david-879

Contrary to other reviewer's claims, this is neither a BBC nor a US network production. It was made by Southern Television in Southampton, England, for the ITV commercial network. It's not one of Shaw's lighter works, and it was all I could do to sit through it. The acting is first-class, but the writing is verbose, and the finger was poised over the fast-forward button.

The original Tiffany Jones newspaper strip won plaudits for its wit and style. Written and drawn by two female fashion journalists, it told of the exploits of a glamorous model, Tiffany, and her friends Jo and boyfriend Guy, and epitomised the free spirit of 'Swinging London'. Unfortunately this seems to have been completely jettisoned in this rather tedious adaptation. Instead poor Jo and Guy are relegated to a brief appearance at the start of the film, and then disappear for the duration. Tiffany gets embroiled in an attempt by a deposed foreign royal to overthrow the dictatorship which has taken over his country. The makers of the film seem unsure how seriously they should take the story, and how much sex and nudity (which is after all the only reason most people will be watching) to throw into the mix. One can only speculate what Fiona Richmond's producers, makers of probably the best looking sex films of the period, would have done with this story. Or how it would have been handled by the more low-brow creators of the 'Confessions' or 'Adventures' films; doubtless the clothing would have been lost with more panache than happens here. Anouska Hempel does not have the knowing sexuality of a Fiona, nor does she have the dizzy wide-eyed innocence which might also have worked. Instead she is reduced to reacting to everything that happens to her as if it was an everyday occurrence. The viewer is left with a feeling of regret for what might have been.

Many of the comments on this film seem to be that Fiona Richmond couldn't act, or she was wrong to play a schoolgirl etc. The point was that she KNEW all this. The character of Fiona was one that Julia Harrison (her real name) had created herself. She was fully aware of her limitations as an actress, and was in a conspiracy with her audience over this. She also wrote for Men Only magazine about 'road-testing' various men each month, and we, her readers, knew that she was actually sat in an office making it all up. This was part of her appeal, and of the whole joke. Perhaps you had to have been around at the time to get it.