robertemerald Review of The Last Post

The Last Post (2017)

Comfortable BBC viewing and accurate glimpse of the past

[7/10 · 1 June 2019]

I can vouch for this show. I grew up during the 1960s in Britain and "the colonies" and can assure the viewer that this show is an accurate reflection. The sorts of things said and the way they say them, the attitudes and manners, the very British overriding culturalisms, these were all things I overheard, endured, saw, or cringed about when I was a boy. Oddly, this show reminded me of Mad Men, certainly in the fashion styles worn by the ladies. Ladies did wear bright colours in the 60s, though none of my lot ever had the fashion sense of tv stars, which is what I suspect you are really seeing here. The show also reminded me of Foyle's War. It's a very capable and beautifully filmed series, with very good actors and tonnes of charm. Here's a goof. In the 3rd or 4th episode a senior officer is visiting his wife whom has just had a baby and is in hospital. The hospital is right on the beach. If you watch the background carefully you can just see a modern surfer slide by out in the waves. Honestly, does anyone check modern tv shows before they leave post-production? I also noticed that the little boy in the show was told to have two puffs of his inhaler before bedtime. It's a tiny detail but it should have been checked. Both these things could have been corrected easily in post-production. Maybe they were left in intentionally, the surfer as a nod to a great time on location, and the inhaler because the Director wanted to recognise a huge 1969 invention (salbutamol). Who knows. Anyway, so why am I not giving the BBC a 8 or 9 for this quality show? It's not because of historical quirks, it is because the portraiture of the Arab rebels is so poor, in fact, as part of a development of story or character, it's almost non-existent. I've watched disc 1 of the dvd and have been patiently waiting for some insight there. Maybe it will come on disc 2. In truth I was so excited to have found a goof (the surfer/I've never spotted one before) I just had to tell the world. All in all, The Last Post is good news for lovers of BBC drama. I had no trouble spending an entire evening with the men and women of Aden, 1965.