Mummies, servants, cars gave variety

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33611, 13 August 1974, Page 4

Mummies, servants, cars gave variety

It would be hard to find a more varied offering than Sunday evening’s with every-> thing from a documentary which examined, the mummified remains of ancient Egyptian royalty to another incident in the excellent series, “Upstairs, Downstairs.”

Both these two programmes were far from straight-forward—in fact the Edwardian drama proved to be a tortuous but intriguing tale.

It ended up in the framing of poor Sarah, underlining once again the ease with which a “mere servant gel” could be taken advantage of in those days when human rights depended on the state into which one was bom. In the rather long preliminary dialogue between Elizabeth and her brother there were some delightful exchanges—again reflecting the attitude of the male privileged of the times towards the female. And as Elizabeth was an articulate "emancipated” woman, she, too, had plenty to say in her double-edged exchanges.

Flossie and Flo turned out to be highly unlikely, though after all it was no doubt all part of the duplicity of the worthless Swedes to make a

highlight of the cheating at cards. The programme also gave the impression that somej where along the line i Elizabeth would discover the i full implications and clear (poor Sarah. The posturings of the gentleman’s gentleman from Sweden, who insisted on using the main entrance, also' provided plenty of scope for the delightful way this programme has even the servants defending the way in which English servants know their place and are not to be compared with any inferior Continental types. # $ #

There was no doubt Granada Television worked hard on the academic question—Tutankhamun was the son of Amenophis and Sitamun was his sister, could she also have been his mother? Using the terms of the script of this documentary, the shrivelled remains of nobility who have become an obsession of Professor Ronald Harrison, anatomy professor at Liverpool University, hardly makes gripping television material. And clearly the project had its problems in Egypt—the frustrations of not being allowed to shift the body or take a decent-sized piece of mummified tissue came through loud and clear. And it was also hardly a case of the full forces of modem technology being un-

j leased on the problem as the i veteran X-ray machine passed lon to its own after-life. i However, there is a fascination about the lives of rulers whose bodies have been preserved through the centuries and the documentary made as much of the God-kings and their incredible civilisation as possible. The programme also explained how the bodies were preserved by the ancient Egyptians — a helpful inclusion.

The other documentary, earlier in the evening, was well worth watching. "The Veterans” told the story of the development of the motorcar up until the outbreak of the First World War —when it was almost solely the privilege of the wealthy. And it was the reconstruction of these famous machines by the veteran enthusiasts of today which made this film possible. Against quiet lanes of rural England and stately homes it was not hard to re-create the early days of motoring. The programme rounded out the visual details through skilful use of still photographs. The "Plain Speaking” slot, just after Newsbrief, was filled by Bishop Paul Reeves who took a rather different line. One of the most difficult assignments to carry’ out — make a point consistent with the Christian ethic yet not appear to preach down to viewers — was met by the bishop in a rather novel way. He gave details of William Colenso’s life, "warts and all,” making the point that all men are human and acceptance must take weaknesses as well as strengths into account. Rather different, but refreshing.—K.C.