The memorable and slightly annoying theme music still lingers on in my mind...
That withstanding, for a while this was a captivating weekend daytime drama, featuring stage actor Mark Greenstreet delivering a terrific performance as the titular character AND his brother Simon.
Francis Matthews (who was the brilliant Paul Temple) hams it up as a foppish actor who talks Brat into impersonating someone thought to have committed suicide years before.
The uncanny resemblance and weeks of training secure the confidence of the family and the legal eagles and Brat is soon welcomed into the rich family by all... except the brother Simon Ashby.
Then things start to get weird as he starts to fancy his supposed sister Eleanor (a delicious 20-year-old Dominique Barnes - whatever happened to her?) and his integrity and suspicions start to get the better of him.
Episode 1 is a treat as things happen quickly and the plot is set in motion. The second episode doesn't do much except flesh out the characters and give us insights into the world of equestrian royalty. The finale does much the same thing except for the last 15 minutes where things come to a head and loose ends are tied up.
Most of us watching today will have already guessed what's going on... and even back in 1986, there wasn't much subtlety as to who was guilty of what! There's a strange direction to this drama that reminds me of the live action dramas that were made for children at that time, but this seems to have been marketed at adults, so I could be wrong.
Anyway... it's dated of course but still has a unique character of its own which makes it worth watching again.
