Mary Wesley's Harnessing Peacocks [1992] [DVD]

I read Mary Wesley’s marvellous novel some years ago, so was intrigued to see it made flesh, though worried too that it might fall short of its richly imagined source material.It does, of course. But there’s also much to admire in this TV movie from 1993, not least a serene Serena Scott Thomas as free-spirited part-time cook and occasional ‘prostitute’ Hebe {the inverted commas are necessary, as you’ll see} who gets just right that tone of Wesleyan light and shade.The delightful, delicious Hebe keeps her drooling male admirers at arm’s length as far as she can, yet she’s all too human, which is where the story gains momentum.Her lustful apostles include coffee shop owner Jim {Peter Davison}, local hatter Rory {Richard Huw}, and frustrated married man Mungo, played brilliantly and hilariously by Nicholas Le Prevost, a past master of tousled exasperation.Others fleshing out the charming if slightly dark tale are cheerful Hannah {perky Abigail McKern}, David Harewood as local lad Terry,Jeremy Child very good as the appalling Julian, John Mills as an old onetime roué, and Renée Asherson quite wonderful as one of his past conquests, who employs Hebe as her cook, and in whose West Country house much of the ‘action’ takes place.Hebe’s young son Silas is beautifully played by Tom Beasley, his scenes with his mother natural and credible.I was going to give this a mere three stars, as it is all rather lightweight, but it’s well worth seeing as long as you don’t expect too many fireworks.And do read Mary Wesley’s novels!

The novelist, Mary Wesley once said that "a wildlife has a better taste". Although a lot of people know her most famous book, The Camomile Lawn, very few people these days know other novels she wrote in her lifetime. The writing career came late in her life. But her novels, Jumping the queue, Imaginative Experience and Harnessing Peacocks are my favourite books.Her characters are mainly very English and she drew her inspiration from the life of the upper classes. They go to the public schools. They have black tie parties. They are educated, arty, unconventional, Bohemian and almost like the Bloomsbury characters who have unusual love affairs and ménage à trois. Unlike other romantic writers' works, Mary Wesley's characters talk about sex quite openly (her works have been compared to as "Jane Austen plus sex"). Underneath the facade of the social superiority and class, she closely examines parental love and many aspects of women's and men's relations, including unrequited feelings of women for men. The dialogue is often deeply ironic.Harnessing Peacock has a classical and romantic sense of time and place (the story is set in the most beautiful places in England). On a more literary note, the story has striking parallels with Jane Austen's novel, Persuasion. The two main characters met when they were young and then they meet again when they are more mature and perhaps, wiser.One would like to know why it took so long to release the adaptations of her novels on DVD. To me, these films on ITV are hidden gems. They were filmed during the 80's, in the heyday of Sloane Rangers and Le Cordon Bleu (the cookery school where the Sloane Rangers went to learn how to cook). Of course, like a Sloane, these characters talk posh (Hebe character in Harnessing Peacocks is a typical Sloane). They say the word "super" instead of "excellent". The depiction of Sloane Rangers seemed slightly outdated (and the awful baggy jumpers they wear!) but the acting is still fresh and these characters are still as endearing and funny as when they were first created.One could only hope that the ITV will release all the other films based on Mary Wesley's novels including The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (filmed in 1995) and Jumping the Queue (filmed in 1989) directed by Claude Whatham, starring with Sheila Hancock, David Threlfall, Don Henderson.

"Harnessing Peacocks" is a lovely adaptation of the Mary wesley novel. Serena scott Thomas is the English rose who is disowned by her affluent family for showing up pregnant after a carnival with no idea who the father is. Her unjust exile, leads her to selling her sexual favours to a select few men who she cares about and who care deeply for her, in order to provide for her son. This isnt prostitution, its a simple business arrangement with feelings attached.As with many of the TV adaptations of the early 90's, I think it would be hard to make this today. Before the loss of national identity in Britain and the EU connection there was an air of "British quaintness" to these productions that doesnt exist really any more. Worth digging out once a year to enjoy, especially John Mills as the world weary charmer.Enjoy spotting the locations in the home counties that you know (Amersham market etc) and dip your nose back into a time when perhaps, life really was a bit less complicated.

Serena Scott Thomas as Hebe, Peter Davison as Jim. John Mills as Bernard along with the supporting caste give firstrate performances in this very watchable dramatisation of the book by Mary Wesley. It's the kind of story that readily creates a 'feel good' state of mind in the viewer. It's a dateless work embued with a timelessness fitting in with any day and age. Hebe, so well portrayed by Serena Scott Thomas, comes across as a resourceful, intelligent young woman who has turned an early mistake into a lucrative business in the nicest possible way.This production brings out the inherent humour within the tale without ever feeling the need to force it upon the viewer in the silly way that so often spoils adaptations of this kind. The affectations and quasi-moral standards of the nouveau riche are delightfully portrayed. Ms Scott Thomas's appearances in both full frontal and full rear view nude postures are a delight to behold as she portrays the 'I'm me: take me or leave me as I am' attitude of Hebe's character. Having made that one big mistake Hebe has become the good mother and strong woman who will now always be in charge even when she finally entraps the cause of her orginal faux pas. The whole story is a paean in praise of womanhood as, resplendant in her carriage drawn by her well-harnessed peacocks, she continues on her way ever triumphant.