Gentleman Jack.

Perhaps the smell of blood was needed.....

Why did the pigs not eat the farmer before he was dead?

My friends son is in it !
( reflected glory, he is lovely)!

It is definitely living up to my expectations. Absolute rubbish. My DH is hoping for another Poldark storyline. I think he will be sorely disappointed.

I loved the pig scene, but also thought there was a bit too much kissing. On the whole I am enjoying the series. I didn't know much about Ann before so interested to see how the story develops.

maryliza it seems to be about interpretation and not really that important. On the contrary I think this is key.

Anyone who has enough history to know anything about the Crimean War, knows that soldiers suffered because of poor and incompetent leadership and the only people who cared about them were Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacoal. This was the media picture. In fact this was utterly untrue, the problems were complicated, they were dealt with swiftly and an enquiry after the war made that clear. But the nameof Lord Raglan is permanently swathed in ignomy because the first interpretation was believed and this view has remained unchanged even after what actually happened was revealed.

Interpretation is all.

Wish i had watched it now, i used to live not far from Shibden Park, and went there a lot, always had lots of bluebells,happy memories of it

I didn't mind the pigs and the brutal end of the horrible man, but did find all the kissing a bit much last night.

Anyone else find the scene with the pigs gross!!!! made my stomach turn.

There’s always an issue isn’t there with dramas based on fact and the extent of the leeway that is acceptable? Generally I get irritated with really gross distortions that I feel affect the integrity of the story eg that Americans won WW2 for us. With this drama, it seems to be about interpretation and not really that important. I love Sally Wainwright anyway and she can do no wrong in my eyes. Recently I went to see Red Joan. I vaguely remembered the case and when I came home I looked up the full story. I was rather taken aback ( to say the least) at the huge gap between the facts of the case and the film and retrospectively this rather spoiled by enjoyment of the film.

Good job that we are all different isn’t it?
There are plenty of good documentaries, plenty of room for a good entertaining drama.

Understood, M0nica. I must say I’m surprised there’s going to be a second series. I’d assumed the current one would take us through her life.

maggiemaybe. It is the rollicking everything falls beneath her feet and jaunty 'Tom Jones' music that jars. I think her life was a lot more difficult than made out. Like you I have known about her for a long time and read articles and listened to factual programmes on the radio and I just think this series is Disneyfies her life.

The announcement today that the BBC has already commissioned another 8 episodes shows that it is going down the fictinalised route.

I dislike the fictionalising of real peoples lives, I would much rather have a really good documentary.

...I seem to watch quite a few series/films etc these days that seem too far fetched, only to do a bit of research and find that a lot of it is based on fact...

I saw a BBC interview with the producer [director/writer ?] yesterday and she has studied Anne Listers life for many years. There are also people still in the process of deciphering her diaries. She sounds so ahead of her time but has been, until recently, pretty much written out of history. The way she walked/dressed/spoke etc does seem to have been meticulously researched. She pretty much turned the families fortune around and was quite a social climber [her accent changes throughout the series as she works her way upwards]. O'Hooley wrote the title song several years ago; not just [I assume] for the programme. Looking forward to episode 2.

It is about as true to Anne Lister's real life as Pirates of the Caribbean is to the real life of the real Carribean pirates. But while with Pirates the majority of people know the difference. This is being presented as being what life was like for her - and it wasn't

What's your source for this though, M0nica? I've attended several informative local history talks about the Listers and Walkers, as well as having visited Shibden Hall many times. I haven't seen anything yet in this series to support what you say.

so sorry, posting on phone and I have sausage fingers today ....M0nica

M0anica....It’s interesting isn’t it how different impressions people gain from the same source material? . what exactly isn’t true to her life in the episode you watched would you say?
I do find it fascinating to try to understand the machinery behind our own decision making, as that takes us to the heart of why people disagree so strongly...don’t you agree?

I didn't say, I didn't like it. In fact I thought it was excellent and I enjoyed watching it. It was afterwards that the doubts crept in.

It was presented in the style of a rollicking good yarn and reminded me of the film of Tom Jones, but Tom Jones is fictional, a film of a novel. This wasn't. It was the story of someone's exceptional life on a topic that is relevant today and I just think that either the story of Anne Lister's life should have been presented in a more nuanced and more thoughtful way, or they should have produced a rollicking good serial about someone like her at that period, no doubt using Anne Lister's journal as part of their source material, but which otherwise is completely fictional.

As it is the serial fell between 2 stools. It is about as true to Anne Lister's real life as Pirates of the Caribbean is to the real life of the real Carribean pirates. But while with Pirates the majority of people know the difference. This is being presented as being what life was like for her - and it wasn't

I didn't expect to enjoy it but I did and I'm not sure why. I take on board many of the criticisms here but am willing to go with it especially as it is about a real person. I had never heard of her and will do some background reading though will probably watch the series first.

Sorry the above post is a reply to M0nica

I'm sorry you didn't like the program. It obviously wasn't for you.

I don't think one can really judge on one episode though.

As they seem to be adhering to Anne Listers own descriptions of her life and her actions, I don't agree that they are dumbing down in this instance.
Although I agree with you it does often happen, IMV more in films less in tv.

I disagree with you again, I feel it does shine a light into a subject which little is known about, ie gay lifestyles in England in the 19thc.
By shining a light I mean bringing to attention something some/most of us didn't know before.
In this case I didn't realise quite how matter-of-fact Anne Listers friends and family were about her acknowledged interest in taking a women for a life partner.
I wrongly thought that people would have been less sophisticated than they are now.
Also given the strong religious back ground to life then, I was interested to see that no one seemed to be preaching about the rights and wrongs of her choices to her.
It's clear in her diaries (and this and the earlier series) that she was accepted just for who she was by her friends.

So I found my view of the mores and morals of this century enriched.

She was quite a predatory female according to her own description, and I think the jaunty music reflects that.

It reminds you of Tom Jones, which is probably intended, as it maybe being used as a shorthand attempt to underline the similar attitude both characters had towards sex.

Thanks again for the discussion.

It's the music I like, too...

Not keen so far. Nothing subtle about it.

I thought I would not like it but I did. Loved the music also. Look forward to next episode.