The
lowdown: 'He Knew He Was Right' is a four-part BBC drama based
on the 1869 novel by Anthony
Trollope, and first broadcast
on 18 April 2004. The series begins with the marriage of Louis Trevelyan
(Oliver Dimsdale) and Emily
Rowley (Laura Fraser). Several years pass and the seemingly happy couple
have a son, but Louis becomes
suspicious and more than a bit jealous when Emily begins spending a lot
of time with Colonel Osborne
(Bill Nighy), an old friend of her father. She assures Louis that the friendship
is completely innocent,
but he forbids her to see the Colonel. Emily is very stubborn and refuses
to bow
to his command, and her
continued friendship with Osborne eventually sees herself and her son banished
from the family home.
There are also a number of
subplots involving other characters, and again love is the common theme.
One
of these plots involves
the local clergyman, Mr Gibson (superbly played by David Tennant), who
has a keen
eye for the ladies. He first
courts Dorothy Stanbury, the niece of a wealthy spinster, and then two
sisters,
Arabella and Camilla French.
Gibson rather hastily proposes to Camila, a very domineering young woman,
but soon regrets his rash
action and calls off the wedding. He then proposes to Arabella, who has
a much
more friendly disposition.
Tennant is at his best in the scenes where he reveals to Camila that he
cannot
marry her. Meanwhile, Louis
sets about to gain custody of his son, and flees with the child to Italy,
vowing
to never return to England.
However, Emily tracks him down and finds him close to death, and with the
couple reunited, he dies
in her arns. The series ends with Gibson seemingly happily married to Arabella.
The
verdict: As one would expect from a BBC
historical drama, it has superb production values. A very
striking
feature of the series is the way most of the main characters regularly
speak directly to camera,
which
helps draw the viewer in to the plot and is quite effective. Many of the
actors will be very familiar:
Laura
Fraser appeared with David Tennant in 'Casanova', and Geoffrey Palmer from
the 2007 'Doctor Who'
Christmas
Special, plays Emily's father. Other actors include Anna-Louise Plowman
(Dalek), Philip Madoc
(The
Brain of Morbius) and Ron Cook (The Idiot's Lantern). If you enjoy historical
dramas, this one is very
highly
recommended. Bravo to the Beeb for continuing to invest in quality drama
rather than simply making
more
reality shows.
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