The Young Visiters

One of my favourite TV dramas for all ages. How often do you get so many actors of this calibre in one drama? Not often. The writing and acting is glorious. One of those images that sticks in my mind is Simon Russell Beale who plays The Prince of Whales (not Wales) as he sits there with his small Christmas party crown perched on his head. But this drama also says a lot about society, whilst also being gloriously funny. I hope the BBC decide to repeat it this Christmas as I don't think it is available on DVD or to stream. Of course, I'm OK because I recorded it when it was on the telly and have kept it on DVD. Glad I did. Shame that IMDB can't spell Visitor though.

Pay attention to minor roles of servants and royals...the gem within a gem. As was the introduction to the regal beale.

As expected , the bar is set by the major performances of nighy, broadbent, and beale. Laurie was just a step behind.

Which leaves us to the lone disappointment of marshal, who kept the plot going but just unable to keep pace with those at the pinnacle of dry british comedy.

Had they put beale as a key guest in the tiresome wedding scene, another star point was imminent.

Alfred Salteena is a slightly bumbling gentleman who meets a young lady on a train and invites her to his home in London. She comes to see society and meet young men and bothers him to go out and meet important people. They travel to see Lord Bernard where Alfred realises that he is not `high society' enough to win the beautiful social climber Ethel. Bernard offers to send him to a training school to help gentlemen `improve themselves', while he `entertains' Ethel at his home.

Taken from a story written in 1891 by Daisy Ashford when she was a nine year old girl, printed in 1919 and has not been out of print since. I must admit not to have heard of it, but the fact that it has never been out of print shows how good it is. I only know it now from this BBC film and enjoyed the story thoroughly. The writing (from a nine year old!) is great, it shows a great awareness of how important class is in British society and just how subjective and meaningless the whole thing is when it comes down to it. Ethel comes off as quite unpleasant in her desire to climb the social ladder but she is also shown to totally know what she is doing. Again, for a 9 year old to be so aware of the power of a pretty young lady is a frightening thing!

The story is told in a comic style and is humorous without taking away from the story. The main material is quite intelligent and very smart and never really lost my interest, being full of witty interactions and fun characters. Part of the reason for this is the cast. Broadbent does the bumbling clown better than most and is a great choice for the role of Alfred. He plays him a little bit foolish and bumbling (`thank you my regal eagle beagle' he says to Prince Charles) but with a heart of gold underneath and a very human heart at that. His tale is not a very happy one but it is quite touching nonetheless. Laurie is given a reasonable role that he fills pretty well. He has moved away from his out and out comic roots and has become more an actor, but he is humorous here as well. Marshall is good but a bit difficult not to dislike when you see her frantically climbing the social ladder no matter what! Nighy plays the Earl and he really hams it up to good effect. He is pretty funny and he helps the material feel a lot lighter even if it could be played as quite dark.

Overall this is a nice little film from the BBC. It looks great and feels very polished and professional. It is, at heart, a very good tale that is delivered with high production values and a top notch cast all of whom do good work. I'm not sure how the story was meant, but I think the BBC have lightened it deliberately to be more enjoyable because I think another version could bring out the dark issues of race and social climbing - it might be more interesting but it wouldn't have been as enjoyable as this version!

Mr Alfred Salteena, "an elderly gentleman of forty-two", an ironmonger by trade, meets a young lady, Miss Ethel Monticue, on a train and promises to introduce her to the royals and nobles of his acquaintance if she comes to stay with him. What he doesn't tell her is that the sum total of his acquaintances is one, Lord Bernard Clark, who lives in a remote castle surrounded by portraits of his ancestors. Alfred engineers an invitation to stay with Lord Clark and Ethel is beside herself with excitement. Alfred soon realises that Bernard is much more the type of man Ethel is looking for, since he is after all a real Lord. Alfred wants to learn to be more suitable, and with Bernard's help, he begins training at Crystal Palace. The training regime is far from easy and some of the funniest and at the same time most poignant scenes are of Alfred's attempts to get it right. Things don't go according to plan, but it all turns out moderately all right in the end. No spoilers here, though. You'll just have to watch the film! The movie is a delight. If you like fairytales with a twist, you will enjoy the wonderful recreations of 9-year-old Daisy Ashford's idea of what the world looks like. And if you're a language person like me, you will be tickled by the dialogue. At 9 years old, Daisy Ashford must have been either an absolute darling or a real pain in the butt! Either way she created some very lovable characters and wrote a gem of a story.

This is a lovely film. No smut, innuendo or anything nefarious whatsoever. Apparently originally written by a girl of nine, all her spelling errors have been left in place. The Prince of Whales indeed! Lovely shots of the British countryside, Bluebell Railway (I assume it was) and all. The story is very simplistic, but thoroughly enchanting. Nice to have the Crystal Palace mentioned and depicted - I only wish they could have rebuilt it for the film, but that might have nudged the budget up a bit! Recommended to anyone who enjoys the values of childhood and thinks childhood is all too brief.