Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992 TAG: 9202070014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JERRY BUCK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THE ODIOUS ENGLISH TITMUSS RETURNS TO TV
Once again, smarmy Leslie Titmuss is up to his stiff upper lip in British political intrigue, and actor David Threlfall couldn't be happier.Threlfall, who first played Titmuss five years ago in "Paradise Postponed," is back in "Titmuss Regained" for "Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS. The sequel will be televised in three parts beginning tonight at 9 on WBRA Channel 15.
"Titmuss was popular in England because he said things a lot of people would like to say," Threlfall says of the creation of author John Mortimer. "He was sort of a Shakespearean villain like Iago in `Othello.'
"He's an interesting character because people go to the cinema to be frightened. It's better to play a villain than someone who's good. It's more challenging."
In the new drama, Titmuss is involved in a conflict of interest as a cabinet officer in Margaret Thatcher's government. He woos and weds a beautiful young widow, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, and in his quest for respectability buys Rapstone Manor.
"We pick him up in his early 50s," says Threlfall, a British actor in this country to promote the miniseries. "He's attained the position he's always sought as the prime minister's right-hand man. He's really a dinosaur. He runs the Ministry of Housing, Ecological Affairs and Planning, which causes a conflict between his public stance and his private circumstances."
Titmuss is caught in the middle when an ambitious junior minister announces a plan for commercial development of the Rapstone Valley. He has to support his ministry's project, yet he wants to save his country house.
"His junior minister has thrown him a political hot potato," Threlfall says. "He wants to preserve the house for himself and his wife. He walks a tightrope. After all, he is the man who makes the decisions. Titmuss is a man who'll do almost anything to get what he wants.
"Titmuss is a very powerful man. He's rather like a snake at times. He lulls you into a sense of false security. That's the mistake his junior minister makes. His fangs are still quite sharp."
Although the events and places are fictitious, during filming in a rural area west of London some local residents thought it was real and offered to sign a petition to stop commercial encroachment.
"People who've lived all their lives in the Thames Valley aren't happy at seeing all the commuters and newcomers moving in," Threlfall says.
Mortimer is noted for mixing social issues with humor, in "Paradise Postponed," "Titmuss Regained" and his regular series "Rumpole of the Bailey." Threlfall describes "Titmuss Regained" as "very dry wit in that English kind of way."
Threlfall says the 11-episode "Paradise Postponed" signaled the end of the long miniseries.
"It wasn't quite `The Winds of War,"' he says, "but it was probably the last of the big ones. It showed a family over 25 years. It came on the heels of `Brideshead Revisited.' "
Threlfall looks very unlike Leslie Titmuss. His hair has grown long and he wears a mustache and beard.
Besides "Paradise Postponed," Threlfall appeared earlier this season in "A Murder of Quality" on "Masterpiece Theatre." He starred in the HBO movies "Murderers Among Us" and "Casualty of War." He starred with Sean Connery in the movie "The Russia House."
Next, he plays an Irish undercover agent in "Patriot Games," based on the novel by Tom Clancy. Harrison Ford stars in the movie, which is still in production.
Threlfall appeared as Smike in "Nicholas Nickelby" in London, New York and on the Mobil Showcase Network. Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickelby" was taped at London's Old Vic Theatre after it was closed.
"We shot in the ruins," he says. "It was such a well-regarded theater. I thought that was the nearest I'd get to playing in the Old Vic. Later, when it reopened, I got to play there in George Chapman's `Bussy d'Ambois.' Chapman was from the Jacobean Era, as opposed to the Elizabethan Era."
Threlfall, who was born in Manchester, England, first attended art college with the goal of becoming a painter. Then he switched to drama school.
"I'd like to start painting again," he says. "I have started writing, which is a great source of joy. I found when I started writing it was so hard, but I learned so much doing it. You want to get inside someone's head. You have to listen to people. It's quite humbling. It's rather like painting. I have a picture in my head, but it would come out differently. It's the same with writing."
"Titmuss Regained" will air on "Masterpiece Theatre" tonight at 9 on WBRA Channel 15.