The Glittering Prizes

The script's the star of this sprawling six-part series from Frederic Raphael: probing, caustic and matchlessly witty, particularly in the two most successful episodes, the Brideshead-esque 'An Early Life' and the frankly outlandish 'A Past Life', which features Eric Porter as a fascist sympathiser. The acting is variable (Tom Conti's bravura central performance is the obvious standout), the worldview sometimes unsavoury and the penultimate episode has passages that really drag, but it's a work touched with a rare brilliance and the dialogue is simply spectacular. I picked it up after hearing Nigel Havers (who has a small but memorable role) say it was the best script he'd ever read.

This series, which ran on PBS in the '70s, was written by award-winning screenwriter and novelist Frederic Raphael. It follows a group of Cambridge students from the 50's through to the 70's. Several of them are thinly-disguised versions of their real-life counterparts. For example, Tom Conti plays Adam Morris, an aspiring Jewish novelist (presumably Raphael himself) and Mark Wing-Davey (of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) plays Mike Clode (obviously David Frost.) A wonderful analysis of life in England from the post-war period through to the Swinging '70s. Shamefully, this series has never been released on video.

This series was the kind of thing that made TV worth it a quarter century ago. Written by the English novelist Frederick Raphael from his book, it was more than a little autobiographic, and carried the flavour of the 50s and 60s, while avoiding many of the clichés this period evokes.

The TV series was Intelligent, wry, literate, subtle, with brilliant acting.

In post-war England, it followed a group of students at Cambridge, with their hopes, affairs, confrontations with life, and, later, disillusionments and achievements. It's impossible to explain how truly intelligent the writing is; this has to be experienced.

We NEED it on DVD!

One would think that the BBC and ITV would be out to milk every last penny from the great TV programmes of the past. The Glittering Prizes ranked along with such greats as I Claudius, Fall of Eagles and Days of Hope. I doubt that the tapes have been lost or discarded. If the BBC could produce the old blotchy 50's recording of George Orwell's 1984 for its anniversary, they have got this one tucked away in their vaults.

The plot reminded me of the Up series, where a group of children are visited every 7 years to examine how they are faring in life. The Glittering Prizes was a work of fiction, but obviously based on real life characters who attended Cambridge in the 1950's and went on to careers, some successful, some not. I will never forget the scene with Tom Conti in his cheap rooms, with "Oh Mein Papa" playing on the radio, or the young boy when asked what kind of car the family had, replied that they had feet. The evocation of the 50's and 60's brought back so many memories. The script was sparkling, the acting superb and the concept predated all the ensemble films and reality shows.

TV has really gone downhill since programmes like this were made. We may have more channels, but the result in mediocrity. Best of all, they were able to get the message across without resorting to gutter language. Like others, I would like to see this on DVD.

Totally engrossing series. Excellent cast, with a young Tom Conti particularly outstanding. Many mini-series have since come and gone, but very few match it in quality or in hauntingly evoking an era. A masterpiece.