:00:18. > :00:28.On the review show tonight. He's got the hair and the axe, but
:00:28. > :00:28.
:00:28. > :00:31.can Tom Cruise cut it as a guitar legend in Rock of Ages.
:00:31. > :00:37.There is Invisible Art at the Hayward Gallery, is there more to
:00:37. > :00:46.it than meets the eye. A starry cast finds true love in an
:00:46. > :00:51.improvised drama on BBC One. And Frances Osborne goes upstairs
:00:51. > :00:56.Downton Abbey in her new novel, Park Lane. We will have live music
:00:56. > :01:00.from Amy McDonald. My guests tonight are Sarah
:01:00. > :01:08.Crompton arts editor of the Telegraph, the broadcaster, Mark
:01:08. > :01:13.Forrest, and writer and comedian, David Schneider. We begin with a
:01:13. > :01:19.jukebox musical, Rock of Ages like Mahmood and We Will Rock You, has a
:01:20. > :01:24.plot wrapped around existing songs, from bands such as Def Leppard,
:01:24. > :01:31.Foreigner and Journey. It opened in the West End last year, and a movie
:01:31. > :01:36.version was almost inevitable. Ladies and gentlemen, the icon of
:01:36. > :01:43.rock. He may not get top billing, but Tom Cruise steals the show,
:01:43. > :01:53.playing Stacey Jacks, the front man of hair rockers Arsenal, he owes
:01:53. > :01:56.
:01:56. > :02:01.more than a little to Axl Rose of guns and Roses. Hey man? No, this
:02:01. > :02:09.is Hayman! The plot revolves around sherry, played by Julian Huffa
:02:09. > :02:16.small town girl from Oklahoma, who jump ones a bus to LA, and gets off
:02:17. > :02:23.at SunSet Strip. What about Drew? Very expensive. Not drool, Drew.
:02:23. > :02:27.She gets a job as a waitress at the Bush Bonn Rooms a club on a
:02:27. > :02:35.downward slide, run by rock dinosaur, Dennis, Alec Baldwin, and
:02:35. > :02:43.his side kick, Lonny, yes, it is Russell Brand. OK, call your band.
:02:43. > :02:49.Guys, we're opening up for Arsenal. Owen Jones, in her first movie
:02:49. > :02:54.musical since Chicago, leads an overzealous family values club that
:02:54. > :03:01.wants to close down the club. But it seems she knows more about the
:03:01. > :03:05.rock scene that she's railing on than she's letting on. # You're a
:03:05. > :03:08.real tough cookie # With a long histor
:03:08. > :03:13.# Of breaking little hearts # That's OK
:03:13. > :03:19.# Let's see how you do it # Put up your Dukes
:03:19. > :03:23.# Let's get down to it # Hit me with your best shot
:03:23. > :03:28.# Why don't you hit me with your best shot
:03:28. > :03:37.Reviveing the styles and sounds of the 80s, Rock of Ages tries to
:03:37. > :03:47.recreate the magic of stadium rock on film. Are plot and character
:03:47. > :03:47.
:03:47. > :03:52.neglect glegted in favour of a pumping soundtrack.
:03:52. > :03:56.Are you playing air guitar here, not?! Rock of Ages, did it rock
:03:57. > :04:03.you? It rocked. For me, it totally rocked, and listen, I know that the
:04:03. > :04:08.plot is not exactly the Usual Suspects, the characterisation
:04:08. > :04:13.would, it was far worse than in a Scooby Doo episode. I mean, there
:04:13. > :04:19.is so many things wrong with it. But, it worked for me. I think
:04:19. > :04:24.maybe it was the music, that I would be going, God those leads are
:04:24. > :04:28.so shallow, it is ridiculous, and then it is I Love Rock and Roll,
:04:29. > :04:35.there was a sense where I was aware that my critical faculties were
:04:35. > :04:43.being removed. But I loved the music, even though I hated it in
:04:43. > :04:46.the 80s. I loved the remember formances, I -
:04:46. > :04:51.- performances, and Tom Cruise was great. I can't believe he was
:04:51. > :04:55.saying, I thought it was purgatorial. I didn't hate the
:04:55. > :05:02.music. But I thought, the trouble was, the music had all the energy
:05:02. > :05:05.sucked out of it, by these incredibly self-conscious,
:05:05. > :05:09.unattractive performance, in an incredibly unattractive film. I
:05:09. > :05:14.have never felt rarely in the presence of so much horror. And Tom
:05:14. > :05:19.Cruise, I mean, uh. Really, the torso didn't do it for
:05:19. > :05:23.you. That torso didn't do it for you? Did it do it for you?
:05:24. > :05:33.Cruise wasn't bad in this at all. If you got bored of him doing
:05:33. > :05:40.Mission Impossible, and wanted him to go a Mgnoliaa -- Magnolia way.
:05:40. > :05:45.The problem is, if you don't gel with the music you won't like it at
:05:45. > :05:51.all. Before the classical music I had to play this stuff in the 80s,
:05:51. > :05:54.I tell you, nobody ever texted in for the classical stuff. That is
:05:54. > :05:58.your first problem. I don't think there is the resonance that people
:05:58. > :06:02.will have with the music. We have had three seasons of Glee, doing
:06:02. > :06:06.this sort of thing. If you think this film we watched was a long two
:06:06. > :06:10.hours, leading up to the big number, the show help stopper, which was
:06:10. > :06:16.Journey, Don't Stop Believing, think where Glee started, where has
:06:16. > :06:23.it gone since then. It is designed to appeal to a Glee audience?
:06:24. > :06:29.think what is clever about it is it is appealling to the Gleeks, the
:06:29. > :06:38.Glee audience, and their parents. And people like myself, if I may
:06:38. > :06:42.use the term Proustiay reaction to seeing Tower Records and people
:06:42. > :06:47.dating and going having photos in photo booths. For people of my age,
:06:47. > :06:53.or just me, that sort of again disarmed me. It is just that is the
:06:53. > :06:57.setting in the 80s. I appeal to my fellow panellists, didn't you think
:06:57. > :07:03.there was some amazing comedy performances there. I thought Alec
:07:03. > :07:06.Baldwin saved it for me. Every time he came on I felt slightly better.
:07:06. > :07:11.Wonderful duet between Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. That was a
:07:11. > :07:18.moment. Nearly saved the film for me. A Birmingham Fagan-type
:07:18. > :07:25.character. It was a Dick Van Dyke. Anything that saved his performance
:07:25. > :07:35.was the duet that made everybody life. Paul Giametti is always great,
:07:35. > :07:36.
:07:36. > :07:41.he is sleazey and reptilian in that. Back to Cruise, I liked him in
:07:41. > :07:46.Magnolia, something was very odd in this performance, I don't know if
:07:46. > :07:51.it is par dee, I think he teeters over to him feeling he is having a
:07:51. > :07:55.good time. Judge for yourself, odd or not. You know some people have
:07:55. > :08:00.said you have become quite difficult to work with, that you
:08:00. > :08:10.are constantly late, you reclusive, sometimes nonsensical? I will ask
:08:10. > :08:11.
:08:11. > :08:19.you this, have these people even met themselves? Well, I'm talking
:08:20. > :08:28.about your band. Let me tell you something, I know me better than
:08:28. > :08:33.anyone. Because I live in here. Chris, he's loving that, isn't he?
:08:33. > :08:39.If you carry on watching it, they then go into Foreigner, and I Want
:08:39. > :08:47.To Know What Love Is, in a way you have never seen it or will again.
:08:48. > :08:53.He like Russell Crowe Kianu Reeves, they want to be rock stars, and
:08:53. > :08:57.this is him having a go at it. People in the cinema where I saw it
:08:57. > :09:01.were groaning, it is curdling into something that is not there. I went
:09:01. > :09:07.to press reviewing with an audience and there was only me laughing. It
:09:07. > :09:12.is out of context that piece. But I thought he really pushed it. I
:09:12. > :09:17.thought it was as good as his Tropic Thunder performance. I loved
:09:17. > :09:23.him in that. Obviously he was playing an alcoholic who couldn't
:09:23. > :09:28.get out of bed, and yet looked like he spent every single minute in the
:09:28. > :09:33.gym. He never, he doesn't run in this, like he does in all the other
:09:33. > :09:38.films. There is always the torso. There is something problematic
:09:38. > :09:43.about jukebox musicals themselves, some succeed, Mama Mia has. Not
:09:43. > :09:53.many others have? The songs have to be almost irresistable, which was
:09:53. > :09:56.
:09:56. > :10:02.the thing about Mama Mia had, and others, I liked the Tower Record
:10:02. > :10:07.scene, it is all set in grungy clubs and everybody is unattractive.
:10:07. > :10:11.It is grunge year, but not dangerous, not really rock 'n' roll.
:10:11. > :10:17.It is very sanatised? I don't think Def Leppard or Bonn Jovi were
:10:17. > :10:22.dangerous, or Quarter Flash, skap harden My Heart was never a
:10:22. > :10:30.dangerous song. In the same way as you see in a 70s film there is a
:10:30. > :10:38.space hopper, you get the brick mobile phone and the flick, and the
:10:38. > :10:43.Bonnie Tyler firm. Paul Giametti deserves a prize for his widow's
:10:43. > :10:47.peak hairstyle. He deserves an award, he crosses the stage, it was
:10:47. > :10:54.cringey, comedy bones. Brilliant. His pony tail was very good. But
:10:54. > :10:58.for 80s music fans, definite hit, Rock of Ages is out now. When the
:10:58. > :11:01.Hayward Gallery announced the latest exhibition would feature
:11:01. > :11:07.Invisible Art, some people wondered if it was a joke at the public's
:11:07. > :11:13.expense, with one threatening to pay his entrance fee with invisible
:11:13. > :11:19.money. The idea of Invisible Art dates back decades, there is plenty
:11:19. > :11:27.to look at and experience with your other senses as the show as curator
:11:27. > :11:32.explains. It is an exhibition with works by over 60 artists over 50
:11:32. > :11:37.years. It is with the invisible unseen, not everything in the show
:11:37. > :11:40.is invisible. There are things to look at. There are things to read.
:11:40. > :11:46.That is especially important in a show like this. All this work,
:11:46. > :11:50.though, really, artists like to break up our routines and our
:11:50. > :11:54.habits, our conventional ways of behaving. This show addresses the
:11:54. > :12:00.complacency of scene. This is a work by Tom Friedman, who
:12:00. > :12:09.went to a professional witch, and asked her to curse the spear kal
:12:09. > :12:13.space that rests 11-inches over this plinth. He was interested in
:12:13. > :12:17.the idea that if you give an object a history, people will look at it
:12:17. > :12:25.in a completely different way. Not every blank piece of paper in an
:12:25. > :12:30.Invisible Art show is the same. This is a piece of an unseen green
:12:30. > :12:39.colour and mental energy. There was an image there, but it has
:12:39. > :12:48.evaporated. The only person who saw the image was the artist himself.
:12:48. > :12:57.This is a work by Terry Bywater, it is nothing other than a dark --
:12:57. > :13:03.This is nothing other than a dark room. All the things we do in dark
:13:03. > :13:07.space, all the emotions we protect and thoughts we have come out. In
:13:07. > :13:09.our culture we are told what you see is what you get, these artists
:13:09. > :13:14.approach things in a different way. When you read the description of
:13:14. > :13:18.this piece on the wall, the title Invisible Vehicle, I, at least,
:13:19. > :13:22.start to imagine that there is something in this space that has
:13:22. > :13:27.weight, density, the artist didn't give us the keys, we haven't been
:13:27. > :13:35.able to take it for a drive around the gallery yet. I do feel this
:13:35. > :13:41.space is not empty. This in visible Labyrinth works by
:13:41. > :13:45.putting on a pair of headphones that vibrate every time you hit an
:13:45. > :13:49.invisible wall. Despite being a wonderfully involving experience,
:13:49. > :13:55.it is a great metaphor for the creative process, and having to
:13:55. > :13:59.feel your way without been able to see through the process. Admittedly
:13:59. > :14:02.some of this work is deliberately provocative, sometimes mischievous,
:14:02. > :14:09.I think that it is also taking on a very important task of trying to
:14:09. > :14:17.get us to have a broader approach to works of art, and to what they
:14:17. > :14:20.mean and how they make us think. Sar ra, you hear about an
:14:20. > :14:25.exhibition like -- Sarah, you hear about an exhibition like this, it
:14:25. > :14:29.could be a sense of Emperor's new clothes? It is hard to talk about,
:14:29. > :14:35.without sounding like you have come out of the corner exhibition. When
:14:35. > :14:39.you walk in, it does seem like an team gallery, it made me smile, it
:14:39. > :14:44.was wonderful that sense it was invisible. It was cleverly mounted
:14:45. > :14:48.and everything is transLuisent and pale. It works in it are
:14:48. > :14:58.provocative, interesting and thought provoking. I particularly
:14:58. > :14:59.
:14:59. > :15:05.liked the ones where there is a suggestion that where the absence
:15:05. > :15:08.of something makes you think there is something present. With the one
:15:08. > :15:11.we saw there, something was there, and you think about his brain power
:15:11. > :15:16.and you have to imagine what was once there. Imagination is a real
:15:16. > :15:21.thing. In the same way with the Robert Barry doing the force fields,
:15:21. > :15:26.a force field is a real thing, you can't see it. It seems to be you
:15:26. > :15:30.look into all those invisible, visible, what is and what is not,
:15:30. > :15:36.what is role and unreal. I found it really thought provoking. Quite
:15:36. > :15:42.often, having a sense of the absurd about it, you mentioned smiling,
:15:42. > :15:46.being in a room with two air conditioners, somebody there seemed
:15:46. > :15:50.to take it very seriously and I ended up laughing. In that room
:15:50. > :15:54.there is a white room with two air conditioning unit, you are
:15:54. > :15:59.desperately looking for the art. I think the other people become the
:15:59. > :16:03.art. I think that's interesting. What I found a bit difficult with
:16:03. > :16:06.the exhibition is it became a bit repetitive, it was always saying
:16:06. > :16:10.here is a different way, only slightly different way of
:16:10. > :16:14.questioning our relationship with art in a gallry I also found that
:16:14. > :16:20.there was times when I was laughing. I think with the Swiss guy, where
:16:20. > :16:24.one of his paintings was done with brain energy and garden snails, for
:16:24. > :16:28.example. I just wonder, are we meant to laugh at it? I don't know.
:16:28. > :16:32.There are darker points in the exhibition as well. We saw the room
:16:32. > :16:35.of black there. Which really provokes the idea of absence that
:16:35. > :16:40.Sarah was talking about. This is where the exhibition started. When
:16:40. > :16:46.you go into the room before, you are supported by all the wits of
:16:46. > :16:51.White Paper, beautifully mounted, only so many of those will you be
:16:51. > :16:55.inspired by. I went into the velvet curtain room, you stand there and
:16:55. > :16:58.you are very still. I would defy anybody, however cynical, to go in
:16:58. > :17:05.there and not find they are thinking about something, or
:17:05. > :17:09.hearing things. This is a work of art created by James Lee Byars,
:17:09. > :17:13.prefacing his own death, he is dead now? As I'm standing there,
:17:13. > :17:17.somebody walks in. Very nervous because they can't see something
:17:17. > :17:22.either. You are hit with the shall I stand here and they sense I'm
:17:22. > :17:28.here, and we make art together. Or do I the terribly British thing
:17:28. > :17:36.where I say I'm here, which I did. The more successful ones are expeer
:17:36. > :17:40.yeings, part of the problems is, -- expeer earnings, part of the
:17:40. > :17:43.problem is one artist asked for platform in the gallery, the only
:17:43. > :17:53.requirement was that no-one should be able to see him. He spent days
:17:53. > :17:58.
:17:59. > :18:04.in there, he saw no-one, no-one saw him. I read the plaque about how
:18:04. > :18:08.people had reacted, I loved that. If they had recreated that work
:18:08. > :18:11.would that have been a good idea? There is a similar one, some of the
:18:12. > :18:16.people walking around with you are an artwork. There is an artwork,
:18:16. > :18:23.the spectators are paid to be there. So you do look at them, and think,
:18:23. > :18:27.I wonder whether they are a speck Tate Ora not. My husband lift --
:18:27. > :18:31.spectator or not. My husband lifted an invisible statue off the plinth
:18:31. > :18:35.and everybody thought he was part of the artwork. Enyou go to a
:18:35. > :18:39.gallery on your own -- when you go to a gallery on your own and you
:18:39. > :18:43.read all the stuff, you don't talk to people. If they are actors we
:18:43. > :18:49.chat add lot. What it goes back to, it goes back
:18:49. > :18:56.to the notion that the audience brings to it, the audience is a
:18:56. > :19:00.completion of the artwork. Macel Du Champs said the audience has to
:19:00. > :19:04.bring something and then the artwork is complete. I thought that
:19:04. > :19:08.sense is really powerful, so that the room with the air conditioners,
:19:08. > :19:12.one of them the air has been put through supposedly the water that
:19:12. > :19:17.was used to wash dead bodies with in Mexico in the drug cartels, that
:19:17. > :19:21.in itself is a powerful idea. The fact is, it doesn't have to have
:19:21. > :19:26.happened, it is that you believe it has happened, that makes the work
:19:26. > :19:30.powerful. So, I found all the time, that you were stepping into
:19:30. > :19:35.something that you don't understand, and makes you pause and be
:19:35. > :19:41.philosophical about it. It sounds like your imagination was waxing
:19:41. > :19:45.and waning as you went through it reacting to wane things? I found I
:19:45. > :19:48.was really doctored in the experience of the whole gallery --
:19:48. > :19:53.interested in the experience of the whole gallry I clung to what it
:19:54. > :19:57.said on the walls because there was very little else. It was a
:19:57. > :20:00.successful exhibition because it made me question how I am with art
:20:01. > :20:05.what artists should be doing. I wondered whether each of these
:20:05. > :20:15.exhibits would be more powerful when they were juxtaposed with a
:20:15. > :20:16.
:20:16. > :20:20.presence. There was so much absence. I went into the place where there
:20:20. > :20:24.was no-one else there. I went into Tracey's room, there is nothing in
:20:24. > :20:29.there but the plinth that has been cursed and the invisible car. To be
:20:29. > :20:32.there complete owe on your own is a different -- completely on your own
:20:32. > :20:40.is a different things to be surrounded by throngs of people
:20:40. > :20:45.interacting and jumping on the car. Invisible can be seen at the
:20:45. > :20:51.Hayward Gallery until the 5th of August. Love, the subject of a new
:20:51. > :20:55.BBC One drama series may be just as hard to see, but its effects can be
:20:55. > :20:58.devastating. But it is a theme explored in five 30-minute stories,
:20:58. > :21:08.created, rather unusually for mainstream drama, Through
:21:08. > :21:11.
:21:11. > :21:15.improvisation. True Love features an impressive
:21:15. > :21:20.cast, Jane Horrocks, David Tennant, it is written and directed by
:21:20. > :21:25.Dominic Savage, all five dramas are set in his home town of Margate in
:21:25. > :21:29.Kent. The idea came from, I suppose, all the other films I have made,
:21:29. > :21:34.which at the heart of them they are about relationships, and how people
:21:34. > :21:39.do and do not relate to each other. It is playing with those ideas. Who
:21:39. > :21:42.do we really love. And making those kinds of decisions. Even the idea
:21:42. > :21:46.that even with established relationships, they can be
:21:46. > :21:54.something that comes in and upsets the balance of it. We believe we
:21:54. > :21:58.love one but something can upset or ruin it.
:21:59. > :22:03.In terms that the script o the outline is very detailed. The plot
:22:03. > :22:07.-- or the outline is very detailed. The plot is all there, and I give
:22:07. > :22:11.the actors enough to understand what's happening that particular
:22:11. > :22:16.point in the story. But not too much that it stops them bringing
:22:16. > :22:22.their own feelings into it. It is important for me that they inhabit
:22:22. > :22:28.the roles in way that is personal to them. Where have you been?
:22:28. > :22:37.have been living in Canada. this time? About 13 years, yeah.
:22:37. > :22:43.Got a little girl. Nice. What's her name? Elli, she's four.
:22:43. > :22:46.With the actors, the choosing them is key, I have to feel they could
:22:46. > :22:51.be emotionally engaged in this kind of thing. There is a relationship
:22:51. > :22:58.between me and them that I pick up on quite quickly there is a scene
:22:58. > :23:01.in episode 2, which is Ashley Waters and Jamie Winstone, it is
:23:01. > :23:05.about this passionate love at first sight thing that happens. I
:23:05. > :23:11.suddenly thought, I wanted them to have fun. In the script there
:23:11. > :23:16.wasn't that element there. I just thought we just do a dance scene.
:23:16. > :23:22.It was really spur of the moment. The actors blended in a really
:23:22. > :23:26.interesting way. The scene is full of emotion and passion and good,
:23:26. > :23:29.really, almost like forbidden fun. I think all you can be is very
:23:29. > :23:32.honest and sincere about what you are doing and what you want to do.
:23:32. > :23:37.If those feelings that you have got have come across in the way that
:23:37. > :23:41.they should, then there is nothing to fear.
:23:41. > :23:46.I want to begin by asking but improvisation, I think it is much
:23:46. > :23:50.more common in television comedy than it is in drama, especially
:23:50. > :23:54.mainstream drama, like BBC One? was very interesting, I have done
:23:54. > :23:58.improvisation in comedy, it was interesting to see this piece. I
:23:58. > :24:02.felt, I should say firstly I felt it worked, it was very moorish, I
:24:02. > :24:07.kept wanting to watch all of it. It went very quickly I think
:24:07. > :24:10.paradoxically it is incredibly visual, it is the visual element,
:24:10. > :24:14.the direction, there isn't that much dialogue, even though the
:24:15. > :24:18.improvisation is the big selling point. But the improvisation
:24:18. > :24:24.sometimes, it is incredibly exciting, especially in the episode
:24:24. > :24:27.with Piper, I thought that worked so well. But the danger with
:24:27. > :24:30.improvisation, is that we're not writers, as a writer as well, I was
:24:30. > :24:36.pleased sometimes to think, give me what you have done, and let me go
:24:36. > :24:46.and write it up and put some spisity in it, -- spesity in it,
:24:46. > :24:46.
:24:46. > :24:53.and back story and improvise more with that. I watched a little while
:24:53. > :24:59.ago, as I began watching it, it got a different performance about the
:24:59. > :25:04.actors, I thought perhaps they are improvising? It relies entirely on
:25:04. > :25:07.the actors. It is lucky he has an incredible cast of actors. They do
:25:07. > :25:11.really well with the improvisation. I didn't realise it was improvised.
:25:11. > :25:15.I watched it, thinking it is wonderful, spare dialogue, and
:25:15. > :25:20.there is a genuineness with about the way they are speaking. That is
:25:20. > :25:24.the great strength. I think some of the performances are devastatingly
:25:24. > :25:28.good. Did some of the actors rise to the challenge different to the
:25:28. > :25:33.others? I simply was drawn in with them, and ended up watching all
:25:33. > :25:37.five. I think the problem with the improvisation, and the very minimal
:25:37. > :25:41.dialogue, is sometimes we fall back, we do it ourselves, on very, very
:25:41. > :25:46.cliched forms of speech. There are a couple of these trying to say I
:25:46. > :25:51.love you kind of scenes, that is something like The Only Way is
:25:51. > :25:56.Margate. But the actors were so much better than those you see in
:25:56. > :26:01.TOWIE they could do it with a luck on their face. I thought the
:26:01. > :26:07.favourite was number 4, Jane Horrocks was great. David Tennant
:26:07. > :26:10.is the big star of number 1, his dilemma is he had to walk out on a
:26:10. > :26:14.marriage and that because someone he loved before came back. Horrocks
:26:14. > :26:18.is having a rocky time in her marriage, her daughter is going to
:26:18. > :26:22.university, she has a man come into her shop and show some interest in
:26:22. > :26:26.her, it makes her re-think her life. That is a decision you can
:26:26. > :26:33.improvise over 25 minutes and it works to perfection. The strength
:26:33. > :26:38.of the pieces, that Dominic Savage had mapped out the story, there was
:26:38. > :26:43.a safety net for the actors. A lot of the scenes are visuals, just the
:26:43. > :26:47.actors' faces. Because the stories were so interesting, sometimes when
:26:47. > :26:51.the improvised dialogue wasn't so interesting, like they missed you a
:26:51. > :26:54.lot, and I love you, that almost seemed like a positive thing.
:26:54. > :26:59.loved, that I loved the David Tennant one. I thought that David
:26:59. > :27:03.Tennant one was riveting, he seemed to be completely believable that he
:27:03. > :27:12.was trying to be a good man. I thought the silence he brought to t
:27:12. > :27:14.and the very little that was said, was extraordinary. Did anyone see a
:27:14. > :27:19.much bigger juxtaposition of the scene where everything is perfect,
:27:19. > :27:24.and one phone call from the office from the receptionist and this girl
:27:24. > :27:29.who you ran away from has suddenly come in. I wondered throughout all
:27:30. > :27:33.the drams, sometimes the editing towards the end of it became brutal,
:27:33. > :27:36.we had moodiness and stillness and suddenly the story had to be
:27:36. > :27:41.wrapped up? The Billie Piper one is a good one, and different to all
:27:41. > :27:45.the rest. At the beginning it is in the first scene, Piper is having an
:27:45. > :27:50.affair with married man, and she has to go on a jouorn year, one
:27:50. > :27:55.would think it was a big deal, -- journey, one would think it was a
:27:55. > :28:02.big deal, and it happens in moments. That is a big deal for the BBC. I
:28:02. > :28:05.like the fact they are really compressed emotion, and they are
:28:05. > :28:10.very stylised, certain scenes seem to occur, there is a driving scene
:28:10. > :28:17.in a lot of them. Margate itself becomes player. Looking more
:28:18. > :28:24.beautiful. And the sky above Margate. Turner's Sky. The use of
:28:24. > :28:29.music was extraordinary? I feel with all the one that is I saw, any
:28:29. > :28:33.way. Their strengths and their weaknesses, sometimes the music was
:28:33. > :28:40.fantastic and just right, and sometimes you thought, we have
:28:40. > :28:46.understood, you don't need to lay it on. First Time Ever I Saw Your
:28:46. > :28:51.Face, was crass, we don't need it. The dramas will be striped across a
:28:51. > :28:55.week, do we see themes emerges or do they work as whole, or a climax
:28:55. > :28:58.in the last one? Could you watch them in any order. There are
:28:58. > :29:03.certain characters who do reoccur, but you wouldn't actually need them
:29:03. > :29:10.to do so at all to enhance your understanding. I love these striped
:29:10. > :29:14.across one week dramas I love when they give you a sense of place. I
:29:14. > :29:18.loved Top Boy, they were based in Hackney. This one, telling me a lot
:29:18. > :29:23.about a place I didn't know terribly well. I think they work
:29:23. > :29:25.wonderfully. What about the overall theme, true love, what do you think
:29:25. > :29:30.it was saying about different relationships, there were
:29:30. > :29:34.concurrent themes in that? As I say, the thing I liked was the fact that
:29:34. > :29:39.they seemed to be quite real people doing real jobs, working in a
:29:39. > :29:42.carpet ware house, working in a boring office, trying to make their
:29:42. > :29:46.marriages work. That is not what you seen on television. People
:29:46. > :29:50.trying to make things work. thought the improvisation helped
:29:50. > :29:54.with the sense of the ordinary, and the look of Margate and everything.
:29:54. > :30:00.That was the strength of using improve adviceation there.
:30:00. > :30:05.I would certainly -- Improvisation there. I would certainly say watch
:30:05. > :30:11.all of them. From Upstairs, Downstairs to Downton Abbey and
:30:11. > :30:17.Titanic, there is no shortage, it seems of a the class divided world
:30:17. > :30:22.of Edwardian Britain. That is the theme of Park Lane, a
:30:23. > :30:27.novel by Frances Osborne, will it have the success of her best-
:30:27. > :30:35.selling non-fiction. Frances Osborne's previous books
:30:35. > :30:40.were based on the lives of two of her great-grand mothers, one was
:30:40. > :30:50.imprisoned and interned in a Japanese camp, and the other
:30:50. > :30:57.scandalised by society. The next one draws on her history,
:30:57. > :31:00.two young women with the upheaval of the world war. Beatrice is the
:31:00. > :31:06.unmarried daughter of a businessman, who becomes jaded by the social
:31:06. > :31:11.season. Below stairs, in the same Mayfair mansion, is Grace Campbell
:31:11. > :31:19.a maid from Carlyle, and whose accent prevents her from being a
:31:19. > :31:22.secretary. As Grace discovers dusting, Bea's involvement with the
:31:23. > :31:32.suffragettes movement introduces her to a thrilling and dangerous
:31:33. > :31:58.
:31:58. > :32:03.Bea is swept away by the war, to work as an ambulance driver in
:32:03. > :32:07.northern France, while Grace is left with a troubling secret.
:32:07. > :32:11.From society drawing rooms to the trenches of France, and back to a
:32:11. > :32:16.much-changed Mayfair, the narrative traces the evolution of women's
:32:16. > :32:19.emancipation, the fault line between feminism and feminity and
:32:19. > :32:23.the rise of the working-class movement. Frances Osborne knows
:32:23. > :32:27.politics from the inside. Her father was a minister, and her
:32:27. > :32:30.husband is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Frances Osborne. So does
:32:30. > :32:35.she bring authenticity to this historic year of immense social
:32:35. > :32:42.change, or is this simply another rose-tinted look at life above and
:32:42. > :32:45.below a grand staircase. Did you find this an engaging
:32:45. > :32:49.story? I must admit when you sent me the book and I saw the cover, I
:32:49. > :32:55.thought it is probably a book I would run a mile out of the
:32:55. > :32:59.bookshop rather than have to endure, with a debbuant in pearls looming
:32:59. > :33:03.over the girl with the maid's frock, you don't get to see her face. I
:33:03. > :33:07.picked it up this morning and I sat with it, and I read it all, quite
:33:07. > :33:11.enjoyed it. I surprised myself. I thought back 100 yearsk back into
:33:11. > :33:18.the narrative, we are in austerity, and we are all wishing we could be
:33:18. > :33:22.back where a few aristocratic land lors could make things better. I
:33:22. > :33:28.put it aside, -- landlords could make things better. I put it aside
:33:28. > :33:34.and enjoyed it, right to the end where there is a twist.
:33:34. > :33:39.historical accuracy with the move from non-foix fiction? She writes
:33:39. > :33:43.well as a non-fiction writer. The problem with this is she hadn't
:33:43. > :33:45.made the transition to becoming a novelist. There is an awful lot of
:33:45. > :33:50.fact that comes in, it is interesting, the Suffragette
:33:50. > :33:57.movement, the suffer from the Home Rule Bill brought into parliament.
:33:57. > :34:02.Women in the war wore carbolic belts. The facts crowd in. No sense
:34:02. > :34:07.of character there is -- there is no sense of character. I didn't
:34:07. > :34:11.know who anyone was. There was the leading MP, and Frances Osborne had
:34:12. > :34:16.no idea beyond a Mackintosh who he was. I wanted to know what someone
:34:16. > :34:21.looked like in the book. Hats off to anyone who writes a novel, which
:34:21. > :34:26.is like a terrible start, you know it is going to be bad. That is
:34:26. > :34:32.quite a low base! I think the story was good, that's all right. About
:34:32. > :34:37.five or six lines in there is a door handle described as "night-
:34:37. > :34:40.cold and turnip-long", you think either this is the new James Joyce
:34:40. > :34:44.or it is really going to be bad. It is not James Joyce.
:34:44. > :34:49.I mean, it is readable, it is readable. I got to the end. Isn't
:34:49. > :34:55.that what you want with this sort of book. I was frustrated, you
:34:55. > :34:59.wanted someone to describe things better. There was Emily Pankhurst
:34:59. > :35:03.into it, there was a moment she meets her and you know it is meant
:35:03. > :35:06.to be a big deal. The women, Emily Pankhurst and the other women are
:35:07. > :35:16.described as holding their heads high, the one that is had been
:35:17. > :35:19.
:35:19. > :35:23.force-fed, their heads even higher. It is like they were Mere cats. --
:35:23. > :35:28.mere cats. There was the horrendous description of the house in the
:35:28. > :35:36.beginning and the introduction of Grace who speaks in language that
:35:36. > :35:39.doesn't ring true. I managed to put aside. I put it up with fever and
:35:39. > :35:43.who doesn't want another Upstairs, Downstairs, and doesn't want
:35:43. > :35:48.another Downton Abbey, I surprised myself and enjoyed it to the end.
:35:49. > :35:52.Why do we go back to the Upstairs, Downstairs themes, why do we like
:35:52. > :35:56.this class-ridden world? I think the thing is, what I felt
:35:56. > :35:59.frustrating about it, it is a fascinating period. The fight for
:35:59. > :36:03.suffragettes, one of the great stories, the fact that women didn't
:36:03. > :36:07.agree on how to achieve the vote, is riveting. She has all that
:36:07. > :36:10.lurking in the background. You have the business of the rise of the
:36:10. > :36:13.Labour Party, and the rise of socialism, there is loads of very
:36:13. > :36:18.interesting things going on there. The frustration is that none of it
:36:18. > :36:23.springs to life, it is all just syphers. There are great book about
:36:23. > :36:28.that period where you actual low have a sense of what it is like in
:36:28. > :36:32.this firmment of social change. Why is it, what is it about this
:36:32. > :36:37.class world, this world of class that seems to be the zeitgeist in
:36:37. > :36:42.some way to us now? What we are told, the there is truth in it,
:36:42. > :36:45.because of this age of austerity, and this terrible thing, the euro
:36:45. > :36:50.is going to collapse and the whole banking system collapsing tomorrow,
:36:50. > :36:57.we are rushing back to no sir talgia. We love the class structure
:36:57. > :37:07.we all -- nostalgia, and we love the class structure because we all
:37:07. > :37:08.
:37:08. > :37:12.knew we were. The Jubilee is a version of the Downton Abbey.
:37:12. > :37:15.are turning this thing about the Queen into a need for a fuedal
:37:15. > :37:19.system, I don't think that is there. I don't think she is particularly
:37:19. > :37:21.interested, she is interested in the change happening, and the fact
:37:21. > :37:27.that the class structure is beginning to collapse, which I
:37:27. > :37:33.think is what makes that period so riveting, and accelerated by the
:37:33. > :37:36.war. What is interesting is that you have the sympathies, we
:37:36. > :37:40.shouldn't judge her as the Chancellor's wife, but her
:37:40. > :37:48.sympathies are with the Suffragettes who espoused violent
:37:48. > :37:53.means for a just cause. You wonder if the Osborne house is like a
:37:53. > :37:59.Bercow house claim clim We will draw to an end here. --!. We will
:37:59. > :38:03.draw to an end. Tomorrow June 16th is Bloomsday, the annual
:38:03. > :38:09.celebration of all things Joyceian, particularly of the novel, Ulysses,
:38:09. > :38:15.which is set on June 16th, 1904. This year in honour of the 90th an
:38:15. > :38:18.verse reef its publication. Radio 4 is interrupting the schedule with a
:38:18. > :38:24.seven-part dramatisation, set across the day. Starting in the
:38:24. > :38:29.morning and ending just before the midnight news. Mr Leopold Bloom
:38:29. > :38:33.eats with relish the inner organs of beasts and foul. Now in dreams,
:38:33. > :38:39.silently she comes to me. I was blue mouldy for the want that have
:38:39. > :38:43.pint. Yes, I said, yes, I will, yes.
:38:43. > :38:47.As Joyce's characters roam around Dublin, the narrative moves in and
:38:47. > :38:51.out of their minds, perhaps straight forward in a radio
:38:51. > :38:57.adaptation, but more of a challenge for a television director in the
:38:57. > :39:06.1960s. Could buy one of those silk petty coats for Molly, colour of
:39:06. > :39:11.her new Garters. Boylen again, not sea, no think. Ever since its
:39:11. > :39:15.publication, Ulysses has sparked extreme reactions, from outrage to
:39:15. > :39:21.adoration, even the most creative version causing consternation, as
:39:21. > :39:24.the BBC discovered in 1982. John Tidyman is the producer of the
:39:24. > :39:32.three-hour musical version of Ulysses, called Blooms of Dublin.
:39:32. > :39:37.Two weeks ago in Dublin he faced the indignation of the RTE singers,
:39:37. > :39:41.they refused to sing what they regarded as a pro-fain,
:39:41. > :39:49.pornographic and blasphemous song. # They deserved a condom
:39:49. > :39:53.# A pessery too of course The members of the Irish house
:39:53. > :39:58.wives association protest against the proposed broadcast...Joyce
:39:58. > :40:02.a bawdy writer. He was bawdy, and it was in a natural sort of way.
:40:02. > :40:12.This is, I don't know, it seems to be advocating unnatural practices,
:40:12. > :40:19.
:40:19. > :40:25.as you might say. Will this version enthral or enrage a radio audience
:40:25. > :40:31.throughout Bloomsday. My own favourite quote is "the
:40:31. > :40:35.sacred pint alone will unbind the tongue of deedless", it starts
:40:35. > :40:39.tomorrow morning at 9.10. More details on the website and
:40:39. > :40:43.everything on the programme. Keep tweeting and let us know your
:40:43. > :40:49.thoughts about tonight's discussions. My thanks go to David,
:40:49. > :40:55.Sarah and Mark, next week Kirsty will be back to look at Julie
:40:55. > :40:59.Walters return to the theatre. And the follow up to The Thick Of It.
:40:59. > :41:04.We end with music from the singer- songwriter, Amy McDonald, with
:41:04. > :41:14.music from A Beautiful Life, the album out this week, this is Slow
:41:14. > :41:23.
:41:23. > :41:31.# I never knew # You before
:41:31. > :41:37.# I'd been walking around # With my eyes on the floor
:41:37. > :41:44.# But now you're everywhere to me # You're every face that I see
:41:44. > :41:46.# Things ain't moving quick enough # For me
:41:46. > :41:49.# I guess I've been running around town
:41:49. > :41:58.# Leaving my tracks # Burning out rubber
:41:58. > :42:01.# Driving too fast # But I gotta slow right down
:42:01. > :42:05.# Back to the moment # The very start
:42:05. > :42:11.# From the very first day # You had my heart
:42:11. > :42:14.# But # Gotta slow right down
:42:14. > :42:24.# Slow it down # Down down down
:42:24. > :42:30.
:42:30. > :42:34.# Wishing wanting for something more
:42:34. > :42:42.# Always better than I had before # Who knew these dreams
:42:42. > :42:47.# Would come true # I run the red
:42:47. > :42:51.# Won't stop at night # I don't care for traffic lights
:42:52. > :42:56.# Things ain't moving quick enough # For me
:42:56. > :42:59.# I guess been running around town # Leaving my tracks
:42:59. > :43:06.# Burning out rubber # Driving too fast
:43:06. > :43:10.# But # Gotta slow right down
:43:10. > :43:13.# Back to the moment At the very start
:43:13. > :43:18.# From the very first # You had my heart
:43:18. > :43:23.# But I gotta # Slow right down
:43:23. > :43:27.# I guess I been running round town # Leaving my tracks
:43:27. > :43:35.# Burning out rubber # Driving too fast
:43:35. > :43:39.# But I gotta slow right down # Back to the moment
:43:39. > :43:41.# The very start # From the very first dayle # You