Clayhanger

The best approximation of the Victorian novel that I know of on the big or small screen. Based on Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger trilogy, this is brilliant television. Yes, it's slow, perhaps to the point where younger viewers might just shut it off, but the slow pace of life in the nineteenth century is I think accurately portrayed. A brilliant cast of characters flesh out the drama. As the story begins, Edwin Clayhanger (Peter McEnery) is leaving school at 16 to work in his father"s (Harry Andrews) printing business. A clash of generations immediately becomes apparent when when Edwin declares he wants to be an architect and Darius the father says he must work in the family business. Without going into more detail. the story follows Edwin into middle age, his relationship with his father up to his demise,and his tempestuous marriage to an early suffragette. Douglas Livingstone did the adaptation and it was a brilliant job. The actors apart from the above range from Janet Suzman to Dennis Quilley to Clive Swift to Denhom Elliott. Miss Gailey played by Renee Asherson was a memorable poignant character, though among many others I cannot rank this production more highly. Along with Winston Churchill The Wilderness Years, Edward and Mrs Simpson, and the Jewel in the Crown for example, it stands as an exemplar of British TV production in the1970s and 1980s