Michael Wood on Beowulf

[davem]

This Thursday night at 9.00 on BBC4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kpv23

Historian Michael Wood returns to his first great love, the Anglo-Saxon world, to reveal the origins of our literary heritage. Focusing on Beowulf and drawing on other Anglo-Saxon classics, he traces the birth of English poetry back to the Dark Ages.

Travelling across the British Isles from East Anglia to Scotland and with the help of Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, actor Julian Glover, local historians and enthusiasts, he brings the story and language of this iconic poem to life.

Michael Wood is one of my great influences - in the late 70's he did a series for the BBC called 'In Search of the Dark Ages', where he introduced folk like me to Athelstan, "Sutton Hoo Man", & Eric Bloodaxe. The Dark Ages was a period I knew nothing about before that series, & I can't thank Wood enough for that introduction. Plus, I'm fairly certain Tolkien will pop up in this programme, so well worth a look...

And I've just found out that a week later Simon Armitage is fronting a programme on Gawain & the Green Knight.

[Rumil]

Hi Davem,

thanks for flagging this up, was it really 30 years since 'In Search of the Dark Ages'?

Will have to try and catch it

[davem]

Originally Posted by Rumil

Hi Davem,

thanks for flagging this up, was it really 30 years since 'In Search of the Dark Ages'?

Er... not quite - checking broadcast dates it seems it was 1981! I can remember the series so vividly though. The Athelstan episode had him flying over South Yorkhshire (where I was born) in a helicopter, looking for the site of Brunanburgh (he places it at Tinsley Forest). Really odd to hear places I'd grown up with getting a name-check on national TV -like 'Wath-on-Dearne' & 'Conisborough Castle' - with 'its magnificent Norman Keep' (which it really is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conisbrough_Castle - it actually inspired Sir Walter Scott to write Ivanhoe!)..but I digress. I'm looking forward to the programme - what with this & Channel 4's recent '!066: The Battle for Middle-earth' we seem to be getting spoiled....

[Bêthberry]

And just how are we on t'other side o' th' pond supposed to catch this? It doesn't strike me as bit torrent fair.

[Rumil]

Ah well, if you must go throwing tea into Boston harbour

And the ladies used to rather admire admire young Michael too (strange to think of an Ancient Historian heatthrob!), though don't know what he looks like these days.

Must say my fleeting memories of this series were that the Dark Ages were mostly overcast and windy, possibly with ominous clouds scudding across the lowering sky. Oh, and talk of Viking Blood Eagles etc, schoolboy-friendly gore! Don't rmember if Eomer the Assassin got a look in?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Rumil

Ah well, if you must go throwing tea into Boston harbour

Ah, but some of us are north of the 49th and would never harbour such an uncivil thought about tea. Indeed, we live in a land which once upon a time has such an arrangement with the Beeb that the original Doctor Who was telecast here just days after there.

[Rumil]

Hi Bethberry,

oops, sorry to mix you up with the, erm, neighbours,

at least this fellow knows the value of a proper cuppa...

Cup of brown joy

Enjoy

[davem]

For those who missed it http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kpv23 though if you're outside the UK it probably won't work (unless you are one of those tech savvy folk who know how to over-ride the geographical restrictions) - hey, we pay the licence fee, & we can't get Pandora over here........

[Huscarl]

Dave

Michael Wood's 'Beowulf' has since been repeated on UKtv in October again!

I have loved Anglo-Saxon history ever since his enigmatic series "In Search of ...the Dark Ages" (1979-81) which covered the lives and careers of;

Boudicca
Offa
Arthur
Alfred the Great
Athelstan
Erik Bloodaxe
Ethelred II the "Unready/Unræd"
William the 'Conqueror'

What made this fantastic series work was the incredible graphics, stirring theme music and Wood's obvious love for the topic, his personal dynamism and infectious enthusiasm! He bounded through the undergrowth with camera crew in tow!

Sadly, it has never been/never will be released on dvd/vhs, as Michael himself confirmed to me in a lovely email about a year ago.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Huscarl

Sadly, it has never been/never will be released on dvd/vhs, as Michael himself confirmed to me in a lovely email about a year ago.

Did he say why? The book is still available - I assume the Beeb weren't dumb enough to wipe the tapes? Can't think there'd be any third party issues (as with the DVD release of the Jackanory Hobbit, which I read somewhere was vetoed by the Tolkien Estate - along with the 'Tolkien in Oxford' documentary from !967-8).

[Huscarl]

Originally Posted by davem

Did he say why? The book is still available - I assume the Beeb weren't dumb enough to wipe the tapes? Can't think there'd be any third party issues (as with the DVD release of the Jackanory Hobbit, which I read somewhere was vetoed by the Tolkien Estate - along with the 'Tolkien in Oxford' documentary from !967-8).

Well, Michael suggested that because, as he saw it, the original series was filmed in 16mm, that the dvd quality wouldn't be that good, and that they (he and the camera crew etc) were younger and more adventurous than today's offerings?

Maybe he was simply older and wiser, perhaps a little embarrassed by older times and youth? But I think he seriously misjudges the depth of feeling for this great series, and might be subconsciously repressing the idea of getting it released?

I think that, using the history websites as a barometer of feeling, it wouldn't matter if it was in b&w or on vhs :-), so long as we had the series released!?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Huscarl

I think that, using the history websites as a barometer of feeling, it wouldn't matter if it was in b&w or on vhs :-), so long as we had the series released!?

Maybe we should hassle to Beeb.... We've had nothing like ISotDA, & the current explosion of interest in English history would surely guarantee big sales of the series - whatever the picture quality.

[Huscarl]

Maybe we should hassle to Beeb.... We've had nothing like ISotDA, & the current explosion of interest in English history would surely guarantee big sales of the series - whatever the picture quality.

I agree, and have tried the Beeb for clues about a future screening of repeats or sales releases of the series, but have met with bluff but polite indifference.

Here's a draft of the original email kindly sent to me by Michael himself in Feb 2008;-

"Hi *******(Hwaet!!)
Thanks ever so for your kind words about the Dark Age series. I’m glad it helped spark off your love of things Anglo-Saxon.
The series sadly was shot on 16 mm film and I don’t think would stand up to being reproduced on DVD now.
But I hope to do something else in that area reasonably soon: though no doubt we’d never recapture the youthful enthusiasm of our team back then!!
All the best
Michael"