Doctor Thorne

Somehow Julian Fellows has managed to take one of Trollope's better books and turn it into a romance novel. All the psychology and wit that Trollope brought to his books is gone; what's left is a basic soap opera without any charm or energy. Still, the costumes are marvelous, the cinematography solid, and the acting good (although the actress playing Mary is not quite up to the task of competing with her more accomplished cast). But what really rankles is Mr. Fellows himself, introducing and then exiting from each episode with a startling degree of pomposity and pretentiousness that would make him a stock character as the fool in any Victorian novel.

Anthony Trollope's novels have been mined for TV productions for decades, so we shouldn't be surprised that Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes decided to take a crack at one. And he does rather well. Here's hoping he'll serialize Trollope's remaining Barsetshire books.

For readers of Trollope's novels (as with Jane Austen's) it can be a bit of a shock to see them somewhat sensationalized and in a necessarily condensed format. But the needs of present day audiences require it. Consequently, though, the result is often a sort of high-brow soap opera and Fellowes' Dr. Thorne is no exception.

However, the production is pretty, and the characterization right on point, if a bit over the top. Though for me, Ian McShane breathed life and depth into Trollope's somewhat one-dimensional Mr. Scatcherd. Alison Brie does the same for another Victorian cliché: the American heiress in search of a titled husband. With an ever-present smile, she makes Miss Dunstable's gently spoken directness seem downright raunchy. It's a delight to watch.

Why bother saying more. If you like the Downton Abbey genre, you are going to see this and you are going to like it. End of story.

Doctor Thorne (TV Series 2016) is an adaption of the third of Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles. In England, the series was shown in three episodes. In the U. S., on DVD, it was shown as four episodes. Julian Fellowes, who wrote the screenplay, provided commentary on each episode, to expand each episode to an hour in length. The series was directed by Niall MacCormick.

Tom Hollander stars as Doctor Thorne, a country doctor who lives in Barchester with his niece, Mary. Mary is played to perfection by the enchanting Stefanie Martini. Harry Richardson portrays Frank Gresham, who is the Romeo to Mary's Juliet. All three are highly skilled actors, and it was a pleasure to watch them at work.

However, for me, acting honors go to Rebecca Front as Frank's mother, Lady Arabella Gresham. Squire Gresham, Frank's father, has squandered the family fortune. For Lady Arabella, the only avenue open for the Greshams is for Frank to "marry money." Mary Thorne isn't poor, but she certainly isn't rich. She simply won't do for Frank, and Lady Arabella fights like a mother tiger to "protect" her son. (Of course, she's really protecting herself and the family, but that's a subtle distinction that doesn't slow her down.)

Although this isn't a BBC production, it looks like one. It was produced by ITV, a British commercial TV channel. Obviously, ITV knows that viewers expect high production values in a film adapted from a Trollope novel.

This series was made for the small screen, so obviously it works well on DVD. The IMDb rating for the series is 7.2. Pretty good, but not good enough. I rated it 9. My suggestion is to find it and see it. You won't be disappointed.

What would British classic TV drama have done if there had been no Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)? The whole television viewing public of Britain was swept up in all 26 episodes of the epic series THE PALLISERS (1974), which I watched again not long ago and it is certainly one of the greatest achievements of British television drama history, magnificent in every way. In 1974 everybody was talking about it and everybody was watching it every week, for half a year. Since then we have seen the excellent Trollope series adaptations of THE WAY WE LIVE NOW (2001), HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT (2004), and now DOCTOR THORNE. The only Trollope series since the 1970s which failed to make the grade was THE BARCHESTER CHRONICLES (1982), which was so boring as to be essentially unwatchable. (It had previously been made into two series in 1951 and 1959, though they do not appear to have survived, so one cannot compare them. An additional 90 minute single episode attempt of this was filmed in 1961, which also seems to be lost. Other Trollope series from the early days also seem to have been lost, which is a tragedy.) Trollope brings the Victorian era to life in a way which is so vivid, and also so highly censorious, that we appear to be living in that difficult time when we watch these dramas. DOCTOR THORNE is a savage attack on Victorian aristocratic hypocrisy, venality, snobbery, and inhumanity. We are left wondering: we know it was bad, but was it really that bad? And we fear that perhaps it was. This series is dominated by the commanding performance of Tom Hollander as the idealistic Doctor Thorne, a dedicated provincial doctor in the English countryside who has quietly adopted and raised a niece named Mary Thorne, who had been born out of wedlock in mysterious circumstances. Hollander has always been an excellent actor, but now that he is a bit older, he has achieved gravitas and is even better as he 'matures' than when he was a young whippersnapper. He can easily carry a series in a lead role, which is no mean accomplishment. He is rather short and that was a casting handicap when he was young, but he has now entered John Mills territory, where for a mature actor height no longer matters. The series is full of spectacular performances by the usual top calibre British cast. Rebecca Front, so well known from the series LEWIS (2006-2014, see my review), and also the recent series WAR & PEACE (2016), manages to make herself so odious as Lady Gresham that we want to hiss, and her unctuous arrogance is so perfectly judged that it never goes over the top, no matter how extremely far her bigotry and snobbery may extend. It takes a lot of skill to stop just short of being unbelievable in such a part. An unknown new actress named Stefanie Martini here makes a magnificent debut as Mary Thorne, and surely there is a big future in front of this actress, who previously had appeared only in a single episode of the series ENDEAVOUR in 2012 and nothing else. (IMDb contains no further information about her of any kind, so that one wonders whether she is a Trollope character come to life, who will now subside back into the novel and live the rest of her existence on the printed page.) Janine Duvitski gives a heart-warming and marvellous performance as Lady Scatcherd, the much-ignored little wife of the outrageously over the top roaring character, Sir Roger Scatcherd, played to the hilt by Ian McShane. Phoebe Nicholls is so cringe-making and creepy as the arch snob Countess de Courcy, that one wants not so much to hiss as to spit at her, all testament solely to the mastery of her craft, I do hope. A truly outstanding and absolutely hair-raising performance as Louis Scatherd is delivered by Edward Franklin, a sensational young actor making his debut on screen. IMDb contains no further information about him. He is totally convincing as a wildly drunken, bonkers young heir, and he is so scary one hopes it really is all pretend. (God forfend that one should meet him in a dark alley after he had had a few drinks. Did I say a few? In the series he never stops from morn till night.) There is plenty of poisonous sarcasm and social satire in this series, mixed with high emotion, and all forming a 'jolly good yarn'. Will good triumph over evil? Well, one thing is for sure, this mini-series has triumphed. Niall MacCormick was the director of all three episodes of this series, and has a great deal to be proud of. The well-known Julian Fellowes of DOWNTON ABBEY fame wrote the scripts, thus adding yet more feathers to his heavily-laden cap. Everyone can be proud of this series, and everyone should see it.

Must've been a treat for Julian Fellowes to get his hands on a real Victorian novel, instead of churning out new eps of that pandering pastiche he's been working on for the last few seasons. "Thorne," OTOH, has a solid Trollopian plot (sundered lovers and missing heirs and family secrets) as well as a great cast--Ian McShane not exactly playing against type as a rough-diamond railroad magnate; nice to see Alison Brie of "Mad Men" as the husband-hunting heiress and Inspector Lewis's old boss as one of the snobbish gentlefolk. Stefanie Martini, who only has one other IMDb credit, is perfect as the strong-willed heroine (so much more relatable than those soupy Dickens girls!); not unexpectedly, the picturesque exteriors and the slightly dorky Mid-Victorian costumes and décor are right on the money.