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Kingsley Amis is a good writer. Pity the supporting actors were not up to it. The son was particularly annoying.

The GOAT. No question. I gave up writing when I realised how foolish I’d seem

Alan Clarke?, I'd rather listen to Korky the Cat!.

"Gods Wonderful Railway" if you're old enough ;-)

RIP 🙏

Thank you so much for up loading this. I never forgot it but I didn't think I'd ever see it again! Thanks so much.

A man too droll to be nice

He was 81 here, and lived on another 13 years, active to the end. Back when the Telegraph was (mostly) intelligently conservative. He'd be appalled at what it's become.

His diaries are essential reading when on the bog!

Read the story, it's 100 times better

A Conservative history of the Conservatives is inherently of limited value. He was far too kind to them.

Just been to see her today. Absolutely stunning piece of engineering. Brought back to Great Britain when anything was possible where there was a will for it.

This is one of the best comedy films of all time, supported by a stellar cast.

Thank you. I have been an admirer of Kingsley Amis for decades and have finally been able to watch this drama, based on his screenplay. Cheers!

The funniest book ever, and the saddest book ever.

Great film

The English Magnificat is nails on a chalkboard

😢🎉

Wasn't he prime minister after Thatcher?

People who aren’t cruel can also converse, it seems. Very pleasant to attend a conversation where no one is selling anything.

"never trust a british catholic"- my irish (catholic) grandmother

Tonic. Does this type of person still exist? Went a bit downhill later. Too much booze.

Great documentary made even better with the narrators/hosts personal connection to Spain and the Spanish civil wars.

As a metaldetectorist in West-Flanders, I truly see the remains of the horror that took place. The amount of lead shrapnell balls I dig up when making videos is absurd. I save em in a big jar as decoration.

Hey Mr. Salisbury, I wanted to thank you for uploading this! I have been looking for this film for two years now. I have gotten friends involved, posted about it on Tumblr and Reddit, and even wrote directly to Mr. Edward Fox himself about the fate of this- what I thought was- lost media. The only confirmed source I had for this film still being in existence was the BBC Film Media company. Even then, I could not view it, as they only do in-person movies... Which I was unable to partake in, given my status as someone across the Atlantic (i.e not British). I finally got to watch this with my friends (who have also read the book) and we had a great time! It really was worth the hunt! Thanks again!

This is one reason why the uk is dead and gone 10k views only

Some british commanders claim that they almost lost the war. The argentine aviation attack was too much.

Speaking in 2024, the Conservative Party seems never to have fully escaped the problems that brought it low in the 1990s. The issue of Europe has once against destroyed it, but this time it feels much worse. Existential. There have been 5 prime ministers so far since the Conservatives won in 2010, each pulling in different directions, with little ideological cohesion between them. Two of the former tenets of Conservatism, respect for the rule of law and sound money, have been tested to destruction by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Many of its MPs have been forced to resign for one kind of scandal or another. It's hard to discern what the party stands for any longer, other than the self interest of its MPs. Someone once said that Margaret Thatcher was the link between her father, a frugal, morally upright Methodist preacher, and her son Mark, a convicted criminal and fraudster. It would seem very much that the Mark Thatchers of this world are now dominant within the Conservative Party, and the Party will pay a very heavy price for it. It will be interesting to see how they will do in the next election, and whether they can survive afterwards.

Thatcher, like pretty much every other prime minister who comes to power, was lucky in her timing. They all arrive when the public are heartily sick of the other side, usually after they've been in power for some time. What was particular about Margaret Thatcher was the extent of her luck. One after one, her opponents all destroyed themselves: Heath by not resigning to make way for Whitelaw; the Labour Party with swinging way to the left and self destructing; the Argentinians invading the Falklands pretty much by accident whereas if it had happened a few months later, Britain would have sold off the only ships it could respond with; the unions who had completely undermined any public support they had in the winter of discontent; Scargill led a suicidal strike at the worst possible moment when coal stocks were high and he refused to hold a ballot which would have allowed other people to help; and of top of that the huge revenues from North Sea oil, without which the changes she made to the economy would have been inpossible.

Kinsley Amis was a great novelist, poet and this shows he was great at scriptwriting too.

Doctor Watson and the Darkwater Hall Mystery - A Singular Adventure Edward Fox as Dr. Watson. BBC Television, U.K. 1 hr. 10 mn. 27 December 1974 Director: James Cellen Jones Plot: Since Holmes is away recuperating, at long last Watson gets the lead role. Dr. Watson (Edward Fox), with deerstalker, magnifying glass and a pipe a la Sherlock, solves the mystery of the threat to Sir Henry's (Christopher Cazenove) life. Being Watson the ladies man, he of course encounters the case through helping Emily (Elaine Taylor) a damsel in distress. Cast: Edward Fox, Elaine Taylor, Christopher Cazenove, Jeremy Clyde, John Westbrook, Terence Bayler and Carmen Gomez. Odds and Ends: Jeremy Clyde who plays Miles, would later play Sherlock Holmes in Crime Writers (1978), and he was the Jeremy in the 1960’s singing duo, Chad and Jeremy. Edward Fox also played the role of Alistair Ross in the TV movie The Crucifer of Blood (1991), with Charlton Heston as Sherlock Holmes. James Fox, Edward Fox's brother, voiced Sherlock Holmes on the radio in "The Beekeeper’s Apprentice", "The Affair of the Senator's Daughter", "The Segregation of the Queen" and "A Battle Royal" (2000). James also played Sir Thomas Rotheram in the 2009 film "Sherlock Holmes". Emilia Fox, Edward's daughter, would dress as Sherlock Holmes in "All Round to Mrs Brown’s" (2017), on BBC 1. Also Emilia was once married to Jared Harris who played Professor James Moriarty in "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" (2011). Louis Robinson adds: " I do have a copy somewhere of "The Darkwater Hall Mystery" on a VHS Cassette. It was written by Kingsley Amis and starred Edward Fox as Watson. Holmes is never seen. Watson is totally incompetent and does everything wrong but a series of mistakes actually solves the case. I haven't seen it in years as I no longer have a VHS player. It's 90 minutes so I don't really want to spend the money transferring it to DVD. I know Edward Fox was quite proud of the show. I worked with him in a series of concerts (he read poetry and I played and sang appropriate songs) for an anti-slavery organization. Not the done thing for a fellow performer, but when I asked him for his autograph and he spluttered, "Why on earth would you want that?" "You played Watson in the Darkwater Hall Mystery '' I replied, "I collect Holmes/Watson autographs" and he softened it.. I think the play which was only transmitted once just fell through the public memory hole. In those days the actor's contracts for TV shows were limited to one broadcast and one repeat. That's why so many of them have disappeared into the BBC vaults forever. In order to show them again, the entire contract would have to be renegotiated. For UK TV shows with large sales (DR Who is the best example) it's worth the new fees. Canny artists - I can think of two - Nat King Cole and Barry Manilow - had contracts which included them owning the tapes after two transmissions. Another terrible fact is that if only ONE person in the cast does not sign a release for a new contract the show stays on the shelf. This happened when John Bluthal, who hated the BBC refused to sign and an entire Spike Milligan series was dumped. It's a matter of some distress that there are so many fine BBC shows that will never see the light of day unless some millionaire fan funds new contracts."

one thing is he is correct about is that Ulyses is complete jibberish.

Powell - the best PM we never had.

Park was a good Wartime Leader but he was totally out of touch with the Post War World and used to all the LUXURY lives, of Prewar Britain, but this was an illusion as other ranks were treated badly like Dickensian Conditions...

Unfortunately doesn’t feature the Vulcan flight all the way down the north and south Atlantic constantly aerially refueled by other V force fuel tankers to bomb the Stanley airfield. It was literally touch and go - just enough to hit the target then about gave and return to the UK by the same gruelling refuelling route

Anything about war especially involving Britain - read Hastings, Beevor and MacMillan. That’s all you need

Bloody costly in British blood and treasure to keep a dwindling insular sheep flock British - both an insular Little England and actual ovine Falklanders

Shouldn’t have been there

E Waugh was gay could not accept it and like most Scorpios who don't get what they want sexually became a monster. He obsessed over glamorous woman and was a total queen with people. Bitchy cruel and tight fisted to his family. His first wife Sh-Evelyn had his number and got rid of him after 3 years. He was one of the nastiest British literary stars much like Dickens was in real life in the 19thC. He was a nasty too off the page.

My uncle was in the Australian army during the last half of the war . His unit was used mainly for garrison duty in Northern Australia and New Guinea where they lived in very primitive conditions. At wars end he was asked if he would re enlist to be part of the occupation forces in Japan. According to my other uncle his response was, "you can get fucked , you have treated me like shit for three years , you can go to buggery , im going home".

Like old Basil Seal, I also feel the need to pee constantly these days

professional jealousy reeks from the authors casting shade on Brideshead Revisited. They’re just green with envy at Waugh’s success and the quality of his writing

Waugh reminds me of Charles Ryder’s father who was comically austere in his affections

It sounds like he's talking about the politics of 2024.

Yes, this is and was how staying the Catholic ' enter by the narrow gate' bit can unfold, as much as Dante's Purgatorio lines of ' Christians, be harder to move'...

From what book is she reading? 4:02

Dear Lord. This is dark. Of course, the whole situation is exaggerated, but nevertheless, not far from the truth. A fantastic cast that would have made even the badest script shine. Thank you very much for sharing this twisted gem :)

I enjoyed this immensely. I didn`t want it to end. I am glad it ended in the past and not in the future. Thank you very much for sharing.

It's incredibly sad. The officer in charge of the attack was likely never held responsible. These generals that sent these poor young men over the top came from an era long before the invention of the modern levels of firepower available.

I watched this with mum and dad when it first aired. I remember warning them that this was based on a novel by the author who wrote The Green Man so it’s going to get weird or dark or both.