Saturday, March 31, 2012

I remember the BBC iPlayer on my Blu-ray player not working properly for a couple of months. I Googled for all I was worth to try to find a fix - and sent an email to Sony - but answer came there none. An HD category had appeared so I knew it was a software update that had caused the problem, but all I could see on the bulletin boards were people slagging off Sony (my Blu-Ray player maker) or BT (my ISP). Imagine my delight when one day a software update left my BD player with a functional iPlayer, including HD. All you need is patience.

I remember Sweeney Todd – the first West End production, which I saw with Dennis Quilley in the title role and Sheila Hancock as Mrs Lovett; the South Bank revival, again with Dennis Quilley but this time with Julia McKenzie as Mrs Lovett; the Broadway version (Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury) that my mum has on CD (and I believe I have tucked away somewhere on vinyl); the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter cinema version I have on DVD; the other DVDs I have of the touring version with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury and a concert version with George Hearn and Patti LuPone; and now I have seen the Chichester Festival production in the West End with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton – anyone would think I was obsessed with the show. Which is, without a doubt, the best. musical. ever.

I remember Theatre of Blood, starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Eric Sykes and many others. And now I have it on DVD. If Desert Island Discs were DV rather than C, I would include Theatre of Blood, The Wicker Man, Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook’s version) and Withnail and I. Proud to be British?

I remember being in love with Gillian Hills. Probably at first because she was in the television adaptation of The Owl Service by Alan Garner. But she was also in Blowup and A Clockwork Orange plus she was passing through reception at the BBC when I went there for a job interview a zillion years ago. And not only did I recently stumble across her in an exceptional Hammer film, Demons of the Mind, but she has also been brought to my attention as the original singer of Zou Bisou Bisou, which was revived in the first episode of the new season of Mad Men.