Season 20 - Scoop (1990-1991)
Evelyn Waugh's 1938 book Scoop was a parody of sensationalist journalism obviously inspired by the Spanish Civil War but more specifically Waugh's experience in Abyssinia covering the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The hyperbole of this kind of journalism has only intensified as time goes on. Just look to our twenty-four hours a day news cycle where the smallest thing is blown up and overanalyzed by talking heads. Which is what makes this adaptation just as relevant today as it was in the late eighties and early nineties. As I was watching this skewering of a phoney war in order for Herbert Lom to parachute in and secure Ishmaelia's mineral rights for himself the United States invaded Venuzula and kidnapped Maduro. Why? For the country's mineral rights of course. Because the more things change the more things stay the same. Though it's hard to get a "scoop" on what the United States government is doing until they announce it after the fact on Twitter. Scoop is more like a quirky independent British film of the day than an episode of Masterpiece Theatre. This is Dr. Strangelove meets The Wrong Box with a heavy helping of Moon Over Parador and Coming to America if Terry Gilliam shot it. The Brazil vibes are strong. In other words, if I had seen it when it first came out it would have been a seminal film in my life. In fact there's one person in this world that I think was strongly influenced by this film at a young age and that's Wes Anderson. He would have been in his early twenties when this was released and every single frame and setup made me think of him. So, if nothing else, because of this film we have a signature style that became the TikTok Wes Anderson trend. As it is I am more than a little obsessed with this movie now. London socialites? Decaying relatives at a decrepit country estate? Mistaken identities? Yes please! And more! Poor Boot, a corespondent for The Daily Beast, writes about country life. He is mistaken for a novelist named Boot who asked his lover to pull some strings for him to get sent to Ishmaelia. Needless to say, our Boot is in over his head but because he's not a typical reporter and because he is part of the old boys' network he is privy to actual information about Ishmaelia and not wild conjecture and therefore knows that the leadership of the country is sending the reporters on a wild goose chase. He just stays put and comes back a hero with the biggest scoop of any paper. What makes this so memorable is the actors. We have Nicola Pagett, Donald Pleasence, Denholm Elliott, Michael Maloney, the aforementioned Herbert Lom, and just oodles of British characters actors that understand the importance of timing and keeping a straight face. Denholm Elliott trying to deal with Boot's family at the ancestral estate could be added to the list of great dinner scenes that is obviously topped by John Gielgud in Brideshead Revisited. Seriously, just check out this undiscovered gem. If anything you will get an insight into what the inside of my mind looks like.
The British do love their holiday ghost stories, so it only makes sense that they took that tradition to the television. Starting in 1971 they started adapting ghost stories written by M.R. James for the holiday season starring acting luminaries such as Robert Hardy, Clive Swift, Peter Vaughan, Barbara Ewing, Lalla Ward, Denholm Elliott, and Peter Bowles. They even adapted a Charles Dickens tale before foolheartedly deciding to create their own original content. Two abysmal stories, "Stigma" and "The Ice House," seemed to put the nail in the coffin of this series. But it was so beloved, with fans clamoring for remastered releases and Blu-ray sets, that that wasn't the end. The show returned in 2005 going back to it's origins by adapting an M.R. James story, "A View from a Hill." Once again they brought in the top names in acting, starting with Pip Torrens, Greg Wise, John Hurt, and many others. After his adaptation of 'The Tractate Middoth" in 2013 Mark Gatiss took over the show delivering it once again on a yearly schedule starting with an original episode in 2018. Thankfully Simon Callow was able to make "The Dead Room" work whereas Peter Bowles had let "Stigma" flounder. But I think that wasn't just down to acting, I really do think it was the material. And Mark Gatiss, bless his heart, just somehow is able to embody a bygone era whereas the writers in the seventies had other ideas. Bad ideas. Incestous flora ideas. And seriously, what was with the blood just oozing out of that poor lady's pores? Aside from that one original episode all the episodes in what we shall call the revival for lack of a better word have been adapted from the work of M.R. James. Except for this past year's. This past year's was adapted from "Lot No. 249" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This episode has it all, Kit Harington being a stuffy and incredulous nonbeliever of the supernatural, Freddie Fox being a fey and dangerous man who with longer hair unnervingly looks like his sister, and a man who may or may not be Sherlock Holmes played by John Heffernan, a man who should have definitely said no to that horrid Dracula adaptation by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, and in the coup de grace, a mummy who will deliver your coup de grace. This episode might just be my favorite among the revival episodes. Well, I do love a good haunting by mummy, and Conan Doyle, like the episode adapted from Dickens, seems to work a little better than the stories by M.R. James. I'm not saying there aren't genius episodes adapted from his work, they're just a little more nebulous, a little more open ended. Sometimes, even when dealing with the supernatural, you want a definitive ending, but if you're M.R. James how about some creepy kids wandering off eerily playing the hurdy-gurdy? You think I jest? Just watch "Lost Hearts" and I'll be over here laughing while you're unable to sleep. Sadly it looks like this tradition might be coming to an end due to budgetary concerns. While I only caught the revival episodes the last two years and was finally able to see the original run this year I think this fate is a shame. It's a tradition that survived whatever "The Ice House" was and I want it to continue for many many years to come. It's not like we're going to run out of material now is it? There's always a ghost story to tell for Christmas.
If you've only seen the Gillian Anderson adaptation of 
