smudge

Indeed - the poacher-turned-gamekeeper syndrome.

'Tis a shame that with a simple act of repentance she would have been forgiven; just think what a marvellous (and eternal) campaign she could have mounted if she'd done as we all wished and gone to Hell....

Smudge

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

Third Man

I enjoyed this too, I thought Julie Walters played Whitehouse quite whimsically. I wasn't looking for historical accuracy just a general idea of what she was about and stood for as I only remember the very severe public persona she had and those spartan dresses she used to wear.

The thing is I only remember her from the video-nastie days and she did more to make those films more notorious than any single person and in doing so pushed up the interest in them and unfortunately the price on the black market.

Simon

themetalguru20

Hi AL here new type!

I thought Julie walters was excellent and it was really clever the way they put in all those
'double entendres'

penfold

She was actually a great deal more ridiculous than portrayed....she never let facts get in the way of a good complaint. If anyone had watched Newsnight later, on the '68 riots, they would have seen a letter, in the official police file dealing with the Vietnam protests, where she had written to the Chief Constable to warn that she had information that a heavily armed radical US terrorist group had taken over The Roundhouse as a preliminary for revolution in London. They called themselves the Doors, and their leader was a James or Jim Morrison.......

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

dremble wedge

Could have lent an entirely different angle to Oliver Stone's film...

Gazza

Watched it last night - and agree with the general feeling. It was watchable and generally enjoyable but I wish it hadn't been such a comic turn. Whitehouse was much more than that and became a dangerous loose cannon.

There was nothing funny about her Gay Times legal action, nor her attempt to censor our theatre. Had she stuck to the telly and radio she may have been taken more seriously for longer. Her mistake was turning on individuals rather than fighting the big corporations.

CaptainWaggett

There was a radio play a couple of years ago about the Romans in Britain case (with a couple of the actors from the original production). That was truly ludicrous - she didn't see the play herself (obviously) and relied on her minion's report. Unfortunately the minion was sitting at the back and mistook a thumb for something a little more raunchy. But it did waste a lot of time and money and presumably caused Michael Bogdanov a fair amount of distress (he was prosecuted for pimping!)

davidb

the whole thing was just too lightweight ,mary whitehouse deserved something a bit more heavy duty .the scenes where she was getting hate mail or threatening phone calls must have been very disturbing for her and her family ,yet it was played out like " oh lets put the kettle on and forget about it " i half expected julie walters to say in her mrs overall accent " and have one of my home made maceroons as well " .the whole thing was just too frothy and lightweight .

penfold

I agree entirely, but possibly not in the way you mean it. There was, as Gazza succinctly put it, nothing funny about a great deal of the extremist, intolerant, Talibanesque rubbish she spouted.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

davidb

i was going to edit that sentence and put something like " the legacy of mary whitehouse deserved something heavy duty " but you beat me to it !

Mr Cosmo

One of the problems I had was with the chronology - the theme music for "Match Of The Day" was not written until 1968 and it was playing in the background while at the same time her sons were at a party where they were playing a couple of records from 1963 - OK, they could have been oldies but people didn't play oldies at young parties back then as it was important to have latest records - and in the same scene they referred to swearing on "Till Death Us Do Part" - and the episode referred to was 1966.

tali122

Ironic to think that Whitehouse started the Clean Up National Television Society

I hear the Union Jack still remains.I see Namijira in custody
and I see Truganini's in chains.

davidb

did she ? were those the words initially chosen or was it something made up as embelishment for the lighthearted documentary on her ? someone will know on this site .

Jackdaw

I really hope that's true!
Someone once told me that the US airline TWA was originally named Trans World Air Transportation, and had its acronym emblazoned on the fuselages of its aircraft.
Hope that's true as well.

davidb

it was just made up for the tv show ,according to a newspaper that will remain nameless .the columnist i was reading also reckoned that it was the bbc trying to get its own back by portraying her as nothing more than a petty nuisance ,which is something that had crossed my mind as well . backfired on them i think