The Singapore Grip. Oh dear.

Radio Times reviewed it badly, so I did not watch it. I definitely won't now!

I found myself checking my phone during this programme which indicates to me it at the moment it is .........boring!!

I'll keep going because I was underwhelmed with A Suitable Boy and then ended up loving it.

Not holding out much hope though.

I was going to get this on catch up but might not bother.....or maybe wait til next Sunday and do both together, sometimes it clicks then.

I gave it 15 mins !!! Awful.

It's true to the book which is good but the characters are not likeable nor were they meant to be. I find this time in Singaporean history painful. Such awful things happened. Such miscalculations and dangerous errors by the British. The Japanese were so cruel and terrifying. This story is pretty accurate. JGFarrell wanted to highlight the colonialism.
Charles Dance was perfect in the role though - but he always is!

We gave it to the second ad break and then gave up. I thought the acting was hammy and I got the impression that the actors were just going through the motions. It's a pity because, on paper, it looks like it should've been perfect Sunday evening viewing. But oh dear, it's a definite no from me.

Oh I don’t want to put anybody off if you fancy watching it.
It was just my opinion and we are all different aren’t we, but I was so disappointed considering how many good quality dramas we have had over the years.

Other’s views though do confirm what I thought.

I've recorded it but it doesn't sound like another Tenko?

The Singapore Grip is a satirical book about events following Japan's entry into the Second World War by invading South East Asia and swiftly occupying Singapore. The story centres on a British family who control one of the colony's leading trading companies. The title derives from a slang phrase for a sexual technique also known as Pompoir or Kabzah

"A brilliant, complex, richly absurd and melancholy monument to the follies and splendours of Empire, " wrote Hilary Spurling for the The Times Literary Supplement.
In 2015, Akshita Nanda, writing for The Straits Times, chose ten novels which describe Singapore in the past five decades, The Singapore Grip among their number.

A synopsis of the book and two reviews - has the TV adaptation made a hash of it?

mrswoo

We gave it to the second ad break and then gave up. I thought the acting was hammy and I got the impression that the actors were just going through the motions. It's a pity because, on paper, it looks like it should've been perfect Sunday evening viewing. But oh dear, it's a definite no from me.

I couldn't get my head around the dreadful acting either. Some familiar talent there but at times it sounded like an am dram production in the village hall.

Unless it's supposed to and I'm completely missing the point!

Did the scriptwriters understand that it was meant to be satirical?

It sounds like another name for a designer bag.

?

I thought it was a special handshake
It could well be as it gets going. Obviously something iffy with the Chinese girl. I'll see what next week brings.

It's part-filmed in Penang but overall it's somewhere in Malaysia.

I quite enjoyed it.

Just watching it and we're taking it as it is meant to be - a parody of pre-war colonialism.

I don't think it's meant to be taken at face value.
David Morrissey is rather OTT but perhaps believable as a pre-war trader in Singapore.

richly absurd

Don't take it seriously - yet.

I watched it on catch up, wondered whether to bother after reading GN reviews, but didn’t think it was too bad. Could follow the story.
Charles Dance was good, Jane Horrocks over acted as always, she seems to be the same whatever part she’s in, I just see her as an ageing Bubbles, if that’s the right name from Ab Fab.
Thought Miss Chiang was beautiful.

Oh! As I didn't recognise Jane Horrocks so she must have done something right

I think that if I watch it as a slightly malicious parody of colonial life in Singapore I will enjoy it.
Presumably all will change soon in an alarming and frightening way.

I'm keeping an open mind and getting to know the characters first, so I'll give it a few more 'goes'.
I had an aunt evacuated from Singapore during the 2nd world war (soldier's wife) and although she didn't talk about it much, some of the scenes rang true. She didn't look back on her time there with any sense of enjoyment.
She's dead now and so can't enlighten me as to it's veracity - but I think the programme's intended to be OTT.
(I recorded it, so I'll watch it again to try and work out the characters.)

Try reading the book. JG Farrell was a terrific author and died young sadly.

Couldn't stand the father and daughter. Not really fussed on any of the other characters either tbh.