23 February 2012

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!

Friday. (That's tomorrow!)

8.30 p.m.

On the ABC.

Phryne. PHRYNE FISHER. PHRYNE FISHER ON YOUR TV. Friday night. 8.30 pm. ABC.

We haven't been this excited since... well... since... some previous super-high level of excitement.

If you haven't read any of Kerry Greenwood's wonderful mysteries DO SO NOW. Really, they are undiluted joy.

You can buy the editions adorned with Beth Norling's beautiful illustrations.


Or you can buy the new tie-in editions adorned with the gorgeous Essie Davis.
 

Or you can buy them straight to your device for reading RIGHT NOW. Or you can borrow them from the library, or steal them from a friend or WHATEVER. Just read them.

Here are a few key words that we feel paint something of a picture of why this is so important.

1928. Melbourne. Fashion. Cocktails.
Beautiful young men.
Murder. Blackmail. Revenge.
Theatre.  Ateliers. Orgies.
Circuses. Rescues. Dalliances.
Joy. Joy. Joy.

But best of all is Phryne herself.
Phryne is smart and brave and compassionate.
She takes absolutely no nonsense from anyone, but is not above taking a prisoner or two when absolutely necessary.
She is deadly beautiful and deadly with a pistol.
She has an eye for fine art and an art for finding delicious young men.
Unlike Macbeth, she does not need a witch's injunction to be bloody, bold and resolute, nor to scorn the power of man.
It comes naturally. For she is the Honorable Phryne Fisher.
Watch. Your. Step.

We've been all very excited since the TV show was announced. But to be honest, we've also been a little trepidatious. I mean, that's only natural, right?

We love Phryne. We've loved her for many, many years. What if TV Phryne isn't like our Phryne? What if Lin Chung isn't handsome enough? What if it all looks wrong? What if they don't GET IT?

Well, thanks to the special advance screening of the first two episodes that some Onions were lucky enough to attend, we say, BE AT PEACE.

The TV series is GORGEOUS. Phryne is very Phryne. Dot is a lovely Dot. Detective Inspector Jack Robinson is... well, to be honest, he's rather better looking than we had imagined, so there are no complaints there. Melbourne is Melbourne. 1928 is gloriously, fashionably 1928. They totally get it. Hooray hooray hooray!*

But perhaps the most comforting endorsement comes from the woman who brought Phryne to life. Or, more accurately, the woman who bumped into Phryne one day on a tram and has been furiously trying to keep up with her ever since. What does Kerry Greenwood think of the TV series? She loves it.

So paint your parlour walls sea-green, lay in some gin, and make a date with Miss Fisher on Friday night.

Nobody, in all the long history of her amorous affairs, has EVER regretted a date with Phryne.

 
* Lin Chung doesn't appear in the first two episodes, so we reserve judgement on that score - but all signs point to handsome.


1 comment:

aussiehen said...

My heart is all aflutter! Roll on Friday night