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Post by Shrink Proof on Nov 24, 2014 21:20:21 GMT
Last night saw the first episode of "Remember Me", a Yorkshire-based ghost story starring Michael Palin as a pensioner who you start by seeing as melancholy but gradually realise is trying to get away from Something Malevolent. Turned "Scarborough Fair" from a jolly folk song into something much more sinister and had moments that were truly creepy. Lots of "out of the corner of your eye" unsettling moments - the hats in the photograph, the sheet music and the dripping taps were very weird not to mention the noises upstairs...
Sort-of Jamesian(the "unfolding" figure on Scarborough beach could've come straight out of "Oh, Whistle...") but bang up to date. So far I'm very impressed; it's a mile away from BBC1's usual Sunday night fodder.
Episode 1 is still available for another 6 days on the iPlayer. If you missed it, catch up now....
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Post by franklinmarsh on Nov 25, 2014 10:00:07 GMT
Good call, SP. Caught up with this via the magic of i-Player last night, despite the Mrs ruining the atmos during the first half. Very creepy in parts. Yorkshire is the new home of British Horror re films such as When The Lights Went Out, Inbred and Paddy from Emmerdale's Before Dawn.
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Post by ripper on Nov 25, 2014 12:58:59 GMT
Sounds very interesting. That's the great thing about Iplayer: if you miss something then you can easily see it via your PC, whereas in the pre-VCR days it was gone until repeated possibly years later.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Nov 25, 2014 13:20:40 GMT
Yorkshire is the new home of British Horror... "Remember Me" was filmed in Huddersfield (plus surrounding West Yorkshire moors) and Scarborough last February. As a full-time Northerner and Scarborough resident myself, I reckon they caught the atmosphere of both locations very well. In winter particularly you can experience moments of utter creepiness in both places...
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Post by ripper on Nov 26, 2014 9:15:32 GMT
I don't watch an awful lot of telly nowadays, but I gave Remember Me a go last night via IPlayer and thought it was rather good, and I am looking forward to the next episode. Hope the BBC see fit to make more programmes like it.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 3, 2014 10:28:11 GMT
Episode 2 sustains the mystery and suspense, if a little lighter on the chills and Palin. Hey Shrink - is that Greek temple thingy in Scarborough?
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Post by Shrink Proof on Dec 4, 2014 10:00:14 GMT
What you call the "Greek temple thingy" is indeed in Scarborough and is part of Scarborough Spa. The town started its time as a resort in the 17th century as a spa when mineral water was discovered trickling out from under a cliff by the beach. After some years it was found that visitors were coming to the town not just to take the waters but also to visit the adjacent beach, something that in those days wasn't normally done. So from that Scarborough became the world's first seaside resort and the idea of going to the beach started here. A huge building was put up over and around the spring and gradually folk spent more and more time doing stuff there (socialising, eating, dancing) than actually imbibing the (apparently vile-tasting) waters. In 1876 it caught fire and was totally wrecked. There's a famous Atkinson Grimshaw painting of that, which you can see here... (Grimshaw, who lived in Scarborough for much of his life, has been discussed in the Vault as many of his moonlit paintings have been used as covers for ghost story books). The Spa was rebuilt even bigger, with the Greek temple thingy being the bandstand next to an open air dance floor - that's the chessboard-like black and white squares that also feature in the TV film. You can get the idea here... Although the council ruined one side of it in the 60s by erecting a concrete annexe, it's still a marvellous piece of Victorian sandstone architecture. To see what I mean, put "Scarborough Spa" into a Google image search. It's now used as a concert venue (Patti Smith was here last year) and for conferences and the like. The Spa is so much an icon of Scarborough one of the named trains that ran here in the heyday of rail travel was the "Scarborough Spa Express" - the name's been revived for one of the regular tourist steam trains that come to the town throughout the summer.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 4, 2014 16:12:31 GMT
Fantastic answer, SP. Many many thanks. If I ever get up to that part of the country I'll definitely seek it out. Andreas! More cosy British seaside horror. Really looking forward to part three now.(or should I say "Season Finale"?)
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