Love on a Branch Line (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Love on a Branch Line is a British
television adaptation of the 1959 novel Love on a Branch Line
by John Hadfield
. It was broadcast in 1994 airing on the BBC
in four 50 minute episodes.
to close the Office of Output Statistics which has outlived its usefulness. Instead he becomes seduced by the small idyllic world he finds there, making his task rather more difficult than he had imagined. He soon finds himself becoming entangled with the local aristocrat's three beautiful daughters.
to become a painter. Instead he is dissuaded by his superior, who instead wants him to go to Arcady Hall in Suffolk where the Office of Output Statistics, a small government department has been working since 1940 when it was commandeered during the Battle of Britain
and overlooked for closure for a number of years, despite its apparent lack of usefulness.
Initially reluctant to take the assignment the diffident Jasper is persuaded by his boss. He is told that his remit is essentially to close the place down, though he has an entirely "free hand" in the matter. Jasper prepares to leave for the small village of Arcady where Arcady Hall is located. Symbolically he recovers his umbrella which he had shoved into a flowerbed in St James' Park
when planning to abandon the civil service, thinking to himself. "Well, it was a rather good umbrella, and it might rain"
He catches a train to Arcady, but finds that the branch line that runs there from the neighbouring town had closed four years before. He instead has to walk into the village. He arrives to find Arcady Hall a magnificent sight but seemingly far too large for the small department of three employees who work there. He quickly finds himself the talk of the town, as the 'man from the ministry' who cuts quite a dash. In particular he strikes up a relationship with each of Lord Flamborough's daughters. Chloe, the eldest, trapped in an unhappy marriage with her drunken, wayward husband Lionel Virley, her first cousin and heir to the estate. Belinda the flirtatious and uninhibited middle daughter and the wildly gothic romantic youngest, Matilda.
When he goes to meet the eccentric Lord Flamborough who, having lost both legs in a train accident whilst working as a driver during the 1926 General Strike
, now lives on a steam train on a nearby private railway - the defunct branch line
of the title. He appears content to have ceded the day to day running of the Hall to Professor Pollux, and having a passion for Trad Jazz
(whilst being an erratic drummer at best) seems more interested in the fact that Jasper can allegedly dance the Charleston
than remarking on any entanglements Pye may have with his daughters. Like everyone else in the village, he seems to take to Jasper, helping to persuade him to stay for the fete that Bank Holiday
Monday, being held in aid of "fallen women". He is to be the judge of a competition of ladies' ankles. He has again disposed of his umbrella after being told he is very sexy apart from it.
He soon finds that the department's two senior employees spend most of their time running the Hall and its history, the village and the local cricket team. Anything in fact, other than the jobs they are supposed to be doing. Jasper finds it very difficult to find out any information about the work of the department, due to a combination of their evasive responses and his own extracurricular activities, which draw him away from his task.
On one of the rare moments when he actually manages to have a discussion on the department's function, the third employee, Miss Mounsey, breaks down and admits to him that she has been making up the statistics for a number of years, worrying this may have affected government policy. Jasper reassures her that "nobody has ever taken the least bit of notice in the work of your department" much to her relief.
Jasper has become a regular fixture in the life of the village, despite having only been there for a few days. He undertakes a number of adventures such as painting a portrait of Belinda (her torso, naked), finding himself locked in the Hall dungeon/wine cellar with Lionel Virley, where they get completely inebriated, only to turn up late to the Arcady vs Flaxfield cricket match, where, while still drunk, score the winning runs, and actually rescue the game. He climbs the ivy on the ruined castle wall to join Matilda at the top, only to get stuck up there, He also become an overnight expert on gardening, a hero in the village (because of the cricket match), and is seen as the village Casanova. He skinny dips and romps naked around an island in the middle of a lake, with Belinda (the second daughter), joins a party on Lord Flamborough's train, and all the while he faces the difficult decision of whether to close the obviously redundant department despite the rural idyll
it seems to support. Eventually he announces that the department is to close, a decision which does not go down well with Lord Flamborough or the villagers, although they apparently bear Jasper no ill will because of it, realising he is "just doing his job". The fete proceeds as planned, including a traction engine
rally, the ankle-judging competition (won by Miss Mounsey) and a demonstration of the Charleston by Jasper.
Miss Tidy, a lady who shared the railway carriage with Jasper on his way up to Arcady, and a former paramour of Lord Flamborough, announces that she has in fact been there acting on behalf of the National Trust
who want to preserve the house for the nation, meaning that life can go on as it was before in Arcady. It is interesting to note that in the original novel Arcady Hall was destined to become a Nuclear Research Establishment.
Eventually, as Belinda and Matilda, the two unmarried daughters of Lord Flamborough, appear to have become bored with Jasper (just like Deirdre was), he meanwhile has come to realise that the woman he is most taken with is the shy spinster Miss Mounsey, the secretary for the department, who very obviously likes him, and admits 'I don't find you a bore, far from it'. When it starts to rain, he embraces his true persona by retrieving the umbrella from the flowerbed. The story ends with Jasper and Miss Mounsey embracing on the platform at Arcady station.
in Norfolk
, while the railway scenes were filmed on the North Norfolk Railway
, in particular using Weybourne station
as a substitute for the fictional Arcady station.
Each episode is named after a 1920s song, from the Charleston
era beloved by Lord Flanborough - "Yes Sir, That's My Baby
", "I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
" and "Ain't She Sweet
".
in 2002 and on Region Two in 2006. These are distributed by Acorn Media UK
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television adaptation of the 1959 novel Love on a Branch Line
Love on a Branch Line (novel)
Love on a Branch Line is a 1959 comic novel by John Hadfield. It involved Jasper Pye, a diffident member of the British Civil Service being sent to Arcady Hall in Norfolk to close down a government department there. He finds it to be a rural idyll, and encounters a number of problems with closing...
by John Hadfield
John Hadfield
John Charles Heywood Hadfield, was a British author and publisher, best known for his novel Love on a Branch Line....
. It was broadcast in 1994 airing on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in four 50 minute episodes.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Michael Maloney Michael Maloney Michael Maloney is an English actor.Born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Maloney's first television appearance was as Peter Barkworth's teenage son in the 1979 drama series, Telford's Change.... |
Jasper Pye |
| Leslie Phillips Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:... |
Lord Flamborough |
| Maria Aitken Maria Aitken Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken is an English actress, writer, producer and director.Aitken was born in Dublin, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and socialite Penelope Aitken, whose father was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. She is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and... |
Lady Flamborough |
| Abigail Cruttenden Abigail Cruttenden Abigail Cruttenden is an English actress.Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character's onscreen wife Jane in several episodes of Sharpe. The couple wed in real life in 1997 and had a daughter, Evie. Three months later they started divorce proceedings, and divorced in 2000. In 2003,... |
Belinda |
| Cathryn Harrison Cathryn Harrison Cathryn Mary Lee Harrison is an English actress. Cathryn was baptised on 27 September 1959 at St. John's Church, Hampstead, London, England.... |
Chloe |
| Charlotte Williams | Matilda |
| Amanda Root Amanda Root Amanda Root is an English stage and screen actor and a former voice actor for children's programmes.Root known for her starring role in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and the British TV comedy All About Me, as Miranda, alongside Richard Lumsden in 2004 and when she was a... |
Miss Mounsey |
| Gillian Raine Gillian Raine Gillian Raine is an actress and was the wife of the actor Leonard Rossiter from 1964-1984 , though they had been living together since 1962. They had one daughter, Camilla .... |
Miss Tidy |
| Graham Crowden Graham Crowden Clement Graham Crowden was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric 'offbeat' scientist, teacher and doctor characters.-Early life:... |
Professor Pollux |
| David Haig David Haig David Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes... |
Lionel Virley |
| Stephen Moore Stephen Moore (actor) Stephen Moore is an English actor, known for his work on British television since the 1980s. He is known for his appearances in Rock Follies and other TV series such as The Last Place on Earth, the children's series The Queen's Nose and the drama Mersey Beat and the British TV comedy series Solo,... |
Quirk |
| Joe Melia Joe Melia -Films:* Too Many Crooks * Follow a Star * The Intelligence Men * Four in the Morning * Modesty Blaise * Oh! What a Lovely War * Antony and Cleopatra * Sweeney!... |
Mr Jones |
Synopsis
Jasper Pye a refined civil servant is sent to rural SuffolkSuffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
to close the Office of Output Statistics which has outlived its usefulness. Instead he becomes seduced by the small idyllic world he finds there, making his task rather more difficult than he had imagined. He soon finds himself becoming entangled with the local aristocrat's three beautiful daughters.
Plot
Jasper Pye is a polite, honest civil servant who lives with his mother. One night when he hears his girlfriend Deirdre describe him as 'a bore' at a party, he decides he needs an urgent, radical change in his life. The following morning he heads into the ministry, determined to resign his job and move to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to become a painter. Instead he is dissuaded by his superior, who instead wants him to go to Arcady Hall in Suffolk where the Office of Output Statistics, a small government department has been working since 1940 when it was commandeered during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and overlooked for closure for a number of years, despite its apparent lack of usefulness.
Initially reluctant to take the assignment the diffident Jasper is persuaded by his boss. He is told that his remit is essentially to close the place down, though he has an entirely "free hand" in the matter. Jasper prepares to leave for the small village of Arcady where Arcady Hall is located. Symbolically he recovers his umbrella which he had shoved into a flowerbed in St James' Park
St James' Park
St James' Park, known for sponsorship reasons as the Sports Direct Arena, is an all-seater stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United Football Club and is the sixth largest football stadium in the United Kingdom with a capacity of between 52,387 and 52,409.St James'...
when planning to abandon the civil service, thinking to himself. "Well, it was a rather good umbrella, and it might rain"
He catches a train to Arcady, but finds that the branch line that runs there from the neighbouring town had closed four years before. He instead has to walk into the village. He arrives to find Arcady Hall a magnificent sight but seemingly far too large for the small department of three employees who work there. He quickly finds himself the talk of the town, as the 'man from the ministry' who cuts quite a dash. In particular he strikes up a relationship with each of Lord Flamborough's daughters. Chloe, the eldest, trapped in an unhappy marriage with her drunken, wayward husband Lionel Virley, her first cousin and heir to the estate. Belinda the flirtatious and uninhibited middle daughter and the wildly gothic romantic youngest, Matilda.
When he goes to meet the eccentric Lord Flamborough who, having lost both legs in a train accident whilst working as a driver during the 1926 General Strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
, now lives on a steam train on a nearby private railway - the defunct branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
of the title. He appears content to have ceded the day to day running of the Hall to Professor Pollux, and having a passion for Trad Jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
(whilst being an erratic drummer at best) seems more interested in the fact that Jasper can allegedly dance the Charleston
Charleston (dance)
The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one...
than remarking on any entanglements Pye may have with his daughters. Like everyone else in the village, he seems to take to Jasper, helping to persuade him to stay for the fete that Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
Monday, being held in aid of "fallen women". He is to be the judge of a competition of ladies' ankles. He has again disposed of his umbrella after being told he is very sexy apart from it.
He soon finds that the department's two senior employees spend most of their time running the Hall and its history, the village and the local cricket team. Anything in fact, other than the jobs they are supposed to be doing. Jasper finds it very difficult to find out any information about the work of the department, due to a combination of their evasive responses and his own extracurricular activities, which draw him away from his task.
On one of the rare moments when he actually manages to have a discussion on the department's function, the third employee, Miss Mounsey, breaks down and admits to him that she has been making up the statistics for a number of years, worrying this may have affected government policy. Jasper reassures her that "nobody has ever taken the least bit of notice in the work of your department" much to her relief.
Jasper has become a regular fixture in the life of the village, despite having only been there for a few days. He undertakes a number of adventures such as painting a portrait of Belinda (her torso, naked), finding himself locked in the Hall dungeon/wine cellar with Lionel Virley, where they get completely inebriated, only to turn up late to the Arcady vs Flaxfield cricket match, where, while still drunk, score the winning runs, and actually rescue the game. He climbs the ivy on the ruined castle wall to join Matilda at the top, only to get stuck up there, He also become an overnight expert on gardening, a hero in the village (because of the cricket match), and is seen as the village Casanova. He skinny dips and romps naked around an island in the middle of a lake, with Belinda (the second daughter), joins a party on Lord Flamborough's train, and all the while he faces the difficult decision of whether to close the obviously redundant department despite the rural idyll
Idyll
An idyll or idyl is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls....
it seems to support. Eventually he announces that the department is to close, a decision which does not go down well with Lord Flamborough or the villagers, although they apparently bear Jasper no ill will because of it, realising he is "just doing his job". The fete proceeds as planned, including a traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
rally, the ankle-judging competition (won by Miss Mounsey) and a demonstration of the Charleston by Jasper.
Miss Tidy, a lady who shared the railway carriage with Jasper on his way up to Arcady, and a former paramour of Lord Flamborough, announces that she has in fact been there acting on behalf of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
who want to preserve the house for the nation, meaning that life can go on as it was before in Arcady. It is interesting to note that in the original novel Arcady Hall was destined to become a Nuclear Research Establishment.
Eventually, as Belinda and Matilda, the two unmarried daughters of Lord Flamborough, appear to have become bored with Jasper (just like Deirdre was), he meanwhile has come to realise that the woman he is most taken with is the shy spinster Miss Mounsey, the secretary for the department, who very obviously likes him, and admits 'I don't find you a bore, far from it'. When it starts to rain, he embraces his true persona by retrieving the umbrella from the flowerbed. The story ends with Jasper and Miss Mounsey embracing on the platform at Arcady station.
Production
Much of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Oxburgh HallOxburgh Hall
Oxburgh Hall is a moated country house in Oxborough, Norfolk, England, today in the hands of the National Trust. Built around 1482 by Sir Edmund Bedingfeld, Oxburgh has always been a family home, not a fortress...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, while the railway scenes were filmed on the North Norfolk Railway
North Norfolk Railway
The North Norfolk Railway – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the coastal town of Sheringham and Holt, It cuts through the countryside to the east of Weybourne with views of its windmill and passes through the well preserved country...
, in particular using Weybourne station
Weybourne railway station
Weybourne railway station is a station in Weybourne, Norfolk on the preserved North Norfolk Railway. It was formerly part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway route between Melton Constable and Cromer. It is part of the proposed Norfolk Orbital Railway route, which could see National...
as a substitute for the fictional Arcady station.
Each episode is named after a 1920s song, from the Charleston
Charleston (dance)
The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one...
era beloved by Lord Flanborough - "Yes Sir, That's My Baby
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" is a U.S. popular song from 1925.The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was a hit for Ace Brigode in 1925 and for Eddie Cantor in 1930. It was later a hit for Rick Nelson in the 1950s and Frank Sinatra in the 1960s...
", "I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby
"I Can't Give You Anything but Love" is an American popular song and jazz standard by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields .The song was introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928 in Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue, which opened on Broadway later that year as the...
" and "Ain't She Sweet
Ain't She Sweet
Ain't She Sweet was an American album featuring four tracks recorded in Hamburg in 1961 by The Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan and cover versions of Beatles and British Invasion-era songs recorded by the Swallows...
".
Media Releases
Love on a Branch Line was released on Region One DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2002 and on Region Two in 2006. These are distributed by Acorn Media UK
Acorn Media UK
Acorn Media UK is a DVD publisher which distributes and sells home video products with a particular focus on British television.- Company history :The company was founded in 1997 when Lesley Fromant set up a branch of parent company Acorn Media in the UK....
.