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Bouquet of Barbed Wire, ITV1 | reviews, news & interviews

Bouquet of Barbed Wire, ITV1

Bouquet of Barbed Wire, ITV1

Classy acting in this sensation-fuelled story of incest and family secrets

Trevor Eve's Peter Manson lusts after teenaged daughter Prue (Imogen Poots)

Apart from a few nips and tucks, age has not withered Bouquet of Barbed Wire. Anyone who can remember the original steamy adaptation of Andrea Newman’s fine novel will recognise the changes. Prue, no longer the manipulative cow who graced our screens back in 1976, has been made-over as an unworldly innocent, while husband Gavin – still a deeply unpleasant wife-beater - is now a chippy, working-class Yorkshireman rather than a chippy American. And Peter, the daughter-obsessed patriarch, appears to be an altogether more anguished soul - though one suspects this has more to do with Trevor Eve’s ability to play complex, nuanced characters far better than the stiff, granite-faced Frank Finlay.

Apart from a few nips and tucks, age has not withered Bouquet of Barbed Wire. Anyone who can remember the original steamy adaptation of Andrea Newman’s fine novel will recognise the changes. Prue, no longer the manipulative cow who graced our screens back in 1976, has been made-over as an unworldly innocent, while husband Gavin – still a deeply unpleasant wife-beater - is now a chippy, working-class Yorkshireman rather than a chippy American. And Peter, the daughter-obsessed patriarch, appears to be an altogether more anguished soul - though one suspects this has more to do with Trevor Eve’s ability to play complex, nuanced characters far better than the stiff, granite-faced Frank Finlay.

Compelling family dramas have tended to remain more or less unchanged from the Greeks onwards

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i can remember all this like it was yesterday! surely it was not 24 years ago the last time this was screened.

love love love it... can't wait til next week. Trevor Eve is so damn sexy in an unconventional way... why is that ???

A Sense of Guilt. That was the 80s show where Trevor Eve intercoursed a teenager. Also written by Andrea Newman.

"Tuesday, 07 September 2010 10:58 posted by roxy i can remember all this like it was yesterday! surely it was not 24 years ago the last time this was screened." No it wasn't 24 years but 34 years and I thought maths education was better in 1976 than 2010........lol I thought Prue in the 1976 version was much sexier (maybe it was because I was an adolescent teenager at the time) and more a dady's girl than this version and came accross as spoilt and manipulative.

Trevor Eve was wrongly cast - Peter Manson's character should have magnetic sex appeal. Eve has as much sex appeal as a dead fish. Great locations!

Can't agree with Elizabeth that Trevor Eve has no sex appeal! So far this is compelling drama, very well directed and acted and I was relieved that episode 2 was less voyeuristic than the first episode, with Trevor Eve giving a subtlety to the father who is painfully aware of the moral abyss he is teetering towards. Gavin too is played so horribly convincingly that he allows some audience empathy with Peter. I hope episode 3 will not disappoint after the electric start.

where was the set when he wentoff in air balloon could any body please tell me , the set with the reservoir .

Really disappointed that this series has veered so far away from the original plot in Andrea Newman's book. I was riveted to the original 70's series when it came out - it was revolutionary drama. Now we are desensitised to such twist and turns of relationships in TV dramas as was seen in the original series but I feel that anyone who has seen both will feel short-changed by this re-write which fundamentally changed the whole substance of the book. I for one will be trying to get a DVD of the original series now!

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