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.

Evensford is based on the town of Rushden in Northamptonshire. It grew up as a boot and shoe town in the late nineteenth century. Sadly the boot and shoe industry has mostly gone and many of the factories demolished or developed into flats. Rushden is in the midlands of England not the North and has a distinct accent that none of the actors bothered to copy. Bates captured the rural/urban nature of Evensford perfectly and this series does well with this too. The Aspens are not upper class; they have money and live in a large house in extensive grounds but these things do not raise them into the highest stratum of English society. A reader of the novel visiting Rushden today would still be able to find many of the places Bates wrote about such as, Caldecott, Knuston, Souldrop and Rushden Hall. The Prince Albert hotel still stands. It was the Queen Victoria hotel in Bates's time and is now converted to flats. The railway no longer runs but the station is there and sells a good pint of ale.

LOVE FOR LYDIA is the sexy, sophisticated story of the dizzy and exciting but also rather empty lifestyle of English society people during the wild Twenties decade. The central character, Lydia, is a beautiful but rather shy girl at first. Then she inherits a great deal of money and begins to realize that she is a very desirable catch -- and that men will let her get away with almost anything!

The one man who truly loves Lydia is Richardson, a would-be writer from a rather poor and humble local family. On a cold winter day, Lydia has her first kiss from him, but instead of making her fall for him it merely sparks her interest in men in general. Before long Lydia is the talk of the town, dashing about in her flashy new clothes and going to hot, Twenties-style dances where she is always the center of attention. One by one, all the handsomest and most exciting young men in the neighborhood simply collapse at her feet -- rich and stylish Alec Sanderson, sweet and trusting Tom Holland, and even the tough local mechanic, mean and muscular and hairy-chested Blackie Flannagan. Lydia toys with all three men at once, totally enjoying both the sense of power and the pleasure. Totally ignoring the pain in Richardson's eyes, she grows more and more reckless, until at last tragedy strikes. Lydia sees herself as she truly is -- weak, greedy and selfish. She wants to change, but by now even loyal and faithful Richardson is tired of her. Is it too late for Lydia -- too late for love?

LOVE FOR LYDIA is a sumptuous and beautifully filmed romantic epic. The big dance scenes are exhilarating, but the quiet scenes draw you in too. Lydia changes from a shy schoolgirl to a glamorous and sexy siren.

But in her quiet moments you can see her basic insecurity, like the way she lies on the bed listening to the same jazz love song over and over. Night after night she dances till 2 or 3AM, and then next day is still asleep past noon.

There's an aimless quality to her life, and an emptiness as well. It shows in the way she downs a drink before dinner or takes a quick hit from a pocketbook flask. Glamorous and sexy, but you feel the human side of it -- the loneliness and the waste. A very good British series.

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.

This excellent series was brought to American TV audiences on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" in 1979, two years after it first was aired in Great Britain. I saw it then, bought the book by H.E. Bates, and later purchased the DVD set. This is a superb adaptation of a subtle literary work on British pastoral life, the many segments of the series giving adequate time to fully bring out the nuance of the book. It has encouraged me to visit England many times to savor the beauty of the countryside and small town charm. I think the author would have been very pleased to see how well his book had been adapted for television, and sadly he died just a few years before the project was completed.

Mel Martin and Christopher Blake give touching performances, and it is sad to see that Christopher Blake has died in 2004 while only in his mid-50's. You get to see Jeremy Irons do some fine work long before he earned his Oscar. Peter Davison is also excellent, before he became famous in "All Creatures Great and Small" and "Dr. Who." The distinguished older actors and actresses in this production remind us of the enormous pool of talent that can be found in Great Britain, where noted stage stars frequently appear in television dramas. I highly recommend this DVD set.