Blott On The Landscape, 1985
The six part TV comedy drama series based on the 1975 novel by Tom Sharpe.
Screened on the BBC in 1985, the TV series is set ten years after the book and makes a number of small changes in it’s adaptation.
Rather than illustrate Blott’s past by way of description as in the book, the TV series uses a series of flashbacks to give the viewer glimpses of his past. In the book he served in World War 2, however as the TV series is set ten years after, this meant that Blott would have been too young to serve in World War 2, so for the flashback scenes he is shown as an incompetent Eastern European soldier who accidentally found himself on the Western side of the Iron Curtain, was refused re-entry to the east, and was brought back to England and employed by Lady Maud’s father.
Summary
Meet Sir Giles Lynchwood the man who appears to have nearly everything, he’s rich, he’s powerful (he’s a Conservative MP) but there are two things annoy him.
First his house (well it’s not really his it’s his wife Lady Maud’s ancestral home). It’s a rotting manor house, costing far too much to upkeep.
The second is his wife, Lady Maud Lynchwood. Strong-willed Maud wants children to Giles (in order to carry on the family line) but Giles wouldn’t have sex with Maud if she wasn’t the last woman on Earth. He’s also cheating on her with Mrs Forthby.
Giles comes up with a fool proof (or so he thinks) plan to get rid of the house. He convinces the Government to build the extension of a motorway (highway) through the grounds and through the house itself. When Maud finds out about this, she is determined to stay in her house.
Maud dreams of divorcing Giles and sets out to stop the motorway by trying to turn the manor into a safari zoo. To do this she enlists the help of her foreign handyman, Blott (who has a mysterious past but owes Maud’s Father a big debt). However Giles and Dundridge, the motorway controller, have other ideas…
Clips
Main Cast
David Suchet – Blott
Geraldine James – Lady Maud Lynchwood
George Cole – Sir Giles Lynchwood
Julia McKenzie – Mrs Forthby
Details
Channel: BBC2
Written By: Tom Sharpe
Original Transmission Dates: February 6th – March 13th 1985
Where To Watch