The Night Watch (TV 2011)

In post-war London Viv Pearce, seeing married spiv Reggie, runs a dating bureau with Helen Giniver, who lives with her older lover, authoress Julia Standing. Viv's younger brother Duncan, a... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Laxton

Writers:

Sarah Waters (novel), Paula Milne (screenplay)

Stars:

Jenna Augen, Neal Barry, Claudie Blakley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jenna Augen	...	Iris Knight
Neal Barry	...	Mr. Bryant
Claudie Blakley	...	Nancy Carmichael
Lucy Briers	...	Binkie
Richard Cambridge	...	Policeman
Kenneth Cranham	...	Horace Mundy
Charles Early	...	Prisoner #1 (as Chas Early)
JJ Feild	...	Robert Fraser
Claire Foy	...	Helen Giniver
Liam Garrigan	...	Reggie Nigri
Richard Huw	...	James Imrie
Caitlin Innes Edwards	...	O'Neil
Phillip Langhorne	...	Cyclist
Colin Mace	...	Harry Hughes
Stephen Matthews	...	Auntie Vi

Storyline

In post-war London Viv Pearce, seeing married spiv Reggie, runs a dating bureau with Helen Giniver, who lives with her older lover, authoress Julia Standing. Viv's younger brother Duncan, a tormented homosexual, has been in prison and is sought out by his - straight - ex-cellmate Robert Fraser, who served time as a conscientious objector and is now concerned for the boy's welfare. Viv encounters Kay Langrish, a wealthy, reclusive butch lesbian and for both women this evokes memories of 1944 when Kay was an heroic ambulance driver and Helen was Kay's girlfriend, before Kay introduced her to her ex-lover Julia. Viv had an illegal abortion, funded by Reggie, and, after she needed hospital treatment, Kay saved her from prosecution by claiming she was a married woman who had miscarried. Three years earlier Kay and Julia are still an item and Viv meets unhappily married soldier Reggie on a train. Kay pulls Helen from the wreckage of a bombed house whilst we learn why Duncan was in prison ...

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Plot Keywords:

london blitz | london england | reverse chronology | lesbian | gay | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 July 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

Nyhterini synantisi

Filming Locations:

Bath, Somerset, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£1,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Kay Langrish: [voiceover] If you go to the cinema, midway through a film, you watch the second half first, don't you? So you see how the characters end up, in the story. What happened to turn them into the people they became? It's like a riddle you have to solve.

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Connections

References Forever Amber (1947)

User Reviews

good version of OK novel

This is a feature-length adaptation of Sarah Water's book of the same name.

I first came across Sarah Water's writing when I watch Tipping The Velvet on TV. I enjoyed the series so much that I then read the book, which was a great read. (I thoroughly recommend you read the book and watch the series - I don't think the order matters).

I guess the reason that I wasn't bowled over by this drama stems from the fact that I am not a fan of the book. I read it a few months ago, and whilst I enjoyed it, it was nowhere near as good as Tipping The Velvet. I think the problem being that whilst it has interesting characters, the story just wasn't strong enough and it just seemed to pootle along without much direction.

Saying that though, I would still recommend that you watch this drama as it is very atmospheric and the acting is on the whole good, especially the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin, who is always very watchable, as is Clare Foy.