First of all, I'm coming from this as a massive Katherine Mansfield fan. She's esaily one of my favourite authors.
The series is very well reserched, I've read three biographies of Mansfield and am impressed with the detail they went into, and Vanessa Redgrave is perfect in the title role. There isnt much to compare her against but I think she has the confidence and at times theatricalness of her personality.
The life segments are staged very much like a theatre, sometimes laughably do, the house in Episode 4 is just a monument to constrained BBC budgets. Jeremy Brett is a highlight, perfectly nailing the pompous and awkward Jack Murray, I wonder how a 1970s BBC production managed to nail two powerhouses in acting when usually the actors from this period of tv tend to be more obscure and well worse. Annette Crosby is fine as Ida Baker (Lesly Moore wasnt her real name) its not really a role you can show off in.
I have to admit I dislike a majority of the adaptations of Mansfield's work. Too often there boring, nothing much happens in Mansfield's stories, there more internal and character driven. They don't work on film more often than not.
This is an obscure little series that I don't imagine many people would have an intrest in, but if you have even a passing intrest in Mansfield then this could be a great starting off point. If like me you have more than a passing interest than go ahead its the best we're gonna get. I also highly reccomend ot if you're a Jeremy Brett or Vanessa Redgrave fan.
