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yuletide season is almost upon us, and I have been considering my requests. Most of my fandoms are very small, and none more so than Enemy at the Door (LWT, 1978-1980), starring old British stars of the small screen, Alfred Burke and Simon Cadell.
Burke was one of those actors who had an absolutely mesmerizing face. He grew a beard to play EatD's Major Richter in an attempt, as the tie-in novel puts it, to protect the unsuspecting public from being overwhelmed by its ascetic charms:
"Richter had a capacity to charm that might cloud a man's judgement... Richter was too quiet, too urbane, with a face of that ascetic cast which is acquired by saints, librarians and autocratic confidence tricksters... Perhaps aware of this himself, Richter had grown a beard, but it did little to hide his saintly expression, merely covered the lower part of his face in a gingery stubble."
Spoiler alert: it didn't work. Even bearded, his face was irresistible.
I would have to admit to the power of that face's unbeardedness, though, amply displayed in Alfie's star turn as Frank Marker in Public Eye (ABC, Thames 1965-1975), another tiny fandom which has made its way onto my Yuletide list.
Another thing on unexpected display during Public Eye's Season 6 Episode 8's The Golden Boy: rather more of Alfie's unclothed form than one had come to expect from this stellar, unpretentious show that had never resorted to glamour or sex appeal. True to form, poor Frank had been taken on a terrible bender on behalf of a client; his target, the college-aged titular golden boy Vyvyan Reveldale had been compelled to take Frank home and undress him and then to spend the night, making breakfast for him the next day (and romantically quoting Schiller to him: Freedom is only in the kingdom of dreams). Anyway, here is Frank waking up in bed, unexpectedly naked and even more unexpectedly not alone (from 37:54):
And still further unexpected dispatches - - Alfie got most of his kit off in David Mercer's Rod of Iron (1980), wearing aged-up silver hair and taking his ubiquitous signet ring off in order to play Nigel Hawthorne's father. One would not have expected this serious role to involve quite so much nudity, but many of the promo photographs from that show featured unexpected naked Alfie, including this one:
What can one say? It's not just his face that is mesmerizing. (Thanks tokainosite for discovering the nudes and sharing.)
Young Simon Cadell stayed clothed for his two season run on EatD, but after the show was cancelled, he'd apparently made rather a thing of taking his clothes off (when asked to drop trou in 1987's Life Without George, Simon had reportedly said, "What underpants do you want me to wear? Or none, in fact?"). In 1984's raunchy TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe's Blott on the Landscape, he gamely bared all, leading to an amusing anecdote from one of the Royal Galas where Simon was presented to the Queen Mother at a backstage line-up. Apparently Her Majesty had looked him up and down, and remarked, "It's nice to see you with your clothes on for once", before moving on to the next participant.
Here is the episode in question (warning, most definitely not safe for work). Simon's civil servant character gets into trouble from the get-go, and then again from 47:30 until the end:
Alas, the Blott nudes aren't up on Shutterstock (the series can be found here), but Simon's physique is also featured in Tales of the Unexpected (1984). Simon plays scummy British author Sam Luke, who has travelled to New York (and has surrounded himself by the worst New York accents known to Anglia TV), in order to promote terrible sexist new book 'Women Weeping'. He sports an ugly moustache to telegraph the ugliness of his character, and spends the entire episode in a bathrobe, except for the long moments that he spends without it (from 10:00 and 17:33).
One is certain the Queen Mum would have had something to say about that, even if Reinicke wouldn't have been very amused.
yuletide season is almost upon us, and I have been considering my requests. Most of my fandoms are very small, and none more so than Enemy at the Door (LWT, 1978-1980), starring old British stars of the small screen, Alfred Burke and Simon Cadell. Burke was one of those actors who had an absolutely mesmerizing face. He grew a beard to play EatD's Major Richter in an attempt, as the tie-in novel puts it, to protect the unsuspecting public from being overwhelmed by its ascetic charms:
"Richter had a capacity to charm that might cloud a man's judgement... Richter was too quiet, too urbane, with a face of that ascetic cast which is acquired by saints, librarians and autocratic confidence tricksters... Perhaps aware of this himself, Richter had grown a beard, but it did little to hide his saintly expression, merely covered the lower part of his face in a gingery stubble."
Spoiler alert: it didn't work. Even bearded, his face was irresistible.
I would have to admit to the power of that face's unbeardedness, though, amply displayed in Alfie's star turn as Frank Marker in Public Eye (ABC, Thames 1965-1975), another tiny fandom which has made its way onto my Yuletide list.
Another thing on unexpected display during Public Eye's Season 6 Episode 8's The Golden Boy: rather more of Alfie's unclothed form than one had come to expect from this stellar, unpretentious show that had never resorted to glamour or sex appeal. True to form, poor Frank had been taken on a terrible bender on behalf of a client; his target, the college-aged titular golden boy Vyvyan Reveldale had been compelled to take Frank home and undress him and then to spend the night, making breakfast for him the next day (and romantically quoting Schiller to him: Freedom is only in the kingdom of dreams). Anyway, here is Frank waking up in bed, unexpectedly naked and even more unexpectedly not alone (from 37:54):
And still further unexpected dispatches - - Alfie got most of his kit off in David Mercer's Rod of Iron (1980), wearing aged-up silver hair and taking his ubiquitous signet ring off in order to play Nigel Hawthorne's father. One would not have expected this serious role to involve quite so much nudity, but many of the promo photographs from that show featured unexpected naked Alfie, including this one:
What can one say? It's not just his face that is mesmerizing. (Thanks to
kainosite for discovering the nudes and sharing.)Young Simon Cadell stayed clothed for his two season run on EatD, but after the show was cancelled, he'd apparently made rather a thing of taking his clothes off (when asked to drop trou in 1987's Life Without George, Simon had reportedly said, "What underpants do you want me to wear? Or none, in fact?"). In 1984's raunchy TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe's Blott on the Landscape, he gamely bared all, leading to an amusing anecdote from one of the Royal Galas where Simon was presented to the Queen Mother at a backstage line-up. Apparently Her Majesty had looked him up and down, and remarked, "It's nice to see you with your clothes on for once", before moving on to the next participant.
Here is the episode in question (warning, most definitely not safe for work). Simon's civil servant character gets into trouble from the get-go, and then again from 47:30 until the end:
Alas, the Blott nudes aren't up on Shutterstock (the series can be found here), but Simon's physique is also featured in Tales of the Unexpected (1984). Simon plays scummy British author Sam Luke, who has travelled to New York (and has surrounded himself by the worst New York accents known to Anglia TV), in order to promote terrible sexist new book 'Women Weeping'. He sports an ugly moustache to telegraph the ugliness of his character, and spends the entire episode in a bathrobe, except for the long moments that he spends without it (from 10:00 and 17:33).
One is certain the Queen Mum would have had something to say about that, even if Reinicke wouldn't have been very amused.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-20 05:28 pm (UTC)Public Eye certainly does give you plenty of Alfie, it's true. Although not as much as that other photo.
Oldtime telly is surprisingly likely to have people strip off. They are distressingly uncaring about which actors they put in tights or togas, except for Shadow of the Tower which was about 2/3s directed by women and they were much more thoughtful about who got to wear tights and shirts in the Tower. I, Claudius among other Roman things where you stab people because you love them just casually put people in togas and Roman baths without ever considering what sort of distress they may be causing the audience.
XD
Although there are worse things to happen in oldtime BBC land. I started my voyages by following David Collings about and he managed to have a graphic sex scene on the radio. There was not enough brain bleach in the world. (James Maxwell would never! I dunno about Alfie, but I've never heard him in a radio play. It's probably only David Collings that would.)
no subject
Date: 2020-10-21 02:55 pm (UTC)Ahaha, I must confess that when I was shown that particular photoset, I made an actual high pitched noise in real life. In fairness to him, the Mercer nudity was probably more plot-appropriate than most of the things he did in Bikini Girl?
The first photo, though, amirite? Those cheekbones, that faaaace.
Public Eye certainly does give you plenty of Alfie, it's true. Although not as much as that other photo.
The Golden Boy lolling about pajama-lessly was really quite unexpected!
I do realise this about oldtime telly, heh. I remember I, Claudius! I would not subject you to Blott (seriously, it's quite terrible, I'm astounded the Queen Mum watched), but it is filled with bare bottoms in what strikes me as rather a characteristically trashy 80s manner.
lol about David Collings' graphic radio sex! I'll have to watch out for that one. I was in fact listening to Alfie on the radio the other day, in John le Carre's Call for the Dead. Don't worry, he doesn't have graphic sex. Nor does he turn evil or die, actually, so you might enjoy - - I did; he has such a distinctive voice, and is such a good actor that he made the action so immediate.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-21 04:50 pm (UTC)The stuff he did in Bikini Girl was very plot appropriate! It was just that the plot was bananas. XD
And the first one is a marvellous shot of him. I like it on so many levels.
The Golden Boy lolling about pajama-lessly was really quite unexpected!
I think by that point, I was failing to be surprised by anything when it came to old telly. XD
I would not subject you to Blott (seriously, it's quite terrible, I'm astounded the Queen Mum watched), but it is filled with bare bottoms in what strikes me as rather a characteristically trashy 80s manner.
Ah, the 1980s! Even James Maxwell decided to become a honey-making, squash-playing abbot and randomly strip off. Come to think of it, that was the same decade Mr Collings committed a radio sex scene NARRATED OVER BY HIS RL WIFE. *sobs* (I forget what it was called now, but it was a BBC radio series set in India and also had Saeed Jaffrey in & I do have the whole thing somewhere if you do ever get curious enough to want to listen.)
Oh, I hadn't really been able to find any Alfie radio (or any JM, to my sadness, although I know he did quite a few). I'll have to see whether it can be downloaded somewhere. I do like a radio play to listen to every once in a while.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-22 07:52 am (UTC)Lol, I suppose the notion of Alfie having starred in something as bananas as Bikini Girl conflated itself with the overall bananas-ness of Alfie stripping off quite as comprehensively as he did for this Mamet play!
Even James Maxwell decided to become a honey-making, squash-playing abbot and randomly strip off. Come to think of it, that was the same decade Mr Collings committed a radio sex scene NARRATED OVER BY HIS RL WIFE.
...all right, you might have piqued my interest. It can't have been worse than Blott, at any rate.
And, I will admit to being so weak for Alfie that I listened to all five parts of that radio play on Youtube. It was, as aforenoted, so great.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-22 09:03 am (UTC)...all right, you might have piqued my interest. It can't have been worse than Blott, at any rate.
The honey-making friary riven by spies, murder, gambling and gay love affairs with a strong, squash-playing abbot or the radio drama with david collings doing things people should never ever do on the radio? XD
no subject
Date: 2020-10-22 10:10 am (UTC)The honey-making friary riven by spies, murder, gambling and gay love affairs with a strong, squash-playing abbot or the radio drama with david collings doing things people should never ever do on the radio?
Oh my goodness! How could one ever answer such a tantalising question save with a resounding, Both, of course?
no subject
Date: 2020-10-23 08:48 am (UTC)Oh my goodness! How could one ever answer such a tantalising question save with a resounding, Both, of course?
David Collings was in The Deceivers, an adapatation of this novel.
James Maxwell was in the first Bognor serial (it had little serials like DW and S&S), which was a 1980s comedy murder adaptation of some books starring David Horovitch. It was all right actually, but it had such dreadful 1980s music I couldn't get all the way through the DVD. Anyway, the first one had James Maxwell being abbot of a convent full of spies, gay monks, and swindlers, murderers. Between that and who got killed, I'm not sure who was left to make the honey in the end, but it had Patrick Troughton as well. James Maxwell played squash and was supposed to be therefore super-strong and naturally, old telly not being big on logic in some ways, had to strip off to prove it.
Bognor seems to be up on YT in full, but The Deceivers does not, although, as I said, I have it somewhere on a memory stick and could put it on sendspace for you if you fancied a listen.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 08:22 am (UTC)Thank you for offering to sendspace the graphic Deceivers sex! I would love to listen, but please don't put yourself out at all, it's a busy time for everyone, what with Yuletide just around the corner.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 09:27 am (UTC)Thank you for offering to sendspace the graphic Deceivers sex! I would love to listen, but please don't put yourself out at all, it's a busy time for everyone, what with Yuletide just around the corner.
That's all right, it's easy enough to do - I'll see about it over the next few days, all being well. XD
no subject
Date: 2020-10-31 09:48 am (UTC)The link should be good for a couple of weeks (I forget exactly how long it lasts on Sendspace). People who've downloaded files say that sometimes it plays up but if that occurs you just need to be firm and try again and it will do it.
(I can also rec other things for JM in which he doesn't strip off but which are good fun, like the Dangerman ep which is the JM h/c edition or the other one where he does undercover dusting. (In one he is Drake's friend called Peter and in the other he is Drake's apparently different friend called Pieter. Drake apparantely has JM clones planted around the world; some of them faint a lot and some of them are handy with an apron and duster. XD Or the Thriller ep where he and Julian Glover move in together and kill girls for reasons. *waves hand*)
How is the Public Eye friend-watch going? Has it taken yet?
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Date: 2020-11-04 10:58 am (UTC)I am mostly here for JM stripping off (and failing to depose Hitler), but if you had any other trashy 80s recommendations I would be game for them!
How is the Public Eye friend-watch going? Has it taken yet?
I thiiiiink it has? Enough for her to offer it for Yuletide, anyway, as a gift to me. And also to randomly suggest Frank/Percy bodyswap fic, which is hilarious - - I mean, Frank would hate it so much, and Percy would try to matchmake Frank's body with Helen, and I would adore ;)
no subject
Date: 2020-11-04 06:04 pm (UTC)It would be priceless! Although tbh Percy does not need bodyswapping to try and matchmake between them! (Percy ships it on sight. XD)
Apologies for the late reply, but I did manage to snag the Deceivers, and am now very much embroiled in episode one. I'm not sure when Captain Savage gets up to unmentionables with his beautiful young wife,
I thought I'd made it clear that the scene is so much more distubring than that! His rl wife does the narrating over the bit, but the sex scene is not with his fictional wife (and she is doing her other occasional character in the v/o). So. I warned you. You can't blame me if you went and listened to it anyway even if I enabled you by uploading it. ;-p
It was pretty good otherwise, though, and I liked Saeed Jaffrey (who, amusingly, played the same role in the screen adaptation shortly after).
I am mostly here for JM stripping off (and failing to depose Hitler), but if you had any other trashy 80s recommendations I would be game for them!
I can't do 80s recs because he was too busy with the Royal Exchange theatre to be in the 1980s much, but while it may be the 1970s, let me explain to you just how gloriously trashy and cheesy Thriller is. You need to know, because sooner or later if you get into old telly, you will end up here because nearly everybody ever was in it at least once.
You know all the 1960s ITC serials they made with transAtlantic cash and so they had to cast an American as one of the leads whenever they could? (Or passing Canadians, it's all the same, right?) Well, they were still going into the 1970s and decided to make a film serial horror anthology by Brian Clemens. And they still wanted it to have Americans. The resulting crack of American students and tourists and businessmen getting menaced by British character actors every other episode is a true joy. You should never try to watch all of it at once unless you are a horror fan. (I'm not, I failed to get to the end because while there are joyfully cheesy, cracky and fun supernatural ones, there are also way too many skeevy 70s sex skillers. Spare me any more skeevy 1970s sex killers!!) But this is an AU of 1970s Britain where Americans are menaced in every possible way except when occasionally they do the menacing! Satan dressed as Mary Poppins (aka Diana Dors) literally stalks the land in person and it's no wonder things have got out of hand because Patrick Troughton was too drunk to fight her any more. (I'm not even joking.) Sometimes cloned versions of the Americans come over to be menaced three times! (Like, surely once was enough, blonde girl??)
Anyway, in JM and Julian Glover's episode, they are spies who have come up with the genius plan to kill girls, bury them in the back garden, and replace them with their doubles in order to infiltrate places. What could possibly go wrong with this sure-fire way to remain under the radar?? Putting exactly the same ad in the paper every other month? Menacing a plucky American? Who would have thought...? The only mystery is why on earth Keith Barron is so mean, but I imagine he's just jealous of his American's true love, Babs, who is lovely, but not bright enough to realise that when your interviewer repeatedly asks things like "So you have NO RELATIVES WHATSOEVER? No one to miss you? Good!" you should NOT TAKE THE JOB.
Basically bring popcorn and admire the nice 70s woollies.
I should nom it for Yuletide for a worldbuilding request. I mean, I also want to know about the soap opera Saints & Sinners that seems to be about a lot of nuns and businessmen. (And does it still carry on after RObert Powell stalked Sister Mary and tried to mummify her instead of just starting a zine like any self-respecting fan?)
I mean, I would not rec the whole thing, but if anybody you like is in any episode, the whole thing is up at the mo here and ITC stuff is always getting taken down pretty quick, so I would nab it while you can. If it's someone you like, it'll be worth it, even if it is a skeevy sex killer. (This at least the third upload already)
"A Date With Doris" from dangerman is beautiful in so many ways, but I will not plague you with b&w even if it is also ITC. (Cursed be the ITC stuff! So shiny! So extant! So not the stuff I most want! I have an ITC allergy, but I do appreciate how pretty everyone I like is in the surviving eps, but don't make me watch any more UFO. XD)
no subject
Date: 2020-11-09 11:30 am (UTC)I thought I'd made it clear that the scene is so much more distubring than that! His rl wife does the narrating over the bit, but the sex scene is not with his fictional wife (and she is doing her other occasional character in the v/o).
Ah, thanks to elections I haven't made much headway into Episode 2, which probably means I haven't encountered Savage/Goddess graphic sex. I shall consider myself duly warned...
But this is an AU of 1970s Britain where Americans are menaced in every possible way except when occasionally they do the menacing
Actually, I also took a break from the Deceivers to watch Satan dressed as Mary Poppins (aka Diana Dors) literally stalks the land in person until Patrick Troughton was too drunk to fight her. It was actually pretty good! And I might need to add killing girls and replacing them with their doubles in order to infiltrate places to my list of JM-related interests. He might just as well have set up the spy equivalent of Bikini Girl...
no subject
Date: 2020-11-09 09:07 pm (UTC)OTOH he must know by now that Frank would never forgive him!! :lol:
I haven't made much headway into Episode 2, which probably means I haven't encountered Savage/Goddess graphic sex. I shall consider myself duly warned...
It's not even with the goddess. I'm sorry, you'll just have to be disturbed like the rest of us when it happens. ;-p
I also took a break from the Deceivers to watch Satan dressed as Mary Poppins (aka Diana Dors) literally stalks the land in person until Patrick Troughton was too drunk to fight her. It was actually pretty good!
It is, isn't it? Good hoky fun, with a great cast. It would be my favourite if it weren't for JM's. The problem with Thriller is if you are not really into horror and try to watch the whole thing in order (aka: Me), because that is not actually a sane plan. I think I watched 46 and have still not finished the set, because of having enough of skeevy 1970s sex killers.
nd I might need to add killing girls and replacing them with their doubles in order to infiltrate places to my list of JM-related interests. He might just as well have set up the spy equivalent of Bikini Girl...
Advertising! The No. 1 way to abduct and murder girls, whether you are alien or human! But it is much more fun with the 1970s episode. Poor Babs, though. Too dim to live but so much better than Keith Barron. I tell her not to go every time, but every time she still does. I suppose at least she got Julian Glover to dig her grave in a nice sweater, but that is precious little compensation really.
If you find anyone you like is in one, as I said, I'd go watch it, because they won't be up for too long. They get taken down on a regular basis when someone uploads them.
There were a few good ones - I liked pretty much all the supernatural ones, the one where Helen Mirren & Michael Jayston tried to outmurder each other, the one with the Saints & Sinners soap opera and stalker fan and "The Eyes Have It" mostly, I think.
Just don't watch the one that's set in the library with Maureen Lipman because it has the most wonderful cast and the skeeviest story of them all and the combination is far more unholy than Satan stalking the land.
Also I wrote that one blonde American turned up 3 times and that was a lie; she turned up four times!!
XD