The seventies were far from the greatest decade in the history of British cinema, but it was a particularly distinguished period as far as British television drama was concerned. Unfortunately, some of the finest jewels of the period were lost to the misguided policy of wiping videotapes to reuse them, and most of the others have been gathering dust on the shelves of the BBC and ITV archives for the last fifty years, but at least BBC Four have recently tried to remedy the situation by broadcasting a section of vintage dramas, generally on Wednesday evenings.
"Kisses at Fifty" is one of these. It was originally shown in 1973 as part of the BBC's "Play for Today" series. It is set in the fictitious working-class community of Ravenswyke in West Yorkshire. (The previous week's "Play for Today", "Land of Green Ginger", had also explored working-class Yorkshire life, in that case in Hull). On his fiftieth birthday Harry Cook, a factory worker, goes to his local pub to celebrate with a few drinks with his friends. While there, on an impulse, he kisses the new barmaid, Audrey. That kiss soon develops into a full-blown affair, leading to Harry walking out on his wife Rene. (Pronounced, as was usual in her generation, "Reeny", with the stress on the first syllable).
The fact that this chain of events should have been set in motion on Harry's fiftieth birthday is no accident. He has, in Marvell's words, heard at his back "time's wingèd chariot hurrying near". He has found himself stuck in a rut, in ore ways than one. He has been made redundant from his skilled job and re-employed at the same factory in an unskilled capacity as a furnace stoker. Perhaps more importantly, all the love and passion has gone out of his marriage to Rene, which has become dull and pedestrian. He sees the chance of finding some belated happiness with Audrey, herself trapped in a loveless marriage, and wants to grab that chance with both hands.
Of course, there is a price to be paid for his happiness. His relationship with Audrey leads to a rupture not just with Rene but with his children and grandchildren. His older daughter Sandra takes a particularly dim view of her father's behaviour, and has no qualms about marching down to the pub to tell Audrey- in Sandra's view little more than a scarlet woman- exactly what she thinks of her. Sandra's younger sister Helen is soon to be married, even though she is only seventeen. (Teenage marriages were more common in the seventies than they are today). It seems doubtful whether, given the levels of animosity within the family, Harry will be made welcome at her wedding.
The play was written by Colin Welland, later to win an Oscar for his script for "Chariots of Fire", and directed by Michael Apted, who went on to find fame in Hollywood. It is sometimes said of Welland and Apted, and others of this period who moved from television drama into film, that they "served their apprenticeship" or "cut their teeth" in television and then "graduated" to the cinema. I, however, would not use language like this, because it implies that their television work was apprentice or undergraduate stuff, the work of promising beginners but not as polished as their mature productions.
There is, however, nothing immature or unpolished about a play like "Kisses at Fifty", which is a very accomplished piece of work. I would rate it higher than any of Apted's Hollywood cinematic work which I have seen except his masterpiece "Nell" and, perhaps, "Gorillas in the Mist". (Some of his cinema films, such as "Agatha" and "Enough", are poor stuff indeed). Apted is here assisted by two factors. The first is an excellent performance from Bill Maynard, probably better known as a comic actor but here proving that he could also be good in serious drama, as Harry. (There are other good performances from Rosemarie Dunham as the passively accepting Rene, Marjorie Yates as Audrey and Lori Wells as the fiery Sandra). The second is Welland's script- humane and non-judgemental, trying to see matters from the viewpoints of both the errant lovers and Harry's family, and moving towards, if not exactly reconciliation, some sort of mutual understanding. Let's hope that BBC4 will uncover some more dramas of this quality. 8/10.
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