#but some people (oddly enough on the No side) are tone deaf and not intelligent enough to see a joke when they see one

[la-cocotte-de-paris]

I’m sorry about the people who looked at your fun little Pluto poll and took it as an opportunity to be needlessly rude :(

Ugh I'm so annoyed at them. Like idm which way people vote but getting so heated and mean-spirited about it is just embarrassing. And tagging users in hopes of stirring shit up is extremely childish too.

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Ready for lift-off

Espionage thriller Summer of Rockets is the first screen work from acclaimed writer/director Stephen Poliakoff to draw on his own life, set in 1958 at the height of the Cold War. He and executive producer Helen Flint talk to DQ about merging fact and fiction.

As a writer and director for the screen over the past four decades, Stephen Poliakoff has been behind work that has amassed numerous Bafta, Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody awards. The playwright, who learned his craft in the theatre, counts series and films such as Perfect Strangers, The Lost Prince, Friends & Crocodiles, Gideon’s Daughter, Joe’s Palace and Capturing Mary, as well as recent dramas Dancing on the Edge and Close to the Enemy, among his extensive credits.

Yet for all his fascination with the past – among many examples, Dancing on the Edge trails a black jazz group in 1930s London and Close to the Enemy is set in the aftermath of the Second World War – his latest series is the first to draw on his own family and life experiences.

Written and directed by Poliakoff, Summer of Rockets is a semi-autobiographical drama set during 1958, a year that marked the height of the Cold War as fear and suspicion clashed with the start of the mobile revolution and the Space Race. It was also the last time debutants were presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace and the year of the Notting Hill riots in West London.

Stephen Poliakoff, writer and director of Summer of Rockets, pictured during filming

Poliakoff says the fact it is partly based on his own life marks Summer of Rockets out as “significantly different” from anything he’s done for the screen before.

“My first real memories are from this time – I was five in 1958 – so I could feel, even as a small child, the apprehension in the air, the feel of nuclear war,” he says. “The Russians were the enemy and yet I was half-Russian, so that made me feel an extraordinary sense isolation as a child. I was also sent to boarding school, as we see in the story, and was the only Jewish boy there. That was why I was drawn to this time.

“There’s a lot of resonance for us now, as Russia again seems to be our enemy and there is also unfortunately, tragically, anti-Semitism in Europe and it’s coming back to the UK. Well, it never goes away. But above all, it was a sense of the absolute epicentre of the Cold War; the fact nobody could be trusted, especially if they were foreigners.”

Another parallel between that period and today, he notes, is the “humiliation” of the Suez Crisis in 1958, which left Britain “a laughing stock” on the world stage. “Things have happened since I’ve written the piece and we’ve become a laughing stock for very different reasons, with people harking back to a sense of our past glories, which also plays a part in the story,” Poliakoff says. “This is not a story about Brexit or a metaphor for it, but nevertheless there are resonances in the piece.”

Toby Stephens (Black Sails) stars as Samuel Petrukhin, a Russian Jewish émigré modelled on Poliakoff’s father Alexander, an inventor and designer of hearing aids, whose clients include former UK prime minister Winston Churchill. The series also focuses on Samuel’s wife, Miriam (Lucy Cohu), and their children, Hannah (Lily Sacofsky) and Sasha (Toby Woolf). In the show, having developed a new paging system for hospitals, Samuel is is approached by the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 to demonstrate his work.

Set in 1958, the series stars Toby Stephens as Samuel, who is based on Poliakoff’s father

However, it’s not his inventions the agency (led by Mark Bonnar’s mysterious Field) is interested in but his fledging friendship with MP Richard Shaw (Linus Roache) and his wife Kathleen (Keeley Hawes), who also introduce him to Lord Arthur Wellington (Timothy Spall). As Samuel’s life becomes intertwined with his mission, he is left to question how far he is willing to let things unravel for his cause and who he can trust.

It was Poliakoff’s discovery that his father had been suspected of bugging Churchill’s hearing aid, a revelation he first heard when a journalist contacted him about newly released government papers in 2007, that sparked the story behind Summer of Rockets,

“It took me a long time to think about writing it because it meant revisiting my youth and a very traumatic time at boarding school,” he says. “I also tend to write slightly away from my immediate family experience because I find it easier to invent like that. But, after quite a considerable while, because the story kept haunting me, I broached it to the BBC.”

His father’s work, he explains, is truthfully reflected in the story by his hearing aids business, the deaf workers he employs in the factory and his invention of the paging system, which he created for St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

“But I always saw that as a jumping-off point for Keeley’s side of the story,” Poliakoff continues. “My father was besotted with everything English; he was a real anglophile. He was a Russian Jew but he wanted to be an English gentleman, so there’s the story of him being involved in this English upper-class family who have their own darkness and trauma hidden away in a magnificent house. They have charm and grace, they entertain people, but this covers a deep unhappiness.

“My father would have loved to have been entertained in such a house, so that was what led me from that jumping-off point for the fictitious side of the story, but it’s based on the sort of things my father loved and was attracted to by English life and aspired to. The story curve shows Samuel learning that he doesn’t want to be the perfect English gentleman.”

Bodyguard and The Durrells star Keeley Hawes plays Samuel’s wife,  Miriam Richard’s wife, Kathleen

Through the first episode, the story is laid bare against the backdrop of rockets being launched and rising anxiety over what might lie ahead, coupled with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that stem from the still-raw fallout of the Second World War. Samuel’s technological achievements also shine a light on how industry was set to move forward rapidly over the next decade.

“When you have six hours of television drama, it’s a big canvas. The joy of longform is that you can build a complex world and you can delve deeper into character than you can in a two-hour movie,” Poliakoff says. “It’s great to try to be ambitious when you’re given that length of screen time.”

Helen Flint, MD of Little Island Productions and Poliakoff’s long-time producing partner, admits the writer’s outlines need very little development as they are often fully formed, “very detailed and very ambitious” by the time she becomes involved.

“The thing is to identify where and how you’re actually going to make it happen,” she says. “Both of us have been around far too long. Therefore, between us and the heads of department, we can work out how to put this on the screen, which is our craft.”

With all of Poliakoff’s work filmed on location, the first task on Summer of Rockets was to find the house belonging to Richard and Kathleen Shaw, which is a constant presence during all six episodes. They eventually settled on Benington Lordship, a grand setting close to Stevenage, 35 miles north of London, which is notable for the Norman keep adjoining the 17th century house and expansive gardens.

Catastrophe’s Mark Bonnar plays the head of MI5

“The other important thing was when to film it, because getting lucky with sunshine in this country is not a given – so the schedule is everything,” Flint says.

Finding London streets that could double for the time period also proved problematic, with the slums of Notting Hill in 1958 far removed from the affluent neighbourhood it is today. Another set piece saw a queue of 1950s cars lined up along The Mall, leading to Buckingham Palace, which was filmed early in the morning to avoid the crowds of tourists usually occupying the area.

“It takes a huge amount of work, more work than anybody would imagine, weeks and weeks, and then huge amounts in post-production just to paint out silly lines and stuff like that,” Flint says of filming in London. “After that, it’s all of the countryside, the driving [scenes] and the minutiae. But because we’ve got a cast that is working all the time, we have to try to jigsaw them all in, which is very complicated at certain points. Once you have those actors, the schedule is dictated by that. Then other problems come to the fore because if they’re not available, you can’t do the locations. London exteriors are the hardest, and then piecing it together is a massive jigsaw.”

In some cases, however, the reality on which some of the series is based was too extreme to be dramatised. Poliakoff decided to tone down scenes where Sasha is at boarding school, as his own experiences at school were too “draconian” to be depicted exactly as he remembered.

Summer of Rockets debuts on BBC2 tomorrow

“When I started writing it, I realised it had to be more interesting and more inventive than the actual thing I experienced, which in reality was relentlessly grim,” he says. “A little bit of that was fine, but I didn’t think an audience would stand for that being repeated in each scene. So, oddly enough, the bit that was closest to reality was the most difficult to write.”

The series sees Poliakoff reunited with Stephens, who starred in his 2001 family reunion drama Perfect Strangers, while this was his first time working with Hawes despite having known her since she was just 19. “She starred in my wife Sandy Welch’s adaptation of Our Mutual Friend 20 years ago,” he recalls of the actor, who has recently starred in Line of Duty, The Durrells and Bodyguard. “I’ve known her for some time and we’ve always wanted to work together. She’s phenomenal in her role, which is a really very juicy role, so I’m thrilled. I think she gives one of her greatest performances.”

Following Summer of Rockets’ launch on UK pubcaster BBC2 tomorrow, all six episodes will be made available on the pubcaster’s VoD platform iPlayer. The drama is distributed internationally by BBC Studios. “‘Bingeable’ is not the prettiest word but, actually, I think my work was born to be binged,” Poliakoff notes. “People over the years have always told me they’ve sat down to watch something like Perfect Strangers, which is only four hours long. They tend to watch the first part and then they’re there four hours later.

“So I very much hope the story has that effect. It does have quite a powerful story that gathers and evolves and changes. It’s great for people to watch it in a linear way or in an immersive way. Either way, I hope people will really get into it.” - Michael Pickard (Drama Quarterly)

[ariannadi]

Falling

Part five of my Skyrim...thing xD I meant to post this here months ago but forgot, of course. It’s a follow up to the last part, On the Precipice, which you can read here.

Next part will be up soonish!!

The moment Vilkas dead-weighted in her grasp, Marlyna began to consider the worst.

"Vilkas?" she prodded, but received no response from the man. Her chest tightened in fear, and she picked up her pace along the trail. The apothecary cabin was now within sight.

"Hang on, you stubborn fool," she chided his unconscious self, "You had better not die on me."

Using what strength she had, she managed to haul him to the cabin's entrance, faltering a bit when she attempted to open the door. Thankfully no one was present, something Marlyna feared would interfere with his healing process.

"Just need to get you onto the bed," the woman huffed, dragging Vilkas to the cot that was placed in the corner of the room. Once she did, which involved nearly tossing him down in an awkward position, she went to work collecting a variety of balms and herbs placed on the shelves around them.

Thankfully her companion was already dressed down, something she could attune to his transitioning into a wolf earlier. It made it easier for her to inspect his wounds.

At least, that's what Marlyna told herself, whilst she attempted to ignore the toned muscles that made up nearly every inch of his body. Damn the man.

Even as she tried to take the situation lightly, the woman felt her heart sink at the sight of Vilkas so... damaged. Never, in the time she had known him, had he been one to appear fragile. Seeing him so injured... it only made her want to ensure she was always at his side, so nothing like this happened again.

"Don't die on me, Vilkas," she pled to deaf ears as she wrapped one of many gauzes around varying parts of his frame. "You can pull through this."

Once she had done all she could, Marlyna pulled up a chair and sat at his side, looking down at him both worriedly and curiously. The latter due in part to the way she studied his face, examining every little angle and slope that made up his handsome features.

Yes... he was indeed handsome, wasn't he?

Such was what had initially drawn her to him the moment she realized she had a soft spot for the warrior. While a majority of the Companions were rough in appearance, Vilkas and Farkas were easy on the eyes - which ultimately led her to question why she had grown feelings for the more bitter of the two brothers.

The answer wasn't even difficult.

Farkas was sincerely kind, and treated her like a beloved little sister. But, Vilkas... he was a mystery in himself. The way his silvery eyes followed her when she entered the hall, the fact that he'd been the only one closed off to her when she joined, it left her curious about him, and more often than not she found herself thinking about the rugged Companion.

Though a mule in every sense of the word, Marlyna soon discovered that Vilkas was rather passionate about the world around him, and quite intelligent. While he usually had a cold exterior about him, the man was actually rather expressive - showing humor at the corniest of jokes, and spouting excitement at friendly brawls between their fellow shield-siblings.

Then came the night Marlyna had initiated a spark of some kind between them. The way Vilkas had reciprocated her kiss, she knew for a fact he wasn't closed to sharing something intimate with her. He'd been hurt and confused when she had avoided him in the weeks after, as evidenced by the way he had confronted her before kissing her hard.

"Don't die on me, Vilkas," she uttered to him again, and as her hand absentmindedly reached out to stroke at his stubbled cheek, the woman leaned forward and left the gentlest of kisses to his forehead.

Marlyna woke the next morning surprised, as she knew she had passed out in the chair next to the bed Vilkas slept in, but didn't have a kink in her neck oddly enough.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and only then did she realize her head was rested atop a pillow, and her body sprawled out on a mattress.

Rising up and nearly falling over again from the rush of blood, Marlyna's eyes darted around the cabin, eventually coming to rest on the silhouette of Vilkas standing in front of the fireplace.

"Vilkas! Shouldn't you be resting?" she asked in alarm, but the man just slowly rotated to face her, then quirked a brow.

"Here I thought you'd be asleep all morning," he deadpanned, then turned back toward the fireplace and ladeled something out of the pot hanging over it.

Marlyna huffed, shuffling her body out from underneath the covers. "You were out bloody cold yesterday. Can you explain to me why you're up frolicking about?"

She heard Vilkas let out a sigh of frustration, which was emphasized by the rise and fall of his shoulders. He turned around to face Marlyna again, a bowl of something in his hand.

"I'm a werewolf. You know that already," he explained as he approached her, offering her the bowl of what turned out to be soup. "We tend to heal a lot faster than others, in some cases only hours. However, I appreciate all the work you went through to fix me up, please don't mistake that."

"Is that why you gave me the bed?" Marlyna asked, taking a sip from her bowl. The soup, though simple in taste, left a warm feeling residing in her gut.

Vilkas shrugged. "I thought you could use it moreso than I. I woke just before the sun rose and saw you hunched over. I figured I could show a little chivalry for someone who hauled me up a hill."

The woman smiled at that, looking down into her bowl in a moment of bashfulness. "Thank you," she said. "With how you looked yesterday, I suppose I just expected the worst."

"And people say I'm a pessimist," Vilkas scoffed, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Marlyna just sent him a look of annoyance.

"Ever the charmer," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Her companion smirked in response. "You know it," he said, then his expression turned serious. "If you've rested enough, we still have a job to take care of."

"Your armor-" Marlyna began, but Vilkas nodded his head toward a pile of steel on the nearby table. 

"Went and retrieved it while you were sleeping," he told her, then stood. "We should probably head out soon. That heirloom isn't going to retrieve itself."

Marlyna twisted her lip as she too stood from the bed, watching as Vilkas began strapping on the various bits of his armor before hooking his greatsword behind his back.

"You coming?" he asked once he was ready, his brow rising in curiosity. Marlyna didn't actually have much to do in the way of getting prepared, as Vilkas had tucked her into the bed with most of her armor already on. Instead she strapped on the bits of metal he had been kind enough to remove for her comfort, then combed her fingers through her hair a few times before tying it into a loose ponytail.

"Let's do this."

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