1.5 DVD commentary

[lwhite53]

Info from 1.5 DVD commentary:

-Character of Hampton Wilder based on politician Jeffrey Archer -- totally bonkers, incapable of telling the truth, long game revenge plot, a born-again, religious whack job!
-Matthew M. and Peter F. -- both terrible gigglers; can't do a scene together without losing it. The more serious the scene, the worse they are.
-Actors in Tessa/Maynard almost sex scene -- he was petrified at the thought (blushed bright red when discussing), she was all gung-ho.
-Tessa/Maynard scene in park (22.55) -- shot in the Orangerie in Holland Park, in front of a famous mural of British politicians.
-Lermov character brought in so they could touch on Cold War and "old time" spy stuff -- dead drops, etc.
-Tessa/Zoe: behind Tessa's smile -- real intimidation; Zoe -- layers and layers of confusion.
-Jools Siviter -- real weight in every scene and absolute disdain for sister service. Director kept trying to get Hugh Laurie to dial back his performance, but Laurie thought he was being too dull in his portrayal.
-Question of the ep -- do MI5 work for the party in power, or the govt. at large? Exploration of the ambiguity of their role.
-Tessa a mere "sideshow" in Maynard's career path -- she's taken in by him and manipulated without catching on -- interesting given her manipulation of others.
-They needed to make Maynard have shades of gray to match all the other characters -- if he was too innocent, he wouldn't have been believable in this environment.

[JHyde]

For some reason, it's this commentary that stands out vividly in my memory. I remember the thing about MM and PF being gigglers, and I think of it often whenever Harry has certain moments and wonder if he broke up trying to do them.

There's also that bit at the opera when HL comes out of a door that is actually a closet, and the director told him to wait in the closet and he just took it in his stride - he comes from comedy, after all.

[lwhite53]

Yeah, they did discuss the closet in the commentary. When the director told HL he'd be going in and out of the closet for the various takes, he looked at the director like he was crazy. And the bit about HL dialing back his performance has to do with his comedy chops, I think.

[JHyde]

I can soooooo imagine PF being giggly. It just makes him more likeable.......

[femaleBertieWooster]

Getting that info about PF and MM is making me giggle.

[Nia M]

I am so going to have to watch this episode with commentary now! I knew about the 'the goose has landed' laughs from 1.2, but haven't got this far with the commentary yet

[Tea Lady]

Sorry, I know this is going back a bit but I am just watching this commentary now. While the theme music is playing Jane featherstone (I think) tries to hum it rather unsuccessfully. They all laugh and Howard says that it is impossible to hum the Spooks theme tune and in fact the only person in the world that can is Peter Firth. They all laugh.

I have noticed that they are always laughing at Peter Firth stories on these commentarys. Bless.

[JHyde]

I remember that! I'm sure I mentioned that anecdote in one of my very first posts on this forum, as it was exactly the sort of thing I could imagine him doing to drive someone up the wall. If you're musically inclined, it's very easy to do.