2.2 The Barchester Chronicles

An A to Z of UK Television Drama

The second episode of this new series of their podcast sees Andy and Martin visit sleepy Barsetshire and the quiet cathedral town of Barchester, where ecclesiastical and romantic intrigue is going to set tongues wagging and cassocks whirling. This 1982 adaptation of two of Anthony Trollope’s beloved Barsetshire series, The Warden and Barchester Towers, entitled The Barchester Chronicles boasts memorable performances from Alan Rickman as the slimy Obadiah Slope, Geraldine McEwan as the controlling Mrs Proudie, and Nigel Hawthorne as the overbearing Archdeacon Grantly. The plot concerns a newspaper’s crusade against the Church of England’s practice of self-enrichment which targets the unassuming and harmless Mr Harding (Donald Pleasance). But this battle is as nothing to the threat that Is later posed when a new Bishop (Clive Swift) is appointed, a weak man who is in the merciless grip of his domineering wife, Mts Proudie, and his chaplain Obadiah Slope. Slope does not only have his eyes set on ecclesiastical grandeur but also the hand of Signorna Madeleine Neroni (Susan Hampshire) until, that is, he discovers that Harding’s daughter Eleanor (Janet Maw) may be a better bet. The cast list also includes Barbara Flynn, Cyril Luckham, Denis Carey, Ursula Howells, John Ringham and Phyllidda Law and the series is adapted by Alan Plater whose Beiderbecke trilogy and Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced we celebrated during our first run. Neither Andy, nor Martin expect to enjoy the series that much, but they are to be pleasantly surprised by this adaptation which is regarded by Trollope fans to be a faithful and worthy version of two of his most celebrated novels.