Review of Jake`s Progress

Introduction

When I was nineteen months old, my mum came home one day with an interesting bundle: a new baby brother. Afternoon naps became a thing of the past, perhaps because I feared that, if I dropped off, she`d bring home another one. I threw some wooden building bricks into his pram although whether I meant to hurt him or to give him something to play with is unknown to everyone - including me. Unlike Jake Diadoni however, I was not disturbed and my parents` new bundle of joy did not throw me into a fantasy world of murderous intent, which is what happens in `Jake`s Progress`, Alan Bleasdale`s follow-up to the award-winning` GBH`.

Jamie and Julie Diadoni`s marriage isn`t exactly stable, so a pregnancy wasn`t what they had in mind, given their already perilous financial situation and difficult family dynamic. Jamie is a failed and frustrated musician, who acts as house-husband and favoured parent to their complicated son Jake (Barclay Wright). Jake is complicated in the sense that he tries to set his Nana on fire, wishes people were dead, doing his best to realise this desire and driving his parents to distraction in the process.

At a sixties-themed party, Jamie (Robert Lindsay) has his palm read by Monica (Lindsay Duncan), who successfully tells him about elements of his past and then drops the bombshell that he will have an affair just before he dies. She will tell him no more, seeming more disturbed by his vision than he is, but although Jamie laughs this off, he takes it extremely seriously and begins wondering who this affair will be with. When the financial situations of the Diadonis and Julie`s parents reach critical mass, they decide to jointly open a residential home for the elderly as Julie (Julie Walters) and her mother Grace (Dorothy Tutin) can be the registered nurses with her father Alex (David Ryall) around to help out.

Video

Presented in what was the relatively new (at least for TV) aspect ratio of 16:9 (or 1.78:1 if you prefer), the transfer is slightly soft and grainy but the Irish coastal scenery looks terrific and the colours are well presented.

Audio

The DD 2.0 Stereo soundtrack is fairly clear and the score by Elvis Costello and Richard Harvey is excellent. The dialogue could be clearer, but excellent English HoH subtitles are available.

Features

Robert Lindsay and Barclay Wright provide a commentary on the first episode which is an amiable chat between the two in which they divulge some information, but not as much as Alan Bleasdale or Robin Lefèvre may have been able to offer. Given that Wright was about seventeen at the time of recording, he and Lindsay talk as adults about the series as a whole including how Wright, born in California and public school educated, came up with his accent after turning up on set with a Californian drawl and how they overcame his milk teeth falling out during filming!

There is the original opening scene, which hints at a broader spectrum for the show, but unfortunately there is no commentary by either Alan Bleasdale or director Robin Lefèvre to explain why and when it was omitted.

The 19 minute interview with Alan Bleasdale is very interesting as he reveals how, as an only child, the rivalry and hatred between his own children took him by surprise, how he saved a neighbour`s child from being burned alive by an elder sibling and how the series nearly never happened, with the casting of Barclay Wright being the crucial factor. This is in fullscreen, with the clips letterboxed and has optional subtitles, which strangely go slightly faster than the dialogue.

Conclusion

`Jake`s Progress` does not have the epic grandeur of `GBH`, using only seven main characters and almost entirely located in one rural village. Therefore, the series is more intimate, a family drama which concentrates on the tricky relationships between parents and children, grandparents and their grandchildren and the role of in-laws in family dynamics.

Using at least six of the cast from `GBH` (Robert Lindsay, Julie Walters, Lindsay Duncan, Andrew Schofield, Amanda Mealing and David Ross) pays dividends as they obviously know each other and can bring their experience from working with Alan Bleasdale`s scripts to a new project. Lindsay and Walters again share a close relationship - husband and wife rather than son and mother - and are both superb. Newcomer Barclay Wright, who has only gone on to appear in small roles in two films since then (`Event Horizon` and `Midnight Flight`) is astonishing in the complex and challenging role of Jake, who is almost Damien from `The Omen`. Bleasdale says that hundreds of children were auditioned for the role and he was just about to travel to London to cancel the project as no-one was suitable as a tape of Wright was delivered and, after watching only two minutes, he immediately contacted commissioning editor Peter Ansorge to tell him that they`d found `Jake`; a fine decision as the series would simply not have worked if the casting of Jake had been wrong.

`Jake`s Progress` is a drama that showcases the best of British acting and writing: the entire cast are superb and Bleasdale`s writing, especially the dialogue, is outstanding. Robin Lefèvre`s subtle direction goes unnoticed, aside from a bravura sequence similar to the famous Steadicam shot in `Goodfellas` which, in nearly two minutes, goes all the way through the home and outside to the car park. Remarkably, this only took three takes.

A wonderful mix of drama and humour, this is a fine TV series, not as ambitious or intricate as `GBH` but still completely engrossing from episode one to eight. I watched the whole thing in one evening as I didn`t want to leave it to watch another DVD. Highly recommended.