BBC's Nothing like a Dame - Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith talk their craft and careers

Tracey Ullman just came.

Judi should have won the Oscar for Mrs Brown in 1998.

Why didn't they try to get Dame Angela? Joan Plowright's career, though far from disappointing, doesn't have that much excitement in it

This is something like exploitation.

These people have practicing their craft for more than 50years and have been more than a little ignored.

Now they are shoved onto vulgar talk-shows and expected to be funny now that they're physically unable to memorise lines or do a four hour performance on stage.

I just asked Netflix to the get the rights to this. I mean, fuck all will happen, but they do have a suggestion box over there at Netflix.

Direct link to the trailer:

I saw it Monday night at a press screening and it's sublime.

Smith has starred in English movies since the late 50s.

Dench made one movie in '65 and was then banished for 40 years until Filthy Weinstein wanted someone to lend dignity.

Plowright was a 60s sexpot whose latter career depended on her late husband.

Atkins has never had a star role on screen.

^ A motley crew.

Tell us about your career, dear R7.

Eileen , Judi and Maggie are all 83. Eileen seems to have the most vitality. Joan Plowright is 88 and seems to show her age the most.

I think Glenda and Diana show be filmed luncheoning drunkenly at Sardi's.

Judi got the James Bond role because Glenda Jackson turned them down.

This should be Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda instead of Eileen and Joan Plowright.

Is Joan Plowright blind? Something seems off about her in the trailer.

Can't wait for the full feature.

I'd rather see Glenda Jackson and Diana Rigg bitching up a storm together.

Yes, R13, Plowright is blind.

With Diana Rigg I suspect it would turn into a Real Housewives special with filled glasses being thrown across the table *lol*.

I do hope Nothing Like A Dame becomes a series with other dames coming together. England has plenty of them.

R7, Dame Eileen Atkins is an extraordinary treasure of the British stage.

R2 They didn’t get Dame Angela Lansbury because the premise of this inexpensive little TV film is that the participants are friends of long standing.

Lansbury is an American.

They might have asked Dames Glenda, Vanessa or Diana but they may belong to a rival PR agency or they **may** actually hate each other.

R17 Yes. Atkins has had scant publicity for her working on TV and stage work over 50 years so it’s little sad that she’s sharing this publicity now that her wage-earning years are over.

R5 I note how the trailer uses twee, twinkly music and how they emphasis laughter instead of real conversation. And the title has been borrowed from a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Glenda and Vanessa aren't Dames tho' not for wont of having been asked. But their leftist politics would never allowed them to accept a title of that sort.

Vanessa by rights should have the Atkins slot, but hard to imagine her having ANYTHING to say to Dench or, especially, to Smith. They are polar opposites.

Miss Atkins' Talking Heads monologue......Maggie's always gets the mention, but they're all pretty wonderful.

I will always love Atkins for this scene in WIT.

R21 Was your appreciation for Atkins made more keen in this scene by the music or the poem?

I'm not a Brit so I have haven't some much of Atkins except in supporting roles on TV.

I watched half of this Youtube video (below) but it's easier reading Virginia on the page and imagining her voice from that wonderful 1937 recording (also on Youtube). I suppose we should be thankful that Atkins is been bringing Woolf to younger audiences.

I am a little bit surprised though that Maggie would still be friends with Eileen after she dissed Downton Abbey for being a mere Upstairs Downstairs ripoff.

It's well known that Eilleen Atkins, who owns Upstairs Downstairs, approached ITV to do the U/D remake but they went for something "cheaper" and got Julian Fellowes to do Downton Abbey. And the BBC agreed to do the Upstairs Downstairs reboot which didn't last long.

R23 I'm not sure what you mean by "cheaper'; 'Downton' was the most expensive TV Britain had produced.

I never associate a performance with a piece of music that scores it, R22, if that's what you mean.

The scene is seemingly simple: a professor who is highly demanding of her students merely wants them to be their best. Atkins plays the character as someone who has the authority that comes from the knowledge of the subject (she teaches) and her ability to asses her students - she may not be so generous with her criticism if she didn't believe Emma Thompson's character is capable of better. Atkins starts the scene with slight impatience and perhaps annoyance at her student (you get a sense she has given the paper some thought), but at the point where she sits down and starts explaining the poem her generosity as a teacher comes through. And as she gets up and starts mocking the wrong punctuation the scene becomes humorous. That part ends on Emma Thompson in the present time of the film (hospital) and from her reaction we understand how much this passing of knowledge means to her. It's where the score begins. Atkin's performance softens from that point on and it ends on a personal, almost intimate, note when she tells Emma to go out and enjoy life.

This is a great text, and the dramatic beats are beautifully written, but even a great text needs actors and a director who can do it justice.

^^ Atkins' performance

R20 Yes, Maggie's 'Talking Heads' always gets the mention.

But that Dame Thora Hird gives me the chills like the late Jimmy Savile did.

R19, one of the stories Dame Judi tells in the film is of her and Vanessa Redgrave on an anti-Vietnam War demo together, so they have been friendly enough.

R28 Have you already seen this little 84 minute video?

Was it all filmed in one session on one day? Is there any intercutting and historic footage included?

Looks good!

So many Dames they could line up for a sequil.

Angela Lansbury, Julie Walters, Penelope Wilton, Patricia Routledge and of course DL fave Dame Olivia de Haviland.

Sorry, no, R29 - the Redgrave reference was mentioned in one of the UK reviews.

Angelina, Megan...so many wonderful dames to choose from

Dames Barbara Windsor and Joan Collins would add an end of the pier touch.

When did Joan Plowright become Barbara Bush?

Spoiler alert: They’re all Tracey Ullman

R33 I like it!

Throw in Peneople Keith and June Whitfield, and it would be a right hoot!

I've been watching Eileen Atkins on Doc Martin and I love her character. I didn't realise she was the same person from the orig Up/Down which was one of the best programs ever produced for television. The reboot was poor quality, sadly.

R37 Totally agree with you

[quote] I just asked Netflix to the get the rights to this.

PBS is likely first in line.

Will it be on the BBC iPlayer?

I've always had the feeling that Smith and Plowright aren't quite as friendly as some try to make out.

I don't know that you could get Smith, Redgrave, and Jackson into the same room with those egos.

Julie Walters, Helen Mirren and Penelope Wilton would be fun.

They could act part of Calendar Girls out too

You'd have to leave out Helen Mirren. She's a narcissistic bore.

R43 What? Helen is many things but I wouldn't call her narcissistic.

R43, R44 Mirren is now more American than British/Russian.

She's a millionairess with a rich husband. She did a scary, genuine-sounding interview a few years ago admitting to times of neurotic fear about poverty— as though that was the excuse she appears in so much money-making American junk nowdays.

They should do one called "To Sir With Love" about the knighted male actors.

bumpity

If they wanted to do a male version of this show, you'd have McKellan, Jacobi, and who else?

Maybe Ian Holm? Ben Kingsley? Michael Caine?

Sir Anthony Sher and Sir Simon Russell Beale for an all-gay version, with McKellan and Jacobi.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

New clip

I'm going to watch it tonight. Will report later.

Plowright is so not in the same league as the others. If it wasn't for her dead husband, nobody would even know who she is.

I like Plowright the most.

This thing was a big bore and sad. A group of doddering old bags. I'm amazed it was so well reviewed.

The piece is a mess. I got a feeling that all four of them were slightly bored with the whole event towards the end. It doesn't seem that there was any concept beyond having these ladies sit at the table (or in a room) and recording their spontaneous conversations. There was an obvious need for a good interviewer who could lead the conversation; these women have a lot to say.

The best part was when they were describing some big demonstration they participated in and Vanessa Redgrave being arrested, and then Vanessa realizing that she had a matinee scheduled.

Also, Dench getting emotional at the very end when she said that she would tell her younger self to be less susceptible to falling in love.

Plowright was sweet when she said it was never too late to fall in love.

The use of archival footage was clumsy, the music choices were banal. What a wasted opportunity.

[quote]A group of doddering old bags.

Those "doddering old bags" still have enough stamina and focus to do theater and film. I wonder sometimes why do people choose to be so unkind... it must be the anonymous thing.

[quote]There was an obvious need for a good interviewer who could lead the conversation; these women have a lot to say.

He threw a few questions at them when it became TOO banal.

No more banal than any loose conversation, R59. I just don't think this format works, you know, let's record people shooting shit.

[quote] I wonder sometimes why do people choose to be so unkind... it must be the anonymous thing.

Oh, Miss Fey - what else have you got to contribute to this conversation? But PLEASE be KIND!

Calling people names does not contribute to a conversation, whether you think it's unkind or not. Or you missed what I meant, R61?

I suppose you'd like to get into some anonymous 'unkind' back and forth with me now. Would that make your Sunday better?

Shut up, Miss Fey!

Maggie's wistfulness deserves a second Tony or third Oscar -- she's a walking Chekhovian heroine - all that ache, coupled with that bracing wit

Redgrave does have a cameo in a few photos shown of her leading an anti-Vietnam War protest in the 60s. Atkins tells a funny story about attending the protest with her then husband, Julian Glover, and how she decided to leave early because she wanted some crumpets and jam. Redgrave and Glover ended up being jailed overnight, while Atkins was at home enjoying the crumpets.

It’s a really good show and available online. They did get tired toward the end.

R23 Smith herself says that she hasn't even seen Downton Abbey, and laughs about having been given the box set of DVDs but feeling she's running out of time to watch them all.

What about Dame Joan Collins?