Bouquet of Barbed Wire ITV 1

I barely remember the original, my parents disapproved, but I do remember the incredible sexual presence of Susan Penhaligon and the brooding intensity of Frank Finlay. Neither of which seems to have been captured by the cast of the remake. Eve and Norris are fine players in their own right but seem to have been lumbered with a script that has all the finesse and subtlety of a Big Mac. Poots, lovely girl though she is, lacks any sort of mystique or depth playing nothing more than a typical dippy teenager and as for the Yorkie lad, you don't get much more unmemorable and two-dimensional, 'appen.

Perhaps this is born out of the need for the "immediate gratification" generation to be served "classic drama lite" on a plate in 3 easily digested episodes where everything is spelled out for the hard of thinking. Do we not have the patience any more to allow characters to develop and their motivation to be suggested rather than spelled out?

There are two episodes yet to go and we can but hope some depth can be developed and the workings of the characters understood, otherwise it'll just be a case of "everyone hopped into bed with everyone else" and none the wiser as to what was really driving the characters. That said, some things need to be left unsaid - as in the original - otherwise an superb psychological drama will end up no more than a soap.
 
So in real life, you've never met or heard of a situation where what appears to be a smart attractive girl, is married to or living with a complete to$$er?.
 
We saw him climb onto the edge of the balloon basket and then lean forward as if to fly. We then saw the empty basket, so yes he did commit suicide.

The fact that the pilot was leaning down and out of shot was so we could not mistake him for Peter thus confirming to the viewer that Peter was no longer in the basket.
 
Exactly. He was obsessed with Prue, who being a daddy's girl knew she could wrap him around her little finger. There was a hint of jealousy however

when she finds out about his affair with Sarah and blurts it out at a family dinner
 
A huge mistake on the remake, to have Gavin awful from the start because it makes it hard to understand why Pru would be with him. Original Gavin, was perfectly okay and seemingy amenable at first, then we discovered the slow unveiling of a dark, sinister side.
 
Very poor and disappointing compared to the original.

None of the four main characters is believable -no chemistry between Prue and the father, the mother's too young and pretty and the son in law, as people have said, is totally unintelligible and has no charisma whatsoever.:(
 
Is Gemima Rooper's character (the new architect girl) the evi husband(Moriarity from Sherlock)'s sister? I can't see why they'd make her wear brown contacts otherwise. I keep missing bits. :confused:;)
 
It's about execution. This is one of the best ITV drama in recent years - intelligently written, well acted, beautifully filmed. The characters have qualities most of us have encountered in real life - the obsessive father, daddy's girl, inappropriate boyfriend, mother trying to hold it together. This takes it to extremes and adds the element of the thriller. The fascination is in what happens and not who comes out of it well.

I didn't see the original and I don't care how this compares. I'm just glad that ITV are showing some really good drama for a change. :)
 
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