Oh Kingsoak, you couldn't have made me happier than upload this gem of a series. I've really never enjoyed a series so much. Peter McEnery is such a star and Arnold Bennett a subtle and wonderful writer. I could go on gushing here... but in a nutshell you've made me very happy and I can't thank you enough. All the very best to you.
I am half way through the series. What a wonderful series it is. The whole cast are marvellous with Harry Andews in brilliant form - playing a blinder totally out of his usual character. The sets are really atmospheric. I am very grateful for thus upload now when I am much older than when the series first came out. A complex story which cannot have been easy to turn into a series. I normally wait until the end of a series, but I know that I will not be disappointed. 26 episodes give sufficient time to define the characters all of whom are sympathetically drawn. Thank you!
It's a shame that none of the characters had a Stoke-on-Trent accent, but if you weren't raised in the Potteries, like me, it's probably not the easiest accent to learn just for one TV series. It's a joy to watch nonetheless and I'm thrilled you've shared this on RU-vid, thank you so much.
Thank you so much for this great landmark series, ITV's answer to The Forsyte Saga. But sadly it never seemed to take hold of the public imagination in the same way, or as later period sagas did, despite wonderful performances from Harry Andrews and Peter McEnery. Perhaps the reason was it lacked the sumptuous spectacle of many costume dramas, but instead had plenty of grimy, dark and moody scenes. Maybe Bennett's wonderful novels do not lend themselves to dramatic adaptation --- his greatness lay in being able to convincingly describe the psychological development and inner thoughts of his characters. Hence the need here for our protagonists to express their thoughts in soliloquy or in voice-over, which detracts from the reality of the format. And there are too, some other serious misgivings. Janet Suzman was in her mid-thirties and playing a young woman of 20 at the beginning, and understandably tried to lighten her naturally rich voice, but the result was very odd, and sometimes unintentionally comic. And I have to say, I got rather tired of seeing Harry Andrews stuffing his face and slurping his tea in the scenes featuring mealtimes at the Clayhangers! Now I have that off my chest....thank you again for this fascinating and most enjoyable series!
