Penda’s Fen

I’ve started watching the Alan Clarke box set again…

It’s very weird. The previous Clarke BBC films have mostly been very straightforward things, but this is all very … psychological.

The seventies was a fun decade for television. In most of the European countries, there were only a couple a TV channels, and most of them felt an impulse to give the viewers some Real Culture. You’d be watching, and then randomly there would be a Bergman movie.

This is a Play For Today movie, which was a BBC series designed to give people some real culture.

I always liked watching these things as a child and a teenager.

But… I’m not quite sure about this one. It’s done really well — it’s all pensive and weird and stuff. But it’s also a bit cringe-worthy?

I liked this. It’s so in-your-face “we’re gonna shock and befuddle the people in front of the TV”. It’s very strange, in a good way.

Penda’s Fen. Alan Clarke. 1974. ⚄