An Inspector Calls

Yes - very good. (There's another thread just started on this also).

Yes. We enjoyed it. Miranda Richardson is always so watchable.

Yes, we really enjoyed it.
(although we had to put the subtitles on when the two youngest actors were speaking - the rest all had very clear diction)

I've recorded it, looking forward to it. I'm sure my brother did it in a school play.

Excellent - David Thewlis is always good.

Excellent!

First time in ages I have watched and enjoyed a tv programme for hour and half , loved every minute

I am now so cross that I switched it off instead of recording it. H was as usual asleep by 8:30 and I decided to catch up with thing on the laptop. Of course being of a certain age I do know the story well but a new version is always good.

Really good Ken Stott along with the rest of the cast was great. You have to keep wondering how it really ended . Would not like to spoil it by saying more in case anyone has recored it and not watched it.

Have you got iplayer annsixty? I
It is well worth watching

An excellent version of an old masterpiece. TBH I was dreading it was going to be messed about with, aka Lady C last week. But, even OH enjoyed it and didn't nod off once, so that says something. My only quibble (and its being picky) was that the writer did alter the ending by putting in the suicide scene, which lost the OH completely. He'd kept up quite well up till then (lol). I think the Alister Simm version ended with the inspector leaving and the family getting a call about a young girl's suicide. But great acting from a stellar cast and just the right amount of dark atmospherics.

I'm sure I saw john Gregson in it but whether as a film or at the Liverpool play house I can't remember. It was very good although a bit too much filling in the gaps for me.

So, who was the Inspector?

Lots of theories about the inspector - is he a manifestation of their conscience? - or simply an imposter with a political point to make. If you google it, you get lots of theories.

David Thewlis ruby.

I have always thought the "Inspector" was an angel sent to make the family think about their actions.

The BBC version will apparently be out on DVD 21st September!

he is meant to be an angel.

J B Priestly was very religious.

He was also a committed socialist.

Can you be both?

Yes Mamark, Christianity and socialism share many beliefs and principles

I've just watched it on I-player. I'm not sure why "an inspector^ called. Or why a real one was about to call. Who did anything actually against the law at that time? I understand that the inspector turns out to be an angel, or something, but why would a real one be coming? The dead girl was the only one who did anything criminal, by killing herself. It wasn't about the son stealing money from the firm's clients. Or even about the son's probable rape of the girl.

Actually I thought it was rubbish. But it was just meant to be entertainment I guess. Or to get people thinking about the social injustices of that time.

jingle The way I look at it is the play is not meant to be taken literally. I think it is a dramatic device to examine issues of wealth, class and power - it's nothing to do with a crime being committed. It doesn't really matter who you think the Inspector is meant to represent - God or a ghost or a collective conscience - his purpose is to confront the truths that are usually hidden. The girl and the various ways in which she is mistreated - is a representation -meant to represent the experience of the working classes who were exploited in the workplace and in society generally.

I think the reason why there were two Inspectors was because the first one gave an opportunity for people to examine their consciences and alter their behaviour. After the revelations of the first Inspector, the factory owner and his wife and the daughter's fiancée seemed to be upset that their actions had contributed to the girl's suicide. But as soon as they found out the Inspector was "bogus", what had appeared to be remorse was shown to have been feigned because their supposed regret was quickly replaced by relief and laughter - and then indignation.

Probably different people have different interpretations of why there is a "bogus" Inspector and then a real one. I suppose religious people might think that the first Inspector represents God who provides an opportunity for wrong doers to repent, whereas the second Inspector represents punishment at the "day of reckoning". (It also provides a satisfyingly dramatic and sinister end to the play).

I think it is a brilliant play, but each to his or her own I suppose.

I see it was first performed in the Soviet Union! In 1945. A year before first performance in the UK.

Yes. I realise it was comment on the social conscience of the time it was set in. It is clever. Rubbish was not the right word. I just like things to make a bit more sense. Enjoyable to watch though.