TV series set in the Golden Age

Fading Fast said:

Really enjoyed this show - was disappointed when it was cancelled. And, yes, the period details are amazing.

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LOVE this show! I wish it had stayed on longer, too. It was very well done.

Homefront in the early 90s. I think it was on ABC. (mentioned earlier). I loved it. I wonder if it's out on DVD yet?

"Call the Midwife" is set in London in the '50s-early '60s. As is usual in these British productions attention to detail is meticulous. Setting is pretty much confined to the London slums.

^ never understood why "Call the Midwife" gets no love or even attention from FL. I've brought it up several times over the years and have generated almost no response comments. As you said, the settings are meticulous - it feels like time travel. And while the stories and writing are uneven (week to week and season to season), when it's on its game, it has interesting, three-dimensional characters dealing with real-life issues in a thoughtful and complex manner.

Brian mentioned Ellery Queen -- I presume you mean the 1975-76 series with Jim Hutton as Ellery, and David Wayne's definitive Inspector Queen? I bought the entire season set on DVD, and have been dipping into them from time to time. As a fan of Ellery in the books, I think Hutton came about as close as any actor ever has to capturing EQ's essence (later episodes had him do less of the annoying absent-minded shtick). The plots were clever and twisty, too. One episode, "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party," is actually based on one of the EQ short stories.

I'd love to see a new period-piece version with Alexis Denisov ("Wesley" from Angel) as Ellery, and with adaptations of more of the short stories. But I fear America's TV watchers have been too dumbed down to handle a true Ellery mystery. Perhaps if AMC or TNT were to do it . . .

Did anyone ever watch Remember WENN? It was a comedy set at a radio station in the 1930s. It ran for a few years in the late 90s. It had some really funny moments.

Benzadmiral said:

Brian mentioned Ellery Queen -- I presume you mean the 1975-76 series with Jim Hutton as Ellery, and David Wayne's definitive Inspector Queen? I bought the entire season set on DVD, and have been dipping into them from time to time. As a fan of Ellery in the books, I think Hutton came about as close as any actor ever has to capturing EQ's essence (later episodes had him do less of the annoying absent-minded shtick). The plots were clever and twisty, too. One episode, "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party," is actually based on one of the EQ short stories.

I'd love to see a new period-piece version with Alexis Denisov ("Wesley" from Angel) as Ellery, and with adaptations of more of the short stories. But I fear America's TV watchers have been too dumbed down to handle a true Ellery mystery. Perhaps if AMC or TNT were to do it . . .

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I loved the Hutton-Wayne series when it first aired -- it was unlike any other crime show on the air at the time, and it still holds up well today.

I'd love to see a full-on period adaptation of the early Queen "puzzle format" novels. "The Chinese Orange Mystery" done up in full detail would be an astonishing thing to see.

Anyone ever see the short series, "Island at War" about a fictional Channel Island and the German occupation? Great series, I was bummed it didn't continue. It seems that all drama about the channel islands covers the times when things were going well for the Germans. I'd love to see a drama taking place there near the end of the war when everyone was starving and the Germans knew it was a matter of time before they were all marched to POW camps.
I've long had an idea for a story where someone who's been holding in their inner demons, living on a channel island, snapping finally and going full-bore serial killer on Germans. In the end, the locals can't convict him for his crimes because it's the enemy he's killing and once the war is over, there's a serious question on if he'll go back to 'normal' now that he can't do that anymore without going to a British prison.

AmateisGal said:

Homefront in the early 90s. I think it was on ABC. (mentioned earlier). I loved it. I wonder if it's out on DVD yet?

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I doubt anyone but us recalls that. A pal of mine helped work on the show, working on costumes for crowd scenes. He was very bummed when it was axed by NBC...
No DVD, I just looked it up. Haven't thought of that show in years.
I never forgot what I think was the pilot episode, where a soldier coming home was killed in transit. The woman waiting for him was crushed. I knew a woman that had happened to, her husband survived Iwo Jima and Saipan, only to die in the sinking of a small boat within sight of the US mainland.

^ "Island at War" is an excellent series. I only discovered it after it was already cancelled - it is very well done, has beautiful sets, the filming is gorgeous, and the acting and writing are both strong. It is also an interesting "one-off" story of the war as the Channel Islands were as close as the Germans got to occupying England itself. One of the lead characters - Joanne Froggatt (the daughter of the shopkeeper) - is now on "Downton Abbey" as a Lady's maid.

HudsonHawk said:

Did anyone ever watch Remember WENN? It was a comedy set at a radio station in the 1930s. It ran for a few years in the late 90s. It had some really funny moments.

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I remember it. I watched a few episodes but for some reason it never really caught on with me - even though I am pretty much a radio junkie.

Inkstainedwretch said:

"Call the Midwife" is set in London in the '50s-early '60s. As is usual in these British productions attention to detail is meticulous. Setting is pretty much confined to the London slums.

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The original experiences which were novelised by the author took place in Whitechapel (where I now live), though the novel transplanted them to neighbouring Poplar, just South and a little East of Whitechapel. Both right beside Limehouse, where Ian McKellan lives, I believe. Back in the immediate postwar period, these areas were indeed very rundown (Whitechapel is best well known for the Ripper, The Krays, the foundation of the Salvation Army, and the Elephant Man - in roughy that order), though from 1950ish onwards there were efforts to improve them, not always successful. These days, it's fast becoming gentrified. Funny thing, time. In the 50s, there would have been a very large and established Jewish immigrant community there. Still traces of it, though as is the way of things, their descendents have mostly moved on, and since the sixties the big immigrant community has been from India / Pakistan / Bangladesh. Now we've had the rise and fall of the hipsters. It's an interesting part of town, with a real mix of cultures and people. I hope gentirification doesn't kill that off!

I keep meaning to catch up with that show because of the local history connections, but I've as of yet not managed to.

Lizzie,

LizzieMaine said:

I loved the Hutton-Wayne series when it first aired -- it was unlike any other crime show on the air at the time, and it still holds up well today.

I'd love to see a full-on period adaptation of the early Queen "puzzle format" novels. "The Chinese Orange Mystery" done up in full detail would be an astonishing thing to see.

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Even better would be The Siamese Twin Mystery, with its unusual location (atop a mountain), the reversal of the cliche of "several characters trapped in a house by a snowstorm," and the growing suspense. However, I agree the climactic scene of Chinese Orange would also go well on film, and Ellery's explanation in that one is not so long on logic -- easier for today's audiences to follow.

Cat of Many Tails, their pioneering serial-killer novel of 1948 or so, would be darker than the Hutton series, but what a rich film it would make. About 15 years ago I imagined a production with David Duchovny as Ellery, John Mahoney of "Frasier" as the Inspector, Christopher Plummer as Dr. Cazalis, plus Jennifer Aniston and Nicholas Brendon. My cast list had the advantage that all of them were then at the right age to play the various characters.

There is also Doctor Finlay that was on TV in the 90s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Finlay