Had some bad news today and in my sadness I turn to my dear Lord Peter to escape it all for a bit. Does anyone else long for a world like this? And tonight, after a hot bath, I'll listen to more LPW audio to help me fall asleep. Grateful for this bit of gentleness and moral order in world gone mad.
@@babybuzzie7276 check out the Inspector Alleyn mystery audiobooks read by Benedict Cumberbatch. They are extraordinarily well done. I think you'll like them. Also, of course, the Agatha Christie audio mysteries read by Hugh Fraser, David Suchet, Joan Hickson and the great John Moffatt. Happy listening!
Hope you are better. Open a Bible, turn to a gospel, psalms, ask for help. Truly believe God is real and hears and cares. He is pure. "Christianity" is not. Rome is not the real church. Take care. Isaiah 35. A world of law, order will come. And eternal life.
100% - prayers for you my dear friend. I know I long for a world like this (constantly) partic since I feel I've lived before in it - it was a wonderful time - not easy but wonderufl.
Great episode that included the history between Wimsey and Bunter. British TV has always been light years ahead of anything America ever produced. Quality throughout from the awesome cast, directors and producers right on through to the hidden people whose faces and names we never see. And then there are the cars. Oh my word!!! The magnificent automobiles.
It's funny you said "state of Britain" as I no longer see Britain as a country. I see it as a state of a globalised world run by a tiny few. The same as many countries around the world.
The angels in church roofs in East Anglia are rather famous now. Not many are still left. The ones that are extant are in constant peril in so many ways.
I didn’t watch this series during the past 20 years, bc I couldn’t see how anybody could do justice to Sayers’ work. I was wrong! This adaptation, the only one for television or film, in particular was excellently done, with few omissions and changes; naturally, parts had to be cut bc 8 parts would be needed to get everything in! When you know how the story ends, it’s so hard to watch Wimsey in the bell tower...at least, it was for me. I’ve read this novel so many times, I practically know it by heart, and the plot is as pleasingly complex as you’ll find in the very best literature. In fact, Sinclair Lewis said it was the best of the four novels he called his “indispensables,” and, in the 1940s, Sayers was called the greatest living mystery writer by many critics, with “The Nine Tailors” lauded as her finest achievement. The fact that this is the only adaptation for either film or television is testament to the novel’s complexity, and it’s so good that I’m really glad I watched it!
I agree entirely, although the original book told me more than I ever wanted to know about bell-ringing; the omission of this material streamlines it all beautifully. That, and the fact that Ian Carmichael and Glyn Houston are absolute embodiments of Wimsey and Bunter, makes this the finest of all the Lord Wimsey adaptations.
This was a great breakdown for me and now I need to read from this author. My favorite mystery author of course is Dame Agatha Christie but I have also read from MC Beaton and (oh forgive me I can’t remember the other mystery author so sorry) but I am definitely going to read this. Thank you again!
@@MStrat1106, I actually loved all that info on change ringing. It remains astonishing to me that anyone without a brain like Monk could possibly learn to ring Kent Treble Bob. It’s unbelievably complicated!
And he narrated the audio books, which is how I discovered the series. So glad there was this unique consistency throughout the TV, audio book, and recorded radio dramatizations with Ian Carmichael reprising the role for all those. What a fortunate thing for those of us who link him indelibly with the character. I tried to watch the other film productions made with a different actor, and it just wasn't the same. Ian will always be Lord Peter for me.
Thank you so much for these. Just listening to the bells alone was worth the time spent on watching the series. Brought back the English village life of my youth so vividly as it reminded me how we listened to the bells of our St. Mary's church ring out across the Thames Valley. Heaven on earth.
And here we,are in the midst of a Pandemic and I see how. The people were able to work together to save the population. Thank you for having this film series.
@@mfjdv2020 ITs no different to the Pandemic of the Spanish flu. They didn't have teh facilities that we have had in the past year... computer communication, working from home, a vaccine being developed. Its a HUGE thing, a world pandemic and of course all the countries in the world are not going to cooperate all the time.. but the 1918 Spanish flu basically killed millions nad millions of people and finally burned out... This flood in this book is a relative small local thing... its possible for a village to pull together and parish council etc to work to save the majority of people....
During the 2017 hurricane season we had a real scare that a hurricane was coming directly at us in central Florida. I received an 11-page, or so, document wherein were instructions to bring a gallon of water and food per person for three days along with clothes, blankets, etc., to a local school. I noticed in this picture that the church supplied the people with food, etc., which is how a community should respond. People should bring a few things with them to a shelter, but everything one would take, as if camping! Ridiculous! What shocked me most was the requirement to bring drinking water to the shelter!
Wonderful to see this production. If one is unfamiliar with bell peals, it is hard to follow in the book, but this excellent production makes it all clear. As another person said - this is very atmospheric and evokes life in the fens and the era before and after WWI.
I watched the movie The Watcher in the Woods. It was important to the people of the village to have their pealing, one for each year of the person's age, when they died.
Loved all of this series, fantastic. Sad there's no more to watch but thank you very much for sharing what you had loved it. I wish they could bring all this back on the TV.
I remember the church Bell scene from when this was first shown on Danish telly back in the mid seventies. Remember seeing it with my parents. Still a great serie, thanks
A lot of people have posted what a tragedy this episode is and what a horrible way to go, and though it is a tragedy for a lot of people, few villains in Sayers had it coming as hard as Deacon. I wish I could be a tradesman passing through to point out to the Thoday brothers and the vicar that Deacon: --married a local girl primarily for access to the chambermaids' info and would have abandoned her anyway if the robbery had come off. She would have always been suspect in the eyes of some and probably had a very hard time finding employment afterwards. --double crossed his partner Cranton right out of the chute. --destroyed the fortunes of the Thorpe family, directly causing the deaths of old Lord and Lady Thorpe and casting a pall on the futures of their son and daughter in law. --caused the unemployment of 13 Thorpe household staff as a result of economizing after the payout for the stolen necklace, at a time when people held jobs for life. --killed an innocent soldier and the prison warden, leading the soldier to be branded a deserter so his family can't receive death benefits and likely financial hardship for the warden's likely widow and children. --married the French peasant woman Suzanne and has a family with her that he intends to abandon once the heat is off and he can retrieve the jewels. Due to the deaths of so many men in the war, she's unlikely to find another husband (despite being a very attractive woman) and will probably lose the farm and be cast into poverty along with her children. I --made a bigamist out of his first wife and bastards out of her children with Will and his kids with Suzanne, which would have caused scandal and social ostracism in those days. --caused extreme distress and guilt for the Thoday brothers, which directly led to Will's death and the widowhood of his wife, this time for real. --caused terrible guilt for the vicar and all the bell ringers. Most of Sayers' villains have some degree of sympathetic motive. Even the son in Have His Carcase and the cousin who sets up Harriet Vane for the death of her ex are in dire financial straits, which can lead desperate people to do desperate things. Deacon is just a callous scumbag (and would undoubtedly have screwed over Cranston a second time, maybe killing him and adding to the body count. It's almost fitting that he died by church bells. Only thing more ironic would be drowning in the baptismal font.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I've got the book so of course I knew how it all turned out but it's great to see the televised version. I like the fact that this series sticks so close to the books. And I LOVE Glyn Houston ...
I listened to the audiobook after watching this. Interesting to see the changes made to tell a visual story. One big difference, Wimsey was not there at the wedding and the jewellery theft. That is told all in retrospect, as explained to him by various people. The story starts with the discovery of the body, more or less.
Watching this adaptation's beginning scenes, I instantly applauded the screenwriter for his/her clever "tweak" of the novel. It was ingenious to contrive the presence of LPW at the manor for the wedding and subsequent jewel heist.
The television dramatisation drags a bit at the beginning, having Wimsey at the original wedding, ut it saves the requirement for the exposition the book had which would have made the adaptation too wordy. However, the visual setting of the lonely fens and the church as an island set in the marsh is extremely well done. BBC returned to this milieu in its famous ghost story "A warning to the curious", which if you haven't seen and love the atmosphere created in this series, you must surely check out.
There are a lot of cases in this series where in the book there's a long exposition, but in the show, its all acted out in dialogue. Peter has to find things out directly.. in a visiual medium
Emotional in the book too. The flood scenario is a very real one to me, living in the Netherlands. But why is it that human beings only really pull together and help each other in times of crisis? To paraphrase Lord Peter, just imagine if we cooperated like this all the time. "The war would be over in 10 days !"
The best of this series I think, very atmospheric; though it is a wonder that no one thought of the solution, I can boast of having got there before Lord Peter did!
They sort of gave it away in the first part when they showed Deacon killing the soldier and being shipped off to France. The book didn't have that bit.
it isn't Wimsey's peal.. It is the vicar and the rest of the bell ringing team who planned it.. and carried it out. Peter just helps at the last minute.
This 4 part series has it all, WW1, mistaken identity, jewel theft, romance, bravery, heroics, and escape. This is the stuff!! I could have enjoyed more of Deacon on the lamb, he'd have had quite a shock arriving in France. Much to enjoy about this work!!
The stories and rituals of Christianity are quite weird if looked at objectively. But, apparently, it gives the brethren succour and comfort in times of need and pain. That is quite an achievement.
Yes, Mr. Carmichael was absolutely superb as Lord Peter Wimsey. I remember when the late, great Alastair Cooke would introduce these wonderful shows on Sunday evenings on PBS during the 1970s. I believe he said that to enter the belfry at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London while the bells were tolling would mean instant death.
HERE BE SPOILERS The adaptation does two things - one good I think and one less so. Firstly it puts Lord Peter at the scene of the theft of the jewels - this is not in the book as far as I can remember but it works well by introducing his Lordship early on. But it also reveals in episode one that Deakin is not really dead and this removes some of the 'whose body' mystery of the episodes 2 & 3. But what stands out is how brilliant a production this is & how well it stands up 50yrs later. The cast is pretty excellent throughout, the pace gentler than today but not the worse for it and the production values very high. I started with The Nine Tailors (not Tailor as the title) as it is my favourite Wimsey novel but will certainly watch the rest on the Lord Peter Wimsey channel - thanks for posting
First broadcast: Mon 29th Apr 1974, 21:25 on BBC One London The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers : adapted in four parts by ANTHONY STEVEN with Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Chance - or is it Fate? brings Lord Peter Wimsey back to the village where 20 years - and a World War earlier, he had been witness to a crime thought solved. Sound DAVID HUGHES Lighting BOB GELL Designer STANLEY MORRIS Producer Richard BEYNON Director Raymond Menmuir Contributors Unknown: Anthony Steven Unknown: Ian Carmichael Bunter: Glyn Houston Ezra Wilderspin: Dan Meaden Mrs Tebbutt: Maryann Turner Venables: Donald Eccles Will Thoday: Neil McCarthy Mary Thoday: Elizabeth Proud Jim Thoday: David Jackson Mrs Venables: Elizabeth Bradley Sir Henry Thorpe: Geoffrey Russell Mrs Gates: Judith Fellows Dr Baines: Bill Gavin Hilary Thorpe: Gail Harrison Hezekiah Lavender: Herbert Ramskill Jack Godfrey: Peter Tuddenham Harry Gotobed: Charles Lamb Walter Pratt: John Duttine Cranton: Patrick Jordan Coroner: Wally Thomas Superintendent Blundell: Keneth Thornett
They knew early on that he was tied up but did not know where or when until much later.Also the testimony of the doctor could only place the time of death but he could not find a suitable cause.
@@johngreen3543 That's the point. The doctor couldn't find a cause of death. Once Cranton said he found Deacon tied up in the belfry with a terrified expression, what else did they need to know?Wimsey having to experience the loud bells himself before realizing they killed Deacon displays uncharacteristic ignorance on his part.
Clearly Will Thoday knew what effect the bell-ringing would likely have on Geoffrey Deacon, tied up in the belfry as he was. This accounts for Will's distress in his sickbed when he heard the peal begin on New Years. Cheers.
I agree with all the comments that I can see below. I just don't know what to say. Great stuff. But I cannot help feeling for Mary, Will's wife to say "poor lady" would be both patronising and inadequate... A great series nonetheless so much in it. I must try and find time for the others; I'd like to see "Five Red Herrings"...
What a plot and script, superb! The era of the novel is 1934: It was produced in 1974: by BBC: with Ian Carmichael lead actor: Born: 1920-2010: died age 89: Born, lived & died in Nth Yorkshire:
Peter is heading up to the roof to see how bad the flood waters are, and enters the actual bell chamber, not realizing how bad the noise will be. He is almost incapacitated, as in the video, but manages to pull himself up the ladder and out onto the roof.
Thank you for your kindness. I have only read one Lord Peter book, "Busman's Honeymoon", and enjoyed it very much. Perhaps I should obtain more of these treasures! Cheers from San Diego, CA.
In the book Lady Wilberforce takes the emeralds back and returns the money, and Hilary's guardian was an Uncle Edward. This re-writing makes far better sense
SPOILER *** SPOILER *** SPOILER Both brothers were drowned, but only the one having a wife and children _[to miss him?]_ was named as deceased. It is as if the unattached man did not matter, since his only relative died with him. The bells were not even rung for him.
The Sailor brother didn't die. He wen't back to his ship after the questioning. A fellow villager died and Wil tried to save him, his body is later found after the flood. In the Book the old lady who owns the jewels is still alive and they returned the jewels back to her, she is very grateful for gesture and to the honor of Hillary's father that she willed the Jewel to Hillary with Lord Wimsey as legal guardian.
@@inisipisTV The film version is better then. Why would they return the jewels after the owner had already been paid for them? And I didn't see why she should have been paid anyway. It was her fault for letting the insurance lapse. I want my fiction to make sense!
@@marthacanady9441 I think that “The Nine Tailors” was the best of the five Ian Carmichael-Lord Peter Wimsey series. Although, “The Five Red Herrings” is also great fun to watch as well. I wish Ian Carmichael and Glyn Houston had done five more of the Dorothy Sayers mysteries; they were absolutely outstanding.
Was it usual at that time for people like Lord Peter to use words like ain't" and to drop the g in words like "dancing" so that it's pronounced dancin"?
Yes, it is Anglican. Lay people do in fact frequently are called upon to deliver a closing blessing. That Noah's Ark thing in point delivered by a non clergyman (Lord Peter) is typical Anglican.
I do like these very much - but, and there's always a but - every episode with LPW crowing on about being a dunce, or how foolish, or some other ridiculous verbiage when a lightning bolt hits him with the solution or a momentous moment......
It's clearer in the filmed versions than in the books, but LPW has that very upper-class disdain for received pronunciation, preferin' t' shorten words 'n' to use slang. Right-ho.
@@richardcleveland8549 Upper class people did speak like Peter. And Sayers has said that Jeeves and Wooster were an influence on her for creatting Bunter and Peter
I thought the old bat was in on it and the jewels were paste decoys. Didn't she hide the jewels in the chamber pot in a cabinet and the butler took something under the bed?
@@deranged4255 I didn't blow who dunnit. It won't affect their viewing pleasure. That's a massive continuity error. If it was on purpose, that's really not fair.
Horrible ending. Poor wife and children lost dad and husband. This was not necessary at all. The series would have been even better if Will had lived. No happy ending here.
They followed the plot of the book that it was adapted from. Since Will was responsible for Deacon's death, he had to die in atonement for it. Life doesn't always have happy endings.
Good lightweight entertainment, but I could never quite see Ian Carmichael in the role of Peter Wimsey. Sayers tells us that Wimsey was aged 30 for his first sleuthing adventure. Carmichael was in his 50s and 60s when he played Wimsey. Wimsey was supposed to be an attractive, Dashing Young Thing, an Oxford athlete, an outstanding cricketer, not a rather bulky and stooping older man.
@@SymphonyBrahms Lots of people care. Most people in the audio drama community like to exchange information and viewpoints in a friendly space. No problem, you can be an outlier.
The age and bulkiness do rather detract, but only a bit, since Carmichael is brilliant and much better and more attractive than Petherbridge - who was also too old for the role. This series, as well as other old Masterpiece Dramas are so much better than Downton Abbey in turns of language and authenticity.
@@janegarner9169 You're right. 'It ain't', 'it don't' and similar oddities were frequently used by the British aristocracy during the Regency (late 18th-early 19th century). Possibly this was still the case in the 1930s.
@ekcentrik: I agree with you. Ian Carmichael (as Lord Peter) goes completely over the top in the way he speaks. It's excruciatingly affected. The priest's English is far more real and convincing. I must say I don't like Ian in the role of Lord Peter. He's not only affected, but far too old and far too fat.
@Harris Smith Yours is a curious comment. Did you watch the first 3 episodes? They are all on story. I mean, if someone watched the first 3 they would likely watch the 4th, regardless of your comment. (I mean no disrespect.) Just wondering if you saw them all.
It is only boring for those that like things to be done quickly. Those who can not stand complexity and prefer everything to be nice and tidy so they don't have to think.
