Love in a Cold Climate

Nancy Mitford's 'Love in a Cold Climate' and 'Pursuit of Love' have become two of my favourite books, with their colourful characters, rich stories and perfect mix of humour and pathos.

There are two TV versions (this and a later one from 2001), that adapt both stories into one, and there is no doubt in my mind which is the better of the two. The 2001 adaptation, despite top notch production values and some good performances, was too short, too rushed, tried to tell too much in a short space of time, layered characters like Cedric had very little to them as a result of the condensation and what there was of humour was not frothy or light-hearted enough and the darker parts coming across as cold emotionally.

While adaptations do deserve to be judged on their own merits, as an adaptation this 'Love in a Cold Climate' scores far more highly, being not only true in detail to the books (yes even with telling two stories in one) but also capturing much more of the spirit and atmosphere of them. Telling two stories in one could easily have been a problem here, if it made the 2001 adaptation's further mistake of trying to tell both stories concurrently which caused a good deal of confusion and abrupt and jarring shifts in tone, but actually it wasn't, seeing as the storytelling took its time to develop without being too slow and it had a longer length to work from (being 7 hours in alternative to the recent version's 2 hours and a half).

For all this talk about how it fares as an adaptation, the rest of the review will now talk about how this version of 'Love in a Cold Climate' succeeds as a standalone. The good news is, it succeeds brilliantly. One might argue that it has a 80s period drama look (yes it has been criticised for being "dated"), to me it was a really beautiful-looking adaptation that had some very sumptuous interiors, locations and scenery, elegant and colourful costumes and an atmosphere that was rich in detail and charmingly cosy. Music is appropriately understated, and the direction keeps the narrative moving at a smooth but steady pace.

'Love in a Cold Climate' is superbly written too, both script and story. The story takes more time to tell, being longer, but never feels over-stretched and is always engrossing, the different emotions for each scene always present but never lost. This version achieves a much better balance of humour and pathos, and both dimensions are of higher quality. Unlike the 2001 adaptation, this version remembers that 'Love in a Cold Climate' gets more light-hearted and frothy and 'Pursuit of Love' takes on a darker tone as it progresses. The humour is genuinely entertaining, often hilarious, and never dealt with in a heavy manner, the frothy parts are charming but never mushy and the moments that are darker and have more pathos have a real emotional thrust.

Characters are colourful and interesting in personality, layered and easy to like. Great acting helps, and you certainly get that from quite frankly wonderful performances from Judi Dench, Michael Aldridge, Michael Williams, Vivian Pickles (a is a real gorgon here), one that rank among their best, Michael Cochrane benefits from Cedric being much better written and the central trio of Fanny, Polly and Linda are more consistent (in the recent version only Rosamund Pike as Fanny worked, whereas all three did here).

Overall, brilliant adaptation and mini-series. If you can find it, luckily a DVD is available, go ahead and watch it, you won't be sorry. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I have been so heartened to read that other viewers all over the world feel the way that I do about this treasure of a television series. I knew from the previews on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (then it was Commission) that this was going to be something extra special. That was during 1981. It was repeated in 1986 but I did not see it then as it was newly arrived in another city and had no TV. I contacted the ABC some time in the intervening years and asked if they could repeat it but they said they no longer had the rights. However, it was repeated eventually (in a late night time slot) during 1998. I have done internet searches trying to find out if it has ever been released to VHS (and now DVD) and found nothing. The problem may be that whereas Thames Television was releasing some of their programmes to video in the 1980s (and 1990s) eg The Naked Civil Servant (which I have on video) they lost their license to broadcast television in the 1980s and at some stage were taken over by Fremantle Media (a European company). It is all very complex as some of the old Thames television shows that appear on cable in Australia are branded with Pearson (which I think took over Thames and was absorbed in turn by Fremantle Media). It is really important that anyone reading this contacts Fremantle Media and I suggest you use the email address to contact for video and DVD releases which is to be found on the Fremantle Media homepage>About Us>Contact Us. You have to express as much interest as possible from all over the world and urge Fremantle Media to realize that there is enormous love and interest in this series (and also others). We just have to get it released in Britain, US, Canada, Australia and NZ and countries between. I will buy two copies for starters and like all of you are prepared to pay a premium for it! It did create a magical world that you (and I) could inhabit with the characters. I saw it in 1998 and it is absolutely as held in my memory. I feel so very sorry for all you American viewers who have not seen it since 1981. Please get everyone you know to contact Fremantle Media!

Love In a Cold Climate (the first version, not the 2001 remake) is the best Masterpiece Theater series ever. The actors were perfectly cast and the dialogue was extremely well-written. I'm sure Nancy Mitford was proud!

I have looked for this on video for years with no success. I'd give up every video in my collection to be able to see this one again. I went out and bought the book after seeing the series and have gone through several copies of it as my teenaged daughters read it, lost it, went to college with it.

These characters have gone around in my mind over and over for years and have never lost their charm. I would recommend this movie highly to anyone.

2010 - I read from another reviewer that the DVD series was available from a company in Canada. I ordered it and have since watched the series several times. It is every bit as good as I remembered from when I first saw it on PBS!

My husband and I remember seeing the 1980 version of Love in a cold climate when it first hit PBS in probably 1982. Would that I had a handy dandy VCR recorder at that time, because that series is a keeper! I totally agree that it is a far more entertaining version than the 2001 one now running on TVO(Ontario).

I don't believe we have ever laughed so hard in our lives at the hilarious antics of Mitford's semi-autobiographical family members. PBS has given us many enjoyable moments in the past, but this series was a true gem.

Like the rest of the reviewers, I would give a king's ransom to obtain a copy of this truly delightful min-series.

I just rented the original version of Love in Cold Climate on DVD. Having never seen the broadcast, I was a bit taken aback at first because it clearly belies its age (1980), but after I got into the second episode I was hooked. All commentators who have bemoaned its absence should run to their favourite source and get the DVD. The DVD is well made and has subtitles for those of us who are hard of hearing or have trouble with the accents. It was interesting to see the younger Judi Dench and a set of excellent actors that have not had immense careers afterwards. Seeing the DVD has made me want to go and read the books on which the series was based just as seeing Brideshead Revisited (to me still the best book adaptation that I have seen on TV) sent me to read the novel.