Andrew Scott shines in the hilarious and romantic The Pursuit of Love
Lily James as Linda and Andrew Scott as Lord Merlin in BBC One s The Pursuit of Love .
Image: Theodora Films Limited & Moonage Pictures Limited / Robert Viglasky
2021-05-10 16:42:25 UTC
There are few things in life that excite me more than the arrival of a new period drama on our screens.Â
And I m very happy to say that
The Pursuit of Love, BBC One s new adaptation of Nancy Mitford s 1945 novel, will bring peals of laughter to your living room. It is, in my opinion, a delight.Â
I should, of course, caveat that I have not read Mitford s much-beloved, perennial best-selling novel, so cannot profess to know how true to the book director Emily Mortimer s adaptation is. But I came away from watching the first episode with a burning urge to order a copy and rectify this omission in my reading history. If a literary adaptation makes you want to go away and read the book, then it has succeeded. Â
The Pursuit of Love, BBC One review - extravagantly entertaining | reviews, news & interviews The Pursuit of Love, BBC One review - extravagantly entertaining
The Pursuit of Love, BBC One review - extravagantly entertaining
Nancy Mitford novel makes a smashing small screen transfer
by Matt WolfMonday, 10 May 2021
Sisterhood: Lily James and Emily Beecham in The Pursuit of Love Theodora Films Limited & Moonage Pictures Limited/Robert Viglasky (and of Dominic West below)
Nancy Mitford s 1945 literary sensation looks poised to be the TV talking point of the season, assuming the first episode of
The
Pursuit of Love sustains its utterly infectious energy through two hours still to come.
Rating:
On his fine English estate, Lord Alconleigh (Dominic West) determines that his fine English daughters will never leave the family home, except to marry fine English gentlemen.
‘Church, stables, tennis courts,’ he roars, listing the facilities on offer. ‘Why would they ever want to leave?’
He wants his gels to rot in Alconleigh’s ivory towers, along with their threadbare sweaters and impoverished minds, until suitable marriages are made. Not to random cads or handsome swains (all ‘sewers’ according to him) but to husbands meeting his approval, preferably his dull chums from the House of Lords.
Lord Alconleigh (Dominic West) determines his daughters will never leave home, except to marry fine gentlemen, but his daughter Linda (both pictured) (Lily James) has other ideas
Hotly-anticipated new period drama The Pursuit Of Love kicked off on BBC One on Sunday night.
However, some viewers were left saying it was a bit weird and awkward watching actor Dominic West play his co-star Lily James father, Matthew Radlett, in the adaption of Nancy Mitford s novel.
Dominic s overbearing and short-tempered character was seen in frequent outbursts at lily s heroine Linda - including one scene in which he was threatening his daughter with a whip and also saying he would thrash the character in shock scenes.
In October, Lily, 32, and married Dominic, 51, were caught enjoying what appeared to be a racy weekend in Rome, leading to his wife Catherine FitzGerald assuring the public they were fine - but banning him from talking to the actress again.
Last modified on Mon 10 May 2021 06.36 EDT
For some reason â but never lack of urging by friends â I have not read any Nancy Mitford, including her most famous novel The Pursuit of Love, a perennial bestseller since its publication in 1945.
I have absorbed the basics, of course, through cultural osmosis. I know sheâs one of the communist rather than fascist ones, and the one that gave us the distinction between âUâ (scent, looking-glass, napkin) and ânon-Uâ (perfume, mirror, serviette) terms. And that The Pursuit of Love is the one that introduces us to the madcap (and quite often simply mad) world of the Radlett family at Alconleigh. The children with their secret society called the Hons (headquarters in the linen cupboard). The foreigner-hating paterfamilias Uncle Matthew, who hunts said children with his bloodhounds across the Oxford countryside. The Bolter â also known as the mother of narrator Fanny, a Radlett cousin â committed to