Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC (TV Mini Series) Dames of Classic Drama (2015) User Reviews

Rather Sketchy Survey of Some of Our Best-Known Actresses' Early Television Careers

[l_rawjalaurence · 6/10 · 22 November 2015]

Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren ... five titans of the British stage who have also carved out notable careers on film and television. DAMES OF CLASSIC DRAMA surveys their television careers with the help of material from the BBC archives.

There is only one slight snag: many of these performers have made their televisual names with series from other companies. Dench made her comedy debut in LWT's A FINE ROMANCE; Mirren shone in ITV's PRIME SUSPECT; while Smith has enjoyed a late-career renaissance in DOWNTON ABBEY. Hence this program tended to focus mainly on the actresses' work in the Sixties and Seventies, while overlooking their latter careers entirely.

There were some interesting nuggets. We saw Dench in John Hopkins's landmark quartet of plays TALKING TO A STRANGER; an emotive Redgrave in AS YOU LIKE IT; a dowager-like Smith in THE MILLIONAIRESS; and a sensual Mirren in the RSC's TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. These clips were transposed with interviews, some of which were particularly sexist in tone. Michael Parkinson seemed obsessed with breasts and nudity while talking to Mirren and Diana Rigg. Other interviews revealed past predilections for smoking: when Smith talked to Clive Goodwin in a late Sixties program, the two of them happily puffed away and lit up new cigarettes.

As with the companion program KNIGHTS OF CLASSIC DRAMA, it was gratifying to see clips from the BBC's extensive archive. One wonders why the Corporation doesn't repeat some of these programs as examples of classic television from the past. On the other hand, the compilations were a tad thin, reflecting the fact that other companies also had a significant part to play in television's rich dramatic history.

The Real Dames

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 22 November 2015]

Dames of Classic Drama at the BBC is a companion piece to the Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC which is just an excuse to see old clips of some the nation's greatest actress when they were younger.

Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave are featured. Hold on, Vanessa Redgrave was not a Dame at the time of original broadcast. She allegedly turned down the title some years ago but accepted it in 2021.

They could had also included Glenda Jackson as well as I find it hard to believe that a two time Oscar winning actress and one time Minister of Transport has never been offered the title in the past.

Judi Dench and Maggie Smith have regularly appeared on the BBC throughout the decades. Less so with Helen Mirren who seems to have mixed films with television dramas on ITV since the early 1980s. Even her Oscar winning performance was co-produced by ITV. Diana Rigg came to prominence in the ITV series The Avengers.

Still it was good to see these actresses in their early performances. Redgrave playing Miss Jean Brodie on the stage and unsure whether to play her in the film version which Maggie Smith took and bagged an Oscar.

We see Helen Mirren starting out in the late 1960s, she was brash, had attitude and was willing to use sex appeal. She was also amassing the classical stage roles from an early age and we got to see clips from a rare BBC co-produced film where she was wearing a basque and in danger of popping out.

We also see Parkinson being a little chauvinistic towards her when he interviewed her in the 1970s. However he interviewed again in the early noughties when Helen Mirren pulled his leg for being intimidated by having an all woman lineup for that edition of his chat show.

Still at a time when the BBC are under attack from licence fee cuts in real terms it is good to see some of the nation's drama heritage being displayed.