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Abstract
This article analyses a major television series on the race to the South Pole, The Last Place on Earth (1985), an adaptation of Roland Huntford's classic debunking biography Scott and Amundsen (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979). Both the Thatcherite Huntford's book and Marxist Trevor Griffiths' screenplay condemned Captain Scott. The article reveals how the debunking of imperial heroes collided with debates about decline in 1980s Britain: the failings of an individual embodied the failings of the nation, configured through references to gender and sexuality. The article also emphasises the appeal of interpretations of the making of an imperial hero based on conspiracy and censorship.
Acknowledgements
This article grew out of a plenary lecture at the University of Tasmania's ‘Antarctic Visions' conference in 2010. I would like to thank the conference delegates and organisers, Elizabeth Leanne in particular, the University of Manchester for research support, Katie Ankers at the BBC Written Archive Centre, Jeremy McIlwaine at the Conservative Party Archive, seminar participants at the Universities of Leeds and Liverpool, Trevor and Gill Griffiths, Eloise Moss, Gary Gregor, Stephanie Barczewski and my fellow editors, Matt Houlbrook, George Jones and Steve Rigby, for their perceptive comments on drafts.
Notes
1 Dodds, ‘The End of a Polar Empire?’; and Dodds, ‘The Great Trek’. The other 13 references can be found in seven book reviews and six articles. It is telling that Professor Klaus Dodds, the leading British historian of Antarctic geopolitics, both trained and works in departments of geography, not history.
2 For a recent overview of these geopolitical struggles, see Day, Antarctica: A Biography.
3 In terms of audience size, the series' only rival must by Ealing Studios' film Scott of the Antarctic (dir. Charles Frend, 1948).
4 Observer, 17 Feb. 1985, 9.
5 Tulloch, Television Drama, 98, also 93–106, 127–51. Also see Tulloch, Trevor Griffiths. Garner largely follows Tulloch's interpretation: Garner, Trevor Griffiths, 177–86.
6 Britain rather than England, because the series was broadcast in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and because Wales in particular was strongly associated with Scott's last Antarctic expedition.
7 I was inspired to work on the series after discovering Trevor Griffiths' extensive papers in the British Film Institute National Archive Special Collections, London (hereafter BFI). Box TG 13/1 contains copies of over 200 national and regional press reports on the series. References with page numbers indicate my consultation of the original publication; references without page numbers indicate my consultation of a copy in TG 13/1.
8 The visual styles of debunking deserve further analysis.
9 Tomlinson, ‘Thrice Denied’, 228, 241. Also see, among many, Clarke and Trebilcock, Understanding Decline.
10 Taithe and Davis, ‘“Heroes of Charity”’; and Sèbe, ‘From Post-Colonialism to Cosmopolitan Nation-Building’.
11 See ‘The Privatisation of Heroes: Sexuality and Scandal’ in the introduction to this special issue. Kare Holt's unattractive portrait of Amundsen in Kappløpet (1974) suggested the explorer might have been homosexual and caused controversy in Norway (see Holt, The Race, 19). The transnational pattern of sexual debunking requires further study.
12 Robinson, Gay Men and the Left.
13 Howe, ‘Internal Decolonization?’, 293. Notably, the 1983 conference and subsequent three volumes on Patriotism edited by Raphael Samuel. Also see Howe, ‘Decolonisation and Imperial Aftershocks’.
14 For a perceptive genealogy of scholarship on conspiracy theories, see Rogin, Ronald Reagan, the Movie, ch. 9.
15 For Scott's reputation after 1945, see Jones, ‘From “Noble Example”’; Barczewski, Antarctic Destinies.
16 For the most detailed accounts of the production see Bill Grantham, ‘Production Biography: The Last Place on Earth’, Stills Magazine 16 (Feb. 1985), 16–21, TG 13/1, BFI; Griffiths and Glenny, ‘Truth is Otherwise’. The Times, 11 Feb. 1985, 12, noted that Charles Denton commissioned the series.
17 The phrase refers to a Viking poem which Amundsen shares with Nansen in an early scene. See Tulloch, Television Drama, 135.
18 For Griffiths' long and productive career, see his website http://www.trevorgriffiths.co.uk/; and Tulloch, Trevor Griffiths.
19 Buettner, Empire Families, 267–68. Flame Trees was set in Africa, but Buettner's points about India are also pertinent to the remembrance of other territories.
20 For Raj nostalgia, see also, among many, Rushdie, ‘Outside the Whale’; Burton, ‘India, Inc.?’
21 Grantham, ‘Production Biography’. Press estimates ranged from ‘rather more than’ £5 million in the Sunday Times, 10 Feb. 1985, to £7.5 million in the Daily Mail, 18 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
22 Sunday Mirror, 6 May 1984, 22.
23 Ibid., 22–23.
24 Quoted in Tulloch, Television Drama, 142.
25 For example, Sunday Telegraph, 9 Sept. 1984, TG 13/1, BFI.
26 Lord Kennet letter to The Times, 18 Feb. 1985, 13, reported that the three men had seen the series ‘only three weeks ago’.
27 The Times, 11 Feb. 1985, 12.
28 Ibid., 20 Feb. 1985, 3.
29 See, among many, Harper, Picturing the Past.
30 For the construction of authenticity in San Demetrio, London (dir. Charles Frend, 1943), see Summerfield, ‘Divisions at Sea’, 337–43.
31 Quoted in Davie, ‘Notebook’, which referred to these precedents.
32 Observer, 3 March 1985, 22.
33 Hemming, Kennet, Drewry, Observer, 10 March 1985, 20; King, Observer, 31 March 1985, 22; Griffiths, Observer, 17 March 1985, 20; Buckler, Observer, 31 March 1985, 22.
34 The Times, 11 Feb. 1985, 12.
35 John Shaw, ‘Fuchs Attacks TV's Scott of Antarctic’, unidentified press report, no date (18 Feb. 1985?), TG 13/1, BFI.
36 Yeandle, ‘“Heroes into Zeroes”’.
37 Quoted in Davie, ‘Notebook’.
38 Griffiths and Glenny, ‘Truth is Otherwise’, xxviii.
39 Observer, 17 March 1985, 20.
40 City Limits, 15–21 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
41 For example, Griffiths' letter to the Observer of 17 March cited Huntford's 1979 book, while Kennet's response on 24 March referred to the rebuttals he published in Encounter magazine in May and Nov. 1980.
42 The Times, 16 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
43 Quoted in Tulloch, Trevor Griffiths, 126.
44 City Limits, 15–21 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
45 All quotations from the series are transcribed from The Last Place on Earth DVD unless otherwise stated.
46 All viewing figures are taken from the British Audience Research Board BBC Reports: Television Audiences, Feb.–March 1985, R9/1148, BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham.
47 Tulloch, Television Drama, 149–51.
48 Birmingham Post, 19 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
49 News of the World, 24 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
50 Tulloch, Television Drama, 147.
51 Broadcast, 8 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
52 The Listener, 21 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
53 Punch, 27 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
54 Private Eye, 6 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
55 The series' smallest audience of 4.2 million watched the conclusion of episode 4 on 6 March, a share of only 17 per cent, before rising to 6.2 million and a share of 29 per cent for the second half of the final episode on 27 March.
56 Daily Telegraph, 27 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
57 Sunday People, 31 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
58 Mail on Sunday, 17 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
59 The international response deserves further study, but is beyond the scope of this article. Tulloch offers some observations on the Australian response. Tulloch, Television Drama, 148–49.
60 Sunday Times, 10 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
61 Daily Express, 28 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
62 News of the World, 31 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI. Others have told me they wept during the final episode, including Julie McColl, 6 March 2014.
63 Mail on Sunday, 17 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
64 Webster, Englishness and Empire, 186.
65 For the distinction between reputation, newsworthiness and public interest, see Jones, ‘From “Noble Example”’.
66 Tulloch, Television Drama, 227.
67 Brenton, Plays.
68 Tomlinson, ‘Thrice Denied’, 235.
69 Howe, ‘Internal Decolonisation?’, 292–93.
70 Hobsbawm, ‘Falklands Fallout’, 14.
71 Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, 560.
72 Huntford, Race for the South Pole, 309.
73 See Jones, ‘From “Noble Example”’, 199–200.
74 For Thatcher's ‘radical conservatism’, see Green, Ideologies of Conservatism.
75 Max Jones interview with Trevor Griffiths, 22 May 2013.
76 Tomlinson, ‘Thrice Denied’, 245.
77 Transcribed from The Bridge on the River Kwai DVD.
78 Transcribed from Conservative Party Political Broadcast, 27 March 1985, Conservative Party Archive, Oxford. The VHS tape in the archive is labelled 26 March, but television listings indicate transmission on 27 March.
79 Standard, 19 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
80 ‘Act Two outline block 5.6.82’, TG 15/5, BFI.
81 Griffiths, Judgement over the Dead, 248–49.
82 Fiennes, Captain Scott, 433; Barczewski, Antarctic Destinies, 264.
83 Sunday Express, 17 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
84 Barczewski includes half a sentence stating ‘Scott's homosexual tendencies are hinted at’. She mistakenly claims ‘the target is his old friend Wilson rather than Edgar Evans'. Barczewski, Antarctic Destinies, 264.
85 Huntford, Scott and Amundsen, 125. Huntford provided no references to support this claim.
86 Handwritten note, no date, ‘Episode 2’, TG 15/6, BFI.
87 Observer, 24 Feb. 1985, 29. Punch may also have been alluding to the subject: ‘I do hope we get something about the friendship between Scott and J. M. Barrie, that odd affair which ended with the exchange of notes and stamping of fairy feet’. Punch, 27 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI,
88 Griffiths, Judgement over the Dead, 282.
89 Gary Gregor, author of the biography of Edgar Evans, Swansea's Antarctic Explorer, email to Max Jones, 16 Feb. 2014. Gregor refutes the rumours, and I have seen no evidence to support them.
90 Griffiths, Judgement over the Dead, 76.
91 Handwritten note, no date, ‘Episode 1’, TG 15/5, BFI.
92 Griffiths, Judgement over the Dead, 125.
93 Handwritten note, no date, ‘Episode 1’, TG 15/5, BFI.
94 Dyer, Stars.
95 Vinen, Thatcher's Britain, 278.
96 Robinson, Gay Men and the Left, 155.
97 McSmith, No Such Thing as Society, 248–49.
98 Thatcher, ‘Speech to Conservative Rally’.
99 For the campaign, see Freedman, Official History. For an alternative perspective, see, among many, Aulich, Framing the Falklands War.
100 Griffiths and Glenny, ‘Truth is Otherwise’, xxxi.
101 Ibid., xxxi–xxxii.
102 For example, Daily Telegraph, 25 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
103 Griffiths and Glenny, ‘Truth is Otherwise’, xxxii.
104 See Freedman, Official History vol. 2, 729.
105 Barnett, ‘Iron Britannia’, 6.
106 Media Week, 15 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
107 Griffiths and Glenny, Truth is Otherwise’, xxxi.
108 Scott's Last Expedition, London: Smith Elder, 1913.
109 Davie, ‘Notebook’.
110 City Limits, 15–21 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
111 See Jones, Last Great Quest, 121–30; Scott, Journals.
112 ‘Episode Six: Rejoice’, no date, Promotional Brochure, TG 15/13, BFI. The brochure listed Roland Joffé as director, suggesting publication in 1983.
113 City Limits, 15–21 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI. A complete facsimile of the original six volumes had in fact been freely available since 1968.
114 Observer, 3 March 1985, 22.
115 Tulloch, Television Drama, 148.
116 Ms. London, 18 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
117 Daily Mail, 27 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
118 Standard, 28 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
119 Daily Mail, 28 March 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
120 Also see Mike Poole, ‘Follow the Leader’, Listener, 14 Feb. 1985, TG 13/1, BFI.
121 Observer, 31 March 1985, 22.
122 See Howe, ‘Internal Decolonisation?’.
123 Melley, ‘Agency Panic’, 58–59.
124 Barnett, ‘Iron Britannia’, 11.
125 See Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 760–65.
126 Rogin, ‘JFK: The Movie’, 503.
127 For homosexual villains on screen begin with Russo, Celluloid Closet.
128 The Times, 18 Feb. 1985, 13.
129 Mort, Dangerous Sexualities, 213.
130 Rogin, Ronald Reagan, 272.
131 Drayton, ‘Britain's Secret Archive’.
132 Observer, 31 March 1985, 22.
133 Dodds, Pink Ice, 164–205.
