The Last Post

Thanks so much merlotgran lots of great details. I thought it was earlier at first. And clothes were so great then I'm sure the young wife would have been more trendy.

It's set around 1965, trisher just before things got really nasty. The British left in 1967.

Steamer Point was the main shopping area, close to the harbour so when a ship was in the prices went up!!

The clothes were fabulous. Backstreet tailors, huge choice of fabrics and all the latest fashions catered for. I also don't understand why the young officer's wife is so dowdy.

We were up to date with pop music - record shops a plenty so whatever was being played in 1965 would be correct.

The shops were closed all afternoon because it was so hot and everyone was on the beach but the streets were buzzing in the evening when everyone did their shopping.

Newspapers were two days old in the fifties but this may have improved in the sixties. We relied on the radio and a weekly complilation of newspapers sold in magazine format.

I wish someone could tell me exactly when this is supposed to be set. I thought it was the late 50s in the first episode, but didn't I hear "Downtown" when they were at the club? And the girl who has just arrived is dressed in 50s style whereas the long timer is in 60s dress. Can anyone tell me how they got clothes then? Did you have to take things, or have catalogues, or make your own?

One thing that struck a chord was the little boy witnessing the adults not exactly being in control of their behaviour.

It's true some of the wives found the heat, camp life and homesickness quite challenging. Heavy drinking was the norm as well as furious rows between husbands and wives but on the whole, they were having a ball. All officers had a cook and a houseboy (no sign of them yet) and as everyone knocked off work at midday, afternoons and evenings were spent swimming, socialising (drinking) and shopping.

By the mid sixties though, security would have been much tighter than when we were there (we left in 1959) so scenes of them jumping in cars and heading off to the club without any armed guards are stretching things a bit.

The BP club was in the peninsula of 'Little Aden' close to the refinery and Silent Valley, the military cemetery.

We didn't go to the BP club as it was not as accessible as the two clubs we belonged to. We visited Little Aden a couple of times but as a child I thought it bleak and quite scary.

I don't think I'd have stuck so much of a toe in the water without a shark net across the bay!!

Gosh. Interesting to hear all this. Aside from the detail it's the feel of it all that I find striking. That desperate drunk woman, the innocent new girl, the husband passed over for promotion etc etc. I find the characters and their predicaments more interesting than anything else.
My uncle was in Aden back then working for BP. He never mentioned that lovely club!!

I’m enjoying it, what I’m not enjoying is my ex army husband guffawing throughout.

I'd probably find it entertaining if I didn't know how badly it has been produced.

Adenis who have done the voice dubbing complained about the incorrect Moroccan dress, music, décor and many other glaring errors. They were told the scenes had all been shot and nothing could be changed.....So much for research.

In the closing scenes last night the boy's father referred to Yusra as the 'local woman.' She was in fact their ayah and would have had employment papers. George was put in her sole care when his mother had the baby which is absolute nonsense. He would have been cared for by another family.

No Adeni woman would have been seen without a full face veil, let alone all the eye make-up.

The Beeb must have been on a very tight budget because there are no other families, no army and no RAF.

The writer is basing his story on memories of being in Aden when he was four!! What a pity his father didn't tell him the RMP is not a combat unit.

I have tolerated it so far, but won’t bother again. The whole thing seems unlikely and shallow and several of the characters wind me up. I really couldnt care less about any of them. Not what I want for relaxed viewing on a Sunday evening.

It was dreadful. An insult to our armed forces.

Enid Blyton could have done a better job.

Last night's episode was a travesty - whoever wrote the script should be ashamed.

Got very cross with last night's episode. Were our forces really so incompetent?

Wow! So lovely to hear your memories Merlot and Pippa. . .

Sounds like we had similar experiences, Pippa. We lived in Ismailia where I also went to a French school - infants so I don't remember a great deal. We had to leave Egypt in a hurry due to the 1952 revolution so were re-located to Port Said where the SS Orcades was diverted to pick up evacuees.

I laughed when I saw the posh kitchen. Ours were always small and poky even in the Khormaksar quarter which was a lovely art deco house and what's with the net curtains???

Can't wait to pick more holes in it next Sunday?

Merlotgran my father was one of the officers responsible for ensuring the evacuation of the families from Egypt at the very start of the Suez crises. Although I was only nine I remember the bombs falling in Port Siad as I went to a French School there. We were one of the final families to leave on the SS Devonshire to Malaya.

I do wish these film makers would take advice from those of us who were around and remember how the quarters were furnished, I can't remember anything as 'posh' as the kitchens were saw in the programme!! I remember very basic decor and furniture.

Merlotgran, maybe I didn't explain myself well! What I meant was that the visual appearance was overly styled and got in the way of following the plot for me.

In the opening shot all the disembarking plane passengers were dressed in shades and tones of the same dusky peach colour. That is never, ever, going to happen in real life and it just looked too contrived to me. Even some of the men had been given peach-toned lip makeup instead of pink, which looked very unnatural! All the clothing, makeup, furniture, pictures on the walls and the outdoor sets had the same blue/peach theme. Half the amount, and I mightn't have noticed! I know that a designer has to bring the "look" of a production together. I just feel they were over zealous in this one.

The cookery series I mentioned was similar, but pink. Kitchen Aid, tea towels, utensils, flowers, accessories etc etc. I just found it overdone, unsubtle and distracting from the point of the show. I know I'm also hyper-aware of continuity lapses in film and tv, so maybe this is similar and doesn't bother most viewers!

They're making it look as though the RMP unit was isolated somewhere 'up country' in which case they'd have been many miles from the airport.

The wives and families would have been in married quarters in the towns of Steamer Point, Crater, Ma'alla and Khormaksar.

And yes, I keep telling myself IT'S A TV DRAMA you idiot.

I thought Jessica Raine was really good.
I didn't understand why they drove to the remote village instead of just going to the port

I really enjoyed it! all of it.

I do think the OP was a little OTT

We did have lampshades, my mother wore lipstick and painted her nails. There were souvenir/ornaments galore, silk dressing gowns and plastic Christmas trees could be bought from the NAFFI.

Not sure about the connection with cookery programmes either

I did think the young wife arriving in a tweed suit was a bit silly. She would have had plenty of opportunies to change en route and somebody would have advised her on what to wear.

I watched it, I certainly didn't notice any bright colours, in fact the only item that comes to mind was a dark blue/green patterned dress and several desert uniforms showing of hairy knees
I can't comment on the historical facts but it was a way to pass the time. I will stick with it.

Did you manage to get through the Suez canal before it was blocked, Pippa or sail round the cape? You must have been just ahead of us.

We were booked on a troop ship but ended up having to fly out instead. To my huge disappointment.

We left Egypt in 1952 when I was five.

Jessica Raine's acting skills don't improve with time do they?

I remember stopping in Aden in 1956 with my parents when my father was posted to Malaya, it was very barren and very like the Egypt we were leaving. As merlotgran says a blast from the past for us army brats!!

It's filmed in South Africa as Yemen is obviously no-go so a lot of it is all wrong. Blue and terracotta is too 'Mediterranean' and there are far to many plants and shrubs. Aden wasn't called the 'Barren Rocks' for nothing.

There are lots of historical inaccuracies but it's as good as any other Sunday night drama so I'll be watching again next week.

Anyway, it gave us military brats who were out there plenty to gas about on facebook last night!!