Friday 12 August 2016

465 A Tale of Two Cities


First  viewed  : October  1980

The  second  drama  in  a  row  to  end  with  an   execution  ,this  was  the  latest  Dickens  adaptation  in  the  Sunday  teatime  classic  serial  slot.  I  dipped  in  and  out  of  it  because  of  course  it  clashed  with  the  Top  40  show  on  Radio  One  so  it  rather  depended  on  what  records  were  in  the  teens  that  week  which  one  I  chose  though  I  certainly  saw  the  final  episode.

For  those  who  don't  know  the  story, Sydney  Carton , a  cynical  dissolute  barrister  falls  in  love  with  a  French  girl  Lucie  but  she  prefers  a  worthy  but  dull  French  aristocrat  Charles  Darnay. To  rub  salt  in  Carton's  wound,  Darnay  looks  exactly  like  him. When  the  latter  foolishly  returns  to  revolutionary  France  to  help  out  a  family  servant,  he  gets  in  serious  trouble  and  Carton  has  to  save  him  in  the  most  shattering  display  of  self-sacrifice  in  all  literature.

Paul  Shelley  from  Secret  Army  played  the  dual  role  of   Carton / Darnay  with  aplomb  but  it  was  well  acted  all  round  with  special  mentions  for  David  Collings  playing  against  type  as  the  duplicitous  spy  Barsad  and  Judy  Parfitt  , terrifying  as  the  revenge-crazed  Madame  Defarge.



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