Fear of Fanny

i thought that this was an excellent portrait of a deeply complex and individualistic woman. Julia Davis shines as she always does, and seems to inhabit the unknowable Mrs Cradock effortlessly.

Whether you admire Madame Fanny or not, and preposterous and obnoxious as she seems, I rather do, she was a pioneering female, very much of her time, and the world is a more interesting place because she was in it. To paraphrase a line from the programme, better to die miserable than be boring, darling!

My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more about her earlier life, how she managed to throw fabulous dinner parties despite World War 2 rationing by catching and cooking whatever unfortunate wildlife strayed into her garden, why she abandoned her children and just what made her tick. Maybe we'll never really know. Maybe we shouldn't.

This interesting, if rather boring, piece of nostalgia was rescued by the two central performances. Julia Davis, as the awful Fanny Craddock and her much put-upon sidekick Johnny (Mike Gatiss) provided astonishingly accurate portraits of the first TV chef and partner - reviving memories of those terrible TV programmes with their disgusting concoctions. After her triumphs in 'Nighty Night', Julia Davis now shows us a very different virago.

The private life of the two central characters was less interesting. Apart from allusions to Fanny's rather more adventurous past and her seriously unpleasant tantrums and manipulations, there wasn't much to make a full-length drama from. The other members of the odd household paled into insignificance alongside Fanny. So much so that the later part of the drama was enlivened only by a cameo from the Benny Hill Show! But there really wasn't enough meat to justify this bio-pic of an unpleasant and rather disturbed woman.

As the top TV chef on the BBC, Fanny Craddock showing the masses how to produce elaborate dishes on a tight budget. Working with her long suffering husband Johnnie, Fanny is a domineering character who likes things just the way she likes them – an attitude that comes across on the screen no matter how she holds it in. Her children are remote and those that work with her generally do so in fear of their next mistake. At the height of her fame though, this aspect of her character starts to eat back on her life.

I'm getting older but I'm not old enough to remember when Fanny Craddock was a major influence in the world of TV chefs and generally I ignore their programmes anyway. However I was slightly aware of Craddock just because of the domineering and the way she used to talk down to her audience as if they were all a bit below her. This film focuses on the years when she was established and then moves through as her style quickly gets dated and her career comes to an end. In doing this the film never gets that deep into the character but yet does enough to show what a tragic figure she becomes as a result of her own actions. In this regard it is simplistic but interesting enough to work for what it is. Despite the terribly comedy title, the film is not that funny aside from the figure of fun that Craddock herself was. It is sad to watch her break and, although some actual depth and insight would have been nice, the events themselves are enough to carry the film. I did think at the end though that, apart from her recipes being stuck several decades back, Craddock would be in her element now as television has become cruel and full of matriarchal types (think Weakest Link, How Clean is Your House, You Are What You Eat etc etc); how ironic that barely a generation ago the thing that essentially ended her career would now have producers clambering to sign her up for a game show of some sort.

As Craddock, Davis does a very good job on the surface and is convincing throughout as this battleaxe of a woman. She struggles to find a person within the character but this is the material's problem as much as it is hers. Gatiss is a little bit better but again he doesn't have much in the way of character to work with – he has been told "you are long suffering" and left to get on with it. The rest of the cast fill in around the edges nicely enough but at the end the film doesn't even belong to Davis, it belongs to the caricature that was Fanny Craddock as this is what looms large over every scene.

Worth a look then for a potty history of who this famous TV chef was in terms of her public life and as such it is entertaining and quite interesting. However those looking for understanding and/or insight into why she was and who she really was when she was stripped bare in the quiet moments will not find anything that clever here.

All wrong, Darling. Completely wrong! Hypercritical (of others) Fanny Craddock must, one might suppose, be writhing in frustration at not being able to correct this aspect of her portrayal. The voice was rather hoarse, a bit affectedly posh, honking, loud and rather braying it was not unique for its time, it was the voice of the older actress or gregarious hostess and with her almost clown-like make-up (I recall her face looking white with make-up)combined to be her instantly recognisable trade-mark. The sound spoke eloquently of its process of formation - of cigarettes, of alcohol and being used frequently, loudly and confidently. Out of sight of the camera but within easy reach viewers might have supposed there was a lit cigarette and glass of something ready for instant use between takes.

Johnnie was from that "stand up straight, head up, chest out, stomach in" era and class that - all blazers, brilliantine and cravats, a familiar sight of those times. The little Benny Hill Show section with late comic actor Bob Todd caught the style perfectly. The style at least implied that the man was a gentleman and former army officer, probably ex-cavalry hence the stiff back - the posture even had a name: "a military bearing". As part of this was a gallant and rather courtly attitude to "ladies". Being "properly dressed" ie blazer and all, was not reserved just for "going out" but could be felt to be an obligation once breakfast had been cleared away indeed perhaps before breakfast (part of "keeping up standards"). (Newsreels of the 1930's show football fans going to the match in three piece suits and hats - it was an era where, relative today, people were over-dressed). It would have been more comic (and more moving) if Johnnie had been that more formally attired and courtly only to receive the verbal lashings from Fanny in return.

I'm not sure that Fanny was a "victim of her demons" rather than product of her time - a twilight period for class, family money, Empire, privileged travel and cheap subservient staff.

A film version with a more substantial script (including some reference to her earlier life) and two standout lead performances would be a dish to be relished, unfortunately currently only in anticipation. Difficult to imagine anyone better than the ubiquitous Jim Broadbent to play Johnnie. More difficult to cast Fanny - its the voice that's the problem.

Postscript: an superb biography of Fanny Craddock is to be found on Wikipedia. It notes her extraordinary pre-TV life including early destitution, particularly hard for someone from a once "good" family. However well worth reading too the surprising biography of her famous father - apart from being fascinating in its own right it sheds a great deal of light on Fanny. "Fear of Fanny" apparently was originally a stage play.

This was a great show about a deeply insecure woman with intense emotional problems. The show catalogued a lifetime of pretence and despair and the pain she inflicted on others most notably her daughter in law.

I wasn't old enough to see her shows the first time but I remember the infamous blue boiled eggs and the green mashed potatoes as well as other equally hideous food.

Her treatment of the dying Johnny when she couldn't even bring herself to visit him in hospital seemed especially harsh but Fanny suffered from her own demons which seemed to torment her constantly.