Monthly Online Book Review and Listings Magazine ~ February 2009
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I thought the recent dramatisation of LITTLE DORRIT by the BBC was absolutely first-class, and it certainly inspired me to go out and get the book and find out for myself what made this story so special. The edition I chose was the BBC paperback with
the photos from the production, and I read it over the Christmas break. When the TV version finished, I was puzzled by some of the facts of Amy's and Arthur's parentage, but reading the book filled in the gaps and served as a timely reminder of just how great a writer Dickens was. I have a whole stack of new books to get through in the next couple of weeks, but rest assured, as soon as they're out of the way, I'll get back to Dickens!
PHILIP GLENISTER
things
ain’t what they used to be
Published on 6th November 2008 / Hardback
price £14.99
This
autumn, take off your rose tinted spectacles, slip on your shell-suit, settle
down with a bottle of Blue Nun and some Bovril crisps and let TV’s much loved
actor, Philip Glenister, take you on a trip down memory lane to see if things
ain’t what they used to be… or whether actually we’ve got it a damn sight
better now…
Q: What gave you the idea for Things Ain’t What They Used To
Be?
A: Because I’m associated with a show that was set in the 1970s
for Life On Mars and then the 1980s in Ashes To Ashes, I thought
it would be fun to have a look back at - and the occasional rant about - how
things were then and how they are now.
Q: If you could bring back one thing from the past, what would
it be?
If it was a drink, I’d bring back Cresta – that was seriously
frothy, man! If it was a car, then I’d want a 1972 Jensen Interceptor, my
all-time favourite. I’d love to bring back Brian Clough, and hear his dry wit
again. And it would be great to have Bonfire Nights the way we used to in the
1970s, piping hot sauages and jacket potatoes, the dads gaily nailing lethal
Catherine wheels to fence posts and unleashing rockets like Scud missiles
across the garden. And that fantastic hint of gunpowder in the night air. You
can’t do it now, some Health and Safety jobsworth would get you nicked.
Q: What flavour gives you instant nostalgia?
A: It’s got to be Bovril. There were some great crisp flavours
back then, and Bovril crisps were one of my favourites. I was a fan of my local
football club, Wealdstone FC, and we all rocked up in the stands clutching a
mug of Bovril and a bag of Bovril crisps – all Bovril’d up. And for sweet
things, we’re talking Texan bars, Walnut Whips, Sherbet Dabs and, of course,
the classic Curly Wurly.
Q: A vital question: were Curly Wurlies really bigger back in
the 1970s?
A: That’s one of the great unanswered questions, right up there
with whatever really happened to Lord Lucan, and whoever thought it was a good
idea to perm Kevin Keegan’s hair. On Life on Mars, period detail was
paramount, and one day a genuine 1970s Curly Wurly wrapper pitched up on set.
It was massive. We managed to fit at least two, if not three, of the modern-day
bars inside that wrapper. Proof conclusive, or so I thought. But then I heard
that Cadbury’s official line is that they’ve never changed the size of them –
so for the time being we’ll have to fudge the issue, that’s a finger of fudge,
of course…
Q: Did you watch Blue Peter or Magpie?
A: I flitted between them, but in the end I plumped for Magpie.
The thing that did it for me was Jenny Hanley. Susan Stranks had always seemed
a little bit too Headmistressy. But Jenny Hanley was gorgeous, and she’d been a
Bond girl. So I defected from Blue Peter, and joined the gang with Jenny,
Douglas Rae and Mick Robertson - Brian May’s long-lost brother!
Q: What annoys you most about life today?
A: Ooh, don’t get me started… If I had to pick just one thing it
would be poncey restaurant menus. And in particular all those dishes like ‘lamb
with a drizzle of rosemary jus’. Look, if it’s gravy, then call it gravy. Gravy
should be back-strengthening stuff, solid enough to stand a spoon to attention
in it. ‘EntrecÙte of hand-reared Kobe beef, tenderly grilled, on a bed of
Bedford Browns with a nest of pommes frites’ – steak, egg and chips. All that
pretentiousness really gets on my wick.
Q: What do you like best about 2008?
A: When you start thinking about the years you grew up in, it is
very easy to find yourself wearing rose-tinted glasses (National Health ones,
natch), so I tried hard not to be a grumpy old sod who thinks everything was
better back then. Of course it wasn’t – just think of the horror, the horror,
of mullets, woodchip wallpaper and Irish coffees. We forget what life was like
before digital technology, which we now take for granted. It’s great to see a
show or a film on DVD, instead of flickering, badly tracked videotape. And
although I’m not a huge fan of mobile phones - especially ringtones - they’re
brilliant for keeping in touch with the kids and the missus if I’m away on
location.
Q: Who do you think will enjoy reading the book?
A: What’s always impressed me is that it’s not just the thirty,
forty and fifty-somethings who come up and say how much they’ve enjoyed
reminiscing about their childhood and teens thanks to Life On Mars and Ashes
To Ashes, but it’s also the current crop of teenagers who say they now
understand a little better what their parents are always banging on about…
Q: And finally, were flares ever a good idea?
No!!!!
Philip Glenister is
known to millions as DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC’s hit shows Life on Mars and
Ashes to Ashes. An award-winning actor, he has also starred in Cranford,
Calendar Girls, State of Play and Clocking Off, amongst many other
shows. Born in Harrow in 1963, Philip now lives in London with his wife and two
daughters.
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