“You know that sound. We all gotta move out.” Sequins! Satin shoes! Kara Tointon! Big band sound! Red lipstick on cigarettes! Cocktails! Air raid sirens! Americans! Kara Tointon’s buttocks! This was ITV pulling out all the stops to strike costume drama gold. And, dammit, they came pretty close.
This opener was enjoyable stuff with proper potential, a hint of raciness – and only a sprinkling of non-sequiturs to spoil it all. Is it just me or was the explosion in the opening unexplained and inconsequential? Perhaps it was meant to illustrate the random cruelty of war. Who can tell? No matter. Mostly this worked.
The Halcyon – “the story of a bustling and glamorous hotel” – has already been compared to Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Mr Selfridge. But don’t let that put you off. (Only joking, period drama fans.) The opening credits are Bond-esque, suggesting that this is a drama with a Netflix complex, not afraid to underline its contemporary relevance. And we were straight in with mentions of “a plague of itinerants” from a Katie Hopkins character who could have been talking about Syrian refugees.
It’s also worth noting tonal similarities to Amazon Prime’s The Collection, set in the 1940s and which prides itself, as The Halcyon surely must, on its gorgeous, glossy costumes. But beautifully shot though this series is, it clearly has bigger, political aspirations: “Churchill is an idiot.” The Halcyon tackled reality within the first five minutes, necessitating a large decanter of neat gin. If Downton Abbey pretended that history barely existed, The Halcyon made a proper attempt to situate the hotel in the thick of real events. This bodes well.
Despite being slightly uneven occasionally, this episode showed that this is a series that deserves to be taken seriously. For now. There were moments when it careered towards a dangerous mixture of slow action and a surfeit of characters. But it was easily saved from disaster by some wonderfully intriguing performances from Steven Mackintosh as Machiavellian hotel manager Richard Garland, Charity Wakefield as the blowsy, Nazi-sympathising mistress Charity Lambert (don’t get too obsessed with her, she’s only in one more episode) and a smouldering Olivia Williams as the haughty jilted wife, Lady Priscilla Hamilton.
I wondered whether they threw away the hotel’s 50th birthday, especially in an episode that was bookended by parties. But it did manage to balance the right amount of setup and plot, getting rid of the patriarch from the off, having established the brothers at each other’s throats, the widow with a grudge and the girl from below stairs with an eye on the throne: “He’s his Lordship’s heir. And you’re just the girl behind reception.”
Of course, this would not be British costume drama without a hint of anachronism – a notorious hallmark of Downton Abbey. I’m not convinced that anyone in 1940 would say: “This policy of appeasement you support ... How is that working for you?” But I was willing to overlook that in view of how sensible most of the dialogue and scenes were, in direct contrast to The Halcyon’s cash-cow predecessor. A costume drama with intelligence, wit and style that actually makes sense? Halcyon days indeed.
Diamante brooch for best supporting costume
Lady Hamilton had some beautiful numbers and surely wins the consolation prize – the Maggie Smith award for best severe Marcel wave. But Kara Tointon (as singer Betsy Day) has aced wardrobe here and must be awarded this week’s diamante brooch. How many outfit changes in one episode? I counted seven. I do hope Tointon is not going to be used as window-dressing, though, as she deserves better than a naked frolic in his Lordship’s bath and a never-ending parade of bias-cut gowns (however adorable).
Inevitable Downton Abbey flashback moment
The relationship between Mr Garland and his concierge daughter Emma has the potential to live up to memories of the dynamic between Thomas and O’Brien in series one of Downton Abbey. It was always a major flaw in Downton that that relationship collapsed so quickly and wasn’t allowed to develop. Tonight’s opener set up Garland and Daughter as the backbone for this entire story. Yes, the aristocratic hotel owners will have a lot of say in driving the plot, but we need to care about Mr Garland and Emma most of all. They are the ones really running the show.
Show-stopping lines
“You can still smell some tart.” Seeing as Charity had downed enough gin to sink a sailor, it would surely take more than a brief visit from housekeeping to disguise her stench?
“You seem a man of limited worth.” Wonderful withering touches at every turn from Lady Hamilton. And do I sense some previous between her and Mr Garland?
“Are you trying to blackmail me?” “No, I’m trying to impress you ... I do hope we can be friends.” Glorious oiliness from Mr Garland. I have high hopes that he will turn out to be a very nasty piece of work indeed.
