What are you watching

Desert Orchid said:
Swearing among the squaddies, yes, plenty, and probably in private among the officers but openly? I'm not sure the army would have allowed it and I would be disappointed in the army itself if subordination wasn't slapped down pronto.
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The Irish chap in the documentary ( I forget his name) was a complete psychopath and I would imagine when seeing him portrayed in the series many people will think that his character presentation is way over the top. I’m still rewatching the documentary with Mike and I’ll be interested to see how I feel about the tv series when I do start watching it. I can’t remember the last time I channel hopped and fond myself instantly transfixed by something ( when it happens it’s usually something from Storyville).
 
That’s the one. Played in the series by Jack O’Connell who’s local lad made good and patron of our indie cinema.
 
Didn't believe in taking prisoners allegedly. But the Nazis didn't either when it came to these guys amongst others obviously. That's not excusing him but different times/different experiences.
 
I haven’t started watching it yet and assumed, when I saw a trailer for it that it was Netflix or Sky ( which I don’t have) but I’ve realised that The English is on BBC and it looks amazing.
 
Daylight scenes are spectacular but I had difficulty seeing what was going on in the night scenes. Could be my eyes, my eyesight is deteriorating rapidly.
 
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Shabby, Col bach - just shabby.

It is Star Wars, but not as you know it. Grit and great storytelling replaces light-sabers and aliens.
 
moehat said:
I haven’t started watching it yet and assumed, when I saw a trailer for it that it was Netflix or Sky ( which I don’t have) but I’ve realised that The English is on BBC and it looks amazing.
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I thought it was excellent but was watching at the same time as trying to pick my Ten to Follow horses so I wasn’t really concentrating. But I have recorded it so will watch again...it’s pretty gory in parts but stick with it.
 
Just finished binge watching it. Thought it was brilliant. I do miss the days when I would look forward to seeing the latest episode of a series on the telly though. Then again it has poured with rain for two days and it gave me something to do.
 
I'm in E2 of The English and I can see the attraction but I don't see how words like "spic" and "wop" can get into the script of a story set in the 1880s.

That's pretty shabby writing.
 
My hearing is so bad I can’t make out most of what they say anyway. And I can’t work out how to watch with subtitles on my iPad. It does seem to be an amalgam of all of my favourite films ever though.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I'm in E2 of The English and I can see the attraction but I don't see how words like "spic" and "wop" can get into the script of a story set in the 1880s.

That's pretty shabby writing.
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Its surely done intentionally? Very little gain in intenationally alienating a huge potential audience.
 
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That's not what I mean, BoS.

If I were setting a story in the 1880s I'd want to avoid any word that didn't enter the language until decades later.

I also heard "huckster" used and wondered about that too but apparently it came into existence around 1200 and was more commonly used in America than in Britain.
 
How do you feel about Shakespeare who actually made up words then? Mind you I kept wondering where she’d found those trousers to wear. It was a case of suspend disbelief and enjoy it. I was a bit worried about Eli’s horse as I’ve never rewatched Dances with Wolves because Kevin Costners horse, which met a tragic end, was the same colour as my pony, Rosie.
 
moehat said:
How do you feel about Shakespeare who actually made up words then? Mind you I kept wondering where she’d found those trousers to wear.
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This occurred to me last night too. I was wondering if programmes set before Shakespeare was born (eg Cadfael) had scripts containing words that Shakespeare made up. [Which reminds me of the Tim Vine joke - When Alfred Nobel invented dynamite he didn't have a word for it but when a small amount of it exploded he went, "Wow! This stuff's dynamite!"]

As for the trousers, I would have no idea if women wore properly tailored ones in those days but [...swoon...] Vera Miles's character in The Searchers, Laurie Jorgensen, certainly wore trousers/jeans and that was set around the same time.
 
My head is still full of this series. I can’t say the films, books and tv series that it threw up for fear of spoilers but some of them were totally left field. I think if Dickens had ever written a western this would be it. I do like westerns; my favourite from a few years back being Slow West. Going to watch a programme about Richard Harris on Sky Arts tonight: don’t have catchup for that so have to watch it live. Only because his son Jared is featured in it and I’ve had a bit of a thing about him ever since seeing The Terror and Chernobyl.
 
Someone told me about Ch 65 a few months ago and when I looked at it Benny Hill was on. And yes, it did make me chuckle!
 
Stuff that was 'of its time' shouldn't offend but it will offend some people.

As long as they say at the start, something along the lines of reflecting attitudes and language of the time and may offend, it gives people the chance to switch away.

While nowadays I intensely dislike being referred to as a 'jock' (or, up here, 'pape', 'fenian' etc) it doesn't bother me hearing stuff like that set in decades long gone. Apparently there's something wrong with me because it doesn't bother me being referred to as 'ginger' (hard or soft 'c').
 
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