I hesitated giving this attempt at the Mapp and Lucia stories by E. F. Benson any rating higher than a 5. The series is seriously haphazard in presenting segments of the 6 novellas that make up the original books. Books are rarely recreated very well to the screen, and the better the book the worse the adaptation. One exception to that was the magnificent Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle made in 1985, the same year as this Mapp and Lucia effort.
This project had all the earmarks of a great adaptation; a fine cast, good writers, high production values and a director, Donald McWhinnie, who loves and understands the characters.
But the producers chickened out and did not film the entire Benson series of books. Riseholme hardly appears and Lucia never gets to London. Few of the many characters in the books appear in this series. The two sets of dvds all take place in Tilling after Lucia's appearance as Good Queen Bess in her last outing as doyenne of the stage in Riseholme. And I get the feeling that the only reason that pantomime is included is Geraldine McEwen, who makes a fine, comic Queen Elizabeth I, and Nigel Hawthorn, whose effeminate Sir Francis Drake was too good to NOT film. Sadly Daisy Quantock is presented as a non-entity in her brief appearance and the actress is totally wrong for the part. Lucia's husband, Peppino (Philip) Lucas has already died as he does in between the original Books two and three. Lady Ambermere and the other eccentric denizons of Riseholme, Piggy, Goosie, Mrs Antrobus et al, are not to be found here. No Indian cook or fake medium either.
These two superb comedians carry this show on their perfect backs. I can't imagine a better cast Georgie than Nigel Hawthorne and it's a great shame he couldn't have portrayed this character in a complete version of the stories. McEwen is equally successful with Lucia, capturing the subtly outrageous character of this preposterous snob.
Prunella Scales has the personality for Miss Mapp but not the physical presence of that formidable female in the books. The best of the smaller roles is that of Irene Coles played by the boyish and impudent Cecily Hobbs. She, Scales,Denis Lill (Major Benjy) and Marion Mathie (Susan Wyse) make a strong secondary comedy troupe, though Lill is far too young and sexy for Major Benjy.
Sadly, Wee Wifie, married to the padre, is completely dropped from the story leaving the character of the padre as little more than a cypher for gear-changes in the storyline. Mary MacLeod is miscast as Diva Plaistow. She is a large woman who towers over Scales' Mapp when just the opposite would have been more accurate and funny. The result is Mapp becomes far too sympathetic a character because she is so petite. Much of the character of the story is lost because of this. Scales is very funny, however, and is totally inside Mapp's head, it just doesn't work somehow. There is a great guest appearance in the last episode by the great Irene Handl who plays Duchess Poppy. She is hilarious and helps this series end on a high note. Olga Bracely is a very minor role in this show and played by the excellent actress Anna Quayle, though she is miscast as the Wagnerian opera diva.
I have owned the videos of the two seasons for years and watch them off and on, usually in the dead of winter when something frothy is called for. I always enjoy McEwen, Hawthorne, Mathie, Hobbs, Lill and Handl but always wish that more trouble had been taken by the producers to do the whole thing right. This might have been a classic of British television, as it is it is one of those sad might-have-beens.
This could have been so good with McEwen and Hawthorne leading the cast, and with a better Mapp and Plaistow.
But I give it a 7 for being better than nothing.
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