Sunset on the British Empire

Press, 9 November 1984, Page 11

Sunset on the British Empire

[ Review I

Ken Strongman

It has finished then, 13 weeks of meandering up and down the railway line to Pancott, wondering if we would ever catch sight of Hari Kumar. Also, coming close to despair at anyone ever giving Ronald Merrick what he so richly deserved and at Sarah ever gaining anything at all in reward for her unbelievably unfailing goodness.

Somehow, “The Jewel in the Crown” did not live up to its early promise. It was flawed in some of its facets even though it reflected what one imagines to be the essence of India. Its ending could not have been more ironically timed, given the recent unfortunate events. The riots and killings of

1947 simply gave way to the riots and killings of 1984. One flaw in “The Jewel” was its pace, which seemed to become slower and slower, to miss out chunks of time altogether, to go backwards, and then to speed up bewilderingly. It gave considerable pause for thought as to whether or not one had missed particular episodes. Then, suddenly, it was the final one, so on went the television switch with a proper British Empire sort of loyalty, but without much hope. In the event, the final hour or so was compellingly packed full.

In assessing this series, one is constantly drawn to thoughts of beautiful

camera work. Take almost any sequence and it could be made into a gallery of those misty impressionatic stills that seem to have “fine art” dripping from them. Shots through archways, doors and trees, involving horizons and sunsets, all redolent with Indian light. Many of the recent “good” series have con-

tained this type of camera work. For instance, it is the perfect foil to the intricate and sumptuous force of “Brideshead,” which it is lovely to revisit again. There is a danger though. This type of cleverness with light and angle is not enough by itself. There must be events of some sort as well. In “The Jewel” it sometimes seemed as though there was nothing more than the camera.

The events, when they could be lifted from the slow creep of time, were interesting enough, although the depths of mutual misunderstanding in the Raj could be as infuriating as the presence of a bottle and the absence of a corkscrew. As

with all English series (perhaps all English life) it hinged on the class struggle, made more complex by the writhings of caste and religion. In the end, only those who were apparently born to lead could penetrate India and try to deal with it. Those who learned their leadership as a trade could hardly even begin.

The writer certainly made the elevated Guy Perron more effective and unrepentantly dominant than upstart Ronald Merrick, although he just failed to work as a character. Guy and Ronald indeed — it would be possible to derive much of the plot from these two names alone. Anyway,

one could only end by thinking that, whatever their origins, neither should have been in India to begin with. It was no better a place for the grammar school product, trying to find his niche, than it was for the public school gentleman, who would rarely realise the existence of any niche other than his own.

Still, these criticisms must not be taken too far. It has not been a bad 13 weeks. Some of the acting has been excellent, especially from Tim PiggottSmith as Merrick. He is clearly destined to become one of the most reviled faces in television drama, if he is not already. Also, the

settings seem to have been impeccable in their detail and all the posing and posturing had an authentic ring.

The final episode was a proper final episode in that it tied together a number of loose ends. Of course, like me, you suspected all along that the whole thing was about homosexuality and sadomasochism. Suddenly, the torments of racial inequality were put in their proper perspective and became as nothing in comparison with poor old Merrick's problems. You see, a proper public school education would have got all those nasty things out of his system much sooner.