• About
  • Listening
    • Baroque
    • Bluegrass and Country
    • Classical Fusion
    • Classical Period
    • Early Music
    • Film soundtracks
    • Folk Music
    • Jazz
    • Modern Classical
    • Modern Pop Fusion
    • Musicals
    • Romantic Classical
    • Spoken word
    • World Music
  • Reading
    • Fiction
      • Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
      • Classic writers and their works
      • Contemporary Fiction
      • Crime and Detective Fiction
      • Fictionalised Biography
      • Historical Fiction
      • Horror
      • Lighter-hearted reads
      • Literary Fiction
      • Plays and Poetry
      • Romance
      • SF
      • Short stories
      • Western
      • Whimsy and Fantastical
    • Non-Fiction
      • Arts
      • Biography and Autobiography
      • Ethics, reflection, a meditative space
      • Food and Drink
      • Geography and Travel
      • Health and wellbeing
      • History and Social History
      • Philosophy of Mind
      • Science and nature
      • Society; Politics; Economics
  • Reading the 20th Century
  • Watching
    • Documentary
    • Film
    • Staged Production
    • TV
  • Shouting From The Soapbox
    • Arts Soapbox
    • Chitchat
    • Philosophical Soapbox
    • Science and Health Soapbox
  • Interviews / Q + A
  • Indexes
    • Index of Bookieness – Fiction
    • Index of Bookieness – Non-Fiction
    • Index of authors
    • Index of titles
    • 20th Century Index
    • Sound Index
      • Composers Index
      • Performers Index
    • Filmed Index

Lady Fancifull

~ adventures in a mainly literary obsession

Lady Fancifull

Daily Archives: January 13, 2014

Tutti Frutti

13 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Lady Fancifull in TV, Watching

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

BBC Scotland, Emma Thompson, Glasgow, John Byrne, Maurice Roeves, Richard Wilson, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Smith, Tutti Frutti, TV Drama Series

Oh glorious, hysterically funny knife edging with pain and tragedy simultaneously

Tutti-Frutti-DVDI remember being GLUED to this when it was first broadcast, and again on a rerun some I think 10 years later…..but like its many other fans was left wanting the ability to watch again (and again!) whenever I, as opposed to the schedulers, wanted.

It felt at the time a remarkable programme, all credit to John Byrne’s script, Tony Smith’s direction, Andy Park’s production and performances by a fabulous, stellar cast, headed by Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson, who are well matched in the scene-stealing stakes by the likes of Richard Wilson, Katy Murphy, and particularly Maurice Roeves as the hellishly accident and prostrate-by-lust prone lead guitarist Vincent.

The fortunes of the never quite made it 60s rock and roll band the Majestics, desperately still trying to scratch a living in the 80s, receding hairlines, middle-aged bellies and all is a fabulous mix of the gritty and fantastical.

Curiously, whilst being AS enamoured of it as I was back in 86 I have a bit more trouble with some of the very fast paced exchanges – Back in the 80s I travelled round more, including some time spent working in Glasgow, so had no problems in comprehending what was said. Glaswegian – in common with pretty well all city accents, is delivered at a lick, so it can take a little while to adjust your ears – and with dialogue this tight and punchy, delivered with a fast and furious throw away, you really won’t want to miss a single line ! Nice that DVDs offer a subtitle if you need it – though I prefered to watch each episode a couple of times to make sure I’ve missed nothing – the performances warrant that anyway. They are that good.

However, for those without access to Region 2 Players, a cut up version exists of the whole series on You Tube I’ve linked Episode 1, Part 1 which will give a taster or the wonderful juxtaposition of mordant humour, pathos, wit , strange and wonderful images – and great music. But, be warned, the You Tube videos are not subtitled, – plus it IS annoying to run to the end of a clip every 5 minutes or so and have to search for the next Part of the same episode to watch

There are some similarities with another BBC Scotland production of the 90s – which Tutti Frutti cast photosequally carved out a sure road in black comedy, heartbreak and searing performances, balancing realism with something on the tightrope of caricature – edgy, brave, on the edge work Takin’ Over The Asylum [1994] [DVD] This latter once again with the wonderful Katy Murphy, Ken Stott and a beautiful, vulnerable lead performance from a young David Tennant.

BBC Scotland, you rock!

Tutti Frutti Amazon UK
Tutti Frutti Amazon USA

However, for those across the pond, this marvellous series, whilst available, is only for those with Region 2/Europe Players

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Page Indexes

  • About
    • Index of Bookieness – Fiction
    • Index of Bookieness – Non-Fiction
    • Index of authors
    • Index of titles
    • 20th Century Index
  • Sound Index
    • Composers Index
    • Performers Index
  • Filmed Index

Genres

Archives

January 2014
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Dec   Feb »

Posts Getting Perused

  • Mark Rowlands - The Philosopher and The Wolf
    Mark Rowlands - The Philosopher and The Wolf
  • William Butler Yeats - Vacillation
    William Butler Yeats - Vacillation
  • Alan Sillitoe - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
    Alan Sillitoe - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
  • Barbara Vine - The Blood Doctor
    Barbara Vine - The Blood Doctor
  • Mick Herron - Dead Lions
    Mick Herron - Dead Lions
  • Rebecca -Alfred Hitchcock
    Rebecca -Alfred Hitchcock
  • Jodi Picoult - Small Great Things
    Jodi Picoult - Small Great Things
  • Flora Rheta Schreiber - Sybil
    Flora Rheta Schreiber - Sybil

Recent Posts

  • Bart Van Es – The Cut Out Girl
  • Joan Baez – Vol 1
  • J.S.Bach – Goldberg Variations – Zhu Xiao-Mei
  • Zhu Xiao-Mei – The Secret Piano
  • Jane Harper – The Lost Man

NetGalley Badges

Fancifull Stats

  • 156,810 hits
Follow Lady Fancifull on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow on Bloglovin

Tags

1930s setting Adult Faerie Tale Andrew Greig Arvo Pärt Autobiography baroque Beryl Bainbridge Biography Biography as Fiction Bits and Bobs Bits and Pieces Book Review Books about Books Cats Children's Book Review Classical music Classical music review Classic Crime Fiction Colm Toibin Cookery Book Crime Fiction David Mitchell Dystopia Espionage Ethics Fantasy Fiction Feminism Film review First World War Folk Music Food Industry France Gay and Lesbian Literature Ghost story Golden-Age Crime Fiction Graham Greene Health and wellbeing Historical Fiction History Humour Humour and Wit Ireland Irish writer Irvin D. Yalom Janice Galloway Japan Literary Fiction Literary pastiche Lynn Shepherd Marcus Sedgwick Meditation Mick Herron Minimalism Music review Myths and Legends Neil Gaiman Ngaio Marsh Novels about America Other Stuff Patrick Flanery Patrick Hamilton Perfumery Philip Glass Philosophy Police Procedural Post-Apocalypse Psychiatry Psychological Thriller Psychology Psychotherapy Publication Day Reading Rebecca Mascull Reflection Robert Harris Rose Tremain Russian Revolution sacred music Sadie Jones Sci-Fi Science and nature Scottish writer Second World War SF Shakespeare Short stories Simon Mawer Soapbox Spy thriller Susan Hill Tana French The Cold War The Natural World TV Drama Victorian set fiction Whimsy and Fantasy Fiction William Boyd World music review Writing Young Adult Fiction

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Lady Fancifull
    • Join 770 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Lady Fancifull
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: