London Spy: Ben Whishaw, dreamy lover/genius Ed Holcroft and sage Jim Broadbent

[southendmd]

And this:




reminded me of this:

[southendmd]

I've been avoiding this thread (fearing spoilers, which, can really ruin a thriller) until now, as I just finished watching episode 5.  Oh boy.

John, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your work on this thread.  Such riches here!

Wow, so much to think about.  Don't know where to start. 

Ben Whishaw and his helmet hair?  I'll admit I disliked him in that awful Brideshead, and also as Keats. But here, he is something else again. 

All those Brokeback connections!  I especially liked the ascending the staircase to the (second) bedroom. 

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

I've been avoiding this thread (fearing spoilers, which, can really ruin a thriller) until now, as I just finished watching episode 5.  Oh boy.

John, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your work on this thread.  Such riches here!

Wow, so much to think about.  Don't know where to start. 

Ben Whishaw and his helmet hair?  I'll admit I disliked him in that awful Brideshead, and also as Keats. But here, he is something else again. 

All those Brokeback connections!  I especially liked the ascending the staircase to the (second) bedroom. 

Thanks so much Paul! Welcome to the 'club'!

(But--uh-oh! The trials and intricacies of 'Clubland' are far more perilous and mortifying than trying to avoid Joe Aguirre in his trailer!)

London Spy
Episode 3
"Blue"

 

Club attendant: If I could ask you to settle up, Sir?

Scottie (Jim Broadbent): Yes, of course, yes.

Danny (Ben Whishaw): What did it mean?

Scottie: That my membership has been cancelled with immediate effect. A pity.
They do a marvelous Eggs Benedict.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

I've been avoiding this thread (fearing spoilers, which, can really ruin a thriller) until now, as I just finished watching episode 5.  Oh boy.

(....)

Wow, so much to think about.  Don't know where to start.  

(....)

All those Brokeback connections!  I especially liked the ascending the staircase to the (second) bedroom.

Yes! A month ago I said to Lee--

Thanks, Lee, I think it's pretty magic too. Hugely sad also--very Brokeback. I'm watching London Spy via Amazon, and I've seen two of the five episodes--the third one will not be released until next Thursday, so I'm very frustrated, and trying NOT to read too much past what I've already seen. The British fans (who saw the series on BBC 2 in November and December) are brokenhearted and insanely creative, doing fanart and fanfic--alternate time-times and what-might-have-beens; again, so Brokeback! Ah, the pain, the anguish, we knew it well, and I feel for them, poor things!

 

and

I'll just add--if you are thinking about checking out the series--there really are a lot of Brokeback parallels, so much so that London Spy almost seems like one of those alternate reality Brokeback fantasies--imagine Ennis del Mar (Alex Taylor) is apparently a young, rich investment banker (!) who is actually a mathematical genius MI6 spy (who still don't talk too much) and Jack Twist (Danny Holt) is a London gay club kid (well, slightly aging club kid) with doe eyes and a rather feminine intuition. In this case it is Jack, not Ennis, who survives, and one day he visits and asks Ennis's mother if he could see Ennis's bedroom. With a surreal 'twist'--this happens twice! Two scary Pa del Mars--but ONE of the Ma del Mars is the scariest of all! Well, it's Spy Stuff after all, and I better say no more for the present. Just remember--like Jack was, Danny is fearless.

 


Alex's two--"fathers". Not!

So many Brokeback allusions (and I am convinced  Tom Rob Smith included some of them on purpose!) like Jack's whittled horse and rider and Alex's hand made toy/fetish/model Ferris wheel--

Hammershøi by another name....

Although, of course, Jack--or rather, in this alternate universe, Ennis--didn't have a slew of post-graduate degrees like poor, murdered Alex.
As this is London Spy, Danny discovers that the first of Alex's two boyhood bedrooms is a 'fake', but the props--his diplomas (to 'Alistair Turner')
and his VERY precocious model of a Ferris wheel--are 'real'.)

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Wow, so much to think about.  Don't know where to start. 

Ben Whishaw and his helmet hair?  I'll admit I disliked him in that awful Brideshead, and also as Keats. But here, he is something else again. 

HA!!

I saw him more than 12 years ago in His Dark Materials at the National, which I loved--however, at the time I was not enamored of/with/by Mr Whishaw in his double (or triple?) role as Brother Jasper/a Witch/(a Daemon? a bear?)--love came late, I fear!

re that inauspicious beginning, I've just discovered this interesting note (in a very long interview with lots of lovely photos)--it seems he hated his witch as much as I did!



http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2013/05/flashback-friday-ben-whishaw/

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: BEN WHISHAW
MAY 16TH, 2013
In this interview from the archives, a pre-fame Ben Whishaw talks Keats, Jane Campion and his unexpectedly “humiliating” cameo as a witch in His Dark Materials.

This interview was first published in Wonderland Nov/Dec 2009.

When you came out of RADA, you played Hamlet straight off the bat. It’s the role that every actor wants to play at some point in their life and you’ve already crossed it off the list…

It was about eight months after I’d left college. I was doing a play at the National Theatre where I was playing a bear and a witch. And then I got Hamlet.

You were in His Dark Materials at the National!? Playing a bear?

[laughs] Yeah, I was a few parts. One of them was bear and one of them was a witch. There was a gaggle of witches, all played by women, and because they were a bit short on women in the cast and I was very skinny – and still am – they dragged me in to being a witch.

Did you enjoy it?

It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I still can’t believe that I did it. There were several other guys who were dragged into being witches as well but they were too masculine-looking and were jettisoned. Whereas I was kept on for the entire run.


Poor Ben!  

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

LONDONSPYFANFIC

LEFT IMAGE ONLY https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/edward-holcroft-icons credit to @iconsdhampir BOTH RIGHT IMAGES onlybluecould and skylocked-angulema-warrior

Chapter 1: Halloween 2015
By onlybluecould and skylocked-angulema-warrior
Published: 02-24-2016
Updated: -02-25-2016
http://archiveofourown.org/works/6102361/chapters/13988029
http://archiveofourown.org/users/onlybluecould/pseuds/onlybluecould
http://onlybluecould.tumblr.com/
http://onlybluecould.tumblr.com/post/135687175176/skylocked-angulema-warrior

'I'm not wearing those, nor am I painting whiskers on my face,' Alex asserts, as he gazes down at the pair of cat ears Danny has just purchased.

Playfully, Danny pleads, 'I think it would be about the cutest thing in the whole world.' As he speaks, Danny wraps his arms around Alex's waist, one hand slipping beneath his shirt, thumbing the dimple in the small of Alex's back.

Alex exhales, and rests his head on Danny's shoulder, hugging him as tightly as possible. 'I don't know. I've never been to a Halloween party.'

'That's okay. It'll just be me, Sara, and Pavel. A few drinks, and hopefully you in some cat ears.'

And Alex laughs. He can't help it now. It happens, like breathing. He doesn't stop to think about it, doesn't hold back, not with Danny. All of the previous moments when Danny would pinch or tickle him, tell some crap joke, or give a colorful retelling of a night out, these moments had accrued in Alex and had given him courage to be more open, to laugh, and to hold Danny without being afraid that he'd somehow evaporate in his arms, without being afraid that these past few months hadn't been some prolonged delusion. So Alex laughs.

'Does that laugh mean yes?'

Alex laughs again, 'Yes, but no whiskers.'

Danny jerks back, hands on Alex's hips, 'Oh no that's the best bit!'

Alex smiles, 'Maybe after a shot of that awful liquor you have in that mermaid bottle.'

Danny grins, 'Hey! Don't knock it. It helps, does it not?'

Alex presses a quick kiss on Danny's lips, 'Yes, it does.'


********************


After consuming far too many nachos, Cadbury chocolate bars, and commencing the annual re-watch of The Night of the Living Dead, Alex, drowsy from food, and yes, a couple shots, agrees to let Danny paint on some whiskers, and even a little cat nose.

'Oh you love perfect!' Sara says.

'Yeah, very cute,' Pavel teases.

Alex blushes, 'Oh no, I'm not sure.'

'One sec!' Danny says as he runs back to his room.

'Doesn't it look a bit ridiculous?' Alex asks cautiously. His stomach began to hurt. Whenever he was feeling anxious or nervous, it tended to do that. He hated feeling cagey, like he could be laughed at. Alex felt he had been fighting that nervous sickness all his life, trying to keep calm, maintain control, keep whatever of himself to himself that he could.

'Turn round!'

Alex, surprised, twists his body immediately, and sees a camera flash.

'Yes! This is now documented forever,' Danny says triumphantly.

Alex covers his face with his hands. 'No no. Please don't post it anywhere.' He brings himself to look at Danny, whose face has turned serious at the tone of Alex's voice.

Danny cozies up to Alex on the couch. 'Of course not. I promise. This picture is for me. Is that all right?'

Alex exhales, and nods. Being with Danny never felt like giving up something. It never felt like he was giving himself away. It never felt like he was being taken from. Remembering that, his stomach settles a bit, and his cheeks turn a bit rosier.

'I promise,' Danny repeats, and gives Alex a lingering kiss.

'All right you two,' Sara moans, 'back to the film!'

Danny breaks away from Alex, 'You do look very, very cute.'

Alex laughs again, pressing his body into Danny, and turns to the television screen.


********************


Eventually, Danny develops the picture, using it as a bookmark for whatever he's reading, so that he's always carrying it. The edges become worn. The color fades. It's been bent here and there. Danny takes other pictures of Alex over the years, many, of course, taken by surprise, and so many more when Alex is not paying attention, and when Alex presents himself willingly to the camera, knowing that Danny would never selfishly take from him. But this first one will always be Danny's favorite. A reminder of those first few months when they were simultaneously feverishly learning everything about each other, and slowly revealing and understanding all of their insecurities and fears and desires. It was luminary in a way nothing else can be.



Summary:

A collection of the ficlets I've posted on my tumblr (http://onlybluecould.tumblr.com/). I've been meaning to do this for awhile. I've edited them, and added and subtracted parts here and there, since these were written more quickly and less thoughtfully than the fics I've previously posted here.


Notes:

This was originally posted here: http://onlybluecould.tumblr.com/post/135687175176/skylocked-angulema-warrior
I've edited it to clean up mistakes and some serious tense issues, because I don't really have an ear for tense. I tried my best. I've also added bits.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Alex isn't in the US--he's in the Czech Republic!
 

(angulema-warrior/It's raining elves
is from Belarus--the link is originally
sent by someone in the Czech Republic.)

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=MVmsBvUc-po[/youtube]

Published on Nov 30, 2012
Nová reklama na Sedlčanský Hermelín

http://angulema-warrior.tumblr.com/

I need to share this gem with you guys, cause I’ve had a little heart attack,
when I once woke up, joined my grandparents having breakfest and this
thing was on our telly. Edward Holcroft perfectly lipsyncing my language…
Why did czech people hire an english men to play someone czech in cheese
commercial? I have no idea, but I’m very happy about it!

lol I can’t xd
angulema-warrior
It's raining elves

[CellarDweller]

London Spy
Episode 3
"Blue"

wasn't there a tv show that had an episode about two gay officers, called "blue"?

[Mikaela]

wasn't there a tv show that had an episode about two gay officers, called "blue"?

Yes, an episode of Cold Case. It had a lot of Brokeback similarities, IIRC.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

wasn't there a tv show that had an episode about two gay officers, called "blue"?

Yes, an episode of Cold Case. It had a lot of Brokeback similarities, IIRC.

Thank goodness for Michaela--I know nothing. I was already typing, saying Nope, I dunno, how many US TV cop shows have the word 'Blue' in the titles? Seems like scores, hundreds of them!

HOWEVER, although I've never watched, there is/was a British gay cop show (or with gay characters if not the leads) called CUFFS
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuffs_(TV_series) ) with only eight episodes, from October to December 2015 that was just cancelled end of 2015--but the actors and fans are rallying, starting a petition hoping it will be reinstated. The two gay characters are Simon Reddington (Andrew Hawley), a 'duty solicitor' (whatever that is) and Jake Vickers (Jacob Ifan) a very young rookie cop (and son of the Chief Superintendent). Jake and Simon are a Very Attractive Couple who meet cute! (but then have Problems--)

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM75JELm5jo[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 1 (Shower)
Published on Jan 29, 2016

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8822NXqJszI[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 2 (Kiss)
Published on Jan 29, 2016

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN5Kvn3FpmI[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 3 (Kiss)
Published on Jan 29, 2016

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xczgoKHPJUY[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 4 & 5 Kiss
Published on Jan 29, 2016

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzoNb0zxsl8[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 6 & 7 Kiss
Published on Jan 29, 2016

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ch_zzYGDKs[/youtube]
CUFFS: Jake & Simon, Episode 8 Shirtless
Published on Jan 29, 2016