Funny Women – Abigail’s Party – tape 2648

Over to BBC2 and after the end of Decisive Moments: The Photographs That Made History and a trailer for Timewatch it’s Abigail’s Party Night, some programmes and bits and pieces around Mike Leigh’s seminal 70s suburban comedy.

The surrounding stuff is a bit hit and miss. Not sure about the Beverly cosplayer’s convention.

But the explanation is that they’ve all played Beverly this year in the original stage version.

The first programme is en episode of Funny Women looking at, who else, Alison Steadman. I think this clip might have been from TV Heaven.

It contains interviews with her Abigail’s Party co-star Janine Duvitski.

Nina Myskow thinks her character in Newshounds was based on her.

I had never realised that Steadman had been married to Mike Leigh since 1973 (although by this time they had separated).

Michael Coveney talks about her mining a seam of character to do with the lower middle class.

Of course, in a programme like this you can say the words ‘lower middle class’ without summoning Peter York, who was ubiquitous in any discussion about class, despite sounding like someone who wouldn’t be seen dead in a suburban semi-detached home.

Nice to see her Nuts in May co-star Roger Sloman. I think it’s possible I’ve never seen Nuts in May.

You know who has seen Nuts In May, though? My old school friend Claire Skinner.

Jim Broadbent: “Alison inhabits a character so completely, it’s a surprise when you meet her.”

John Salthouse talks about the rehearsal process for the original play, where the other actors met Steadman, already in character.

After this programme, a couple of tiny interstitial bits. Lowri Turner talks about Beverly’s fashion.

Quentin Willson gets his name misspelled, which serves him right for spelling it wrong in the first place. He talks about comparing cars in that grotesque Top Gear way.

There’s a trailer for Food and Drink.

Then, it’s Abigail’s Party itself. It’s a simple character piece about a few neighbours getting together, eating cheesy pineapples and listening to Demis Roussos. Alison Steadman is magnificent as the monstrous Beverly.

Tim Stern is her hapless husband Laurence, who perhaps should have been told that the Peter Wyngarde look was going out of the window. I do love the scene where he brags about owning the complete works of Shakespeare, but rather spoils the effect by ending with “Our nation’s culture. Not something you can actually read, of course.”

Janine Duvitski is Angela, a very earnest nurse, who’s perhaps slightly naive. She’s very good (but she’s good in everything).

John Salthouse is Angela’s husband Tony. Beverly clearly fancies him, but he spends most of the time sitting and scowling. He works with computers. But not as a programmer, as an operator, which is a subtle detail, implying he’s more of a manual worker than a skilled worker.

Finally, there’s Harriet Reynolds as Susan, there alone because she’s divorced, and it’s her daughter Abigail who’s having the party. She’s been living there the longest, and she’s clearly more properly middle class than the rest.

I do wonder if Mike Leigh likes any of his characters, though.

After the play, there’s a trailer for Gary Rhodes. Then a trailer for Later With Jools Holland.

Then, a few more bits and pieces as Oz Clark talks patronisingly about the culinary choices of Abigail’s Party.

Jonathan Meades talks about the use of names from popular culture and brand names, likening it to the use of brand names in James Bond.

Next, it’s Demis Roussos – Forever and Ever, a profile of the Greek singer and popular culture touchstone. There’s some nice archive stuff in this, and Roussos seems like a very nice chap.

One of the most remarkable things I learned in this documentary is that Roussos was on board a flight that was hijacked by Hezbollah, during which at least one passenger was killed.

I love the clip of him with Basil Brush, with Basil calling him Mr Demis.

And that’s the end of Abigail’s Party Night.

Here’s all the in between bits, minus a couple of sections with Demis Roussos and Tom Jones singing that got it blocked.

BBC Genome: BBC Two – 1st November 1997 – 21:00 (Abigail’s Party Night)

After this, someone had a lot of fun making this trailer for next week’s theme night, Jaws on Two. This is basically a shot for shot recreation of the beach shark attack from Jaws. It’s very well done.

There’s also a trailer for Pulp Fiction.

Then, there’s about 15 minutes of Later with Jools Holland featuring UB40, Rickie Lee Jones, Roni Size and Reprazent, Jewel, and The Verve, performing Bitter Sweet Symphony for the first time on British Television.

The tape ends during this.