Sunday, September 10, 2017

Quarter 2 Reviews 2/8



002 Historical Drama – Old

Greyfriars by Ronald Frame from 2002 was a sound world I wanted to stay in.  Evidently Greyfriars Bobby, the mid-19th century Skye Terrier who patrolled the beat in Edinburgh with his master Mr Jock Grey, was real and quite a celebrity.  I didn’t know that, though, so just enjoyed the story for what it was.  Bobby was, in this version at least, a ratter owned by a cruel man, then let loose by a kind-hearted soul.  Bobby found his way to the garden of the Cairncrosses, a hoity-toity upper middle class Edinburgh family.  The head of the family was the rather sardonic and severe Lachlan, while Aeneas, his younger brother, is dreamier, devoted to Jock the gardener and Bridie the seamstress’ assistant.  Bobby causes Jock to lose his job, which is when (with no prior experience!) Jock becomes a police constable patrolling Edinburgh’s streets.  Bobby, naturally, helps.  There are grave-robberies going on as well as a ring of thieves targeting wealthy Edinburgh houses.  Crawford Logan, in the spirit of Percy Edwards, famous for portraying dogs on radio, played Greyfriars Bobby.  It was directed, like many BBC Scotland productions, by David Ian Neville.

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