One thing that I’ve not seen anybody mention about the Mary/Pamuk situation. Mary had a man break into her room (because a servant, Thomas?, led him there) and had probably never been instructed on what to do if this ever happened. She hadn’t been exposed to the sexual abuse information that we have in our age. If she screamed, that would have drawn attention to the horrible situation she was in and she might have thought that they wouldn’t believe her. He threatened her. He was physically threatening in his postures and how quickly he moved. I think that this was initiated in a startled and threatening way and that Mary just didn’t know what recourse she had. The fact that she found her body responding probably was why she felt guilty. Of all that I’ve read and learned on this topic, I think Mary was bearing blame for something that she didn’t ask for or would have encouraged. Pamuk forced himself on her. I wish that this would have been brought out in the series.

There is a lovely little series running in the UK at the moment – “Call the Midwife” – based on the novels of Jennifer Worth and set in the East End of London in the 1950s. It’s well worth looking out for – the plot is simple, but the characters are so engaging and believable. i hope the second series stays true to those characters and to the books.

Women had a raw deal about this sort of thing for a long time; think about it, we’re still dealing with the ‘oh, she must have done something to deserve it/she was asking for it/well if you’re going to wear clothes like that’ attitudes today… The fact that she didn’t fight him off also means she couldn’t have accused him of rape according to the laws at the time; you had to be able to prove you’d continuously tried to fight him off as far as I know…

As for Sir Richard, I sort of felt sorry for him… He’s dealing with so much prejudice from her family and she doesn’t even really properly defend him an awful lot when they have a scene together. Add that to her constantly looking after Matthew, who has a fiance as does she. Yes, the audience knows they have to end up together but Richard is her fiance, she did agree to marry him and how humiliating must it be if your intended would rather spend time with her handsome, invalid cousin than her own fiance? Yes, he’s a bit of a jerk, but he wouldn’t have got to where he is without being that way. The guy he’s based on in real life was a megalomaniac who never married, so he didn’t really have much options open to him…

Ooh, I wanted to watch Upstairs last night but I had to go to help my friend out with a film project she’s doing. Maybe next week…

Final ep of season 2 is something extra.

Still, it was a bit disappointing. Everyone kind of knows it’s only a matter of time before Matthew and Mary get together etc. They’re just waiting for the how and when…

Having said that, I did still enjoy it. The lines are great and the actors play their parts wonderfully, even if Thomas is the most fantastically Machiavellian villain ever. That cut out doll – spot on!

Also, Sir Richard is written in a one dimensional way and ruthless individuals usually have a cunning charming side. It would have been more interesting with a scene or two where he wasn’t so abrasive.

Tony, we’re waiting for Upstairs now – sounds gripping.