Reunion fragment no. 7: Saturday, start of the Q&A
[Forgive me if my memory goes a little hazy here. I was a bit distracted…
and there was a LOT of information to take in over a short time. After months of trawling the internet for tiny crumbs, here we were feasting on facts and stories and memories from someone who was actually there, all that time ago. And it was a bit overwhelming. I set out to take notes but only managed very sketchy ones. So some bits are missing; and some stuff I may have remembered wrong, or not in the order in which it happened. Feel free to correct me…]
We are in a largish function room at the hotel, with tables arranged in a ‘U’ shape. Oliver sits at the head, with his brother Benedict next to him. For moral support… Benedict was great value and there will be more of him later.
Shyly we find seats and Wendy introduces Oliver for our question-and-answer session.
I get a distinct impression as Oliver starts to speak in that lovely voice: Yes, he is more nervous of us than we are of him. But the love in the room is tangible, and we are all on best behaviour and as tactful as can be, and gradually he relaxes and so do we. This is going to be OK. He really doesn’t want to talk about his private life… and we really don’t want to ask about it anyway.
We want to know about AotB.
Everything about AotB.
I have to keep reminding myself that for us the Longhouse and its inhabitants are real and present, and that most of us have watched those DVDs over and over again and are very familiar with them, not to mention just a tiny bit obsessed… but for Oliver it was a one-off piece of work a very very long time ago and although he is in the process of watching the series he hasn’t seen it all yet (and he didn’t even see the rushes when they first filmed them) so his perspective is bound to be somewhat different.
He tells us he is watching the episodes with his young son - who is seeing his Dad in a new light as a result. And that his overall impression is that they are sound pieces of work that have stood the test of time. Honest performances, he says. We gave good honest performances and that’s why they are still appreciated by loyal fans who remember the series from childhood. But I don’t suppose they would appeal to people seeing them for the first time now…
And it is so, so wonderful to be able to tell him that no, actually, it isn’t just those who have held it in their hearts for 37 years who are fiercely loyal to this series. I saw it for the first time only a few months ago and it engaged me instantly (‘changed my life’ is what I really want to say, but that is just too over the top, even in this context and even though it is perfectly true).