Look, what a nice rabbit hole!

[auroracloud]

This morning I finished listening to the latest weekly episode of Radio Free Skaro (a Doctor Who podcast), and in the news segment they mentioned a thing called Box of Delights, which apparently is a children's fantasy series from the 1980s which is something of Big Thing and stars Patrick Troughton as one of the leads. (The reason they mentioned it on the podcast is that the soundtrack is being released.) I felt curious and looked up what this is, and oh dear, it really sounds like something I would love to watch, even if Patrick Troughton looks very different in it than he does in Doctor Who, and why have I never heard of this before anyway?

I looked it up on Zoom.co.uk (I recently found that website when I looked for a way to find Doctor Who things at a reasonable price without buying them from Amazon) and they have it, and then I clicked on the Patrick Troughton tag there... And it kindly gave me all the Patrick Troughton DVDs they have. In addition to much Doctor Who, there's also a bunch of other TV stuff he made over the decades, including a lot of historical adventures, and ooh, look, I could watch him in a Scarlet Pimpernel adaptation! And apparently he's been in some Count of Monte Cristo adaptation as well - hmm, I've managed to steer clear of Monte Cristo adaptations so far as I really like the book, I wonder if that will hold... And look at all these other adventures and historical dramas and such...

... Oh, what was that phrase about rabbit holes... Something about falling down them...

I should probably get recommendations.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

LOL! Go for it. Also, do you know liadt? They are also a Classic Who fan with a definite love of Two, and watches a lot of old British TV and is likely to have watched some of these, as they have watched a lot more of the swashbuckling serials of that kind & may be able to help. (One of them, I know, also has Roger Delgado, but not in the same episode.) (I don't know who's friended who in this storm of activity.)

The Box of Delights is good and much loved! swordznsorcery (my other main fellow Brit TV fan, and ditto v nice and into Classic Who too) sent me the DVDs the other year, and it is a nice one - a traditional pre-Christmas watch in some places.

If you've got a list, I can tell you if I've watched any of them. I've mostly caught him in odd episodes while watching other things, though. But I am here to support anyone falling down the rabbit hole of watching terrible yet awesome things in blurry b&w and beige colour TV. <3

[thisbluespirit]

Actually, just do it! It's like being a brave explorer in TV and you will find some frights, but also some amazing things and following an actor round their IMBD is actually a pretty fun thing to do, especially when not so well, as I can testify. It gives you something new to watch, but with continuity and no obligation to like it and the "but it had [x] in it!" excuse. :-D

ETA: I'M SORRY. I'll stop spamming you now, I promise, but I remembered that I have seen him as a series regular in The Six Wives of Henry VIII and that is pretty good! It moves very slowly (classic/lit old TV is very slow and blocked out, much more so than stuff like DW) but is absolutely very awesome once you adjust. TRoughton is the Duke of Norfolk in it, so he features in several of the episodes (which are like a collection of six plays, one for each wife).

[cornerofmadness]

While I have no recs, I do have friends who'll be interested in that podcast so thanks.

[rosefox]

And apparently he's been in some Count of Monte Cristo adaptation as well

HWAT

Must look this up posthaste!

[liadt]

If you want to look at lots of pics of Patrick Troughton in TV shows try hitting the tag on http://linaaaaaz.tumblr.com/ they became obsessed with him some years ago and watched everything in about three months. I think the links to vids are dead though:/

I found 'Francis Drake' dull, but some people like it. I suspect 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is more of the same but Troughton is in it more!

[spindle_ella]

Ahh, I remember Box of Delights! I remember it being good, but I was small; some other things have not withstood the test of time.