War time remembered

TO commemorate the 70th anniverary of The Battle of Britain, ITV treated us to a drama set in the period last Sunday night. Starring Kevin Whately, most fondly remembered as the long suffering Lewis in Morse and the spin-off of his own name and Robson Greene, who has starred in many television productions but is probably found in everyone’s house leaning against a sports car with his good friend Jerome of Robson and Jerome. (What a lark we had dancing to that one particular Christmas in the McGrath household).
But enough of memory lane although, to be honest, this is exactly what Joe Maddison’s War was, a rather nostalgic saunter down memory lane but not a bad one at all.
The drama, a one-off feature length adaptation for ITV, began with the outbreak of World War II. Joe watches his son and son-in-law enlist but is too old himself. A ship-builder by trade, he is part of a protected profession and none of the lads from the yard can sign up either. They must stay and help the war effort at home. Having seen a considerable amount of action in the Great War, Joe (Whately) and Harry (Greene) find themselves feeling utterly useless. This feeling is further compounded when Maddison’s wife leaves him for a sailor. On his own for the first time in over 20 years, Maddison, the cynical Harry and Marxist buddy Eddie join the Home Guard and patrol the South Shields area looking for parachuters and enemie boats.
However, Harry is not one to take direction well and he soon finds himself clashing with Major Simpson. Harry calls Simpson’s war service into question as Simpson had worked in a hospital during the last war and soon begins to rub him up the wrong way. The clash of personalities comes to a head when Harry leads the troop in a sing-song of inappropriate versions of World War I songs. Harry soon leads some of the troop out on a strike against the Major and they find themselves expelled. However, after dealing with an unexploded bomb, the boys find themselves reinstated and although they still wind up poor Simpson, they band together under the war effort.
The Home Guard were reportedly very disorganised in the beginning of the war but became a key force in keeping Britain afloat as the war raged on the continent. In many cases, they were responsible for passing on intelligence and keeping an eye on the many women and children who had been left on home soil as their husbands and sons fought overseas.
This drama was less about the Home Guard and more about one man’s experiences in the war. The war brought change. It closed the class divide for many and gave women a purpose outside the home. Of course, when the men returned, many of the women were expected to return to the kitchen as though nothing had happened but the war changed Britain. It changed attitudes and outlooks and for Joe Maddison, it changed his life forever, including a new love in the guise of Selina, a widow of the first war. The role of the church is also exmanined in this multi-layered drama, as is the effect the war had on those that came back. Joe’s son-in-law is shaken on his return and his own son is affected having flown over 50 missions.
The relationship between Whately and Greene is a very natural one and it is easy to belive them as friends. They are contrasting characters united by a lifetime together and a bond that runs very deep. Male friendships are a very interesting subject matter for drama and they are explored with sensitivity in this production. Screenwriter Alan Plater has done immense work in the area over the years and this is a good testament to the wonderful dramas he has written.
Beautifully shot and interspersed with real black and white footage from the day, the drama moves smoothly through the war years. It is slow but not cumbersome and offers an interesting and insightful look into the everyday life of Britons during World War II and the workings of the home war effort.
Another drama set in Britain before World War II is Any Human Heart. Starring some big names, Any Human Heart tracks the life of a great novelist from his final year in Oxford to the last days of his life. The opening sequence hears Jim Broadbent’s narration about a recurring dream. The much older looking Broadbent says little else for the remaining 70-plus minutes but he acts as a timeline between all the events, rummaging through old papers and assembling pictures of past loves.
The opening sequence sees a very young Logan Mountstuart obsessed with losing his virginity in his final year. He has two very good friends and from this point, we meet them sporadically throughout the years. Having achieved his goal at his friend’s expense, he begins another affair with a politically-obsessed girl, Land. She serves as inspiration and following his father’s death, he turns his back on the meat business his father had made him promise to go in to and instead sets about writing a rather shocking novel. The book proves successful but despite this, he is shunned by Land. Heartbroken, he rushes into a marriage with an Earl’s daughter in Norfolk. Money-hungry and devoid of novel ideas, Logan takes to the road as a journlalist. Escaping his unhappy homelife in Spain, he meets and falls in love with Freya. On the brink of war, he leaves to cover the Spanish aspect of the war for the American publications and learns that his mistress is expecting his child, while his wife cries at home waiting for his return.
This is a much heavier piece of viewing that Joe Maddison’s War and in many ways, it is less enjoyable. It is very hard to like Logan Mountstuart but I think this may be the point. He is a calamity in many ways and bungles his way through life with very little information or indeed interest in what is going on. He loves the good life and is willing to do almost anything for it.
While I enjoyed the drama, I feel the next episode is where the action is going to occur. It is wonderfully acted and shot but I think the name dropping and seemingly pointless encounters with literary folk of the time, Hemmingway and Fleming included, are pointless. They almost bring the story down. The only encounter that seems to serve a purpose beyond showing his social circle is his encounter with Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, who of course would abdicate before the war really began.
An interesting drama , check it out on Channel 4 on Sunday at 9pm.