Regency House Party 2004

After writing about my pitch for a Regency reality show last week I had a few wonderful readers tell me it had already been done. So of course I had to check out Regency House Party. In fact, I lost a good part of my day off yesterday to this show which is posted in bite sized 10 minute chunks on YouTube.

This show is a sort of Regency dating game, a period version of Big Brother I suppose, and although no one gets voted off, 10 UK singletons commit to try to find their match over 9 weeks of filming. Billed as "12 footman, 17 maids, 32 chamber pots, 20 suckling pigs and 10,000 candles", Regency House Party was made by Channel 4/Wall to Wall productions who previously brought us The 1900 House, The 1940s House and The Edwardian Country House. I watched and loved all of these when they came out except for Regency House Party. How did I miss this???!!!

Filmed at the gorgeous Kentchurch Court in Herefordshire, the owners traded a refurbishment for use of the building during the summer of 2003 for filming. It was a wonderful choice as I can absolutely picture Elizabeth Bennet walking 3 miles to visit her sister Jane in one of the well appointed bedrooms.

Overall it was very well done. There were some class distinction problems at the beginning which will seem strange to we non Brits. It is amazing to me that a wealthy businesswoman with a lower class accent could feel inferior to a supposed Russian Countess who is working as a barmaid, but there you are. The football loving hairdresser gets so freaked out by the upper class boys that he leaves early. Too bad, as he was great!

Basically, the men have way more fun than the women, who have to adapt to restrictive rules from their chaperones and end up hanging out of windows or hiding in bushes to watch the men having fun out of doors. You can see everyone slowly adapt to the quieter life although every time the producers liven things up with a visiting musician or amateur theatrical the participants eat it up as if starved for any kind of diversion. Pretty realistic there, I would think!

It was a bit heavy on the dating drama (my fave relationship was with the lowliest female and the Hermit living in the woods!) as I would have liked some more details on the day to day realities. The participants seem to know that the relationships formed in this setting are fairy tale and temporary, except for the "clergyman" (a teacher in real life) who falls for someone he wasn't supposed to. He takes it really hard!

The Mr. Darcy/Mr. Bingley type host has to do some unrealistic mediation between the females (involving some of the older female chaperones) and looks quite disgusted with the bickering. A real Regency gentleman would have been outside learning the pugilistic arts with his male guests but the poor guy shames the ladies into behaving again.

Overall, a thoroughly entertaining show. I am sure my sister will be watching this on YouTube at lunchtime today and for the rest of the week! I still think there is room for another show of this type, without the dating drama. What do you all think?

P.S. Kentchurch Court seems to have ongoing financial problems even after the "free" refurbishment as they were recently featured on Country House Rescue, also done by Channel 4.

Wishbone: Furst Impressions-Darcy as a canine-too funny!

For anyone not familiar with the children's show Wishbone, it aired from 1995 to 1998 on PBS in America and starred a little Jack Russell terrier.  As IMDb puts it, "An intelligent and witty dog imagines himself in the role of characters from classic books and gets involved in similar real-life adventures."

Well, if you haven't guessed, this one stars Wishbone as Mr. Darcy, which set me to laughing sooooooo hard when I saw him in the little cravat and suit, actually English Country Dancing, and yes, bowing on cue!  Oh my gosh, you have to see it to believe it.  And the love scene at the end, digging flowers with Lizzy in the garden with all four paws.  Bwahahahahahaha!
The actual language of Jane Austen is, of course, badly hacked up, but the idea of this show was to make classic literature more appealing to kids and preteens and I have to admit, it is not too bad if you take it as a low budget effort to do just that.
There is also a version of Northanger Abbey called Pup Fiction where he looks equally dashing as Henry Tilney who wears a napkin tucked into his "collar" and laps his water at the Pump Room from a crystal glass.  Adorable.  I'm a sucker for a dog in a costume.  I hope he got lots of teats.
Anyway, enjoy these if you need a laugh today.  There are a few other Wishbone episodes on YouTube such as Cyranose, Pantin' at the Opera, Be a Wolf, Frankenbone and Hallowe'en Hound: The Legend of Creepy Collars.  Oh, so punny!!!

Emma - Behind the Scenes - BBC One

This is a lovely behind the scenes video of the making of Emma 2009 by the BBC in 2009. It seems that everyone had a wonderful time making this and that the location of Squerryes Court in Kent was a great help to the actors. They seem to really be in Highbury/Hartfield and this authenticity really comes through.
The Irish director, Jim O'Hanlon, a British television director, seemed an unusual choice, but he comes across in this clip as the perfect person to put a fresh, energetic spin on this lovely old classic and send us all running to the book to prolong the exhilaration of this miniseries.
This also shows some of the playfulness of Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Mr. Knightly, and shows some goofing around by some of the other actors which is fun to watch.

The slightly effeminate dance from Emma 1996

Period Drama Montage "It's Raining Men" (REDO)

Period Drama Montage "It's Raining Men" Redo from You Tube

This You Tube video made me smile as it has clips from so many great adaptations.  This works on so many levels.  The fact that this song was in the first Bridget Jones film (you know, the part where Hugh Grant and Colin Firth are having the most ridiculous fight over Bridget-grabbing clothes and kicking etc) makes you instantly bop your head and think of a couple of British cuties right off the bat.  That and the wonderful editing of many of my favorite swoon worthy scenes really keeps me coming back to play this one again and again.

How many men did you recognize in this montage?  I will start you out with JJ Field as Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey.  So cute with that little smirk.

Next, in quick succession we have my personal fave right now, Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton in North & South.

Then Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley in Emma 1996 (Emma, try not to kill my dogs).

 Then we have  the adorable newcomer Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars from the new Sense and Sensibility 2008.

Then, of course, we must show the smouldering Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy from the new Pride and Prejudice.

Followed closely here from the same film, shy guy Mr. Bingley (aka Simon Woods).

And then we have Anthony Howell as Roger Hamley in Wives and Daughters(oh, teach me some Biology, Roger).

We then have a peek at Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth in the new Persuasion (I am half agony, half hope), and then I have to stick my neck out here and guess, JJ Field again in The Shadow in the North?  Apparently, I have some shopping to do on Amazon!  I love JJ, as does the creator of this video apparently.

Then on to Welsh cutie Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce from Amazing Grace, although some of you will recognize him more as Horatio Hornblower.

If I only mention new faces at this point, we move on to the iconic Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice 1996 who we have in most of his best looks and ending in the tub with him (although no wet shirt scene?!?!)

We move on to Mr. Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility 1996 (otherwise known as Greg Wise/Mr. Emma Thompson).

And then on to the new Colonel Brandon, David Morrisey from Sense and Sensibility 2008 , very hot and understated.

We then of course have to give a nod to the original Colonel Brandon, the silky voiced Alan Rickman from the classic Sense and Sensibility 1996.

And then we have Mr. Willoughby from the latest Sense and Sensibility 2008, Domenic Cooper, who just about loses his head in this video (perfectly timed with the lyrics).

If I have missed any cuties from this absolutely addictive You Tube video, please leave a comment.  I think I missed David Tennant from the TV miniseries Cassanova, but this is not the Heath Ledger version of Cassanova also from 2005.  This is another one I have to order, as I only know David Tennant from Doctor Who. 

Feel free to comment on what you love about this video, or what you would have added.  I think this was done a few years ago, so there have been many great period dramas released since then.  Have fun with this one and please share it with whoever you think it would bring a smile to.
Thank-you to the creator of this You Tube video, DreamyViper (aka Jiab).  She has lots more stuff so check out her other videos via this link.

Cranford DVD Trailer

Cranford cat & lace scene

The Buccaneers Trailer

Mansfield Park (1999) - Trailer #2

Run of Anne from Persuasion 2007

Persuasion (1995) - PART 10 (final)-"The Best Scene"