Fear of Fanny

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.

Firstly, in every video of the real Fanny Craddock, the makeup is nowhere near as absurd as this parody of a movie makes it to be.

In real life she looked normal, in this film she looks like a blow up rubber doll with added makeup. Seriously, if you want to actually watch this woman cook and to see what she actually DID look like, watch one of the many youtube clips. Nothing like this absurd mess.

Next, I have no idea what Fanny was like in real life, but if the excruciatingly over the top make up here is anything to go by, I'd say there were even more ridiculous liberties taken and that her personality was depicted poorly here or taken to levels meant to be entertaining, but were not.

This film is neither entertaining, good, particularly interesting or meaningful.

I learned nothing of the real person. I can take from this that she was demanding, perfectionist, self absorbed and possibly quite brilliant, but I don't know, as this debacle just tells us she's a total looney.

I'm sure she brought something to the seriously terrible food in Britain at the time, as many have stated in documentaries, so kudo for that.

Boring, horribly over acted by Julia Davis, just horribly.

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.

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.

Julia Davis is a brilliant writer and actress but I found this utterly boring. It was billed as a black comedy but it prompted not one laugh. It was not particularly black either. The recreation of the period seemed meticulous and rang true to me, who vaguely remembers the programmes. But such ingenuity deserves a better script. One is tempted to suggest that the subject matter was just not that interesting. However, there were hints that Craddock's character was extraordinarily complex. But left as hints they did not lead anywhere. I suspect that Julia Davis was too constrained by the need for this biopic to be true to the known facts to be able to produce anything funny or even interesting.