Literatea is a bit of a Pepy’s fan- so, obviously, I was more than a little inclined to watch the latest BBC representation of one of the Great Literati last night.
Sadly, I had to turn over to ITV2 (True Lies was on) after half an hour because although I had fully expected some less savoury scenes (it is 2003, and BBC2 is meant to be the trendy one), I hadn’t expected them to be quite so… how do I put this….
Ah! I’ll use the words of Mark Lawson who did a review of the show for The Guardian:
This is a very peculiar business, which reduces the great public official and literary pioneer to Sam the Shagger, a man whose only real use for a diary was to be sure which wench he was entering next.
For what it’s worth- I agree, Mister Lawson. My impression of Pepys was, obviously, that he was a bit of a philanderer. Well, a lot of a philanderer (especially for someone who seemed to love his wife). The diaries, however, don’t generally come across in such a forcefully visual manner in this particular department.
So I opted out. Which is a bit of a shame, really, because I quite enjoyed the scenes sans the slap’n'tickle!