Staying On is a sequel to the Raj Quartet, but preceded the 1984 mini-series The Jewel in the Crown. I watched it in the order the author Paul Scott intended and felt I benefitted as such. Staying On is more focused than the more famous mini series, and arguably better suited to TV as a result.
It reunites Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard (of Brief Encounters fame) as the elderly English couple, the Smalleys, who have 'stayed on' in India, after the collapse of the English regime.
Both into their 70s, Mr Smalley is suffering from a poor heart. His wife Lucy, who loves him despite his increasingly eccentric behaviour, worries for her future health and happiness when he dies. The fact that they are at the whims of the conniving Mrs Bhoolaboy adds to the tension.
I would ultimately put this on a par with its more famous relation. I can't say anything about the books, but the characters here have more room to come to life and develop in their own way than is the case in TJITC.
While death and illness - common themes for Mr Scott - hang over the Smalley's lives, it is less melodramatically intrusive, though no less significant. As a meditation on love and dependence, it is quite touching. However, love cannot conquer death, or so the climax suggests.
There is greater warmth and love in this hour and twenty minutes than the whole of TJITC, as Mr Smalley's apparent intransigence before his wife's love ultimately gives way in a touchingly realised voiceover. This is Howard's moment in the sun.
Johnson's comes at the very end, when she delivers a heart-rending monologue delivered to her dead husband. The camera follows her patiently round the room, never getting too close or jumping around, as Lucy pours our her heart.
Patience brings reward for the audience, as this climax is worth the wait.
It reunites Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard (of Brief Encounters fame) as the elderly English couple, the Smalleys, who have 'stayed on' in India, after the collapse of the English regime.
Both into their 70s, Mr Smalley is suffering from a poor heart. His wife Lucy, who loves him despite his increasingly eccentric behaviour, worries for her future health and happiness when he dies. The fact that they are at the whims of the conniving Mrs Bhoolaboy adds to the tension.
I would ultimately put this on a par with its more famous relation. I can't say anything about the books, but the characters here have more room to come to life and develop in their own way than is the case in TJITC.
While death and illness - common themes for Mr Scott - hang over the Smalley's lives, it is less melodramatically intrusive, though no less significant. As a meditation on love and dependence, it is quite touching. However, love cannot conquer death, or so the climax suggests.
There is greater warmth and love in this hour and twenty minutes than the whole of TJITC, as Mr Smalley's apparent intransigence before his wife's love ultimately gives way in a touchingly realised voiceover. This is Howard's moment in the sun.
Johnson's comes at the very end, when she delivers a heart-rending monologue delivered to her dead husband. The camera follows her patiently round the room, never getting too close or jumping around, as Lucy pours our her heart.
Patience brings reward for the audience, as this climax is worth the wait.