Blott on the Landscape

I haven't read any of Tom Sharpe's novels, let alone the one that this series is based on. So I have no idea how close this series comes to capturing the spirit of the book. I enjoyed the show so much that I must read the book.

It is a riotous roller-coaster ride from the start, with a brilliant ensemble cast of eccentric characters. Each played to perfection by a veritable whose who of British acting talent, all of them playing their comedy socks off. I loved every over the top minute of it, the action comes thick and fast along with bust a gut laughs, at the ridiculously outlandish scenarios involving the competing protagonists. It is such a long time since I saw this show on the box that l'm writing this from memory, but it makes me want to get it on DVD and revisit the glorious experience. I can not recommend this fantastic show enough, I have no intention of spoiling anyone's enjoyment of it, by giving any of the details away. Just to hopefully whet the appetite, for those with a sense of the absurd.

In this limited run-BritCom the visual and verbal jokes abound.

Though I had no idea who David Suchet was when I first saw this work he has made a career for himself playing Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot -- and is arguably the best Poirot imaginable.

As the character Blott-- the estate groundsman for Lady Maude Lynchwood -- he turns in a brilliant performance; as does Geraldine James as Lady Maude.

Their efforts to save "Rising Gorge" from development has both a humourous message and a political one about over development.

The picket signs are a work of genius... "Save Our Rising Gorge" indeed!

"Blott on the Landscape" is rarely repeated on BBC or BBC America but if it does come up be sure and see all six episodes -- they are gems of writing and performance.

Like another viewer it was my first time I'd seen David Suchet - what a comparison to his Agatha Christie role and tonight I've just watched another Hercule Poirot. A great actor. I had read several of Tom Sharpe's books but this one made the best film. I'd forgotten it was a series. When I saw Geraldine James some years later, I was amazed at how young she was, as she played a much older woman in Blott.I don't even think she looks that old 22 years later. George Cole is always great to watch - anything from the Belles of St Trinians to Minder. With Tom Sharpe's stories you just know that all sorts of happenings will eventually come together and combine in a great humorous disaster. I'd love to see it again - hope it turns up on DVD Jessie in Sydney, Australia

I haven't read the Tom Sharp novel this mess was based on but the series was hardly conducive to my taking it up.

The story: Geraldine James is a frustrated harridan in a marriage of convenience to a rich Member of Parliament (George Cole). He bought her family stately home upon their marriage. She'd like a divorce but will lose her family home if he grants it.

Cole wants to see a motorway extended through the old home place for the money but as he can't be seen to profit by it he schemes to make the motorway inevitable while he pretends to oppose it.

So far, so good. If Sharpe (or whomever) had left it at that it would have been brilliant.

By this point in his career Cole has managed to perfect a certain level of smarm that makes his characters like this perfectly marvelous. The best you can say for Geraldine James, however, is that she's loud.

The normally loathsome Paul Brooke (catch his Wormtongue in BBC radio's "Lord of the Rings") does well in a likeable role for once (though at one point, while David Suchet is going off, it looks like he's about to start giggling).

David Suchet portrays Blott, sevant and handyman devoted to his mistress (James). He turns in a very curious performance indeed, by turns amusing and irritating.

Simon Cadell comes off best as the clueless "man from the ministry" with the permanently lopsided mouth. Also from the Ministry is erstwhile pop sensation Jeremy Clyde turning in a typically good performance, but with nothing special about his character.

What ruins the series for me most (though it's not all) is the pervasive air of bizarre sexuality. Actually seeing a naked George Cole strapped to a bed on a baby's bonnet is not conducive to my appetite. Nor is seeing a deeply humiliated Simon Cadell running around starkers (a scene that might possibly have worked better on the printed page; though, as I said, I haven't read the book so I don't know). Nor is seeing Geraldine James' breast bobbling out of her clothes. What happened to her since "The Jewel in the Crown"?

The show has plenty of good ideas and I even smiled a time or two (especially at Cadell) but the whole thing had a focus on the dirty side (and I don't mean the sex). Too, it's incredibly uneven. Cole, James, Suchet, Brooke, Cadell and other major characters seem to belong to their own world, far above little things like reality. So far as their difference from reality they might be Zaphod Beeblebrox. But in mob scenes and other moments the extras and so forth are clearly 1980s through and through, bringing the series down to a level of realism the main characters hardly belong in (especially the weird Suchet).

Despite some clever plot machinations on Cole's part and a few solid comic performances, the series as a whole turned me off. Someone advise the distinguished George Cole to keep his kit on.

A much better show along similar lines was an episode called "Grace" from the series "Affairs of the Heart" (based on a Henry James story) where Cole plays a rich man who owns rhe mortgage on Jeremy Brett's stately home and Diana Rigg is the rich American widow who rides in and saves the day. Catch it on Youtube.

Sir Giles Lynchwood, Conservative MP, schemes to have a motorway extend over his houses and get rich in the process. His wife, with the help of Blott, fortifies the gatehouse to repel the construction crew. It is much more complex with subplots. You must see to believe and then you may not.

Many videos do not live up to the expectations of the book. This one may even surpass Tom Sharpe's book. All the characters fit, and all the irony hits you in the face. This was my first encounter with David Suchet (Blott). And you will recognize all the other major players including Geraldine James (Lady Maud Lynchwood). Now the complete series is on DVD. You need to carve out the better part of a day before starting to watch because you will not be able to stop until the end.

A man's home is his castle.