The Morning After The Night Before

Ok, so I didn't watch The Eurovision Song Contest all the way through. I will freely admit this. The reason, sad to say, is that I did find something better to watch last night - namely, a fascinating drama on BBC2 about the life of Daphne Du Maurier, the author of Rebbecca and The Birds. I flicked back every now and then to watch Eurovision, especially during the results. I was actually quite happy that the UK entry, Scooch's "Flying The Flag", stayed on Nil points until nearly the very end. One of the very few countries who suppotred us were Ireland. Shame we didn't return them the favour, as they ended up last, though I didn't think much of their song either. We ended second to last, a fitting place me thinks for a song as basically pants as "Flying The Flag". Sir Wogan insisted that politics have seriously entered this year more than ever; all the Eastern European countries were voting for themselves. There is some truth to that. Perhaps it's more easy to see this year than ever before. But that still doesn't excuse the fact that we had a crap song! Let's make an effort next year instead of some camp forgettable nonsense. Bring back Katrina And The Waves, I say.

Anyhoo, back to Daphne. This was a surprisingly good drama, I thought. It was well shot with some beautiful scenes of Cornwall, and very well acted. My only problem was with the actual story. It focused more on the author's fascination with women then on any other aspect of her life; particularly Ellen Doubleday, the wife of her American publisher, and the actress Gertrude Lawrence. It was all very tastefully done, which makes a change (this was the BBC though I suppose.) But the reason for Daphne meeting Ellen - having to travel to America to face charges of plagiarism in Rebbecca - was sort of brushed under the carpet. All we saw was Daphne and the prosecution lawyer. I feel that there would have been more entertainment out of this then was made. They even re-used some scenes of a band playing, several times! Still, on the whole it was good fun, which leads me to actually consider reading some of Du Maurier's books. Only consider, mind - I have very little time for reading for fun these days, and when I do its usually a magazine or an interesting pamphlet!

Laters.