I saw this on its first transmission, and again when it was repeated a few years later. I assume therefore that there must be a copy somewhere in the bowels of the BBC. I was born in 1948, and lived through the whole development of 'The Wednesday Play' and then,as it became,'Play for Today'.Some work was obviously 'wiped' in the early days - shades of silents being melted down for silver content -we never learn,do we?.However, I'm pretty sure that a copy of this must still exist.Of all the TV films I saw in that golden age, this was the most moving.The term 'masterpiece' is too often used and in our age of hyperbole one I hesitate to use - not in this case,however. Come on BBC....what DOES survive from this period? Either repeat this or issue a DVD.
3 Reviews
A masterpiece
curtainup-16 June 2006
Twenty five years on, and this play/film still sticks in my mind. The BBC's 'Play for Today' series ran for many years, but seldom achieved this level of skill and believability. The wartime flashbacks were expertly done and the performances were superb.
However, the thing which stood out for me was that this was one of the first scripts I ever saw that manages the excellent trick of setting up predictable situations, then veering off in a different direction. Given the general sloppiness of the BBC in preserving it's finer moments, the chances are this wonderful work will never be seen again. What a crying shame.
However, the thing which stood out for me was that this was one of the first scripts I ever saw that manages the excellent trick of setting up predictable situations, then veering off in a different direction. Given the general sloppiness of the BBC in preserving it's finer moments, the chances are this wonderful work will never be seen again. What a crying shame.
Extraordinary, wrenching, and Kempson's finest work
johnclark-113 June 2003
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of a very few fully realized films that sticks in my memory. A mean, bloody-minded, self-hating and lonely old woman with a terrible secret kept hidden away in one of her annual diaries; about her tragic affair with a Royal Air Force pilot, killed in the Battle of Britain, who left her pregnant with a baby she self-aborts. There are flashback sequences where we see her lost beauty and the hugeness of her love. And near the end of her life, we see how the sympathetic caring of a social worker brings her to a new belief in herself, and a willingness to let go. Will this film ever be seen again? Come on, BBC, give us another showing! Rachel Kempson, the late Redgrave clan matriarch deserves this. Her crowning achievement. And the rest of a wonderful cast no slouches either.
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