Judith Proctor's Journal

 For those who haven't already seen Aralias's post - Morgan's Boy is now on You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhVwh3A8ixpE4KAOVY6aztFsSN9dZalF5

I should have done this long ago...

It's still the best thing Gareth Thomas ever did.  It's neither a happy story nor a quick one, but it's very well told.  Just look at the body language. Morgan moves differently to Gareth - he's slow and deliberate.  Gradually, you learn to understand him and the things that moulded him.

The TV series was about Morgan and his nephew.  The boy is sent to the farm to visit the uncle he's hardly ever met and is gradually drawn into Morgan's small world.  The life of a Welsh hill farmer in the 1980s was not an easy one, the work is hard and money is scarce.

 Igenlode is a member of the BFI, and just noticed that this month's program includes a showing of "Stocker's Copper" at the National Film Theatre on the South Bank (Saturday 9th July) -- being prominently billed as "starring Gareth Thomas".

http://www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com/2016/06/what_tvs_on_at_the_bfi_in_july_including_the_wedne.php 




Stocker's Copper is well worth seeing.  This is the part that really got Gareth established in TV. 

He plays a Welsh policeman transferred to Cornwall during a clay miners strike.  The script is based on historical events.

As a Welshman, he is naturally  sympathetic to the Cornish miners, but as a policeman in a special unit and proud of his job, he is pulled in two directions.

He is billeted with a  Cornish family and gets very close to them in spite of their initial resentment at having him foisted on them.

As the strike draws on, the situation starts to deteriorate and the mine owners demand action.

This is well written drama, set at in 1913, a time when most people would never travel beyond the area they grew up in.   Communities were close and outsiders viewed with suspicion.

It's one of Gareth's best TV roles, he's young, handsome and working with a really good cast.


Here's the first part on YouTube (and parts 2 and 3 are also on You Tube - the picture quality isn't brilliant, so if you can see if at the NFT, then go for it!)
 

Okay, there's obviously several interested parties.

I've been asked if I can convert to DVD (which would also allow copies for several people without further loss of quality).

I can only do this if someone else can do the converting/copying. I don't have the facility myself (I can't remember now who converted Morgan's Boy for me).

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