Historical Figures (Played by Patrick Malahide)

Posted on October 7, 2017 by RFodchuk

Admin and I realized the other day that Patrick Malahide has played a number of historical characters in his career, with quite a bit of attention paid as to portraying them as accurately as possible.  We thought it would be an interesting idea to contrast those portrayals with the real thing – or at least, as much of the real thing as we can find out, since we don’t have a TARDIS yet (nertz!).  So, here are a few of our favourite historical figures (played by Patrick Malahide).

Sir Francis Walsingham  |  Rev. Patrick Brontë  |  Lord Willingdon  |  Sir John Conroy  |  Maj.-Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery

RF:  My favourite historical figures are…

Sir Francis Walsingham
(“Elizabeth I“, 2005)

Who Was He?

Elizabeth I's favourite spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham Historical Figures (Played by Patrick Malahide)

Elizabeth I’s favourite spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham

He was Elizabeth I’s (Helen Mirren) spymaster and was largely responsible for her longevity on the English throne, along with William and Robert Cecil.  He had a network of spies stretching across Europe and made it his business to know what Elizabeth’s enemies were planning, possibly before they knew they were planning it themselves.

What Is His Motivation?

A vital part of the power behind Elizabeth's throne

A vital part of the power behind Elizabeth’s throne

He was devoted to the cause of keeping Elizabeth in power, possibly because he would’ve regarded a Catholic monarch as being much worse.  He also wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty from time to time, resorting to underhanded or deceptive methods to get things done.  Elizabeth apparently didn’t like him all that much, but she found him extremely useful.  So, his motivation is almost entirely devotion to his Queen, with a smattering of sticking it to the Earls of Leicester (Jeremy Irons) and Essex (Hugh Dancy) along the way.  Fortunately, William and Robert Cecil agree with him about how unbearable Leicester and Essex are.

Who Wore it Better?

The real Sir Francis versus the fictional Sir Francis<br>(Image source: Wikipedia)

The real Sir Francis versus the fictional Sir Francis
(Image source: Wikipedia)

We-elll, there’s a slight possibility I’m biased, but I’d have to say Mr. Malahide is an improvement on the original.  He decided to opt out of the starched ruff while keeping the goatee and the austere, imposing all-black outfit.  We only saw him in one costume, unfortunately.  Or perhaps Walsy just had a bunch of interchangeable costumes that were all the same, to save time when picking out his wardrobe in the morning.  Also, perfect for sneaking around at night.  I’d have to say Mr. Malahide wins this one.  😉

Would You Invite Him to Stay the Weekend?

Hopefully he wouldn't spend the entire weekend working...

Hopefully he wouldn’t spend the entire weekend working…

I would!  Mind you, by the time Saturday was done, he’d have already snooped through all of my private papers and hard drive, gotten all of my passwords, checked out my finances, figured out who all of my friends and family are and where they live, and ascertained how many library books I have signed out.  Then he’d probably spend Sunday skulking around looking for spies and sending secret messages.  But it would still be fun!

What Would He Be Doing Now?

He might have to give up quill pens, though.

He might have to give up quill pens, though.

For someone with as much talent for espionage and skullduggery as Sir Francis, his talents would never go to waste.  He would probably be near the top, if not at the top, of MI5, putting his abilities to good use.  The technologies would have changed, but I’m sure Sir Francis would get caught up.  He’d probably appreciate all the innovations since his time, and he’d be working for another Queen Elizabeth again.

Continue reading →

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Patrick Malahide to Talk About The Changing Spaces of Television Acting

Posted on October 3, 2017 by admin
Making the big announcement of Isobel's scholarship in a student art gallery.

I’d pay to hear him talk about the arts.

This is super exciting!  On October 6, Patrick Malahide will be taking part in a book launch for Richard Hewett’s “The Changing Spaces of Television Acting” at HOME in Manchester.  Details here.  Quoted from the link:

You are invited to the launch of The changing spaces of Television acting on Friday 6 October at HOME. The launch will be held in the Event Space from 7.30 pm. Following a brief presentation on the background to and findings of the book, the author will be holding a question and answer session with one of the interviewees in the book, Patrick Malahide, whose television career includes roles in Minder (ITV, 1979-93), The Singing Detective (BBC, 1986), Middlemarch (BBC, 1993), Survivors (BBC, 2008-10), Luther (BBC, 2010- ) and Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011- ). Mr Malahide will also take questions from the audience.

Oy! Don’t drink all the complimentary wine.

Complimentary wine will be offered, and (non-complimentary) drinks will of course be available from the HOME bar throughout the evening.

How cool is that?  It sounds absolutely fascinating.  Mr. Malahide has been involved in so many wonderful, important and diverse television productions over the years, so he is a perfect choice for such a discussion.  RFodchuk and I wish we could be there.  Hopefully some sort of a transcript (or maybe even a YouTube video) will be available after the talk.  Fingers crossed!

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Happy International Coffee Day!

Posted on October 1, 2017 by RFodchuk

Happy International Coffee Day from the Appreciation!

Okay, it could be tea in there, but Chisholm looks like he really needs a coffee.

Okay, it could be tea in there, but Chisholm looks like he really needs a coffee.

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Patrick Malahide in Drama Connections: The Singing Detective

Posted on September 24, 2017 by admin

Yes, he played three roles.

In 2005, Patrick Malahide took part in “Drama Connections“, a program that looks at highly regarded and ground-breaking television dramas, to discuss his work in “The Singing Detective“. This was the second “Drama Connections” episode Mr. Malahide participated in as he also made an appearance for the well-loved comedy-drama “Minder“, recapped here.

 A Multi-Layered Drama

“This was just something astonishing.”

“The Singing Detective” combines several techniques both layering and mixing up elements as they collide together in order to tell Philip Marlow’s (Michael Gambon) story. It is a sometimes comedic sometimes tragic hospital drama, a 1940’s style pulp noir, and a childhood autobiography all set to music.

As Patrick Malahide describes it: “This was just something astonishing. It combined style, pain, storytelling, and music all together in this extraordinary way.”

Initially, the BBC was interested in some sort of WWII drama, possibly involving an English woman falling in love with an American serviceman. The BBC had been stung by Granada’s early ’80s hits such as “Brideshead Revisited” and was keen to reclaim its stronghold on great drama.

“He helped dig the foundations of television writing and then blew them up.”

When Dennis Potter‘s script came back, it was nothing like what they expected, but it was obvious it was something special.  Mr. Potter’s unexpected script seems as though it must have been true to form.  The director Jon Amiel and producer Kenith Trodd were both frequently stressed out, vexed and even abused by Potter.

Patrick Malahide describes Potter’s unique nature: “He helped dig the foundations of television writing and then blew them up. You know, he just decided, ‘well, we can do better than that’ and sort of ignored his own rules in this extraordinary way.”

Patrick Malahide’s Three Roles

Three variations on a dark theme.

Philip Marlow is in hospital for a crippling arthritic form of psoriasis. His pain and misery are so acute that he retreats into an old detective novel he wrote years back, “The Singing Detective”, in order to block the pain.

The novel’s villain is the suave and debonair black marketeer Mark Binney, one of Patrick Malahide’s three roles. The other two are the imagined 1980s would-be film maker Mark Finney who Marlow fantasizes is stealing both his story and wife and the real life villain from Philip Marlow’s childhood, Raymond Binney, who had an affair with Marlow’s vulnerable mother. Continue reading →

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Favouritest Grabs Ever – Eighth Edition

Posted on September 16, 2017 by RFodchuk

It’s been a rough couple of months in the world, so Admin and I thought we’d lighten things up a bit by selecting another set of our Favouritest Grabs.  As usual, these are grabs of Mr. Malahide’s performances that we found particularly entertaining, amusing, or appealing, and why.

RF’s Picks:

Guy de Glastonbury, posing picturesquely as he awaits a blurry messenger pigeon Favouritest Grabs Ever

Guy de Glastonbury, posing picturesquely as he awaits a blurry messenger pigeon

What’s Going On in This Picture?

RF:  It’s from the final episode of series 1 of  1983’s “The Black Adder”, called “The Black Seal“.  In 1498, Prince Edmund (Rowan Atkinson), the titular Black Adder, has decided he’s had enough of being overlooked by his bearded, blustering father, King Richard IV (Brian Blessed) in favour of his vastly SMRTer brother, Harry, Prince of Wales (Robert East). So Edmund decides to go off and assemble the Six Most Evil Men in England to help him murder his father and brother and usurp the throne.   Guy de Glastonbury (Mr. Malahide) is the fourth Most Evil to join up.  Guy is an extremely well-dressed, dashing, and unusually polite highwayman, but his manners only enhance his total ruthlessness.  He doesn’t merely demand “Your money or your life”.  Instead, he amiably corrects himself: “Damn.  Always doing that.  Sorry, slip of the tongue.  Your money and your life,” before shooting his well-to-do victim with a small crossbow. He then collects his loot and bids a friendly farewell to the coachman until next time.

Edmund’s weird pigeon visits the dashing Guy.

RF:  Anyway, in this picture, Guy has spent the previous twelve months waiting for a signal from Edmund that the rebellion scheme is on – long story as to why it takes so long.  But apparently Guy has spent the time posing picturesquely around England, with his boot up on a bridge rail and the wind blowing his hair just so, awaiting Edmund’s messenger pigeon.

Admin: I’m pretty sure the bird is flying backwards. Of course Edmund would pick a weird pigeon.

RF:  It was probably less expensive than the other pigeons.  😉
Continue reading →

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Questions We’d Like to Ask… Malahide Characters

Posted on September 5, 2017 by RFodchuk

A couple of years ago, Fearless Admin and I wrote about some questions we’d like to ask Mr. Malahide.  Admin recently had the great idea of expanding that notion a little further:  what about questions we’d like to ask Mr. Malahide’s characters?  These would be things only they could answer, or plot points and other things that had been nagging at us, or that sort of thing.  So, without further ado…

RFodchuk:  My questions are…

For Jack Turner (“Hunted“, 2012):

Retrieving the Mysterious Briefcase(tm) from his secret wall safe, which isn't quite so secret any more now. questions we'd like to ask Malahide Characters

Retrieving the Mysterious Briefcase™ from his secret wall safe, which isn’t quite so secret any more..

Oh, Jack.  Jack, Jack, Jack.  What were you thinking??  Why didn’t you get those soil samples analyzed the instant you got your hands on them?  You’re hardly to the type to be trusting of anyone, to the extent that you gave your “friend”, Dave Ryder, a decoy briefcase which ended up getting him killed – which you likely knew it could (hence “friend” in quotation marks).  So why were you so trusting in this situation?  If your entire scheme for ruining Polyhedrus depended on those samples being incriminating, wouldn’t you have made damn sure that they contained what you thought they did?  If they were your ace in the hole, you’d have made sure you were getting what you paid for.  You would never have waited until the last possible moment to have them analyzed, still less by letting them out of your sight to go to an unknown lab; you should at least have insisted on going with the briefcase and/or employing your own expert to supervise and verify the results, in case your opponents pulled a switcheroo on you.  I will set aside, for the moment, the fact that you’d never open up your secret wall safe with other people watching, either.  You didn’t get to be a millionaire crimelord by being careless!
Continue reading →

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Our Favorite Patrick Malahide Historical Costumes

Posted on August 26, 2017 by admin

Patrick Malahide has been in many wonderful historical period pieces. RFodchuk recently came up with the brilliant idea of discussing some of our favorite costumes worn in those drams. What to choose? What to choose? I mean there are loads and the vast majority of them are stunning. So, we’ll take a look at some that really stand out for whatever reasons while also giving ourselves an excuse to free our imaginations.

RF:  Agreed, there are lots to choose from.  We may have to do a few more editions.  😉

Admin’s Choices:

Mr. Ryder, Brideshead Revisited (2008)

A Bit About the Costume:

Mr. Ryder: "Why?" Charles: "I'm going up to Oxford." Mr. Ryder: "Ah, yes." He's very laid back. Or ever so slightly senile. Or is very good at pretending to be ever so slightly senile.

Open those windows; we need more light.

Patrick Malahide’s character, Mr. Ryder, is protagonist Charles Ryder’s (Matthew Goode) father. He is decked out in a rather fussy, old-fashioned Edwardian style outfit that is a few years behind the times. He wears a gorgeous jacket, winged collar shirt, and bow-tie. He occasionally completes the look with a very fetching pair of round spectacles.

Why Is It a Favorite:

Then he goes right back to his soup, reading a book at the same time - doesn't even see his only son out the door or say goodbye. [sniff sniff] :-(

Winged collar and round specs are a lethal combo.

I think it is that winged collar, I really like that. The look is very tidy and and trim, flattering Mr. Malahide perfectly. It also provides a quick shorthand in describing Mr. Ryder’s character. He is old-fashioned and eccentric. He lives in darkened rooms surrounded by his relics, and by looking at his wardrobe choices we can see he is as much of a relic as the curiosities he presides over.

The color palette has a delightful warm look that I find incredibly attractive, and it is a color scheme that works perfectly with Mr. Malahide’s complexion. I wonder if Mr. Ryder’s late wife chose some of those clothes for him many years ago? He doesn’t seem like he could be the type to make such spectacular choices on his own, so I wonder if he had help and simply held on to them for years. As you can see, the wardrobe choices are so well executed that the viewer can go all Sherlock Holmes and make several deductions as to the nature of Mr. Ryder. Continue reading →

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Analysis of a Scene XXXIII: Remembering Robert Hardy in “Middlemarch”

Posted on August 16, 2017 by RFodchuk
Robert Hardy as ever-genial Uncle Brooke - Remembering Robert Hardy in "Middlemarch"

Robert Hardy as the ever-genial Uncle Brooke

As Robert Hardy recently passed away on August 3 at the age of 91, Admin and I thought it would be a good time to remember him by discussing some of his performance in “Middlemarch” (1994).  He played Arthur Brooke, uncle and guardian to Celia (Caroline Harker) and Dorothea Brooke (Juliet Aubrey), the latter of whom eventually becomes the Rev. Edward Casaubon’s (Mr. Malahide) bride.  But we should start with their first meeting.

Just your average little get-together

Just your average little get-together

In this scene, Uncle Brooke has invited Mr. Casaubon and Sir James Chettam (Julian Wadham), a well-to-do and handsome young neighbour, to dine at Tipton Grange.  Casaubon already has the reputation of being “the most learned man in the county”, as Dorothea admiringly tells Celia.  She doesn’t mention anything about Chettam, though.

Uncle Brooke:  Sir Humphry Davy, now… I dined with him years ago at Cartwright’s.  Wordsworth was there, you know, Wordsworth the poet?  Davy was a poet too, did you know that?  Or as you might say, Wordsworth was Poet One and Davy was Poet Two, do you follow?
[Casaubon waves away a servant attempting to replenish his drink.]
Uncle Brooke:  Wordsworth was Poet One and Davy was Poet Two.
[Everyone laughs except for Casaubon, who is eating his soup with deadly seriousness.]

Pleased with his own wit: "Wordsworth was Poet One and Davy was Poet Two."

Pleased with his own wit: “Wordsworth was Poet One
and Davy was Poet Two.”

RF:  You can already tell Uncle Brooke is delighted by all the company and has been dominating the conversation, in a very broad, friendly sort of way.  You can also tell that he keenly appreciates his own wit.  😉  I had to google Sir Humphry Davy, but Uncle Brooke is right; he was indeed a poet, although he later became known as an inventor and scientist.  It would be interesting to know what he and Wordsworth talked about, but Uncle Brooke doesn’t bother with those details.  Of course, while all this joviality is going on, Casaubon seems to be in his own little universe, concentrating on his soup with great intensity.  Celia will later complain to Dorothea that he was noisy about it, but I think she’s just being a bit unfair.  Chettam laughs dutifully (he’s trying to impress Dorothea), but Casaubon doesn’t seem to care much for Uncle Brooke’s sense of humour.  Or maybe he just hasn’t noticed Uncle Brooke made a joke.

Concentrating intently on his soup

Concentrating intently on his soup

Admin: Well, Casaubon made one definite slurp sound at the beginning there, but I bet Uncle Brooke was slurping just as much when he wasn’t yelling about random poets.  Poor Casaubon doesn’t seem to eat much beyond soup, probably of the thin brothy nature no less, so I can’t really blame him for working on it intently.  He’s got to get some calories in for that big brain of his.   I really like Casaubon’s intense “I’m trying to eat soup” expression. It is ever so fetching in its raven-like severity.

RF:  Yes, he’s concentrating so hard on that one bowl of soup, he keeps waving the servants away as though they’re distracting him.  😀

Admin:  His elegant hand-waves are strangely mesmerizing. 🙂
Continue reading →

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Patrick Malahide Is Magnus Crome in Mortal Engines

Posted on August 11, 2017 by admin

Source: Mortal Engines Wiki

According to IMDB, Patrick Malahide is now listed as Magnus Crome on the Mortal Engines page. So, our initial speculation seems correct.  Crome is a fascinating character, so I’m really looking forward to seeing him on screen.  Patrick Malahide will be perfect for the role.

Hopefully there will soon be some production  photos, but for now this artistic rendition from the Mortal Engines Wiki will suffice.  🙂

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Happy International Beer Day!

Posted on August 4, 2017 by RFodchuk

Happy International Beer Day from the Appreciation!

Chisholm looks a bit perturbed about something, but hopefully he'll enjoy his light ale anyway.

Chisholm looks a bit perturbed about something,
but hopefully he’ll enjoy his light ale anyway.

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