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Tom Brown's Schooldays, based on the classic novel set in the Victorian era. In this five-episode miniseries broadcast on BBC 1 young Tom Brown (Anthony Murphy) leaves home for Rugby, a well-respected school in decline. His arrival coincides with the appointment of a new headmaster, Dr. Arnold (Iain Cuthbertson), who aspires to reform the school by stamping out bullying, drunkenness, and bigotry. Tom's struggle is more personal: Before his arrival, he offended a wealthy but corrupt man who commissions his equally dissolute son Gerald (Richard Morant), a senior student at Rugby, to make Tom's life miserable. Gerald schemes with relish, finally catching Tom in a trap that threatens to break the forthright boy's spirit. The story could be pure melodrama were it not for the vivid details of life in a boarding school. As the plot moves this way and that, it's always kept real by the hardships of the time (boys sleep five to a bed, younger boys act as servants to older ones), making Tom Brown's Schooldays a keen social critique as well as an engaging story. There are some inspired performances; Too often a virtuous hero is a recipe for blandness, but the insightful script makes Tom clever but fallible and he refuses to mistreat those less privileged out of conscious choice, not because of some immutable goodness--the character (and the story) is more compelling as a result.
- BBC
- 219 mins approx
- PG
- Iain Cuthbertson
- Anthony Murphy
- Richard Morant
- English
- 2
- 2
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4 instalments of £3.24 with clearpay Learn more
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Tom Brown's Schooldays, based on the classic novel set in the Victorian era. In this five-episode miniseries broadcast on BBC 1 young Tom Brown (Anthony Murphy) leaves home for Rugby, a well-respected school in decline. His arrival coincides with the appointment of a new headmaster, Dr. Arnold (Iain Cuthbertson), who aspires to reform the school by stamping out bullying, drunkenness, and bigotry. Tom's struggle is more personal: Before his arrival, he offended a wealthy but corrupt man who commissions his equally dissolute son Gerald (Richard Morant), a senior student at Rugby, to make Tom's life miserable. Gerald schemes with relish, finally catching Tom in a trap that threatens to break the forthright boy's spirit. The story could be pure melodrama were it not for the vivid details of life in a boarding school. As the plot moves this way and that, it's always kept real by the hardships of the time (boys sleep five to a bed, younger boys act as servants to older ones), making Tom Brown's Schooldays a keen social critique as well as an engaging story. There are some inspired performances; Too often a virtuous hero is a recipe for blandness, but the insightful script makes Tom clever but fallible and he refuses to mistreat those less privileged out of conscious choice, not because of some immutable goodness--the character (and the story) is more compelling as a result.
- BBC
- 219 mins approx
- PG
- Iain Cuthbertson
- Anthony Murphy
- Richard Morant
- English
- 2
- 2
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Huh?
Well, which version should I review? The artwork and description are clearly for the 1971 BBC TV series, with Iain Cuthbertson, Anthony Murphy and Richard Morant (which I hugely enjoyed and would give four stars - it loses one for the awful fight choreography); but the product details are for the 2005 ITV television film with Stephen Fry, Jemma Redrgrave and Alex Pettyfer. (Which was a complete bucket of donkey turds, and I'd begrudge giving it one.) This being the case, until the retailers can be bothered competently listing their merchandise, I'll plop in the middle and go for three stars.
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