Penda's Fen

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is this 1974 bbc drama available anywhere? i cannot find it. have you seen it?

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

I've seen it, yes. It made quite an impression on me when I saw it. The general atmosphere and some particular scenes remained imprinted on my mind. I did obtain a VHS copy from someone a few years ago but I loaned it to a friend and have never got it back.

― Oak (small items), Saturday, 23 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

I saw it when it was repeated in about 1990.

― The Horse of Babylon's Butler (the pirate king), Saturday, 23 April 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

its only available to see small clips of, in certain public libraries?

is there no interest in this?

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:33 (twenty years ago)

Never heard of it. What is it?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

its an alan clarke thing, though it seems v different to his other stuff, it seems to fit into that early 70s rural-ancien otherworldly aesthetic that seemed to pop up from time to time. from what i can gather, at least

http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/db/screeningdetail.php?id=164&sr=1

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:45 (twenty years ago)

ii saw it at the nft in '02. like it. you're right, it's not very clarke (who only became clarke circa 'psy-ops'). it is VERY carmody, who has in fact written about it.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:47 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

i managed to pick up a dvdr of the changes, but haven't had the same luck with this yet

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

i now have a copy of this, thanks to RPC

― charltonlido (gareth), Friday, 8 July 2005 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

Does this have anyhting to do with the King of Mercia?

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 8 July 2005 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

it's on at the riverside cinema in hammersmith like next week.

― n_RQ, Saturday, 9 July 2005 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

yes

xpost.

it's about this tory kid in the west country who gets awakened to the celtic past n'shit.

― n_RQ, Saturday, 9 July 2005 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

Worcestershire actually (not the West Country)

― Oak (small items), Saturday, 9 July 2005 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

wonderful

more...later

― charltonlido (gareth), Sunday, 7 August 2005 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

http://static.flickr.com/32/41261954_18975c778e.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/31/41260430_985da835cc.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/26/41260578_f3e1636847.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/28/41260237_56aa6bc366.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/31/41265527_499c23f838.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/27/41262666_a88f173d09.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/31/41263501_4e4f564a31.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/25/41262574_cb3989bfe2.jpg

― terry lennox. (gareth), Friday, 9 September 2005 07:08 (nineteen years ago)

This is bizarre... what is it?

I was enjoying the pretty pictures of English countryside and then suddenly that golden angel showed up. What is going on?

― Luminiferous Aether (kate), Friday, 9 September 2005 07:11 (nineteen years ago)

that looks awesome. looks like somewhere between the wicker man and alan garner books.

― emsk ( emsk), Friday, 9 September 2005 07:24 (nineteen years ago)

where are the frames from? is it coming to dvd? it's funny, alan clarke is best known for 'scum' and 'made in britain', and you don't think of him as a mystic -- but he was, especially in this and 'contact'.

― N_RQ, Friday, 9 September 2005 07:32 (nineteen years ago)

i have a bootleg dvd, i grabbed the frames on my computer. i dont know of any plans for it to be released commercially.

agreed about clarke. it feels more like rudkins aesthetic, than clarkes (rudkin seems to have been involved in some other interesting looking plays)

― terry lennox. (gareth), Friday, 9 September 2005 09:05 (nineteen years ago)

six months pass...

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:44 (nineteen years ago)

wha?

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:46 (nineteen years ago)

still keen on a copy :)

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:46 (nineteen years ago)

bbc4 shd do a clarke season god damn it.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

ten years pass...

I have some mundane criticisms, but really in this age of UK terrestrial TV where the word 'drama' is never seen unless prefixed with 'crime', that something like this was ever broadcast should only be celebrated.

― ledge, Tuesday, 15 March 2016 14:21 (nine years ago)

Hoping this eventually comes down to a slightly more affordable price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dissent-Disruption-Complete-Limited-Blu-ray/dp/B01BGX1BK2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1458052161&sr=1-1&keywords=complete+alan+clarke

― Chicamaw (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 15 March 2016 14:31 (nine years ago)

It is incredible. Ive still only seen a video rip on youtube of this

― i;m thinking about thos Beans (Michael B), Tuesday, 15 March 2016 14:38 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/07/labour-has-infused-politics-youth-established-order-not-overthrown

― the pinefox, Monday, 10 July 2017 10:40 (seven years ago)

good find. i can’t decide without thinking a bit more whether the use of penda’s fen is wanton or meaningful. the equating of corbyn and penda at the end feels purely to do with the structure of the essay. but i’m not sure it’s completely wrong. at the end after vanquishing a christian “tory” couple, on the side of light and purity, penda tells stephen something like “there you can see the true enemies of england, sick father and mother who would keep us children forever.” boomers v millennials innit.

― Fizzles, Monday, 10 July 2017 17:19 (seven years ago)

I am still obsessively postponing my first viewing of the YT rip I downloaded of penda's three years ago (I do this when I expect something to be rly amazing)

― or at night (Jon not Jon), Monday, 10 July 2017 23:11 (seven years ago)

It was released on blu-ray last year iirc, so it's not like it's not out there. Recommend seeing it highly. (get the postponing though)

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 10 July 2017 23:15 (seven years ago)

'Highly recommend seeing it' that should say.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 10 July 2017 23:16 (seven years ago)

Fizzles, I should add that the essay was first spotted by Stevie T!

I think Penda is rather tacked on to what turns out to be a standard political analysis, but as Stevie said, the connection made is reminiscent of our old ilx chum Mr Carmody.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 07:41 (seven years ago)

three years pass...

Me on ‘Penda’s Fen’ https://t.co/RDYVAndEJO
— Robert Hanks (@RobertHanks) September 3, 2020

― Monte Scampino (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 3 September 2020 19:15 (four years ago)

Thanks for this, awesome!

― Maresn3st, Thursday, 3 September 2020 21:01 (four years ago)

wow i really want to see this now

― Give me a Chad Smith-type feel (map), Thursday, 3 September 2020 22:19 (four years ago)

just the greatest thing

― imago, Thursday, 3 September 2020 23:07 (four years ago)

It's the best. And I like how it forever returns and enchants new people, leading to new writings or essays every three or four years. They don't all need to be original or enlightening, it's just so clear that everyone who discovers this for the first time is struck and moved so deeply.

― Monte Scampino (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 4 September 2020 08:10 (four years ago)

I just got a copy of this on DVD - first DVD I have bought in maybe 5 years! waiting for the right time to watch

― umsworth (emsworth), Friday, 4 September 2020 08:54 (four years ago)

slowly working my way through The Changes, which is probably okay as an aperitif

― umsworth (emsworth), Friday, 4 September 2020 08:55 (four years ago)

Love this so much.

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 4 September 2020 09:42 (four years ago)

I should get this on DVD, all I have is a VHS rip from when it was re-broadcast back in 1990.

― Maresn3st, Friday, 4 September 2020 09:45 (four years ago)

Rudkin's dramatic work for the stage is often slept on, his plays hardly ever get staged these days but Afore Night Come and The Triumph of Death are both totally seminal works.

― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 4 September 2020 10:03 (four years ago)

The book that occasioned that blog (though the blog hardly refers to it) is here:

http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/of-mud-flame/

Probably of interest to fans of the film, and published by the same press as Mark S's last book.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 5 September 2020 08:52 (four years ago)

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