Bookclub: S3E06 - Goodnight Children Everywhere

[rhort]

Gary seems very much to be clutching at reasons to be annoyed with Yvonne, choosing to focus on her assertiveness and the fact she works for an oriental company, despite already demonstrating in the past that his hatred for them was misplaced as they are Korean, not Japanese. The opening scene then develops to highlight the main theme for the episode, as the fallout from the incident with Stella’s boss at the party is fully realised for Ron, appearing at the door, suitcase in hand, affording Yvonne yet another opportunity to have a go at him, leaving Gary on the defensive once more. Whilst Yvonne steps straight into attack mode, she seems more reserved than usual, and as things move on into the following morning, Yvonne is still clearly not in the mood for Ron’s verbal diatribe, however, we see something of a crack in her usual façade, perhaps showing that she’s coming around to him, even if only a little, giving a further pointer to the main plot here.

Given the turn of events, Gary’s visit to the 40s is, on this occasion, not just a pull towards Phoebe, as much as a push away from the issues of his 90s life, almost as if he’s gone there to hide from things. Reg’s attempt to repair the beer pump sets up an on-going gag for the entire episode, whilst his innocence shows graphically in his reaction to Gary’s ‘Kiss’ joke, and leads on to some great lines, including a nod to the (then eight-year-old) Kray Twins. Gary’s charismatic nature is working wonders on the two children as much as it does on the Eastenders, and they seems genuinely happy that he’s there, and whilst Phoebe seems to welcome the break as he takes some of the pressure off her, she is also seen to be questioning her own abilities as a potential parent.

Back to the 90s, and whilst Ron’s ramblings don’t seem to be directly helping things between him and Yvonne, with the revelations about Stella’s recent activities, we see a definite change of places for Gary and Yvonne over the matter of Ron, with Yvonne taking the defensive and Gary almost pushing him away. As the viewers, we know the reasoning behind this, but it’s always mystified me as to why Yvonne doesn’t pick up on the atypical attitude from Gary, who from her perspective has always been on Ron’s side in the past.

On to the 40s makeshift schoolroom, and Gary’s teaching techniques, whilst unusual, seem to be a hit with the enthusiastic 40s children, however, Gary quite naturally overlooks some of the issues among the things he is teaching, and this is misunderstood by some of the locals, and it’s not long before a complaint is made. This serves to point out many of the differences between 1940s and 1990s culture, where the more prim and proper attitudes prevalent during the war are in stark contrast to Gary’s more liberal outlook, feeling more free to say what he feels, rather than what he thinks other people should hear him say. I find this particular point of the plot extremely clever and interesting; to think that Gary lives in a world where his freedom of speech is taken for granted, and this freedom, among others, are some of the things that the wartime Europeans were struggling to preserve in the face of fascism, and I wonder if this was something that the writers were trying to subtly point out here (or does that only make sense in my head?).

When we return to the 90s, we see something of a change in Ron, almost as if he’s trying not to be Gary’s friend any more, siding with Yvonne (unbeknownst to her), and steering Gary deliberately towards danger, all but dropping him in it all together with his choice of conversation topics. Luckily for Gary (and Ron to a certain extent), Yvonne follows her usual path where Ron is concerned, and doesn’t take him at all seriously, beating a hasty retreat from his tirade of apparent gibberish. Even though slightly on the back foot, Gary does well to move the situation towards a straight edge, using a cunning analogy to bring Ron back on side somewhat.

The final scene in the 40s, and Gary seems to have done exactly the right thing by reuniting the children with Mrs French, although he almost gives the game away (again) on a number of levels with the coupons and the cash. This brings us nicely to the end, with the suitably amusing conclusion to the ongoing joke at Reg’s expense.

I’d give this episode a 65% rating. Not hugely funny, but some important ongoing plot elements woven into the main theme, providing a good sense of continuity for long-term viewers.

[malcolm]

We were very different people in the 1940's not in our attitudes to the enemy because of the war, but in so many other ways. I do not think the writers - unless they are my age which I very much doubt - could possibly appreciate how different we were and thought.

One big point which is relevant to this episode is the way towns people viewed the country people. They were worlds apart and the two rarely met simply because we didn't have cars then. Those did couldn't run them unless they had a business and then petrol was rationed.

Goodnight Sweetheart really never paid attention to the horse drawn vehicles which were everywhere still during the war years and well into the 1950's. Milk, Bread, Grocery deliveries were often by horse drawn vans. I can remember the long line of Co-op wagons waiting at the back of the Co-op to be loaded up with home deliveries. Many more people had their groceries delivered too, otherwise you just had to go shopping and queuing or hours every day. I can also remember being taken by Uncle George on a three mile ride in his governor's cart to the nearest shops. So very different in the open air with a horse bobbing up and down up front.

People socialised so much more. We talked in shop queues, we talked in cinema queues and I can recall waiting nearly 2 hours in a line in freezing cold weather to get into the Embassy. We had no television so that didn't become an addiction.

Yes we did sit around the radio and listen to Itma and Band Wagon, but most of the time it was just radio, the News or the Weather. Very rarely did the radio attract youngsters, so we were out playing in the woods every evening and that interchange with other kids made us more appreciative of each other. The odd half hour in the playground at school was not the same thing by any means - no tree branches to swing on for a start, no Yeading Brook to try and jump across, no marshy swamp stinking to high heaven with gas which we tried to light, and then we had many little bonfires roasting potatoes.

We had no telephones either, so that made family gatherings so much more important and more frequent.

Everyone knew most of their neighbours all the way down the street. I haven't seen anything like that since the Fifties. People wanted to talk. Complete strangers would always set up a conversation in train or bus and everyone would join in. Neighbours were always popping in for a cuppa and a chat. Sometimes it went on all day.

GS only shows the tip of the iceberg and if it or another show like it was ever to come back portraying the Thirties and the Forties, then I would hope that there would be many more scenes showing how life really was back then.