Love in a Cold Climate

For lovers of Downton Abbey, this mini-series has a similar setup and pedigree, but a much more, to my mind, sympathetic look back (it's not so serious), and a better pace. The same could be said, in comparison, for lovers of the series Brideshead Revisited. The satire here is not nearly so biting and the English Rose charm is more pronounced. The characters are not as complicated, which I found refreshing, and without deeper issues. They all just want to love. There is a great formula going on here, with occasional elegant narration to move the viewer quickly through the times. I thought the director at times got this balance so wonderfully synchronised (with music, framing, extras, etc) that several scenes must be considered masterpieces. Locations are fantastic, with all the opulence or sprawl one would expect. I thought a couple of the characters were a little archetypical, but that in itself lent to the charm. The BBC casting was spot on, and indeed, it's the minor players doing so well that again lifts everything and creates interest. There is a lightness here that lifts this show above the ponderous and stereotypical nature of some other contemporary dramas I've seen, and I consequently loved every minute.

Nancy Mitford's two delightful novels, 'The Pursuit of Love' and 'Love in a Cold Climate' were beautifully if rather slowly realised in 6 x 50 minutes episodes by Thames Television 20 years ago in a production so vivid that much from it still lingers in my memory. Much funnier and much less pretentious than 'Brideshead Revisited' it no doubt did for respect of the aristocracy what Jack the Ripper did for blind dates, but it was a great romp nonetheless.

This time round the BBC has covered the same ground in 150 minutes. It is another beautiful production but I was left with the distinct feeling the fast forward button was on. The novelist Deborah Moggach was responsible for the script. Some things still come across well - Linda's relationship with her French lover Fabrice is well portrayed and the return of the Bolter for instance is a highlight, but the Cedric character and his relationship with the Montdores is truncated and that classic neurasthenic Davey Warbeck so sympathetically played by Michael Williams in the 1980 version has disappeared altogether. John Woods's Merlin is very good though and Anthony Andrews (who starred as the doomed Sebastian in 'Brideshead') is excellent as the feckless bounder Boy Dugdale. Alan Bates as Uncle Matt is rather more menacing than Michael Aldridge's delightfully dotty 1980 version (I guess we can't have our fascists too lovable anymore) and some of the comedy is lost thereby. Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh is lovely as the love-struck Linda but Megan Dodds as Polly is strangely hollow.

The stately homes are well cast as usual – the Mitfords may have been aristocratic backwoodspersons, but they lived in a very nice part of Oxfordshire and location shooting is used to good effect. However, it seems that current TV production costs mean that a novel adapted for TV can never be more than severely edited highlights (no-one would do 'Brideshead' in 13 x 50 minute episodes today). This being the case, there's only one thing for it – read the book!

Nancy was the first to exploit the glittering vein of inside jokes and family legend that's sustained the Mitford industry for over fifty years, and when her two most popular books, the titular "Cold Climate" and the earlier "Pursuit of Love," were "adapted" (sliced and diced and drastically condensed) to fit this stingy two-episode format, there were bound to be a few loose ends. My brilliant wife, a fiction editor by trade, spotted a brief two-character scene that didn't seem to make much sense; it turned out to be a collage of the zingier lines from three different scenes involving two sets of characters and spread out over twenty pages. Do admit, Fanny!

Mitford loyalists will mourn the loss of Uncle Davey; they may also wonder why, say, on the page it's Aunt Sadie who can't talk horticulture with a dinner guest because she prefers to leave such matters to the gardeners whereas on the screen it's daughter Linda who can't identify the soup because she prefers to leave them to the cook.... Still, if the script is a little dodgy, the cast is just about perfect: Alan Bates, as Uncle Matthew, prowls the floor at a deb dance like a Rottweiler on parade; Celia Imbrie is delightfully distracted as Aunt Sadie; Elisabeth Dermot Walsh and Rosamund Pike are charming as lovely, clueless Linda and the all-seeing narrator, Fanny. Special mention goes to Jemima Rooper and Anna Popplewell as sex-mad innocents Jassy and Victoria. The earlier, 8-ep version, still available on disc, has more room for plot material (including Uncle Davey), but the younger characters aren't nearly as well cast.

Having read both of the books that this mini series is based on and recalling the excellent 1980 mini series, I looked forward to this new version with enthusiasm.

I have to say that on the whole I found it very disappointing. It certainly covered the bones of the story, but due to its short length, missed out on much of the humour in the original stories. It certainly looked good, casting was excellent, the period was conveyed very convincingly - but, because virtually none of the characters were properly introduced, I kept wondering "just who is this person". Anyone unfamiliar with the story would have found it confusing most of the time.

This was obviously not a cheap production, what a pity they didn't spend a bit more and do better justice to one of the classics of twentieth century fiction.

My Review- of 2 versions Love in a Cold Climate 1980 on YouTube & Love in a Cold Climate 2001 on Britbox

My Rating 1980 version 10/10 My Rating 2001 version 7/10

It's the first time I've reviewed 2 versions of the same adaptation together however because I watched them simultaneously out of interest I'll review both together.

The 2001 remake is a short 3 episodes while the superior 1980 adaptation consists of 8 episodes.

I enjoyed both versions but was a little disappointed with the 2001 remake and after watching both versions the remake to me is like a redacted sanitised version with many characters and story lines missing.

Both are television adaptations of 2 famous novels written by Nancy Mitford titled The Pursuit of Love and Live in a Cold Climate.

Both have very impressive casts the 2001 remake includes stars Alan Bates as Uncle Matthew and Celia Imrie as Aunt Sadie with beautiful Rosamund Pike as Fanny and Sheila Gish as Lady Montdore.

The superior 1980 version includes Judy Dench as Sadie , Michael Aldridge as Uncle Matt and Isabelle Amyes as Fanny plus veteran actress Vivian Pickles playing the acid tongued Lady Montdore who is transformed into a glamour fag hag when her effeminate nephew Cedrick Hampton arrives to inherit his estate from Canada.

The masquerade ball scene left out of the later version is a joy to behold .

The story set between 1924 and 1940 draws on the authors experience of being raised in an aristocratic climate just before World War 2 when three cousins Fanny , Linda and Polly are led down very different paths due to the consequences of their life choices .

My main criticism of the most recent version apart from editing out characters like Davey Warbeck played by Michael Williams the real life husband of Judy Dench in the 1980 version was the miscasting in the 2001 adaptation.

Rosamund Pike who plays cousin Fanny the daughter of "The Bolter" and narrator of the story is far to beautiful to play Fanny . Her character is supposed to be a shy wallflower not plain but modest in appearance compared to her glamorous cousin Linda played by Elisabeth Dermot Walsh.

The casting of Lucy Gutteridge as the glamorous flirtatious Linda and Isabelle Amyes as cousin Fanny is much more believable in the 1980 version of Love in a Cold Climate.

It's fascinating to me to appreciate 2 very different screen writer's and directors adaptations of the same story for my money Simon Raven screen writer and Donald McWhinnie's 1980 version is the superior adaptation.

Especially the conclusion of the series which in the 2001 version was especially abrupt and very different in moral tone.

Both adaptations are entertaining however the characters are much expanded and I would suspect more faithfully portrayed in the 1980 version which if you only want to watch one adaptation I recommend.