Love for Lydia

LOVE FOR LYDIA is a leisurely paced and meticulous miniseries of the old school. It's based on a semi-autobiographical novel by H. E. Bates and chronicles the lives of several young adults in the mid-1920s in a small town in the north of England.

Lydia Aspen (Mel Martin) is at first a shy and awkward young heiress who comes to town to live with her old maiden aunts (Beatrix Lehmann, Rachel Kempson) and the brutish uncle (Michael Aldridge) in their isolated mansion. The Bates character, Edward Richardson (Christopher Blake), is sent to interview the reclusive aunts on the death of their brother (Lydia's father). The aunts take a shine to the shy young man and encourage him to take Lydia out (ice skating, local dances). Of course the boy is instantly smitten with Lydia, but she is not quite what she seems and as she comes into her own, we find that she is willful, eccentric, and more than a little cruel.

The series is about more than the fumblings of young love. It's also a sharp look the British social norms of 100 years ago. The Aspens are a socially untouchable family in their stone mansion. Their isolation is broken only by trips to church. There's not really a "middle class" at this time in England, but Richardson represents a working class that has some education and upward mobility, as opposed to the "laborers" in the system who are uneducated and simply grind away at their menial jobs. Richardson and his group are just as snobbish to their underlings as Lydia is to Richardson's group.

The cast includes a very young Jeremy Irons as Richardson's friend Alex, who spends all his time drinking and roaring about in his roadster. There's also a farm family (Peter Davison, Sherrie Hewson) who have gone through the school system. Beneath them is the brooding Blackie (Ralph Arliss) who works as an auto mechanic and part-time driver. Among this group, we see rivalries for Lydia, love won, love lost, and the changing fortunes of all as we head toward the Great Depression.

Don't be fooled. This is not a sappy love story. This is a complex story with complex characters. It's an achingly beautiful look lives intertwined.

Issued as a DVD set many years ago. I don't believe this has ever been "restored" or issued on Blu-ray.

It feels like the budget was there, the intention was there, and in the first 3 or so episodes it all comes together as a 10/10. But for me the series feels cast with this first part in mind, for which the leads are very well suited and brought out by script and director to give energy, belief, believability and interest.

The trouble is that the leads/script/direction trend downwards from there. Most importantly, for me Christopher Blake simply doesn't have near enough range to do justice to the role, and the script/direction don't help him out. Yet his depiction in episodes 1-3 feels excellent.

Mel Martin is better and I get a nagging feeling she could have done more if she was asked to play episodes 1-3 to a narrower range so that she could better show character development.

Similar issues come up with other actors, where portrayals in different episodes don't seem to come from the same heart. For me, especially with. Ralph Arliss.

The best acting? Jeremy Irons top. Michael Aldridge in a character part. David Ryall. Sherrie Hewson. And the them tune, which wonderfully sets tone.

Just had a brief look at other reviews and wonder whether the background isn't clear to all. For instance "write from a rather poor and humble family" is wrong. The family is clearly middle class. Very poor compared with he Aspens yes, but it is essential to understand that there are very clear differences in wealth and background between the male leads. Perhaps not so easy to spot depending on age and where you are from, but essential.

Overall, enjoyable but disappointing to miss the initial promise.

This is an adaptation of the novel by H. E. Bates, first published in 1952. The story is set in the small industrial town of Evensford, possibly based upon Bates's home town of Rushden, a town where the main industry is the manufacture of shoes and leather goods. The story takes place during the late 1920s and early 1930s and the main character is Edward Richardson, a young apprentice journalist on the local newspaper with ambitions to become a writer. (In the novel we never learn his Christian name; the name Edward was given to him for the purposes of the dramatisation).

The title character is Lydia Aspen, a girl from a once-wealthy but now impoverished aristocratic family who, after the death of her father, moves to Evensford to live with her elderly aunts and her eccentric uncle. Edward first meets her when he is sent to their house (a crumbling mansion isolated from the rest of the town behind a high stone wall) to get a story about her father's death. Lydia, a seemingly shy girl, has led a sheltered existence, and her meeting with Edward allows him to introduce her to the pleasures of ordinary life; for instance, he takes her skating on the frozen rivers, a popular local pastime during cold winters.

Lydia and Edward fall in love, but he realises that he is not her only admirer. She has at least three others- the wealthy Alex Sanderson, Tom Holland, a young farmer, and Bert "Blackie" Johnson, a car mechanic. Richardson realises that Lydia is not the shy, innocent girl for which he initially took her but can be wilful and fun-loving, and that she greatly enjoys the attentions of so many young men. His position is made more difficult by the fact that Alex and Tom are both close friends of his, and of each other. Blackie has more difficulty fitting in with the group because of his working-class background; Edward is also from a working-class family, but Tom and Alex seem more willing to accept him, possibly because of his literary aspirations and his more genteel accent.

I did not see this serial when it was first shown in 1977; I was a teenager at the time, had hardly heard of Bates, and the theme did not seem very interesting to me. I was introduced to Bates's work a few years later as a college student who I walked into a bookshop, saw a copy of the Penguin "Love for Lydia" and bought it on a whim, largely because the young woman on the cover looked very like my then girlfriend. I was immediately taken with the story, and over the years the novel has become one of my favourites. I therefore decided to watch the serial when it was recently repeated on the "Talking Pictures" TV channel.

I must admit that I did not enjoy it as much as the book. The main reason is that it is seriously overlong. Thirteen hour-long episodes is far too many for a reasonably short novel. (For the same reason I have never been a great fan of Granada's interminable adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", even though I am well aware that some people will acclaim it as one of he greatest television serials ever made). Neither the rather bland Christopher Blake as Edward nor Mel Martin as Lydia make much impression. (Coincidentally, the girlfriend I referred to was also called Mel). At 28 and 30 they were also perhaps rather too old for their roles; Edward and Lydia are supposed to be in their late teens or early twenties, and their youth and inexperience are an important factor in the story.

There are better performances from a pre-stardom Jeremy Irons as Alex, from the future Doctor Who Peter Davison as Tom and from Sherrie Hewson as Tom's rather plain sister Nancy, who is besotted with Edward but despairs of ever being able to win him away from the bewitching Lydia. Among the supporting cast I also liked Michael Aldridge as Lydia's awful old Uncle Rollo and David Ryall as Edward's bullying, patronising editor Bretherton, who has a bigger role here than he played in the novel. Nevertheless, this serial will never eclipse the original book in my affections. 6/10.

I always like period dramas, not least because they are an escape from the modern world in which we live in. Coming across this 1977 drama, I was even more intrigued when I learned this was written by H. E Bates, who did The Darling Buds of May stories. This is a far more darker and melancholy story than that 1990's series, but just as poignant and moving at times. But it's one that suffered a troubled production, with original writer Richard Bates (son of the author) sacked a third of the way through, costing them £100,000 in reshoots, the original director resigning midway through and a producer suffering a heart attack during production. And sad to say it more than affects the final cut of this 1977 adaptation, which suffers from far too many episodes from far too many writers who seemed to wish to wring out every page onto the screen.

The story begins in 1921 when young newspaper reporter Edward Richardson (though rarely addressed by his first name) is asked by his boss Bretherton (a wonderfully acerbic David Ryall) to go up to the "Big House", a rambling country estate, to interview the Aspen family after the death of their brother in a hunting accident. Richardson is not keen - indeed he never seems keen to work - as the family consist of two elderly sisters and a somewhat seedy brother, but when he finally pays a visit to the Big House he is somewhat surprised to learn that their niece Lydia has moved in with them after the death of their brother. Young, quiet and seemingly introverted, he is asked by her Aunt Bertie to take her out ice skating, worried that remaining in the isolated country estate will be detrimental to her wellbeing and the hope that meeting people her own age will bring her out of herself. So Richardson becomes a sort of guardian as he shows her about the place and introduces her to his friends, and it isn't before long that he is falling in love with her. Unfortunately for him so do his friends, and as Lydia comes out of herself and they start attending numerous dances at country estates and village halls, Richardson begins to realize that Lydia is not the wallflower that he initially thought but one who loves being the centre of attention of men.

The problem early on in this adaptation is that the above described is ALL that happens for the first SIX episodes. The first episode may reflect well the isolation and bleakness of the Big House and what it must feel for a young newly orphaned girl like Lydia to come to, knowing nobody and with only elderly relatives to converse with. But the episode moves at such a crawl, and contrary to what I hoped it doesn't get any speedier. It isn't until episode 7 - halfway through the 13 episodes - that things finally start to happen when a fire interrupts Lydia's big 21st birthday bash, where all the village are attending. Amusingly Lydia is put out by the attention the fire has on the guests and decides to lead a party down to where it is. Her aunts are puzzled by her attitude, leading Uncle Rollo (a ramblingly seedy Michael Aldridge) to quip "Maybe it's because she's no longer the centre of attention." It's interesting that Lydia detests her Uncle Rollo, but that is due to the fact he is the one person who isn't taken in by her and who sees her as she really is. And it's Lydia's ability to bewitch the young men in her life - Richardson, his friends Alex Sanderson and Tom Holland, and cab driver Blackie Johnson, who ferries the group to and from parties - that creates the turmoil to come and also affects the women in their lives, such as Tom's sister Nancy, who desperately loves Richardson, and Nora Jepson, Alex's on/off girlfriend who eventually becomes a drinking cohort to Lydia. As the series finally becomes interesting, Lydia's unconscious inconsiderateness and lack of awareness to other people's feelings leads - along with Richardson's own jealousy and selfishness - to untold tragedy, where during the course of the series two characters die, one enters into a marriage with someone they do not love and two others are stricken with tuberculosis.

There are some wonderful performances in this. Beatrice Lehman gives a lovely performance as the wise Aunt Bertie, who knows what youth like despite her advancing years, while Wendy Gifford makes a coquettish mother to Jeremy Irons and Christopher Hancock is wonderfully decent as Richardson's easy going and understanding father. This series is also notable for a number of stars who had not yet found fame, including Jeremy Irons, Peter Davidson and a star making role for Mel Martin as Lydia. Indeed, Mel Martin so inhabits the character and all her nuances that in a way it reflected many of the roles she later received in her career. While Peter Davidson is given somewhat of a bland character in the nice but dull Tom Holland, Jeremy Irons is wonderfully charismatic as the perpetually inebriated Alex Sanderson, doing a Sebastian four years before Brideshead Revisited. Another one of note is Sherrie Hewson as the lovelorn Nancy Holland. She is so heartbreakingly touching as Nancy, who continually harbours hope that Richardson, her former boyfriend until Lydia comes along, will realize that she loves him and come back to her. In one scene she invites Richardson over to her home while her family are out and even up to her bedroom in her efforts to attract him, showing she is prepared to sleep with him if it will make him love her again in an era before contraception and risks were high. It's agonising to watch her time and again humiliate herself for him, and Hewson shows, as with with her later role in Flickers (1980) what a superb actress she was at this time, and such a shame her comedy work overshadows this.

Another problem with this drama is that the friends are far more appealing than it's two leads. Indeed, when it first begins Richardson (Christopher Blake) proves frustratingly irritating. He has a job as a reporter for the Evensford newspaper but instead idles about dreaming of being a writer. Indeed, he proves reluctant to do any work in an era where unemployment was high and money was short, and as he becomes obsessed with Lydia he frequently skips work to take her out - so much so that you enjoy the moments when Bretherton roasts him. David Ryall is wonderfully amusing in this, with his scathing nickname of "Clutterhead" for him (he might as well be called that, for few call him by his first name in this), but you know when you are enjoying someone belittling the lead character that something is wrong here. And the trouble is that despite Christopher Blake doing a decent job at conveying the lovelorn devotion of Richardson, as the drama progresses he becomes ever more unlikable. Richardson has aspirations of being a writer, but he is in fact a snob who thinks he is better than his surroundings and the people around him. When Lydia starts paying attention to Blackie Johnson, who drives the group to all the dances going on, he is disgusted that Lydia would consort with a working class mechanic. His jealousy is such that it results in the inadvertent death of one character, while he is so self absorbed he doesn't notice when two characters need him at their most vulnerable, leading to yet another death. Even when he has the chance to make it as a writer, he is so utterly rude to the publisher's daughter that he becomes obnoxious.

Lydia's character is not always appealing, but at least with her you understand her actions. Her character seeks an escape from her surroundings and situation, and when she sees an opportunity in Richardson - helped by her far seeing Aunt Bertie - she takes her chance to embrace her youth and enjoy life. She likes the effect she has on men and seeing how far they will go for her devotion, but at the same time has little sense of how deeply they will feel for her. When Richardson proposes to her, she rejects him because she has no plans for settling down yet. She wants to enjoy her youth while she has it, and while her self absorbed attitude is not always appealing at least I could understand her character's motivations. Where she grates is in her complete lack of awareness for other people's feelings, perfectly reflected by the character of Blackie Johnson, who proves a devoted admirer of hers, used and often abused by her. It's to Mel Martin's credit that she makes her so beguiling for such a self centred character. And this is why despite her nature I could understand where she was coming from. With Richardson, I could not. He just came across as an insufferable prig that only improved in the last episode.

At times it's hard to criticize this series, as it does a lovely job at depicting the raw emotions and lives of it's characters, while it's theme tune is hauntingly melancholy. It is beautifully shot and it's period designs are perfect of the era. Indeed, it has to be said that the makers did a good job at how the series looked, and there is something poetical about the scenery, from the icy winters to the summer countryside in bloom. The performances are nearly all universally good, with Sherrie Hewson and Jeremy Irons among the standouts, while Mel Martin is perfect as the imperfect title character. But the problem persists that Love For Lydia, for all it's beauty and it's poignancy, is deathly slow to get going. Thirteen episodes is far too long and should of been cut by at least half. And while it demonstrates perfectly the complications of unrequited love and the mess people make of others lives, it still doesn't disguise the fact that the two main protagonists in this are unlikable. It's hard to know how they could end this story, but it's conclusion merely left me thinking of those characters whose lives had been ruined and feelings discarded along the way. If someone had let rip into these two characters about how they treat people I might of felt differently, but by the end of this 13 part epic it felt a wasted journey into their lives.

Recently released on DVD....I couldn't wait to view it again. First saw this on Masterpiece Theater in the late 70's, when I expressly stayed home on Sundays to savor the 13 episodes in their entirety. It was programing like this, Elizabeth R, Upstairs, Downstairs, I Claudius, etc. that got me hooked for life on Masterpiece Theater. 'Love For Lydia' is basically a handsome Jazz Age soap opera. A highly exuberant and distinguished backdrop for a mini-series endorsed as a romance but in reality a coming of age story.

`Love For Lydia', written by H.E. Bates ( My Uncle Silas) of Northamptonshire, England is an admonition and harbinger of rural England pre-and post depression. It's as much about the loves of the lead character, Lydia Aspen, a self centered young heiress played with remarkable and wicked alacrity by Mel Martin as it is about Edward Richarson, a H.E. Bates alter ego character. Both youths are so impossibly immature that I spent the first 10 episodes deciding which one was more obnoxious. Lydia is a typical spoiled rich kid who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. After first becoming involved with Edward she proceeds to seduce every man in North England. Edward, being a sensitive would be writer can not seem to detach himself from her emotionally, which, of course is how she likes it best.

It's curious to note that the supporting cast are often more assertive and certainly more appealing than the main characters. In Edwards best friend, Alex Sanderson, we have a brilliant and youthful Jeremy Irons, who down right commands the show in his part as a conceited prat who somehow manages to be charming in spite of himself. An actualization of the quintessential snotty young upper crust Brit...of the type they are always trying to cast now days with Hugh Grant. Irons talent was astonishing even then...so raw that there was little doubt of predicting his brilliant future. Rachel Kempson and Beatrix Lehmann were enticing as Lydia's elderly Aunts, Juliana and Bertie. They were so delectably in character I always longed for scenes with these two ladies. Lydia's disagreeable Uncle Rollo was made lifelike by Michael Aldridge `Love in a Cold Climate" (1980). Add to these many more capable actors and it's quite a impressive cast.

As for the DVD, the color is faded and the sound is not digital. This was produced pre-DVD so there are no easter eggs here. The good news is you can rent the whole series...because while it is a scrumptious rent...it would be hardly worth owning. It's important to remember that it was designed to be viewed in one hour increments, therefore to sit and watch 3 or 4 episodes at a time would prove a little too monotonous...especially toward the end when the flapper era has been laid low by the economic crisis that preceded W W I. However, the lavish attention to detail that marks Masterpiece Theater is ever present. If you enjoy British literature adaptations you will be drawn right into the drama.

In my view it's test of time score is 8 ½.