Admin: Happy 2021, everybody. It couldn’t come soon enough. Here’s to happier and healthier future for us all.
RF: Yeah, I think we’ve all had more than enough of 2020. Fingers crossed that 2021 will be a much better, healthier, and saner year. Happy New Year, everyone!
Admin: What a year! We’re still around, and we’re still hopeful that 2021 is going to be a lot better. Patrick Malahide actually does have a film coming out in 2021 called “The Asset,” so that’s something to look forward to. Until then, have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
RF: As Admin says, what a year! Hopefully 2021 will be much, much better. Best wishes to everyone, and we hope that Mr. Malahide is keeping safe and healthy and that we’ll see some new projects from him soon. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Supporting the Bristol Old Vic
Finally! A Patrick Malahide sighting. Mr. Malahide has recently appeared in a video supporting the Bristol Old Vic theatre. As you can see, he looks and sounds great and is sporting a jaunty blue mask to help protect him and others from Covid-19. Text below copied from the YouTube video information section:
Like so many theatres across the country, Covid-19 has delivered a hammer blow to our business. In March, we lost 75% of our income overnight. Following the government’s rescue package for the arts, we are working closely with Arts Council England to understand the process and hope that we are eligible to apply, but at this moment in time, we have no guarantees. We need to raise £500,000 in order to reopen our building.
But we remain optimistic and ambitious. Bristol is renowned for its creative economy and Bristol Old Vic will continue to play a significant role in it by continuing to produce internationally acclaimed productions, develop up and coming talent and transform the lives of others through our community engagement activities. Our work is essential to the future of our wonderful city and all who call it home.
A Bristol without Bristol Old Vic is unthinkable. Please help us to ensure that what was started in 1766 is able to continue. Thank you.
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/support-usThank you also to Sir Patrick Stewart, Trudie Styler, Toby Jones, Patrick Malahide, Lesley Manville, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Samuel West, Malaika Kegode, Ruth Ramsay and Jenny Davies.
And here is the video itself
“Hmm. Perhaps I should start taking the Times.”
Hello out there! Admin and I are still here! We’ve just taken a bit of a break, and we’re still stuck mostly at home like everyone else. But this May 24th, 2020 article in The Times on the best television adaptations of “hit novels” happened to catch my eye, because it mentioned a character near and dear to our hearts, the Rev. Edward Casaubon:
Middlemarch (1994)
The novel is rarely adapted for TV, but this is a winner, with Rufus Sewell as young Will Ladislaw, Juliet Aubrey as the bookish Dorothea Brooke and Patrick Malahide as her dry-as-dust husband Edward Casaubon.
I’ve written elsewhere as to why I don’t think Casaubon is quite as “dry-as-dust” as he appears, although he certainly goes out of his way to conform to that perception. But I do have to agree (yes, I’m biased) that the 1994 “Middlemarch” is one of the best tv adaptations out there. I find it hard to imagine anyone else besides Mr. Malahide as Casaubon. “Game of Thrones” gets a mention in the article too, but since it’s not due to Balon Greyjoy, I think we can safely skip over that part. 😉
Well, like most of the globe right now, Admin and I are stuck at home. It’s a very strange and surreal situation to be in, and more than a little worrying. We also hope that Mr. Malahide is keeping himself safe and healthy during this time. BUT… nonetheless, we got to wondering how various Malahide characters would handle the situation we’re facing now, and we thought it might be a good distraction to post about them.
RF: My choices are:
Jack Turner
(“Hunted“, 2012)
Stomping around his eerily green-lit basement
just to get some exercise
This is a bit of a no-brainer as we already have ample evidence as to what crimelord Jack Turner is like when he’s cooped up. The words “caged tiger” spring to mind. Even though Jack had a pretty big house for just him, his son Stevie (Stephen Campbell Moore), and grandson Eddie (Oscar Kennedy) – okay, and a few henchmen plus his right-hand man, Bingham (Tom Beard) – it seemed like any amount of confinement was unendurable for Jack. He’s very naturally an active guy, and staying at home all day just isn’t his thing. In the early part of the series, it seemed like he was stomping around his basement just to work off some tension. He’s the kind of guy who likes to be out and about so he be aware of what’s going on in his universe and be “hands-on” when he thinks it’s needed. So I think he’d definitely go a little stir-crazy if he was forced to stay inside for any length of time. Certainly after we’d seen Jack cooped up for a while in the first couple of episodes, it was something of a relief to see him finally let outside to get into some action. He’s not much of an online/tech-savvy guy either, so it’s not like he can Skype with all of his criminal contacts and do business that way.
Wearing off some energy by driving around at night.
Watch out for that cyclist, Jack!
That said, I’m not sure Jack would just passively obey the rules, even if it was for his own good. I have the feeling he’d sneak out after hours whenever possible and get some take-away, or perhaps just drive around on the now-deserted carriageways a little (or a lot) too fast. He might get nabbed by CCTV and speed cameras, but we already know that Jack has connections on the police force that would surely be only too happy to rip up any tickets he might get. All of this is assuming he’d prefer to stay in London and he doesn’t have a nice country estate being held in reserve. But I think Jack would go even more stir-crazy on a country estate than he would in self-isolation in London.
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Admin: Happy Birthday to Patrick Malahide from The Apprecation. It is a weird and scary year, but hopefully through perseverance, diligence, kindness, patience, and a little bit of humour, there will be countless blessed birthdays the world over.
RF: Happy birthday to Mr. Malahide and we sincerely hope he stays healthy and safe. As Admin said, it’s a very strange and scary time right now, but here’s hoping we can all keep ourselves safe until some solutions are found.
RF: Happy Valentine’s Day from the Appreciation!
Admin: Happy Valentine’s Day!
It’s Colin Anderson of “The Standard” in living colour. He certainly liked his loud, wide power ties. I love the signet ring in the top photo featuring him using a nice late ’70s phone. He looks like he’s been put on hold listening to the instrumental of “Evergreen” for a while.
It’s a whole new decade and it’s a really cold January outside (at least, where I am), so Admin and I thought it might be fun to consider some of the very best clothing ensembles worn by Mr. Malahide. Because “best” could mean a lot of things, for our purposes we’ve decided that it will refer to the character trying to look good and succeeding at it, as opposed to merely standing out in a crowd (looking at you, Uncle Ebenezer!) or making some more exotic, outlandish wardrobe choices.
RF: So without further ado, my Best Wardrobe choices are:
Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn
(“The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries“, 1992 – 1994)
Inspector Alleyn: Impeccably attired as always
Alleyn’s the sort of guy who’s always impeccably attired, no matter where he is. His clothes are bespoke tailored, exquisitely selected to flatter him, are coordinated to a T, and he’s always ready for any emergency rain shows with his ever-present brolley. He’s such a gent that he’s never without a hat or pair of gloves, either. And yet, he also exudes understated elegance in his double-breasted pinstripes, waistcoats, and silk ties; he’s not a show-off or a dandy, he just seems to appreciate having the best wardrobe he can afford. He didn’t get the baronetcy – that’s his older brother, George – but just because he’s a working stiff as a Chief Inspector, that doesn’t mean he can’t dress well. And he does. When he takes his jacket off and rolls up his sleeves to get to work – revealing a pair of sleeve garters, because of course he would – he even does that neatly.
Looking resplendent in white tie and tails
For an extra treat, we also got to see Alleyn in white tie and tails (“Death in a White Tie“, appropriately enough) and a tux a couple of times in the course of his investigations, which suited him perfectly. As part of an aristocratic family, Alleyn tends to rub elbows with the gentry quite often; as Inspector Br’er Fox (William Simons) notes, many of Alleyn’s friends are among “that lot”. So it only makes sense that Alleyn would have the appropriate clothes for the occasion. And we found out in “Death at the Bar” that he even brings a tux with him on investigations, just in case he needs it.
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For Christmas 2019 RFodchuk and I decided to once again imagine what sort of Christmases our favourite Patrick Malahide characters would celebrate. Do they go the traditional route, or are they a little more unconventional in their tidings? Let’s find out!
Admin: My choices are:
Robert Blair
(“The Franchise Affair”, 1988)
Time for the King’s Christmas message.
Well, with it being the 1940’s, he’s probably not watching any television, but there is always the wireless. I expect he listens to the traditional Christmas carols, the King’s Christmas Message, and maybe a radio play based on “A Christmas Carol”.
More than any of that though he would want to be surrounded with people he loves and spend time with them playing parlor games and swapping stories. He might like a spot of adventure, but he also appreciates the comforts of home.
Of course he does. He is almost certainly going to be the one responsible for placing any of the high decorations, so he’ll be there with his trusty step ladder. Again, his decorations are going to be pretty traditional. He’ll also be sure to get everything down fairly promptly after Christmas. No need to have decorations collecting dust well into New Years.
Is that mistletoe I spy?
Yes, he absolutely would. Despite being somewhat reserved, Robert has a very affectionate nature.
Before Marion he would have cheerfully doled out some chaste kisses here and there if only out of gentlemanly duty. However, with Marion, he would be a lot more enthusiastic and romantic about the whole deal. Either way, I expect Robert gets a few under-the-mistletoe kisses each year. Continue reading
