Revisitations

Henry/Elizabeth of York and the endless conspiracies and mistrust and the fragility of this new dynasty.

Fanvid for The 1972 BBC serial The Shadow of the Tower, covering the reign of Henry VII to Effigy by Andrew Bird.

James Maxwell in Shadow of the Tower (1972) and Portrait of a Lady (1968). 

I am just saying that if ever playing opposite him as his leading lady you might want to consider whether or not you need the use of your hand at any point during the scene before letting him have hold of it.

Short vid for The Shadow of the Tower - Henry VII/Elizabeth of York to Melancholy Interlude by Hayley Westenra.

I was originally making this version (Company of Shadows) for Fan_flashworks challenge “Ghosts & Gore” but tried out several pieces of music and liked the result with this one, although it wasn’t ghostly enough for the challenge entry. 

I think it’s fair to say there’s some stuff in Shadow of the Tower I have no real explanation for.  e.g. they can barely afford the set but the director Prudence Fitzgerald gets in a marmoset(?) and a spaniel, because that’s what’s important here.  Henry VII (James Maxwell) should have cute animals around him.

(All right, Episode 3 was called The Schooling of Apes, so I suppose that’s why the monkey, but still.)

James Maxwell as Henry VII in the 1972 BBC drama The Shadow of the Tower.  Here, handing out justice to Richard Simmons (David Collings, no idea who he is…) and Lambert Simnel in Episode 4.

I really liked his performance in this and Googled him after to see if I knew him from anything else (Jackson from Underworld, yes, :lol:) and if he was currently alive or dead.  According to Wikipedia, that last bit’s a difficult question, because the internet thinks he’s a ghost who turned up on the BBC’s Most Haunted.

David Collings as Father Richard Simmons in The Shadow of the Tower (BBC 1972). 

From The Shadow of the Tower (‘The Strange State of Reality’), BBC 1972, with Richard Warwick as Perkin Warbeck and Andrew Bradford as John.

David Collings was Anthony Babington in the BBC’s 1971 landmark historical drama, Elizabeth R, (sequel to The Six Wives of Henry VIII).  In 1972, they made a prequel about Henry VII, The Shadow of the Tower.  David Collings was in that too.  So, playing a completely different character, right?

In Elizabeth R (top) he was a deluded traitor who was used by other people and wound up being tortured in the Tower.

In The Shadow of the Tower (bottom) he was a deluded traitor who was used by other people and wound up being tortured in the Tower.

Dear BBC, what were you thinking?  Let’s torture David Collings again, it worked so well last year?  I mean, he’s so ordinary looking, nobody will ever notice…

(But who cares?)

James Maxwell and Norma West as Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in episode 2 of The Shadow of the Tower (BBC 1972)

James Maxwell and Norma West as Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in The Shadow of the Tower (BBC 1972).