★★★★★ 0/5

Parade’s End

This BBC / HBO miniseries demands patience but the rewards are there for those who stick with it.

24
Leave a comment

2013-02-28_0008Let’s face it, the comparisons with that other UK period drama are hard to avoid.

Parade’s End has its servants housed in the basement, and it even looks like they have borrowed the same bells. Like that other show, the folk here are equally wealthy and dressed immaculately in the finest costumes.

But there’s plenty that differentiates this BBC / HBO miniseries from ITV’s drama series.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) plays Christopher Tietjens, a terribly blonde, Tory statistician who subscribes to traditional values, at least until a moment of passion with the unconventional Sylvia (Rebecca Hall) on a speeding passenger train.

Sylvia does nothing by the book, including a liaison with another bloke named Potty Perowne (Tom Mison) on the eve of her wedding to Tietjens. Just whom is the father of her expectant child isn’t readily clear, and you’ll need your wits about you in the opening scenes to keep up with the speedy set-up.

It isn’t long, at least in screen time, before she flees the marriage for a European dalliance with Potty bringing great embarrassment to Tietjens. Given her unlikeability, by this point I was feeling like she’d done him a favour, but that’s looking at it from the outside with contemporary values.

This leads the newly-single Tietjens to a spot of golf and a collision with a spirited suffragette, Valentine (Australian Adelaide Clemens). In the movie-length premiere Valentine is a very modern gal but with a true heart. We so want Tietjens to be with her and not his albatross of a wife, Sylvia.

Love triangles abound in this tale, based on the novels by Ford Madox Ford, against a backdrop of World War I breaking out across Europe and Edwardian England. Playwright Tom Stoppard has penned this screenplay into five parts with a droll tone. Under director Susanna White the whole thing is viewed through a kind of contemporary prism, with stylistic choices that create a kaleidoscope of time and space.

The visuals are, as we would expect of any BBC period drama, suitably splendid. The costumes, locations and attention to detail are spot on.

Dramatically this is less soapy and more austere than that other show. As such it moves slower with fewer plot moves and histrionics. Cumberbatch suppresses Tietjens inner-most feelings, rather than wearing his heart on his sleeve. He becomes torn between respectability and belated emotion while trying to maintain a sense of “parade.”

The performances are excellent, but the overall effect is sometimes laborious and I suspect will require patience and concentration when interrupted by commercial breaks.

That said, for those who persist with Parade’s End, the benefits will ultimately outweigh the shortcomings.

In the world of PVR and fast-forwarding, ’tis possible to have your other cake and eat this one too.

Parade’s End premieres 8:30pm Wednesday on Nine.

24 Responses

  1. Beautiful piece of tv. It isn’t Potty she has an a fling with the night before her wedding though. It is the married one she was with before – can’t remember his name – he is possible father of child. Might have been called Drake. Potty doesn’t come in till later.

  2. @ SlimSylv ….I watched the last episode on catchup …went straight to Nines site…and clicked on the show…not trouble….just tried it again now….not problems….it is there for another 12 days…..
    Oh…I did not have to log in or anything…..I did link from the Freeview TV Guide…

  3. Well, I stayed the course & wasn’t disappointed….except that I missed the last ep….it was on so late, I managed to catch the last 15 minutes, without knowing what was going on with his wife….so, off I trot to Ch Nine to watch ‘catchup TV’ I find it, but it won’t play, yes I was logged in, why can’t I watch it? Anyone got any ideas? I give it 4.5 out of 5….loved it….love all BBC Drama anyway, but didn’t watch Sherlock with Cumberbatch….
    I agree, leave the BBC to the ABC, where it’s programmes can be treated with the respect they deserve…

  5. P.S. To better explain the diamond or maybe a large diamond necklace analogy better. I think it is absolutely brilliant and luxurious. Including the flaws of the characters. But it’s not for everyone.

  6. I’ve seen all the episodes. I could do a very longish review but I’ll refrain. If you are after a brilliantly written (especially the dialogue ) , wonderfully acted, with a superb look, adaption of a classic piece of literature. Then this might be for you. But be warned the writer (i.e. novelist ) was of the time. So it is no Downton Abbey. I view Downton as a modern invention that is like a wonderful paste jewelry. To most people it might not matter nor might they be able to tell. And I’ll admit I enjoy it a lot. But Parade’s End is of its time. It has anachronistic elements i.e. like nobody smoking nor London smogs. But that’s fine with me. I wait for this kind of thing every 10 or so years. I view it as a diamond. But like most diamonds it has flaws. Which are the characters. Do not expect paragons. If you do then it won’t work for you. Thank you to anyone responsible for this including in Australia Nine. It was a wonderful experience.

  7. I watched a piece on Youtube called…The World of Parade’s End …..decided to go to ch.9 catchup TV and watch where I had left off…still an awful lot of ads and not real good quality…guess I will just wait for the DVD….
    I cannot be accused of not trying.

  9. parades end was a right load of cobblers the lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch is a total tosser as the english would say it says alot when foxtel and the abc rejected it is no downton abbey which is a great period drama because it is well written.channel 9 should just stick to sport as that is all good for and crap shows like the bloody block
    as if we didnt have enough home reno shows on TV.

  11. I have seen Benedict Cumberbatch just a few times…recently in Small Island on Iview….but I find him hard going…and more so in this…DK you were right whne you said it takes concentration….very difficult to do with all the disruptions….but I am sticking with it for now.

  12. I’ll admit I miss them on the ABC. Especially Sunday nights. Not everyone watches Midsomer Murders (although I did watch a few of them) and New Tricks. Actually I remember in the nineties when they used to play classic versions of books at 5pm Sunday. It’s where I was introduced to Pride and Prejudice: the eighties version (I think it was in 1991; eventually 1995 was the year of Jane Austen and that other version on the ABC). I loved it. As well as other dramatised versions of classic literature. It made me read the book (before it and the others were made popular which I also read ) . That’s not all I read either. One of my favourites was Our Mutual Friend. Though I believe it was shown prime time. Thank you for that magical time.

    I just hope if it ends up failing like Titanic did on Seven they maybe only show one episode at a time later rather than another double episode. If they have to: eventually switch it to GEM. Although you’d hope they’d get away with playing it over 3-4 weeks. Maybe at 9.30pm and/or 10.30pm or whatever the equivalent it is these days. I hope I’m wrong to worry.

  13. Parade’s End won’t appeal much to Channel 9’s target audience. But then most of Channel 9’s target audience are watching 7 & 10 on Wednesdays. Their young people’s movie only rated 537k last Wednesday.

    The question is how many ABC, 72 and UK TV viewers will watching 2.5 hours of Parade’s End on Nine. The ABC hasn’t got good audiences for serious BBC dramas lately and hasn’t been buying them. They have preferred to stick with Midsomer Murders and New Tricks.

    We shall find out Thursday next week if Parade’s End works.

  14. Really? Channel 9 is kidding themselves.
    A slow burning BBC period piece working on the network of ‘a current affair’ and ‘celebrity apprentice’?… I don’t think so!!

  15. I watched this a month or so back on DVD and . . . I didn’t feel like my patience was rewarded.

    Save yourselves. It’s too late for me.

  16. My wife and I watched this series a few weeks ago and enjoyed it much more than Downton (Series 2 was tripe and I have not bothered since). Having said that we struggled to understand the motivations of some of the characters – particularly Sylvia. There are many deep subtexts as well – Catholic vs Protestant, the inhumanity of war, and so forth.
    But let’s be clear – it aint a 9 show. Can’t wait for the Blocktastic promo treatment given to Parade’s End.

  17. Adelaide Clemens is one the finest young actors we have at the moment and I will be watching this show for her alone.

    I do think the PVR recommendation is excellent, if not only to avoid the ads, but to record it late night when it ultimately ends up there.

  18. @ Jennome

    I think you are missing out seeing an excellent actor. If you’re willing to overcome it I can recommend Sherlock. There’s Series 1 & 2. If it helps he dyed his hair a darker colour. By the way I also love the Jeremy Brett version as well as the written stories. The writers also loved the original stories. And it shows. But you don’t need to have read them to appreciate it.

    Thanks David for this review. I’ll admit I don’t mind Cumberbatch playing potentially unlikable characters as I’ve seen it before. It’s the other actors I’m not sure I’ll be able to cope with. I guess I’ll find out if I’ll be able to take it. Also if Nine can make it through presumably three weeks. Which I think was a good idea on their part.

    1. kimj: I gave a mixed review of Parade’s End and the subtext should have told you which period show is more successful to me. I’m not sure if you have seen the ratings story and photo I gave to Seven’s hit show today? Other readers disagreed with you when you raised this bias question last time. You’ve raised your point, and I’ve responded, that’s as much as I can offer in an online patform. I offer a site of opinions and news with as much honesty and commitment to my audience as I can, while you hide behind anonymity and troll based on selective bias. This kind of behaviour is in contravention of my site’s Comments Policy. Maybe it’s time to find a site that better suits your views, or better yet start your own?

  20. “This BBC / HBO miniseries demands patience but the rewards are there for those who stick with it.”

    Unfortunately this exactly why many won’t bother watching it on Nine.

    One poorly rating episode and Nine will have it shunted off faster than you can say “That was the final episode of Parade’s End. Next week more Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory”.

    Then, with this being unlikely to fit into Go or Gem’s demographic, I’d imagine that it will disappear for a year or so before turning up on the ABC. Which is probably where it should have been in the first place.

  22. Parade’s End is based on a series of novels published in the 1920s. It is not just a modern commercial TV soap like Downton Abbey (though a very good one). What they share is an end of Edwardian setting.

    Movie length premiere == the first two parts.

    And viewers can have their cake and eat it too by recording it and skipping the ads as long the lack of overnights doesn’t cause Channel 9 to dump it, or you can follow it to what ever time-slot it ends up in if it gets bumped.

Leave a Reply