Growing up in the 1960s, my mother viewed Joan Crawford and Fanny Cradock - and weirdly, Mrs Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor - as the epitome of the divine feminine. Fortunately, the NHS introduced psychotherapy into its arsenal of mental health services in the 1970s, and so I'm almost over it.
I think all those women might have been called psychopaths or at the very least malignant narcissists nowadays. I grew up in the 60's too, a very different world eh!
Agreed, Fanny looked and sounded like a man in drag, and although Julia did her best the voice just wasn't deep enough so you wouldn't have instantly known who she was portraying. But interesting to watch nevertheless
I'd never heard of Julia Davis until I fell through a rabbithole and ended up watching Camping. Now I've watched 3 of her shows in 2 days. What an amazing actress. 😊
@@justindodsworth8893It's true. It was a Scottish Television continuity presenter who said it after a segment where the enchanting Fanny did indeed make doughnuts
Exactly why the movie is crap....of course Fanny had a sense of humor! Most people who got where she did in England HAD TO have one! People who wear aprons to cook are a little more likely to take themselves too seriously. She was trying to make cooking 7 days a week fun! But oh no! Not here in this movie. They make her out to be as flat as a playing card...predictable. Spare me the edible complex please!
Oh this is BRILLIANT!!!! The fantastic Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss . Im so thrilled to see this again , i saw it when it was first broadcasted and loved it back then. Thank you! Its hilarious 😂 i remember Fanny Craddock on the tv when i was young, with her stuffed boiled eggs and other canapés 😂😂
The erratic behaviour is spot-on; my grandmother knew her and said she was a raging alcoholic and what would now probably be diagnosed as deeply bioplar or schizophrenic, which is pretty sad really. She once found her wandering around the street with no shoes on in the early 1970s going on about how German spies were living in the church hall.
And let me guess you’re late granny was too much of a lady to go to the papers and sell her story when the news of the world et cetera had tried to bribe staff of fanny Craddock to sell stories on her of what a bitch she was and what a horrible person she was and none of them never bought and that’s because she was none of those things
Being in America, I had no idea who Fanny Craddock was. I saw the thumbnail picture on RUclips and assumed this was a movie with a drag queen as a star so I watched it. At first I thought it was high camp. Then I realized they were serious, and that it wasn’t a drag queen starring in the role, what a good movie. Thank you.
I cannot tell you how glad I am someone has uploaded this. I missed it when it first aired on BBC2 and I’ve been searching for it in full for so long!! Thank you!!
I was particularly touched by his pure mastery of emphatic expression. And with it his timing with these manners of expression - its is simply sublime.
Wonderful film. Julia Davis can play anything. I always thought Fanny Craddock seemed a deeply unhappy person, even tho her hubby obviously adored her, so this was a fascinating watch.
Shes quite mad I don't think this actress captures that very well. She looks more like David Bowie. And she hasn't got the mad eyes going on. She mustn't have that madness in her.
Bowie frozen as Ziggy, unable to move on . Ever strutting pouting and grinning. My memory has the real Fanny struck mad as a painted Jonah, sprung from the whales spout in a half untied straight jacket.
So glad I found this movie Sp well produced and acted Costume Design was superb As a child we watched this woman on TV it is interesting to know of her private persona. Thank you.
(Spoilers for Fear of Fanny) I STRONGLY suggest anybody who watches this go STRAIGHT original 'interview' of Fanny and Gwen after watching this. I was born on the 80s and hadnt really heard of Fanny growing up so i came into this movie with a clean sheet as it were. I am not a fan nor a 'hater' of hers. But after watching this movie i was definitely not a fan after watching the gwen Scene. The movie makes out she was very rude and obnoxious to Gwen. However, if you watch the orignal scene.... Fanny wasnt anywhere NEAR as rude as this movie makes out if you watch the whole context. She was actually quite friendly and polite to Gwen but a bit too honest and blunt. She was giving her more professional advice more than anything. She was explaining to Gwen about how each course should compliment the next course rather than just making each course random meals. The comment where she says "Youre amongst professionals now" isnt meant (in context) to be rude or a knock her on food but rather advice that while this is okay in the home on a professional level she would need to look at doing it differently. Gwen, in the original, even trys to say to Fanny that she is wrong and i think this is what causes Fanny to pull some of the faces shortly after. I have seen Mary Berry be FAR more rude and obnoxious.
It was unlucky for fanny that she'd been unable to feel a change in the air C 1976 & moderate her delivery. It was a very technological year, Concorde takes flight, carbon fibre on the market, widespread video recorders, computers beginning to emerge & so forth. Young producer Rantzen thinks she knows it all etc. In that sense it was only a technical error, not the monstrosity some perceive. But Fanny was too slow to move into a act that would have been better for her career, 'agreeable Fanny' / make current TV Fanny etc. Its very sad as it might not have taken much. Probably her particularly narrow fraternal / social skill did this really as she had no concept of shifting sand.
Totally agree its like a play Iver the top and ridiculous and clownish almost which is funny as a play but I'd never have guess she was playing fanny craddock if it hadn't said it in the title. Even the accent isn't right. I was just watching fanny as I always do to remind me how fucking dry a bird a turkey is! 😂😂
Julia Davis is genius! I must say I remember Fanny from the 70’s partly because she was on TV and partly because I had a friend at prep school called David Craddock and automatically assumed they must be related! 😂 I confess I have been terribly unkind about her… I’ve just watched a lot of her shows in the years since & they really lack any merit… her bossiness was so annoying … my hero is Keith Floyd and on reflection his style & persona wasn’t that far away from Fanny’s but so much more entertaining!
I loved floyd from right when he appeared & it never ceases. I'd never have accepted there was any similarity with fanny but on seeing this play there is. Both performing the same cooking personality / genre & thats open to anyone who dares to try maybe ! Both seemed to have an infinite ability to use streams of phrases which were unique to each production. I miss them and their flawed forces of nature
At 1 hour and 12 minutes in, when she meets the housewife who is entering the competition and tells her that her menu is too heavy, they forgot to put in that the lady was very rude to her also, refusing to take obvious advice, thats why Fanny got sharp. Then the housewife went to the guest of honour and wouldn’t stop mentioning her thick coffee desert and asked him if he sided with her or Fanny. She was an arrogant nasty woman, not like here where she is shy.
Yes!! I just watched this and went back to watch the original interview/show and I found Gwen to be quite rude. Fanny was actually polite and friendly at first and more giving her advice. I think this movie paints fanny harshly in that scene. I've seen Mary Berry be FAR more obnoxious than fanny was on that day.
Gwen wasn't rude, just defensive and confused. But Fanny was much friendlier than here. She definitely wanted to keep the upper hand but she wasn't rude, ordinary, arrogant like in this film. They made a caricature out of her. And those nasty remarks about "have any friends? living?" - that's downright lying.
@@reoreborn1209can you (or anyone else) tell me how to find that please? If you can even remember what the name of the show was then I can put it in search
Julia Davis is too much of a babe even under the fright wig and make-up, her bone structure too perfect, to make a fully convincing Fanny. Good show however.
Thoroughly enjoyed this play. Wonder if its true that she was just doing her schtick on that Esther Rasntzen show that destroyed her. Sad if it was just a misjudgement not real spite, contempt and arrogance
Whatever the case, Rantzen has a track record of destroying some careers while 'protecting' others. I have always regarded Silverline and Childline in particular as very elaborate covers. The reason she got so far in a (then) male world was because she was more ruthless than all the others. I cannot stand Rantzen and never could.
I finally located Gwen Troake’s coffee pudding recipe and tried it out. Absolutely vile. Instant vanilla pudding mix, whipped topping, instant coffee, and rum soaked ladyfinger biscuits. Fanny was actually being tactful.
@@justinwhite6787 From what I read, BBC execs were trying to get rid of her for a while and used the Gwen Troake backlash as a half-baked (no pun intended) excuse to fire Fanny.
@@giovannirastrelli9821 Got it! Sounds right, just finished watching the film, I thought it was really good - Julia Davis was great, and the rest of the cast. I can't get enough of watching old Fanny videos now.
I agree. Each course sounded lovely but together was far too rich a menu. A lighter dessert would have been better after duck. And I love coffee desserts! 😂
Never knew about this woman until her birthday a few days ago, and I suppose this is a good portrayal of a woman both tortured and controlling. Thanks!
I think Julia Davies was totally miscast here. There was something sometime when Debra Stephenson played Fanny, and she was perfect. Mark Gatiss was an exceptional Johnny though.
This randomly came up in my RUclips suggestions tonight. I was born in 1989, so have absolutely no memory/knowledge of Fanny Cradock. I resisted the temptation to look at her Wikipedia page to keep my interest going. I think I probably agree with a lot of other commenters in that Julia Davis is a bit too sexy to play Fanny Cradock, even lathering on the grotesque makeup I wasn't quite convinced.
I loved this. Odd. Bitter Sweet and funny. Ill be watching again No doubt. Thanks Do you have other TV films like Hattie ? The story of Hattie Jacques and her affair while married to John Le Mesuire . It is well worth watching. Another one on YT currently well worth a watch, imo, is Eric and Ernie of Morcombe and Wise Fame and their early career. The actors who play them are amazing.
There was a documentary about her and her was daughter was in it. When Johnny craddock died her daughter became her pa on the show. But franny craddock decline was obvious behind the scenes.
I was very disappointed when I saw this back in 2006. Gatiss had so much real-life material to work with which was ignored, and the actress looked nothing like Fanny. She had a nose job and other nip and tucks done to make her look more telly friendly but this wasn't mentioned. Nor the fact that when they did eventually marry, it was bigamous, as Fanny's 2nd husband was still alive. Plus, she shaved 10 years off her age!
The snob behaviour of Britain in the 60/70s perfectly portrayed..fantastic film which recalled my childhood...fearsome fanny...and then I remembered Barbara Woodhouse the dog intimidater..heady times
as a little kid in the 1960s when she was on TV I was more scared of her than the Daleks, even her name conjured up terrible mental images that were too much for my 5-year-old mind to cope with, her husband Johnny (another bad mental image) seemed like Dracula to me. I could imagine them sacrificing little kids like myself and cooking their body parts on TV saying what a lovely piece of marbled Aberdeen Angus, this might be where it all started, SShhmm, 65 - 66ish !
Unbelievably, yes! Julia Davis studied hundreds of hours of footage of her, and the writers spoke to lots of people who knew her in order to make the depiction as realistic as possible. She was a proper character!
Wow. I remember my mother talking about the show and has some of her books but is this an accurate depiction of Fanny Craddock or is it hugely exaggerated for effect? Thanks.
I'd always been vaguely fond of her, but had no clue that status would take a big upward turn until this play popped up. Before this i'd have said not in a million years could i become specially interested in FC. I don't know the facts either, I do get the strong feeling that much of what 'constituted' fanny was the drive to move from lower middle class to 'Middle' - a reasonable aspiration ? She was happy to show the cost conscious working class how to make what they could afford more exciting. Possibly the hilarious Farson scene depicts the arrogance of a sociologically uncouth higher status journalist who humiliates people for the sport when theres just no need, unless he was a b stard as it infers in the play. If the context of that scene does read that way then anyone could yearn to get out of the current market segment when theres immature producers being selfish. In fact possibly the whole meaning of the Farson visit was to assess that 'upturn' potential & her taste versus his ( in decor ) should not have been the criterion. One has to wonder if he understood what her wizard food psychology meant to the poor tbh, and theres a chance Farson hated her for championing that. Fanny was in some ways self destructive and could generate her own bad luck Theres a feeling she intended future shows to move up the ladder but they could not due to inertia. In my experience when someone has got too much holding them back / others take that apart as they view it as an attempt to stop them also. Plus - 1976 was a emerging computer revolution year / aviation revolution / modern materials revolution year ( carbon fiber ) & no time to be a stick in the mud. Fanny would have realised what to do i feel personally as she would have been an emotionally damaged person, not a technical cripple. But she DID have a lot of latency & the forward thinking production people @ the beeb that year were not going to wait for fanny to know the new order they'd thought up. Thus when fanny misformated herself in the gwen troake episode she was toast not for being rude, but for not having remodelled her style to the 'customer is always right' - which 76 frankly was a peak of. Shame really given the proletariat are always wrong today.
1:10:19 The famous scene that "ended" Fanny's career and might be the highlight of this movie for some. I can't believe the bad script writing and acting. It's like a sketch, perhaps a small impersonation, not a film scene. Perhaps it would have helped if the actress watched the original scene?
actually, i thought out of the whole film this scene was one of the few accurate ones. they did a good job recreating it, sadly most of the rest of the film is made up out of whole cloth
I wouldn't even speak about "inaccuracy". The scene is absurd, over the top, not realistic and it depicts Fanny as a monster that she wasn't. But perhaps you have to depict her like this for viewers with blunt perception because if you recreate the original scene, today's viewers (desensitivized by reality shows etc.) will just shrug: "So what?"@@samhaine6804
Wouldn't you rather she put in a good performance than just do a bad impression of Fanny Craddock? That just sounds like a comedy sketch that would grate over the course of 90 minutes.
I can’t help hearing Marco White when i listen to the real Fanny. His cadence and diction are rather similar though his delivery is slightly more feminine and whispery at times.
Fanny was a total eccentric and a bully. I was scared of her even though she was on tv, but real entertainment. Can't remember if she was even a good cook.
![Round The Horne Series! 1.1 [E1 to 6 Incl. Chapters] 1965 [High Quality]](/img/1.gif)
Growing up in the 1960s, my mother viewed Joan Crawford and Fanny Cradock - and weirdly, Mrs Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor - as the epitome of the divine feminine. Fortunately, the NHS introduced psychotherapy into its arsenal of mental health services in the 1970s, and so I'm almost over it.
Your comment had me laughing aloud. Joan Crawford still exerts a kind of Mommy Dearest fascination.
I think all those women might have been called psychopaths or at the very least malignant narcissists nowadays. I grew up in the 60's too, a very different world eh!
Very similar woman too.
She'd have loved Ru Paul
@@jakecavendish3470 totally agree!
So much work has gone into this ravishing production but the sound of Fanny's voice is so painfully absent.
true, the actress does a good job but her eyes arent nearly beady enough and she doesnt have the same severity in her voice
It was about three octaves deeper, like a man's basically
I agree. Julia's is too high
Agreed, Fanny looked and sounded like a man in drag, and although Julia did her best the voice just wasn't deep enough so you wouldn't have instantly known who she was portraying. But interesting to watch nevertheless
True, the tone and pitch are completely off. It’s also quite jarring that she’s not anywhere near plummy to have even the suggestion of Fanny
A spellbinding piece of television. Bravo
The genius of Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss is intoxicating , just watched this for the second time, probably not the last.
4 times now , and not ruling out a 5th .
@@barrycarrigan5584😂Bet you're on the 6th by now?
I'm a second timer who knows 3 will be near the end of the year.
I'd never heard of Julia Davis until I fell through a rabbithole and ended up watching Camping. Now I've watched 3 of her shows in 2 days. What an amazing actress. 😊
She is amazing! Have you seen Nighty Night or Sally4Ever? Those are my two favourites of hers - she plays awful people so well!
such a talent!
For a second I tought it was a documentary and I was like wow she is pretty and looks like Julia Davis haha
I was really hoping that Johnny's "And may all your doughnuts turn out like Fanny's" would pop up somewhere.
Sadly that's just an urban myth! I wish it was true...brilliant :-)
@@justindodsworth8893It's true. It was a Scottish Television continuity presenter who said it after a segment where the enchanting Fanny did indeed make doughnuts
Exactly why the movie is crap....of course Fanny had a sense of humor!
Most people who got where she did in England HAD TO have one!
People who wear aprons to cook are a little more likely to take themselves too seriously.
She was trying to make cooking 7 days a week fun!
But oh no! Not here in this movie.
They make her out to be as flat as a playing card...predictable.
Spare me the edible complex please!
Oh this is BRILLIANT!!!! The fantastic Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss . Im so thrilled to see this again , i saw it when it was first broadcasted and loved it back then. Thank you! Its hilarious 😂 i remember Fanny Craddock on the tv when i was young, with her stuffed boiled eggs and other canapés 😂😂
The erratic behaviour is spot-on; my grandmother knew her and said she was a raging alcoholic and what would now probably be diagnosed as deeply bioplar or schizophrenic, which is pretty sad really. She once found her wandering around the street with no shoes on in the early 1970s going on about how German spies were living in the church hall.
You felt bad for husband Johnny craddock who suffered in silence for years with her temper xnd her assistants who suffered on TV.
I didn't know about the alcohol she lived quite a long time despite that
I read that she used to physically abuse johnny 😢she would take her frustrations out on him he worshiped her so he stuck around.
Recently, it was revealed that Fanny was using amphetamines during the day and phenobarbital to sleep..
And let me guess you’re late granny was too much of a lady to go to the papers and sell her story when the news of the world et cetera had tried to bribe staff of fanny Craddock to sell stories on her of what a bitch she was and what a horrible person she was and none of them never bought and that’s because she was none of those things
Being in America, I had no idea who Fanny Craddock was. I saw the thumbnail picture on RUclips and assumed this was a movie with a drag queen as a star so I watched it. At first I thought it was high camp. Then I realized they were serious, and that it wasn’t a drag queen starring in the role, what a good movie. Thank you.
LOL. i consider fanny to be an honorary drag queen
You can watch various youtube videos of Fanny doing her TV shows here in UK, very basic TV set-up in those days though 😊
You are a GEM for uploading this in higher quality.
Haha, thanks - it took me a while to find, and when I did, I had to share it with everyone :)
Thank you very much for uploading. ❤
Couldn't be any higher in quality, unless it was Olivia Coleman and Martin Freeman
@@iamjoestafford hehe thanks for getting this triumph out here.
@@BLINDTUBEMARES Two very overused individuals at present. Julia Davis is not seen on our screens enough.
What a joyous find this film was!
Missed it the first time around, so thank you SO much for this.
Thanks for uploading this. I love Julia Davis but missed the program when it was first aired. X
What a brilliant cast! Thanks for the upload!
You have to accept how bizarre life is in order to take it seriously.
Well said!
Julia Davis and entire cast are brilliant, xxxx
I cannot tell you how glad I am someone has uploaded this. I missed it when it first aired on BBC2 and I’ve been searching for it in full for so long!!
Thank you!!
Glad to be of service! I had been searching for it for ages when I stumbled across it - I just had to share it to RUclips for others to enjoy 😄
I just found this.
Omg, I needed this!!
I loved Julia Davis's impersonation here! Julia plays Fanny fabulously!
Absolutely brillamt . Thank you .
Mark Gattis is a brilliant actor
I was particularly touched by his pure mastery of emphatic expression. And with it his timing with these manners of expression - its is simply sublime.
I missed this when is was first broadcast. Good God. Julia is AMAZING in this. Hats off. What a performance.
Just wish she'd shaved her eyebrows off instead of just covering them with makeup. It wasn't very effective.
She's very bad in this. Voice, accent, over the top acting, no subtlety of Fanny's mannerisms... So bad it hurts.
Wonderful film. Julia Davis can play anything. I always thought Fanny Craddock seemed a deeply unhappy person, even tho her hubby obviously adored her, so this was a fascinating watch.
Shes quite mad I don't think this actress captures that very well. She looks more like David Bowie. And she hasn't got the mad eyes going on. She mustn't have that madness in her.
Bowie frozen as Ziggy, unable to move on . Ever strutting pouting and grinning.
My memory has the real Fanny struck mad as a painted Jonah, sprung from the whales spout in a half untied straight jacket.
Fabulously entertaining!..thanks for the upload.
A lost masterpiece! I came here after hearing Rob Brydon on Off Menu 👍
He did a good series with Julia Davis called Human Remains which is worth a watch if you can find it!
Rob brydon is in it but the bbc has buried it and refuses to release on dvd.
Super fantastic watched it years ago and revisited today hope your scones all turn out like fannys!
Thank you Joe, great stuff.
First time watching this & julia is amazing and cast are great to. Love this & i loved nighty night. But this is somthing els. ❤😂🎉.
I thought that was an amazing production the like of which we've lost so much of.
So glad I found this movie Sp well produced and acted Costume Design was superb As a child we watched this woman on TV it is interesting to know of her private persona. Thank you.
Julia Davis is the most extraordinary actress. Maggie Smith 20th century. Julia and Tilda 21st century.
Fanny was much more bombastic and forceful with a deeper, smokers voice.
Great cast!
Crazy 'ol Fanny. Led a sticky life and came to a sticky end. Still, this was a fun watch.
85 isn't a bad innings for a bird who lived on red wine and amphetamines
I often call my husband Johnny when we cook together in their memory! 😂 loved them so much, even though she was a right battle axe 🪓 😂.
odd, when i call my wife fanny, she's not so keen.
@@GavTatu 🤣
Something about her appearance reminds me of David Bowie in the 70s.
That's exactly what I was thinking. The video for Life On Mars springs to mind
That's a hunky dory comment
This amazing piece of tv matches just how grotesque that woman’s life and behaviour was. No one but Davis and Gatiss could capture that.
(Spoilers for Fear of Fanny)
I STRONGLY suggest anybody who watches this go STRAIGHT original 'interview' of Fanny and Gwen after watching this.
I was born on the 80s and hadnt really heard of Fanny growing up so i came into this movie with a clean sheet as it were. I am not a fan nor a 'hater' of hers. But after watching this movie i was definitely not a fan after watching the gwen Scene.
The movie makes out she was very rude and obnoxious to Gwen. However, if you watch the orignal scene.... Fanny wasnt anywhere NEAR as rude as this movie makes out if you watch the whole context.
She was actually quite friendly and polite to Gwen but a bit too honest and blunt. She was giving her more professional advice more than anything.
She was explaining to Gwen about how each course should compliment the next course rather than just making each course random meals.
The comment where she says "Youre amongst professionals now" isnt meant (in context) to be rude or a knock her on food but rather advice that while this is okay in the home on a professional level she would need to look at doing it differently.
Gwen, in the original, even trys to say to Fanny that she is wrong and i think this is what causes Fanny to pull some of the faces shortly after.
I have seen Mary Berry be FAR more rude and obnoxious.
And don't forget about Elizabeth David who was a great cook in the 60&,70,s she introduced spices and unusual herbs
Yes, one should definitely compare this ridiculous scene with the original. The filmmakers made Fanny into a monster.
Can any of you tell me the name of the show with that interview? I'd really like to see it.
Gwen Troake's Banquet / The Big Time (1976)@@susandavorn3249
It was unlucky for fanny that she'd been unable to feel a change in the air C 1976 & moderate her delivery. It was a very technological year, Concorde takes flight, carbon fibre on the market, widespread video recorders, computers beginning to emerge & so forth. Young producer Rantzen thinks she knows it all etc. In that sense it was only a technical error, not the monstrosity some perceive. But Fanny was too slow to move into a act that would have been better for her career, 'agreeable Fanny' / make current TV Fanny etc. Its very sad as it might not have taken much. Probably her particularly narrow fraternal / social skill did this really as she had no concept of shifting sand.
The woman playing her is not a good choice. You can see her acting rather than being convinced that she is the character.
Totally agree its like a play Iver the top and ridiculous and clownish almost which is funny as a play but I'd never have guess she was playing fanny craddock if it hadn't said it in the title. Even the accent isn't right. I was just watching fanny as I always do to remind me how fucking dry a bird a turkey is! 😂😂
@@Padraigp absolutely nothing worse than a dry Fanny.
@@stephenmcconnell1000 bahahahaah! 👏 brilliant >< 😢 😭 😿 😢 😭
@@stephenmcconnell1000 Hahaha 😛🤣
Wow such insight, are you an acting coach ?
FANTASTIC
"I hope all your rissoles turn out like Fannys" (Johnnie Cradock)
😁
Class a. Production/acting "everything".
I seem to recall Benny Hill did a sketch as Fanny Craddock with Bob Todd as Johnny!
He did 2 of them. And referenced them in another sketch.
Thank you x
Benny Hill doing a parody of Fanny and her husband was hilarious, as was hubs enjoying it. Her dear partner really had the patience of Job.
The real Fanny was way more glamerous and had a quite hypnotic aura about her - One you started wtching her that was it you were hooked
Mesmerizing
Fanny Craddock seemed a lot larger than life & out there than this makes her out to be
Totally agree there's a level of thespian acting going on here that doesn't quite work.
Julia Davis is genius! I must say I remember Fanny from the 70’s partly because she was on TV and partly because I had a friend at prep school called David Craddock and automatically assumed they must be related! 😂
I confess I have been terribly unkind about her… I’ve just watched a lot of her shows in the years since & they really lack any merit… her bossiness was so annoying … my hero is Keith Floyd and on reflection his style & persona wasn’t that far away from Fanny’s but so much more entertaining!
Keith Floyd was influenced by Johnny Cradock with his wine drinking.
I loved floyd from right when he appeared & it never ceases. I'd never have accepted there was any similarity with fanny but on seeing this play there is. Both performing the same cooking personality / genre & thats open to anyone who dares to try maybe ! Both seemed to have an infinite ability to use streams of phrases which were unique to each production. I miss them and their flawed forces of nature
Jason Watkins, awesome actor
You are right....he is so versatile....comedy, tragedy and everything in between....truly great.
At 1 hour and 12 minutes in, when she meets the housewife who is entering the competition and tells her that her menu is too heavy, they forgot to put in that the lady was very rude to her also, refusing to take obvious advice, thats why Fanny got sharp. Then the housewife went to the guest of honour and wouldn’t stop mentioning her thick coffee desert and asked him if he sided with her or Fanny. She was an arrogant nasty woman, not like here where she is shy.
Yes!! I just watched this and went back to watch the original interview/show and I found Gwen to be quite rude. Fanny was actually polite and friendly at first and more giving her advice. I think this movie paints fanny harshly in that scene. I've seen Mary Berry be FAR more obnoxious than fanny was on that day.
Gwen wasn't rude, just defensive and confused. But Fanny was much friendlier than here. She definitely wanted to keep the upper hand but she wasn't rude, ordinary, arrogant like in this film. They made a caricature out of her. And those nasty remarks about "have any friends? living?" - that's downright lying.
@@reoreborn1209can you (or anyone else) tell me how to find that please? If you can even remember what the name of the show was then I can put it in search
I love fanny ❤
I sure can't do without either
Julia is awesome as ever
My memory of her was watching her on TV making impossibly difficult dishes with ingredients that were not widely available.
Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss back together again. Just like Jill and Glen Bulb 😆
Loved this movie 💜
I love Julia Davies, but I think she was a little mis-cast in this. Probably needed an older actress.
@00:39 - Rumour has it that she went into the fast food industry, burgers mainly. She did quite well by all accounts.
Excellent thanks 🙏
I love fanny.
Interestingly Psychic Dorris Collins mentioned that ,she John and Fanny were good friends in real life
Julia Davis is too much of a babe even under the fright wig and make-up, her bone structure too perfect, to make a fully convincing Fanny. Good show however.
As a chef in his later years, that was painful to watch!
Thoroughly enjoyed this play. Wonder if its true that she was just doing her schtick on that Esther Rasntzen show that destroyed her. Sad if it was just a misjudgement not real spite, contempt and arrogance
Whatever the case, Rantzen has a track record of destroying some careers while 'protecting' others. I have always regarded Silverline and Childline in particular as very elaborate covers. The reason she got so far in a (then) male world was because she was more ruthless than all the others. I cannot stand Rantzen and never could.
was violently sick after watching this! intresting watch though, thank you.
I finally located Gwen Troake’s coffee pudding recipe and tried it out. Absolutely vile. Instant vanilla pudding mix, whipped topping, instant coffee, and rum soaked ladyfinger biscuits. Fanny was actually being tactful.
It even sounds awful just Reading about it! I've now watched that clip several times, such a shame that was her 'downfall' didn't seem that bad?
@@justinwhite6787 From what I read, BBC execs were trying to get rid of her for a while and used the Gwen Troake backlash as a half-baked (no pun intended) excuse to fire Fanny.
@@giovannirastrelli9821 Got it! Sounds right, just finished watching the film, I thought it was really good - Julia Davis was great, and the rest of the cast. I can't get enough of watching old Fanny videos now.
That's the BBC in a nutshell. Corrupt
I agree. Each course sounded lovely but together was far too rich a menu. A lighter dessert would have been better after duck. And I love coffee desserts! 😂
I have no idea of whom what biographical account is this. However, the acting is enticing two days before Christmas and I am captured by her delivery.
I used to feel sorry for poor Sarah 😂
Never knew about this woman until her birthday a few days ago, and I suppose this is a good portrayal of a woman both tortured and controlling. Thanks!
Thankyou. X
I think Julia Davies was totally miscast here. There was something sometime when Debra Stephenson played Fanny, and she was perfect. Mark Gatiss was an exceptional Johnny though.
Excellent 💯
Good old Fanny - a bigamist twice over, “living in sin” with Johnnie, and nobody knew.
This randomly came up in my RUclips suggestions tonight. I was born in 1989, so have absolutely no memory/knowledge of Fanny Cradock. I resisted the temptation to look at her Wikipedia page to keep my interest going. I think I probably agree with a lot of other commenters in that Julia Davis is a bit too sexy to play Fanny Cradock, even lathering on the grotesque makeup I wasn't quite convinced.
I loved this. Odd. Bitter Sweet and funny. Ill be watching again No doubt. Thanks
Do you have other TV films like Hattie ? The story of Hattie Jacques and her affair while married to John Le Mesuire . It is well worth watching.
Another one on YT currently well worth a watch, imo, is Eric and Ernie of Morcombe and Wise Fame and their early career. The actors who play them are amazing.
What a Narsassist. Everyone had to suffer at her Manic Gigantic Ego. I felt so sorry for Johnny
There is an episode of
Her and Johnny craddock as and older couple as she was very frightening even the.
There was a documentary about her and her was daughter was in it. When Johnny craddock died her daughter became her pa on the show. But franny craddock decline was obvious behind the scenes.
Wow the eyebrows. They look crazy..
All the rage back then. Women would pluck til there was nothing left then pencil these weird things on 😂.
@@annoldham3018Fanny's were a bit more OTT than most though I think. Scary Matched her personality!
I was very disappointed when I saw this back in 2006. Gatiss had so much real-life material to work with which was ignored, and the actress looked nothing like Fanny. She had a nose job and other nip and tucks done to make her look more telly friendly but this wasn't mentioned. Nor the fact that when they did eventually marry, it was bigamous, as Fanny's 2nd husband was still alive. Plus, she shaved 10 years off her age!
Love Julia Davis
From the thumbnail I thought it was Davis Bowie 🤣
In the first scene, she looks like David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase…
Bowie is beautiful, utterly beautiful. She looks nothing like him.
Rula Lenska maybe 😆
What is this I need to see it!
I always wondered who did the cover of Aladdin Sane. ?
The snob behaviour of Britain in the 60/70s perfectly portrayed..fantastic film which recalled my childhood...fearsome fanny...and then I remembered Barbara Woodhouse the dog intimidater..heady times
Her cookery books scared me.
Welcome to ShowBiz Darling....
as a little kid in the 1960s when she was on TV I was more scared of her than the Daleks, even her name conjured up terrible mental images that were too much for my 5-year-old mind to cope with, her husband Johnny (another bad mental image) seemed like Dracula to me. I could imagine them sacrificing little kids like myself and cooking their body parts on TV saying what a lovely piece of marbled Aberdeen Angus, this might be where it all started, SShhmm, 65 - 66ish !
It's all in the booklet.
Now, I’ve only really watched the Christmas show from Fanny and enjoyed it, but was she really this mean and erratic in real life?
Unbelievably, yes! Julia Davis studied hundreds of hours of footage of her, and the writers spoke to lots of people who knew her in order to make the depiction as realistic as possible. She was a proper character!
Wow. I remember my mother talking about the show and has some of her books but is this an accurate depiction of Fanny Craddock or is it hugely exaggerated for effect?
Thanks.
It is true. But she was entertaining God bless her. A real icon of tv at the time.
I'd always been vaguely fond of her, but had no clue that status would take a big upward turn until this play popped up. Before this i'd have said not in a million years could i become specially interested in FC. I don't know the facts either, I do get the strong feeling that much of what 'constituted' fanny was the drive to move from lower middle class to 'Middle' - a reasonable aspiration ? She was happy to show the cost conscious working class how to make what they could afford more exciting. Possibly the hilarious Farson scene depicts the arrogance of a sociologically uncouth higher status journalist who humiliates people for the sport when theres just no need, unless he was a b stard as it infers in the play. If the context of that scene does read that way then anyone could yearn to get out of the current market segment when theres immature producers being selfish. In fact possibly the whole meaning of the Farson visit was to assess that 'upturn' potential & her taste versus his ( in decor ) should not have been the criterion. One has to wonder if he understood what her wizard food psychology meant to the poor tbh, and theres a chance Farson hated her for championing that. Fanny was in some ways self destructive and could generate her own bad luck Theres a feeling she intended future shows to move up the ladder but they could not due to inertia. In my experience when someone has got too much holding them back / others take that apart as they view it as an attempt to stop them also. Plus - 1976 was a emerging computer revolution year / aviation revolution / modern materials revolution year ( carbon fiber ) & no time to be a stick in the mud. Fanny would have realised what to do i feel personally as she would have been an emotionally damaged person, not a technical cripple. But she DID have a lot of latency & the forward thinking production people @ the beeb that year were not going to wait for fanny to know the new order they'd thought up. Thus when fanny misformated herself in the gwen troake episode she was toast not for being rude, but for not having remodelled her style to the 'customer is always right' - which 76 frankly was a peak of.
Shame really given the proletariat are always wrong today.
1:10:19 The famous scene that "ended" Fanny's career and might be the highlight of this movie for some. I can't believe the bad script writing and acting. It's like a sketch, perhaps a small impersonation, not a film scene. Perhaps it would have helped if the actress watched the original scene?
actually, i thought out of the whole film this scene was one of the few accurate ones. they did a good job recreating it, sadly most of the rest of the film is made up out of whole cloth
I wouldn't even speak about "inaccuracy". The scene is absurd, over the top, not realistic and it depicts Fanny as a monster that she wasn't. But perhaps you have to depict her like this for viewers with blunt perception because if you recreate the original scene, today's viewers (desensitivized by reality shows etc.) will just shrug: "So what?"@@samhaine6804
I have a fear of fanny.
Me too 😆
in HEAVEN everything is fine 🎩 lass 🏴 …
All cook's are nutters.
Fear of Fanny, I thought it was a phobia Cliff Richard had.
It was fanny and Johnny , hilarious
She is really nothing like her. Glenn Close would have been perfect casting.
Definitely, same masculine bone structure
That’s part of the humour
This actress sound nothing like her
Wouldn't you rather she put in a good performance than just do a bad impression of Fanny Craddock? That just sounds like a comedy sketch that would grate over the course of 90 minutes.
It’s very difficult if you’re not a heavy smoker to do a deep gravelly voice
@@stevenfraser81that’s exactly what this comes across as though. A comedy sketch with an impersonation rather than a characterisation.
I can’t help hearing Marco White when i listen to the real Fanny. His cadence and diction are rather similar though his delivery is slightly more feminine and whispery at times.
She would have corrected your grammar.
Fanny was a total eccentric and a bully. I was scared of her even though she was on tv, but real entertainment. Can't remember if she was even a good cook.
What is the music at the end.