know. As Giveusadrink predicted, nothing new, and it's not really clear what they meant by "double life" -- they mention that he was probably gay and possibly a spy, but don't tell us enough about either to justify calling it a double life.

8miss_read
May 3, 2007, 3:59 am

Thanks for the review, thorold. That's more or less what I expected. I have it recorded, but haven't watched yet.

9alexa_d
May 10, 2007, 12:07 am

"they mention that he was probably gay and possibly a spy"

Hehehe, sounds like Christopher Marlowe. And Noël Coward, for that matter (except the 'gay' part was more definite in Coward :-) )