First viewed : 24 October 1986
This was another golden Granada adaptation , this time of JB Priestley's novel of music hall life just before the cataclysm of the First World War. David Plowright again called in family favours to get his brother-in-law Sir Laurence Olivier to appear in the series. I watched this one on my own ; I never understood why my mum, usually a sucker for period drama, wasn't interested.
The seven part serial is often remembered as providing the first leading role on TV for the 26-year old Colin Firth as the orphaned young man Richard Herncastle who goes to work for his uncle Nick ( John Castle ) , an icy, cynical, illusionist in a travelling music hall company. It's through Richard's eyes that we see a colourful world teetering on the brink of catastrophe. As well as learning stage craft, Richard also works his way through the female cast from true love, naive Nancy ( Beatie Edney ) to a dangerous liaison with older woman Julie ( Carmen du Sautoy ) plus casual encounters with Nonie ( Francesca McGregor ) , a saucy French acrobat and Lily ( Pamela Stephenson ) a sweet English rose on stage but a debauched voyeur in private.
Olivier played Harry Burrard in the first episode , a hopelessly out of date comedian with nowhere to go who interprets the merciless heckling as a political plot against him. Brian Glover played Julie's partner, Tommy Beamish a bullying boorish comedian. The notorious Christopher Rozycki popped in for one scene as a drunken Russian and chewed the scenery in fine style; he had a glass of whiskey in one hand and there wasn't much left by the end of the scene even though he hadn't drunk any of it.
Though somewhat bleak in tone, I really enjoyed it and am disappointed it's not more celebrated.
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