'The Pallisers' On the screen at last

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34038, 30 December 1975, Page 4

'The Pallisers' On the screen at last

With 1800 costumes in preparation, some of them genuine Victorian dresses, others specially created, and ranging in style from the “full crinoline” of the 1860 s to the bustle in vogue 20 years later, “The Pallisers” was almost ready to appear before the cameras. There was one further complication. Because of the, delay caused by the last-; minute script alterations,; Lisemore’s minutely prepared shooting schedule, geared to j the changing of the seasons, was hopelessly out. For some scenes this mat-; tered little; in others the script could be altered. But sometimes there was nothing to do but wait for the right season to come around again; as for example with a brief but effective scene showing Glencora driving her closest woman friend, Alice, to Matching through the midwinter landscape in a pony trap. Fortunately the actress concerned was available to return for a “retake.” By this time, May, 1973, it; was the turn of Lisemore to I relinquish control of “The! Pallisers,” at least on a day-j ; to-day basis. In the television | world, unlike the film world, I

(the respective roles of producer and director tend to be ambiguous and liable to vary from production to production. Entrepeneur Broadly, the producer is the ! entrepreneur, the person who conceives and puts a project together and leaves his stamp on it through his choice of subject, dramatist, director and players. Once the studio stage has been reached the director becomes the man effectively in charge. For “The Pallisers” two directors were chosen, because the sheer strain of supervising so vast an enterprise, involving perhaps 100 ; hours of work in a seven-day 'week, would have been crip'pling for one man. Hugh [David directed the first 13 ; episodes and Ronald Wilson I the second 13. One production task remained: the designing of a title piece and the commissioning of signature music. The title piece shows. a peacock with spread tail; feathers, a fittingly aristocrat- , ic symbol for the ducal Pallis-j ers. The music was written i at 24 hours notice by a regular composer of television tunes, Herbert Chappell, after another composer’s piece had been rejected, and it became [ instantly popular in its own right. Betrayal British critical opinion of I “The Pallisers” varied. Some; reviewers saw Raven’s liber-; ties with original text as a • betrayal of the “spirit” ofi Trollope. But the public loved it. The average viewing figure throughout the serial was five million, small in British television terms. This was partly because the series was screened on 8.8.C.’s second channel, which almost inevitably ensures a minority audience, but the 8.8.C.’s “appreciation index,” which analyses viewer enjoyment as opposed to numbers, soared to 73 per cent.

Looking back. Lisemore thinks his biggest mistake was not to make clearer the fact that “The Pallisers” was never intended to be “adapted” Trollope but a free interpretation of the novelist. In his view literal “adaptations” of classic works are neither possible nor desirable. “We are not in the business of slavishly transferring literature to the screen, but of writing drama based on literature,” he said. He also has reservations about screening series stretching to 26 episodes. The television world in general seems to agree with him. Most major television drama serials or series, especially those produced for the commercial Independent Television network, tend to come in 13-episode packages. Recent examples are the spectacular “Edward VII” produced by ATV, and Yorkshire Television’s award-winning “South Riding.” “South Riding” was based so literally on Winifred Holtby’s book that you could follow it almost chapter by chapter and scene by scene. Perhaps the only basic rule ’for television drama is that i there can be no set rules; (only an instinct based on 'agreeing of what will work lon the screen.

"The Pallisers" finally reached the British television screen on January 19, 1974—. four years after its conception. RICHARD LAST, television critic of the "Daily Telegraph" in London, concludes his survey on the making of the series with an account of the programme's transmission and its reception by critics and viewers.