Repeated in May 2023 in an inconspicuous late night slot on BBC4, this was a sharp reminder of how 30 years ago the BBC would produce excellent dramas where the power of the story was amplified by subtlety and understatement rather than exaggeration and flamboyance. A simple plot about an elderly couple coming to terms with the imminent demise of one of them, and how together they realise what they've achieved with their lives, as they journey from their Skye croft to visit each of their five children around Britain. There's a lot of social commentary about the state of the nation in the early 1990s, but it's used as a backcloth for what is basically a love story. Superbly acted by the main characters to give a genuine warmth to the inevitable ending. Highly recommended.
4 Reviews
The Long Roads
Prismark104 June 2023
Peter McVurrich (Robert Urquhart) and Kitty McVurrich (Edith MacArthur) are a couple who leave their farm in the Isle of Skye to visit their children.
Peter was a sailor who travelled the world while Kitty stayed at home to raise her children.
Their first port of call is Glasgow. Iain is a police officer and his wife might be having a fling with his colleague. She is also not comfortable with her in laws staying with them.
They then visit their daughter Fiona in Liverpool. She has money problems having to work as a masseuse to make ends meet.
In Peterborough their son Roddie is a technocrat with a vision of a future that was not that far wrong.
Down in London, daughter Deirdre is married to a wealthy financier who puts them up in a suite at a hotel with all expenses paid. Whereas their other daughter Mairi is aghast that Deirdre would not put her parents up for a few nights at their mansion.
It is a final journey for Kitty, she is dying of cancer and she wants to see her children for a final time. In turn the couple experience the changing face of 1990s Britain in both socio-economic terms. Peter and Kitty just suddenly turn up, they wrote a letter that they would be arriving to stay. Not even a phone call.
In Glasgow the children and grandchildren seemed oblivious, Iain unable to even say goodbye to his mother. In Liverpool the family is deep in debt whereas Deirdre has no money issues at all.
At its heart this is a bittersweet and poignant story. Even though Peter is from Skye he is a man of the world, he can greet people in other languages. There is a nice moment where he play roulette to make the night at a hotel to be little more swanky.
Even Kitty is more understanding of Fiona's predicament to make ends meet. It allows her to ask Peter whether he ever strayed. The experience of travelling the country brings both of them together despite the apathy of some of their offsprings.
Writer John McGrath was inspired to write this personal piece after the death of his parents. It also has similarities to Tokyo Story.
Peter was a sailor who travelled the world while Kitty stayed at home to raise her children.
Their first port of call is Glasgow. Iain is a police officer and his wife might be having a fling with his colleague. She is also not comfortable with her in laws staying with them.
They then visit their daughter Fiona in Liverpool. She has money problems having to work as a masseuse to make ends meet.
In Peterborough their son Roddie is a technocrat with a vision of a future that was not that far wrong.
Down in London, daughter Deirdre is married to a wealthy financier who puts them up in a suite at a hotel with all expenses paid. Whereas their other daughter Mairi is aghast that Deirdre would not put her parents up for a few nights at their mansion.
It is a final journey for Kitty, she is dying of cancer and she wants to see her children for a final time. In turn the couple experience the changing face of 1990s Britain in both socio-economic terms. Peter and Kitty just suddenly turn up, they wrote a letter that they would be arriving to stay. Not even a phone call.
In Glasgow the children and grandchildren seemed oblivious, Iain unable to even say goodbye to his mother. In Liverpool the family is deep in debt whereas Deirdre has no money issues at all.
At its heart this is a bittersweet and poignant story. Even though Peter is from Skye he is a man of the world, he can greet people in other languages. There is a nice moment where he play roulette to make the night at a hotel to be little more swanky.
Even Kitty is more understanding of Fiona's predicament to make ends meet. It allows her to ask Peter whether he ever strayed. The experience of travelling the country brings both of them together despite the apathy of some of their offsprings.
Writer John McGrath was inspired to write this personal piece after the death of his parents. It also has similarities to Tokyo Story.
Moving & profound
nqure2 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I was pleased to see this repeated for the first time on BBC4 as the BBC repeats some of its historic drama. I caught this drama the first time round in the early 90s and never forgot the basic story of a couple going to visit their children around the UK. Watching it again after thirty years, I felt some parts of it were schematic (the social commentary), but that others took on greater significance such as the relationship between the elderly couple. "We found what we came for,' says one of the couple towards the end of the film (to paraphrase). I perhaps missed this key theme the first time round. They rediscover each other.
I returned to this film after watching 'Tokyo Story' which this BBC drama is supposed to have been inspired by. In John McGrath's story, the plot is not only about parents & children - how the parents are merely an inconvenience for some of them, but Peter & Kitty's relationship. Kitty is a quiet understated character, (an outstanding performance by Edith MacArthur), but we come to realize that it was her quiet strength that held the family together whilst her husband traversed the waves as a merchant sailor. The image of a child's drawing of the sun can be interpreted both as a comment on the beauty & fragility of life, the sunlight flitting across the crops as well as symbolic of the role Kitty occupied in the family's life.
It's a fascinating television film in many ways despite trying to 'shoe-horn' so much in terms of class observations. Watching the film, you do wonder if it is also a comment on our individualistic age. There is a suggestion that one sister has been forced into prostitution whilst another lives in exclusive Chelsea. The children are drawn with enough detail not to become mere ciphers. One is cynical & jaded by his job, another worn down by circumstance/poverty, whilst another's apparent comfy middle-class life is revealed to be empty.
There are moments when the film does occasionally feel a touch sentimental. Peter's final outburst. I would have preferred him to collect flowers in silent grief though this is a personal quibble. Perhaps we need an insight into his state of mind after he tells the local doctor that he is 'managing'.
I thought Kitty's despair at her impending fate - the couple's embrace in the hotel - was very truthful and one of the most powerful scenes in a memorable film.
I returned to this film after watching 'Tokyo Story' which this BBC drama is supposed to have been inspired by. In John McGrath's story, the plot is not only about parents & children - how the parents are merely an inconvenience for some of them, but Peter & Kitty's relationship. Kitty is a quiet understated character, (an outstanding performance by Edith MacArthur), but we come to realize that it was her quiet strength that held the family together whilst her husband traversed the waves as a merchant sailor. The image of a child's drawing of the sun can be interpreted both as a comment on the beauty & fragility of life, the sunlight flitting across the crops as well as symbolic of the role Kitty occupied in the family's life.
It's a fascinating television film in many ways despite trying to 'shoe-horn' so much in terms of class observations. Watching the film, you do wonder if it is also a comment on our individualistic age. There is a suggestion that one sister has been forced into prostitution whilst another lives in exclusive Chelsea. The children are drawn with enough detail not to become mere ciphers. One is cynical & jaded by his job, another worn down by circumstance/poverty, whilst another's apparent comfy middle-class life is revealed to be empty.
There are moments when the film does occasionally feel a touch sentimental. Peter's final outburst. I would have preferred him to collect flowers in silent grief though this is a personal quibble. Perhaps we need an insight into his state of mind after he tells the local doctor that he is 'managing'.
I thought Kitty's despair at her impending fate - the couple's embrace in the hotel - was very truthful and one of the most powerful scenes in a memorable film.
A totally absorbing drama.
Sleepin_Dragon20 December 2023
When Kitty learns that she is dying of cancer, she and her husband Peter leave behind their tranquil life in Skye to visit their children,
How refreshing to watch a one off, ninety minute drama, and get a break from the usual run of six part serials.
It's an excellent drama, very well made and well acted, a definite journey of discovery for Kitty, and husband Peter, as they learn more about their offspring, abd relationship.
It shows that parents have an influence on their spouses, but they can turn out very differently. Kitty gave birth to one really lovely human being, one good one, one that's ok, and two pretty unpleasant types, that posh son really was a creep.
I love the technology, 1993 seems like a world apart, with a teas maid the height of sophistication.
Edith MacArthur is glorious as Kitty, Robert Urquhart is equally as good, and was perhaps the most familiar face. Michelle Fairley
It's funny, it's heart breaking, it's moving, it's a very powerful drama. The BBC always did these dramas brilliantly, thank goodness for iPlayer, if only these had a commercial release.
8/10.
How refreshing to watch a one off, ninety minute drama, and get a break from the usual run of six part serials.
It's an excellent drama, very well made and well acted, a definite journey of discovery for Kitty, and husband Peter, as they learn more about their offspring, abd relationship.
It shows that parents have an influence on their spouses, but they can turn out very differently. Kitty gave birth to one really lovely human being, one good one, one that's ok, and two pretty unpleasant types, that posh son really was a creep.
I love the technology, 1993 seems like a world apart, with a teas maid the height of sophistication.
Edith MacArthur is glorious as Kitty, Robert Urquhart is equally as good, and was perhaps the most familiar face. Michelle Fairley
It's funny, it's heart breaking, it's moving, it's a very powerful drama. The BBC always did these dramas brilliantly, thank goodness for iPlayer, if only these had a commercial release.
8/10.
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