Hello all,
Guess what I did yesterday?
This may sound boring (until the end….) but trust me… it is necessary to know…
I woke up at 9:ooam, which is the earliest I have EVER woken up this year and ate a breakfast of Asian pancakes. Then I did maths revision and stuff until lunch. Then I went for a walk and then watched Sherlock and Family Guy. Then I ate dinner and then I watched Hamish and Andy Christmas Special and then…
I WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE OF SMALL ISLAND! It was on ABC last night at 8:35pm (after the Labour ad campaign).
For those that don’t know what it is which should probably be most of you unless you, like me, are an ABC fanatic? Small Island is a ‘miniseries’ based on a novel about how the War affected people’s lives and how people’s lives entwine. It is technically only two episodes long (I think-I may be wrong) so therefore called a miniseries. The story in a nutshell in the first episode is:
By the by, all the following is told in ‘flashbacks’, the same format as Amadeus, the film based on the play.
There is a beautiful blonde woman called Queenie who gets married to a Bernard Bligh, played by Benedict Cumberbatch-my favourite, favourite actor. However, then he joins the army and gets shipped away. It is then assumed that he goes ‘missing’ as Queenie has no contact from him for a while. He and Queenie were living with his father when he went away. After he leaves, Queenie opens her door to billet men from the army. These men include two white men who are very chippy and talkative and a Jamaican man. Queenie later sleeps with the Jamaican man, name of Michael. Queenie and her father-in-law, name of Arthur Bligh, then move to a farm where Queenie meets another Jamaican man called Gilbert. She then flirts with him a bit in a café when she sees him while she was looking for Arthur (he wanders a bit). Then they get in a queue where two officers abuse Gilbert verbally, trying to get him to join the ‘blacks’ queue. They then call Queenie a whore and so Gilbert goes and defends her, causing him to get physically attacked. Following this, there is a lot of commotion which ends in Arthur dead and Gilbert being arrested and sent back to Jamaica.
There is also a second storyline. A Jamaican woman, Hortense lives with her guardian and a boy whom I think she loves. Basically she is a teacher and one day there is a hurricane and she and another teacher are stuck in a church-like school. Then the boy Michael (the same one as from the Queenie story) appears and it is then revealed then he and the other teacher who is married-a beautiful blonde who is NOT Queenie-are having an affair. As this is considered a very disgraceful thing, which it is, her guardian sends Michael to ‘volunteer’ in the RAF and for Hortense to be sent to a teaching college. At the college, Hortense befriends another lady called Celia. A few years pass where a lot happens including Michael going missing. I should probably mention here that she is obsessed with going to England because she believes it to be on an equal level as heaven. Anyway, Celia is revealed to be going out with Gilbert (same one as above) and he tells her that he is planning on going to England (as soon as he finds enough money). Celia, in front of Hortense, loudly exclaims that she is going to go to England and that all her dreams will come true. Hortense is so jealous and infuriated that she tells Gilbert a very important secret about Celia that ends Celia’s relationship with Gilbert. She then offers to Gilbert the money he needs to go to England as long as he marries her and sends her to England after he finds a house and a home for them. Gilbert foolishly accepts the offer.
After these two stories, the series goes back to the ‘present’ where:
Gilbert has invited the woman to live with him in his ‘home’, which is Queenie’s house. He ironically is also living with Queenie. It is then heavily implied that Queenie slept with Gilbert and is pregnant with his baby… SHOCK HORROR!
My description is probably not as accurate as is preferred but you can probably find a better synopsis on the internet. Anyway, after all that waffle, your brain is probably a bit frizzled, but the show was fantastic with some very realistic and smooth acting and some very authentic settings and buildings. I have not yet read the novel upon which it is based on but I am planning on reading it so I can see how the television adaption and the novel are similar. I very much enjoyed Small Island and am SO looking forward to the next episode. Apparently, in the next one, Bernard comes back and so does Michael… either way... it should be amazing judging from the first episode.
Usually, I would not have watched such a show as it was on a tad bit late and also I should be revising my maths test, but the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch was in it really drew me in. I do love him (see my below post on him). The final episode is next Sunday- Don’t Miss It!
I shall be continuing my love for the British and shall inform all of you of any new television shows that I watch. Luther on the ABC is pretty good, so is Spooks. I shall know of more once the holidays kick in!
Tata for now!
Cello xx
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