Ashenden

Ted Willis, creator of Dixon of Dock Green described Ashenden as 'Rubbish wrapped up in glitter.'

Billed as a prestige drama for the BBC One autumn season this was a massive disappointment. A spy drama with little by way of action, drama or suspense.

Based on W Somerset Maugham's short stories which were itself based on his own first world war experiences.

Alex Jennings was a bland Ashenden, the playwright turned secret agent. Probably because the script wrote him as an anodyne character. The poor actor struggled with the material he was given which had an emphasis of being downbeat than having anything remotely adventurous.

Only Alfred Molina who appeared as an eccentric assassin in the final episode made any kind of impression. Ironically Molina's role was played by Peter Lorre in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent, the first adaptation of an Ashenden story. That was a lot better. John Gielgud played Ashenden in the movie.

This was an expensive production with a lot of international location shooting. The ratings were poor, I was puzzled what this was doing on BBC One in the first place.

Ashenden is a sumptuous and glossy BBC production that seems to have been left behind as just a name in our TV memories now. It had almost everything going for it... exotic and detailed production values, a stellar cast of British acting talent and a thoroughly interesting and important set of stories to tell...

John Ashendon is on the mend from a bout of TB (tuberculosis) and has been refused employment by the armed services. Determined to do his bit for Queen and country he becomes a spy, because, as he says... '...nobody would suspect a writer of comedy plays!'

This series of four stories is clearly aimed at people who went through the nightmare of the second world war. There's nothing here to draw in a younger audience at all. No 'action', no humour and no neatly tied up loose ends.

Unfortunately, despite the expense, detail and obvious affection that was thrown into this show, the acting is rather theatrical and wooden. There's an over-emphasis on body language that suits a stage play but looks rather melodramatic on a TV screen.

That said, this is still an enjoyable and captivating drama... if you have the patience for British television drama. It doesn't carry the gravitas of 'Foyle's War' but it does take its subject matter seriously.

It's outrageous that this series is not available ANYWHERE in any format. The people responsible for scouting TV series for video production should be taken out and shot for missing this one. Meanwhile the video and DVD markets are literally drowning in crappy TV series and movies. For shame!!

I write this after having seen all four episodes. It plays out more like four episodes of a TV series than a four part miniseries.

They are all excellent. The best episode is the very poignant final episode. They are apparently based on the writer's real life experiences as a spy during WW I.

This is not to be missed.

Roger Moncrief

This is one of the best TV adaptations of a novel I ever saw. As usual, the real good stuff gets locked up in a vault somewhere and eventually fades away. I wish I had recorded all the episodes the last time I saw it (over 10 years ago).