Tumgik
About
Privacy Policy
Removal Request
Visit Blog
Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.
Fun Fact
In February 2021, Tumblr had 518.6 million blog accounts.
#own original creations all the time). this is well before Beiderbecke made his name‚ but he was already an established writer and so
mariocki
·
2 years
Text
Katy Manning - in her first ever screen role, and credited as Katie - makes awful coffee and has a good nose at some industrial action, in Softly Softly: Task Force: Standing Orders (1.8, BBC, 1970)
#fave spotting
#katy manning
#jo grant
#softly softly: task force
#doctor who
#classic doctor who
#standing orders
#alan plater
#bbc
#the awful coffee thing is referenced several times in dialogue for some reason‚ it isn't just me being a dick
#katy's part here is fairly negligible at a glance‚ but this is a fascinating episode of SSTF. I've found this first series deeply uneven so
#far‚ beginning with a couple of brilliant‚ razor sharp scripts from series creator Elwyn Jones‚ but followed by a few really duff
#eps by Robert Barr‚ who seems to have seized the procedural aspect of the series and clung to it so his episodes depict fairly dull
#routine work for the characters. my heart jumped‚ then‚ when the opening credits for this episode announced Alan Plater as the writer
#Plater was truly one of our greatest screenwriters and deserves to be mentioned alongside Rosenthal and Potter (but rarely is‚ perhaps
#because he contributed so much to genre work or bc he did so much freelance for other series like this‚ rather than concentrating on his
#own original creations all the time). this is well before Beiderbecke made his name‚ but he was already an established writer and so
#presumably well known for the socialist views that inform much of his work (even freelancing). doubly surprising then‚ considering this
#episode follows on immediately from 1.7 The Aggro Boy‚ an Allan Prior script that's interesting as a document on attitudes and approaches
#to football hooliganism in 1970‚ but which has a highly Conservative bent and contains dialogue which seems to support increased powers of
#policing‚ the return of national service‚ and a general despair with 'modern society'. Prior's script couldn't be further from Plater's
#beliefs‚ but to his credit this episode (concerning labour disputes and unofficial strikes) does its damndest to remain neutral (mostly
#through the figure of Norman Bowler's Insp Hawkins who will not be drawn into taking sides). i suppose it's testament to Plater's
#professionalism; he was after all a guest writer on a mildly conservative cop show‚ not to mention writing for the BBC (always at pains to
#appear politically neutral). his characters are varied‚ with good and bad on both sides of the debate; there are bad managers and trouble
#makers on the picket‚ as well as sympathetic bosses and earnest union men. if Plater does allow his leftwing bias to show (and it's only
#briefly) it's in scenes where Hawkins is goaded by his superiors into betraying his own sympathies: something he explicitly refuses to do
#so where does Katy come in? what does her character represent? if anything i think she represents the disinterested masses
#the idle onlookers; her secretary character is not directly involved in the shop disputes and spends most of the episode watching the men
#from the window with half curiosity and half boredom. and she does it superbly!
24 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
aziidaa
challenge not accepted
wooqer
Wooqer
catwoman10001
Love is Love
avalon821
I Have Absolutely No Clue What Is Happening
withoutalice
How can we know the future?