MovieChat Forums > The Escape Artist (2013) Discussion > Question for Brits (Maggie subplot)

Question for Brits (Maggie subplot)

posted 10 years ago by mirandareynard
6 replies | jump to latest

I'm in the US, and enjoyed this program very much when PBS aired it last month. So I got the Dvd, and as I'm watching it I'm really pissed to realize that 2 scenes showcasing the wonderful Sophie Okonedo are missing. So I'm wondering - was her romantic subplot included in the version you saw?

The two scenes in question are:

1) She's having lunch in a posh restaurant with her boyfriend (who we later come to see is the forensics expert she shreds in court). Her special tea is quite a focus in this scene, she waxes poetic about it, calls it 'Far too good for the common people' (or something like that.) This scene took place at the beginning of our second episode, so about 90 minutes into the miniseries. Middle of the UK 2nd ep, I guess.

2) She and the boyfriend are walking the street at night, come to his flat door. He invites her in, she declines in a flirty way, he goes in, she starts to walk away, changes her mind, goes back to the door and he buzzes her in. ('I'll take a rain check' then 'It's not raining!' Very cute.)

As to that forensic expert, he also had two lines cut in the court scenes. When he first arrives in the ante-room and asks the solicitor 'Remind me, which one?', they then have a short snarky exchange about Maggie. Then later, after she demolishes him on the stand, out in the hall he says 'Never call me again' to which she shrugs 'Fine.'

So, were these in the UK version? I won't be shocked if they weren't, I remember the same thing happening ages ago when I bought the 'Island at War' Dvd. Scenes present on the UK version not in the US, but astonishingly about 12 little scenes or moments I saw in the PBS version that were missing on the Dvd. Annoying as hell! I know PBS is infamous for cutting things out of the UK imports, I can't understand how they come to put things in sometimes, too. Unbelievable.

Oh, and Sophie Okonedo was a big reason I bought this Dvd. I wanted to see those scenes again! Bloody PBS! I don't get it.

[–] maggie49 10 years ago

I have just watched the 3 episodes on New Zealand TV and those two scenes, you described with Sophie Okonedo, were not included. Obviously I didn't miss them but somehow I thought I had missed something about her character. It didn't seem to be fleshed out enough.

I did enjoy the series though and both her and David were very effective in their roles.

[–] mirandareynard 10 years ago

Thanks Maggie!

PBS's policies are incomprehensible all around. But it is a shame that the production had filmed these scenes with Okonedo, then chose to cut them out for the original airing. It's bizarre, and such a waste of talent. Something I forgot to mention in my first post, they even went so far as to change the audio in one additional scene - when she's freaking out about Foyle having left her a present in her flat, she calls someone, asking if she can come over. In the UK version it's her boss, or the solicitor she's working with on the case. In the PBS version, it's the ex-boyfriend, the doctor, which makes much more sense. When I watched my Dvd of the UK version, I thought it felt false and clunky because the older man's dialogue and tone didn't match up with what Maggie was saying. And on the other hand, it felt out-of-character for Maggie - no matter how scared she was, she wouldn't have betrayed herself by acting in such an informal and unprofessional manner to a superior.

Why can't PBS just show programs as they were originally seen, it would make everything so much easier. In this case, at least, I wouldn't be aware of something missing whenever I watch the Dvd. Grrr!

[–] dulisse77 10 years ago

I just finished watching the series on Amazon Prime and I don't remember either scene. There was also no explanation for Will's claim of identity theft on his wife's credit card.

[–] mirandareynard 10 years ago

I don't remember anymore to the thing about the wife's credit card in the PBS version, either. Maybe such an explanation was either not filmed, or filmed and cut, since the more important part of the scene was about Will's anger and grief being witnessed by the son.

I'm still mad about all this, I really want to see Okonedo's scenes again! I guess I'll keep checking my local PBS schedule for a repeat and then make my own Dvd.

[–] Ellielw 10 years ago

I just watched my recordings from when they were first aired on the BBC (they've been on my Sky box for ages!) and those scenes were not shown. I wonder why they were cut... Especially as the tea delivery scene would have made much more sense! I could only recall her initial interview with the murderer in which tea was mentioned

[–] markwooster1 10 years ago

That is all so weird. I didn't watch the show on PBS, because PBS usually edits scenes out from the original UK version. So I saw it on DVD, which by the way is longer than what was shown on PBS, but the DVD does not include the scenes you mention. So you're saying that scenes shown on PBS are not on the DVD?