Old Flames

Stephen Fry stars as a smug, self-satisfied lawyer in this black comedy-drama written by Simon Gray. Fry is reliable as a lovably pompous dimwit who meets an old boy from his school, played by Simon Callow, a man who is forever grimacing in an attempt to be endearing. Then mysterious things start to happen: another old boy from Fry's school goes mad, and then Fry seems to discover that many of his old school-friends have cracked up or died in mysterious circumstances. He fears revenge but he is not certain for what. The tale leads to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion. The cast are excellent, and the script, by Simon Gray (who wrote Cell Mates, the play Fry famously abandoned in panic)is funny and wry. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of emotional indifference, a subject Gray wrote about to such effect in "Otherwise Engaged." It's a minor work from him, but worth seeing if it ever emerges in the schedules.

When the BBC launched their Screen Two season they would always start with their strongest film, the one the critics and the public would lap up.

Old Flames is no exception. Starring Stephen Fry as a public school educated and uptight barrister, he meets up with a bumbling, neurotic old school friend played by Simon Callow.

Mixed in with another friend from the past, the sadistic Jackboots played wonderfully by Clive Francis and you have a creepy urban mystery dealing with lost friendship and identity.

The script makes subtle references to Hitchcock and Agatha Christie and it was noted at the time that those murdered bore the names of British drama critics of the day.

Clive Francis gives the standout performance and Callow is no slouch as the bizarre Nathaniel Quass. Fry on the other hand reminds you that in the 1990s, outside of comedy, he really did tend to play uptight establishment figures in dramas rather than the eccentrics he is known for nowadays.