This is quite obviously belated;
and I did notice his demise at the time: but, R.I.P. And let me advise readers who have not seen
the truly excellent miniseries The Barchester
Chronicles (the BBC’s adaptations of Trollop’s The Warden and Barchester
Towers)—do it. There are
infelicities, to be sure, but the stellar performances of the ever-delightful
Susan Hampshire as Signora Madeline Neroni and Alan Rickman as (of course) the villainous
but also misunderstood and somewhat put-upon Mr. Slope are not to be missed—not
to mention Donald Pleasance’s turn as the warden himself.
Did you know that
Donald Pleasance, who played the
birdwatcher in The
Great Escape, was initially a conscientious
objector during
WWII? That he then changed his stance,
and
joined the R.A.F.? That his plane was shot down,
and he spent the last
year in a POW camp? I didn’t either …
Alan Rickman is VERY young, deliciously
slimy, and delightfully … well, I had better not say anything else about Mr.
Slope, or I will be giving away spoilers.
Let me just add that the final words of that character, as Rickman
uttered them (they are not in the novel Trollop wrote, alas) are unforgettable.
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