MovieChat Forums > Grantchester (2015) Discussion > In terms of realism, this is utter nonse...

In terms of realism, this is utter nonsense!

posted 8 years ago by !!!deleted!!! (12526472)
40 replies | jump to latest

So this incredibly good looking 'vicar' spends all his time being chased by beautiful women, listening to cool jazz music, drinking, witnessing/solving and being very much involved in frequent murders, in a faux 1950s setting where the characters aren't remotely convincing as examples of how people really were back then.

The couple of episodes I've seen are plenty to realise what a load of claptrap this is. I guess if you find it entertaining, go ahead, but why not do something original set in modern times BBC, Instead of murdering old books just to jump on this current band wagon of period dramas?

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[–] shellieeyre 8 years ago

Instead of murdering old books just to jump on this current band wagon of period dramas?

Old books? The first of Runcie's Sidney Chambers books was published in 2012.

And I don't know whether you've noticed (apparently not) but period dramas are not by any means a "current bandwagon".

I'm the clever one; you're the potato one.

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[–] shellieeyre 8 years ago

They are not, however, "old books", which was the OP's criticism.

I'm the clever one; you're the potato one.

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[–] maryrosenkranz 8 years ago

It's really a fine line between trying to be entertaining and/or trying to be realistic. I look at it as being an "updated" version of the 50's😀.
What I think they are going for with this series is more the mystery/drama part of story telling than to give what would be realistic at that time.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 8 years ago

OK, so they should go with that as the main theme and drop the vicar thing and make an original show.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 8 years ago

OK, so they should go with that as the main theme and drop the vicar thing and make an original show.

[–] lindarcooper 8 years ago

It's a TV show...a pleasant diversion. there isn't a whole bunch of "realism" in fiction.

[–] FearlessOneDay 8 years ago

All I have to do is watch the local TV news. It's enough to make me run from reality and Embrace the Power of Twee.

[–] TeaFiend 8 years ago

Question: Are you basing your ideas for "how people really were back then" on actual experience or on shows you have seen set in that time period before?

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 8 years ago

Mostly I am basing it on my Father's accounts, who was 15-25 in the fifties, And contemporary film / news items / interviews of the period.

[–] TeaFiend 8 years ago

Wow, you must have been really driven to carry out such extensive research. It must mean a lot to you.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 8 years ago

Not really, I was born in 1976 so have been subjected to my Dad's (and mother's, and other older family member's) stories of the past in this country for almost 40 years, whether I wanted to hear it or not. Additionally, being of this age I have had a few years to see some English news items, books, documentaries and the like previous to my recent and extensive Grandchester research project, strangely enough.

[–] Raiyne388 8 years ago

Can you give examples of what the characters are doing that is so unrealistic for the early 50s?

I think many of the behaviours seem pretty accurate. In fact, I think that's why most people don't like Amanda, she's too close to a 1950s woman and modern women find her annoying.

[–] DebauchedSloth 8 years ago

Amanda is what we used to call a "bolter" back then - an upper-class woman who marries as expected of her, then when she realises its not the happy ending she was promised, cuts and runs.

Princess Diana's mother was a bolter (in 1967) - and if you recall, Amanda says Guy's mother abandoned her family.

Bolters usually paid a high-price for their escape; they would almost certainly lose custody of their children in the 50s and 60s.

[–] timelord_66 8 years ago

Realism?? On TV???

[–] Nomad310 8 years ago

On a continuum of tv crime/mystery shows, with Father Brown on one end and The Wire on the other, Grantchester falls about in the middle. It would be more toward the Father Brown side but for the excellent performances of the principals. IMHO, it's about as well written as it needs to be in order to entertain.

[–] CuddlesMacombs 8 years ago

IMHO, it's about as well written as it needs to be in order to entertain.

Well yeah that's true but here's the problem. This is a Masterpiece production.
If I just want to be mildly entertained I'll go watch reruns of Law and Order SVU.
When I tune into Masterpiece on PBS I expect productions that have standards that are high above the typical entertainment choices of today. I can't say that I have found that to be the case with Grantchester and it's currently extremely lazy writing that basically insults the intelligence of its viewers.

"I'm not foul, Mr. Carson. I'm not like you, but I'm not foul."

[–] Nomad310 8 years ago

Point taken, Cuddles. But Grantchester is not a Masterpiece production. They've purchased the distribution rights for the US, so maybe we should let them know we expect them to be better shoppers. 😉

I was just thinking about another British man, one who met his end in the mid fifties; Alan Turing. The culture of that era was so intolerant of homosexuality, that the seeming tolerance for Leonard is more improbable than anything. Perhaps his story is working up to a future crisis.

[–] CuddlesMacombs 8 years ago

I agree that the treatment of Leonard is also extremely improbable. And as a man of the cloth I would assume that Sydney would be bound to the COE position on homosexuality. I could see Sydney being portrayed as being conflicted over what he strongly suspects about Leonard, but never the easy acceptance that he and others in the show seem to display in this and that earlier episode of Grantchester that dealt with the murder of a homosexual man. Downton Abbey was another Masterpiece series that played free and loose with the attitudes towards homosexuality of its time.

But yes it is possible that future episodes will show Leonard suffering as others who might not be so open minded catch on.

"I'm not foul, Mr. Carson. I'm not like you, but I'm not foul."

[–] DebauchedSloth 8 years ago

Sidney would have been alone in the CoE at the time in arguing that adult homosexuality should be a matter of private conscience, not criminal sanction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo_Auguste_Demant

James Runcie's father (and the inspiration for Sidney) seems to have been tolerant enough in a "don't ask, don't tell" sense; we know that as Bishop and later Archbishop, Runcie ordained a lot of men he knew to be gay, but ultimately refused to ordain at least one candidate who attracted media controversy over his involvement in gay rights, Richard Kirker:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/22/religion.uk1

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[–] DebauchedSloth 8 years ago

Thanks!
I was being a bit lazy - I had some problems earlier with getting the link function to work, so skipped over it until I had more time and a better internet connection to work with.

[–] DebauchedSloth 8 years ago

Its interesting how this show seems to have ruffled some conservative viewers feathers so throughly. I think the mixed tone, cosy, nostalgic period piece with hard consequences is disconcerting, in a way I am really enjoying, but could be quite alienating.

As we slip further from the 50s and 60s the cosy glow eclipses the remembered reality. Grantchester is a sobering reminder of what life before birth-control, wide-spread vacination, women's liberation, etc was actually like. (ie - just like ours, only with some of the safety nets we take for granted removed!)

I'm pretty close to Runcie's age, so my memories are those of a child, but the era feels very real to me - more so than many other "50s" dramas on TV. I can smell it. Cigarettes, beer, damp wool, carbolic, coal gas and coal fires; no anti-perspirants, no washing machines, no fridges or showers.

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[–] KushalaC 8 years ago

My parents were in their 20s during this era. One of their closest friends as newly-married couple was a gay man about 10 years older than they were. He was much more travelled and worldly than they were just moving to Toronto from a
small prairie city. He introduced them to red wine, the first time they'd tasted non-sweet wine!, and jazz music, and cooking that was more than meat/potatoes/carrots & peas.

Both my parents in later years spoke of this friend with great fondness. He'd opened up a world of culture to them that they didn't know of. They both acknowledged that they knew he wasn't into ladies, but they accepted who he was in a respectful, polite way.

So, I haven't been surprised by the acceptance of Leonard. The vicar reminds me a lot of my father -- itchy at the constraints of his time, yet in so many ways a prisoner of the class he is born to.

[–] CuddlesMacombs 8 years ago

What a lovely post, KushalaC! You're certainly were very very lucky to have had parents like that, especially considering the times. Thanks so much for posting about that. It made me smile. 

"I'm not foul, Mr. Carson. I'm not like you, but I'm not foul."

[–] DebauchedSloth 8 years ago

That was my family's experience as well; as a student in the 40s/50s my father shared a flat with a young man he knew was homosexual, but who became his close friend, later best man and my godfather. While my father shared many of the prejudices of the era, he was exceptionally tolerant of individual differences.

I have no problem in understanding how Leonard is loved and accepted by those who know him best, yet still lives in fear of discovery if he ever acts on his desires.

Part of this is due to the nature of the law at the time - being homosexual by inclination has never been a crime, but engaging in male samesex activity was until 1967, and the penalties were severe, both legally and socially.

But then, the same standards applied to straight people too; Sidney and Amanda aren't technically breaking any rules by yearning for each other, however much as those around them disapprove and/or worry for them - but if they act on those impulses... then all hell breaks loose (in a suitably restrained English upper-crust way, of course).