Cold Comfort Farm

[ffutures]

I know that everyone on my friends list in the UK is going to be watching / recording the two-part Torchwood episode on Monday night, myself included, but if anyone happens to have some spare recording capacity I'd be grateful if you could record this, which unfortunately overlaps it:

Drama
Cold Comfort Farm
10:00pm - 11:40pm Monday 1st January
BBC4

VIDEO Plus+: 6960555
Subtitles, TV movie
Scripted by Malcolm Bradbury, John Schlesinger's film was originally intended for UK television, but ended up securing cinematic distribution in the US. Kate Beckinsale plays Flora Poste, an orphan in 1930s England who is sent off to live with her distant rural relatives, the Starkadders. Instead of sinking into a deep depression, Flora sets about sorting out her mad kin (Eileen Atkins, Rufus Sewell, Ian McKellen). Based on the novel by Stella Gibbons, this dotty, very British comedy is a real treat.

Directed by: John Schlesinger
Filmed in: 1995
Judith Starkadder - Eileen Atkins
Flora Poste - Kate Beckinsale
Ada Doom - Sheila Burrell
Mybug - Stephen Fry
Adam Lambsbreath - Freddie Jones
Mrs Smiling - Joanna Lumley
Amos Starkadder - Ian McKellen
Mrs Beetle - Miriam Margolyes
Seth - Rufus Sewell

I may be able to do it myself by swapping a few cables etc., my Freeview box can allegedly show me one program while another is being recorded, but I've never tried it - just in case it doesn't work I'd be grateful for backup.

Later: Never mind - I've remembered that the box can record two channels simultaneously, so not a problem. But I do seriously recommend Cold Comfort Farm, it's immense fun, one of the best dramatizations I can remember.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Really, I'd hope people would prefer CCF. I've not seen any Torchwood, but all the comments suggest its rather variable, and mostly rubbish while it would be hard to ruin CCF.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

This CCF is excellent, I've seen it before, but it's the two-part Torchwood finale and I don't want to miss recording it. However, after posting that I remembered that my hard disk recorder can record two programs simultaneously, I've never done it before but it looks like I'll be trying on Monday.

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

It was very good, I think I've got it somewhere on video tape. Given that we can do Torchwood on watch-again (and may have to, as we're likely to be wiped out on Monday), I might get it onto something a bit more permanent.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've got all of Torchwood and a couple of other programs, and about 60% capacity left on my recorder at present. Once Torchwood is finished I'm planning to start backing it up to DVD so I can free the space it's occupying - annoyingly there is no way to automate or speed up the process, short of taking the hard disk out of the recorder and bunging it into a PC, so I'm going to have to re-record it an episode at a time.

If all goes well with Cold Comfort Farm would you like me to bung you a DVD? If I remember I'll record that straight to DVD rather than waiting to back up from the hard disk, so it ought to be ready on Monday.

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

That's very kind of you! thanks, it'll be one less thing to worry about.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

CCF is immensely good. I quote bits of it to people now and then 'Oooh something nasty in the woodshed' and hardly anyone knows what I'm talking about which I find very sad. It's so very fine that people ought to know and enjoy it!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've read the book a couple of times and seen this dramatization at least twice before - won't stop me watching it again. Aunt Ada Doom and all around her are immense fun.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

I treated myself to a folio edition of the book, which I reread about once every two years. Too many books, too little time!

[kalieris.livejournal.com]

Something of a non-sequitur, but I can't find your O Superman entry so I'm commenting here. I finally (something like a month later) had a chance to go YouTubing for the Let X=X clip, and found it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDTgkGYYjjo&mode=related&search=). Not very long, unfortunately.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - see what you mean, there really isn't much of it.