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Post by hannechalk on Feb 19, 2021 21:41:30 GMT
Most of NYC was CGI. Liverpool is often used for US cities so perhaps it was this time Am a bit late to the conversation, so not sure if it has been answered, but NYC was Liverpool's Water Street and surrounding area. Funnily enough I recognised it immediately by the doors of the buildings, as I used to walk past them every day on my way to work.
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Post by hannechalk on Feb 19, 2021 21:52:14 GMT
I just tried to watch It A Sin After Hours on YouTube as it featured an interview with Callum Howells but had to give up after about 5 minutes as the presenter had the most annoying voice I have ever heard. I have no idea who she is but I cant believe they have let her present a programme. My nerves just could not take her whining voice. Oh thank goodness, it wasn't just me who thought that! They could have turned that into an educational with a light undertone, instead it turned into a screeching fangirl fawning over her guests.
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Post by hannechalk on Feb 19, 2021 21:56:17 GMT
I personally loved it. I was only a child in the eighties, and was horrified at the attitudes back then.
I'm still digesting it, to be honest.
La!
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Post by alece10 on Feb 19, 2021 22:04:34 GMT
Well that's totally drained me.
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Post by sfsusan on Feb 19, 2021 22:05:31 GMT
I figured I knew how it would end, but there was still a shock in store. And then a heartbreak... and then a healing coda... {Spoiler - click to view} I could happily have hit Ritchie's mother.
And Jill is a hero.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 19, 2021 22:08:28 GMT
Whilst the final episode didn't hit me as hard as ep3, I cried more. Nearly an hour of constant tears
I have rarely hated a character on TV as much as the mother. Very well written but so much to dislike about her actions and attitudes.
It has been such an important series. We must not forget this period of history.
RTD will win awards. Callum Scott Howells will win best supporting awards. Lydia West has a huge future ahead of her. A real star.
I want the soundtrack on CD...or maybe even cassette!
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Post by alece10 on Feb 19, 2021 22:10:41 GMT
Whilst the final episode didn't hit me as hard as ep3, I cried more. Nearly an hour of constant tears I have rarely hated a character on TV as much as the mother. Very well written but so much to dislike about her actions and attitudes. It has been such an important series. We must not forget this period of history. RTD will win awards. Callum Scott Howells will win best supporting awards. Lydia West has a huge future ahead of her. A real star. I want the soundtrack on CD...or maybe even cassette! If you have Apple music the soundtrack is there as a playlist. Keeley Hawes. What a bitch!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 19, 2021 22:15:49 GMT
I like physical media... I know digital is the modern way. But a CD with a booklet is a great thing.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 19, 2021 22:17:13 GMT
I like physical media... I know digital is the modern way. But a CD with a booklet is a great thing. Yes and you actually own it!
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Post by SuperTrooper on Feb 19, 2021 22:20:52 GMT
Well, that was a ride!
Still digesting all that went on in the episode.
I agree with everything that has been said this evening.
I may have something more to say tomorrow.
There should be accolades and great careers ahead for all the youngsters in the cast.
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Post by justfran on Feb 19, 2021 22:24:13 GMT
Whilst the final episode didn't hit me as hard as ep3, I cried more. Nearly an hour of constant tears I have rarely hated a character on TV as much as the mother. Very well written but so much to dislike about her actions and attitudes. It has been such an important series. We must not forget this period of history. RTD will win awards. Callum Scott Howells will win best supporting awards. Lydia West has a huge future ahead of her. A real star. I want the soundtrack on CD...or maybe even cassette! Absolutely agree. This series has been one of the best things I’ve watched in years. The 5 main cast were all outstanding, I hope it does win many awards and continue to raise awareness. Everyone involved should be very proud of the show. La!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 19, 2021 22:27:47 GMT
Given the rise in HIV testing that has happened in the past month, it is a series that has saved lives.
How many dramas can say that?
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Post by theatreian on Feb 19, 2021 23:20:21 GMT
What a series! From funny to heart breaking with so many elements. Characters were believable and so well acted. A good sign for me is how much you care about them. I really cared about the lead characters and most of the supporting ones too. Hope it wins big at the awards and despite its tragedy what a series it was. To be educational, happy, sad, enriching , upbeat, sexy and fabulous in one series is something. I will miss it, but thank goodness things have moved on for HIV.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 19, 2021 23:30:07 GMT
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Post by cherokee on Feb 20, 2021 10:58:37 GMT
There was a lot to love in this, and I did find it very moving in places. I think Davies is much better at those quiet, sensitive moments. The moments where we're supposed to cheer or fist pump to celebrate the characters' rebellion against the system always make me cringe a little bit. (I felt the same in Queer As Folk and Cucumber.) Eg: the pissing in the coffee and Rosco chucking the bin through the neighbour's shop window. Those bits pullged me out of believing in the story because there were no consequences to them. You think: well, clearly he'd be arrested for criminal damage, but apparently he just got away with it!
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Post by n1david on Feb 20, 2021 11:03:06 GMT
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Post by sfsusan on Feb 20, 2021 14:41:56 GMT
Eg: the pissing in the coffee and Rosco chucking the bin through the neighbour's shop window. The pissing in the coffee urn sidetracked me into wondering how he got the elevation needed to piss into an urn on a cart. The only thing I could work out was maybe he used a cup (or two)... You hear stories about this in fast food today, so I'm not sure it would be detectable, let alone traceable. The thing that really bugged me about this scene was him throwing away a really expensive suit. I would think the best revenge would have been keeping it and using it to attract another sugar daddy. And with the window breakage, I assumed the shop owner decided not to press charges for whatever reason.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 20, 2021 15:09:20 GMT
The Thatcher scene was just a bit of comic relief to provide some contrast. Was it credible? No. Given how poor mass catering coffee was at that time, would anyone have noticed? Probably not!
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Post by cherokee on Feb 20, 2021 15:55:31 GMT
The Thatcher scene was just a bit of comic relief to provide some contrast. Was it credible? No. Given how poor mass catering coffee was at that time, would anyone have noticed? Probably not! Yeah I get what it was supposed to be. I just didn't believe it. It felt crude and intended to provoke a 'Wooh! You show her, girl!' kind of reaction from me. RTD does that quite a bit in his writing, and those moments just never work for me personally. Even the repetition of 'La' as a catchphrase made me cringe a bit. But I get that most people don't feel that way!
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Post by anthony40 on Feb 20, 2021 19:10:53 GMT
So last nights episode.... Wow!
I was actually speechless. Utterly without speech!
So much so that I've had to think about and process it and so am writing this today
There was so much in this.
There ere varying degrees of love. intimacy and tenderness.
I am so pleased that I made the decision not to binge watch this, and do so on a week-by-week basis.
I loved the speech made by the back neighbour downstairs about the angels.
And then Kate Bush's The Hound of Love! I so LOVE this song.
Another powerful cameo from Tracy Anne Obermann
Although not my favourite character, I was good to see how Roscoe's storyline got tied up and him making peace with his father and family. That speech in the hospital was pretty powerful, eh? Did that actor have a (physically) wandering eye?
Then there was Ollie's parents; weren't the both wonderfully acted? Keeley Hawes was sensational! Processing all of the information handed to her, playing out on her face- the shock of finding out that her son was in the infectious disease ward, that he was so seriously ill, that he was gay and had AIDS.
Some interesting camera angels following her down the hallway, and how in the blink of an eye she went from shock, anger, rage, stoic and upset.
Also the confrontation with the woman in the kitchen making the squash.
Isn't interesting that despite coming from a place of love, how a person like that does what she believes to be the right thing, and so focused that they're correct, that they can't see the damage they're causing. Really can't see the forest for the trees.
We used to know a family like that. Sometimes they need to realise in time the error of their ways.
And that final confrontation between the mother and Jill. I guess things had to be said.....
For me (personally) Colin's death was more shocking.
Does anyone know if that scene was filmed on location? I have never been to the Isle of Wright.
So many emotions watching this last night.
Jill was so compassionate throughout, wasn't she? From the posting of the Christmas cards, reconnecting with Colin's mother at the riots, to the constant phone calls, including Ollie's sister in the final grieving hug and then her visiting that solo dying AIDS patient.
And that final montage and dinner scene! God bless that seagull!
Same time next week is the return of Googlebox (sigh)
La
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Feb 20, 2021 19:29:13 GMT
The Isle of Wight scenes were filmed on the Welsh coast, I believe.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Feb 20, 2021 20:06:27 GMT
A difficult watch as expected.
As sad as the Ritchie scenes were it was the moments when Jill sat with the ones abandoned by their loved ones that had the greatest impact on me only equalled by the ending of the Inheritance Pt1.
As a contemporary of this period it amazes me that this pandemic was more or less invisible to me, the adverts had an impact but the true depths of the issue were kept out of the public domain, as a heterosexual engineering graduate with a passion for metal it was a world that passed me by, there were gay pubs in Nottingham but my life was spent in the rock pubs and rock discos which were ironically male dominated but as far from hedonism as you could get.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 20, 2021 20:53:45 GMT
The Thatcher scene was just a bit of comic relief to provide some contrast. Was it credible? No. Given how poor mass catering coffee was at that time, would anyone have noticed? Probably not! Yeah I get what it was supposed to be. I just didn't believe it. It felt crude and intended to provoke a 'Wooh! You show her, girl!' kind of reaction from me. RTD does that quite a bit in his writing, and those moments just never work for me personally. Even the repetition of 'La' as a catchphrase made me cringe a bit. But I get that most people don't feel that way! The 'La' was apparently something he and his friend group did in real life and I think having in-jokes between friends like that add to the realism. I understand your issue with the more outlandish stuff, I can easily imagine that not gelling with everyone.
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Post by kathryn on Feb 24, 2021 12:47:39 GMT
It’s been interesting watching American reactions to the series. I’ve seen the odd eye-rolling one (‘this series doesn’t cover the American AIDS experience!’) and the odd one that seemed to think it was meant to be a survey of the entire AIDS crisis rather than a drama about one group of friends going through it (‘it doesn’t cover the trans, straight women, or sub-Saharan African experience!’) which I guess is to be expected because there’s so few TV shows on the topic that the ones that exist are expected to represent everything.
(On a side note: I saw RTD asked about the lack of diversity in Queer As Folk in an interview recently, and he absolutely held up his hand and said it was lacking and that he has strived to do better ever since. Which is the right thing to do. But then the interviewer followed up with ‘it was based on your experience of gay life - did you actually have friends from diverse backgrounds at the time?’’ and he said well, err, no, he went from Wales to Oxford University to a job in TV....)
Listened to the Vanity Fair ‘Still Watching’ podcast on the show this morning and was quite surprised about their comments on the theme of shame. Basically one of the hosts was really rejecting the idea that the characters in the show displayed any shame because of the amount of fun and sex they are shown to be having, and disputed that shame and closeting was shown to have any effect on their behaviour. They really didn’t like that big Jill speech about the effect of shame.
I don’t know if this is an American-British cultural divide or an age thing (I checked and he’s my age, so he would have been under 10 in 1991 when the series ended), or if it’s just a personal resistance to the idea of shame being part of the gay experience. Maybe you had to live through the effect of Section 28 and the tabloid press monstering gay people and AIDS victims to understand the shaming culture and how it affected people?
Thoughts?
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 24, 2021 13:41:42 GMT
tbh, by 1990-91 pretty well everyone was carried away on a crest of E. Tabloids were more interested in chasing down M25 raves.
I remember apartment blocks in Manhattan being devastated - tenanted studios, etc, on a scale I wasn't aware of in London. There was a period when the public as a whole was wary of renting after an AIDS suffered had gone. I had a part-time girlfried in NYC then and she got her place after property that would never usually even make it to the market was advertised, and and affordable prices. A short period and in very concentrated neighbourhoods.
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Post by kathryn on Feb 24, 2021 14:06:02 GMT
tbh, by 1990-91 pretty well everyone was carried away on a crest of E. I recall the lead-up to Freddie Mercury dying in 1991 creating a huge amount of shaming tabloid coverage. It was an absolute feeding frenzy. It was formative for me because I was old enough at that point to get myself out of bed, pick the newspaper off the doormat in the morning and read it with my breakfast, before my parents were up. I was in secondary school at the time Section 28 was in force, and I'm pretty sure we were all aware of it as a thing.
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Post by londonpostie on Feb 24, 2021 14:21:08 GMT
It was a thing. Diane was a thing. The first Gulf war was a thing. The IRA attack on Downing street was a thing. Riots in London were a thing.
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Post by theatreian on Feb 24, 2021 14:47:37 GMT
There's a good Q and A with Russell Tovey and the cast here:
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Post by oxfordsimon on Feb 24, 2021 14:49:32 GMT
There was one US review that complained that none of the characters of colour were given a tearjerking death.
I am almost certain that if those same characters has been killed off the critic would have complained about those characters only existed to be victims.
Yes there is a difference between US and UK attitudes regarding issues surrounding race. But here we had a TV series where 3 out the 5 central characters being played by actors of colour, it is surely something to acknowledge if not celebrate.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 24, 2021 15:13:59 GMT
I Listened to the Vanity Fair ‘Still Watching’ podcast on the show this morning and was quite surprised about their comments on the theme of shame. Basically one of the hosts was really rejecting the idea that the characters in the show displayed any shame because of the amount of fun and sex they are shown to be having, and disputed that shame and closeting was shown to have any effect on their behaviour. They really didn’t like that big Jill speech about the effect of shame. I don’t know if this is an American-British cultural divide or an age thing (I checked and he’s my age, so he would have been under 10 in 1991 when the series ended), or if it’s just a personal resistance to the idea of shame being part of the gay experience. Maybe you had to live through the effect of Section 28 and the tabloid press monstering gay people and AIDS victims to understand the shaming culture and how it affected people? Thoughts? I completely don't understand their viewpoint. Just because Ritchie had a lot of sex and fun doesn't mean he didn't feel shame - he literally killed people because he was too ashamed to find out his HIV status or tell people he was positive once he did know. And I think the amount of sex was sort of a result of the shaming he and so many are made to feel and why gay culture is so associated with hook-up culture even now - because gay people are so ashamed and in the closet throughout their teens, many don't go through the normal adolescent, experimental period when it comes to sex and dating a lot of the time so it all kind of happens at once in their late teens/early twenties when they're finally free from their home lives in which they were so repressed.
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