The summer season of 1962 may need arrived on the cusp of “Swingin’ London” within the UK — however not for the victims of rampant anti-Semitism and racism vis-a-vis the rise of Nationwide Socialism.
That’s dramatized in “Ridley Highway,” a four-part collection which premiered final fall on BBC One and is now airing on Masterpiece on PBS (Sundays at 9 p.m.) It’s absorbing, alarming and troubling — and strikes an all-too-familiar topical chord 60 years later.
It’s “impressed by” the true story of a younger Jewish girl, Vivien Epstein (Agnes O’Casey), who goes undercover to assist combat the alarming tide of hatred sweeping by England — its flames stoked by neo-Nazi chief Colin Jordan, a real-life historic determine performed right here by Rory Kinnear who options prominently in Jo Bloom’s 2014 novel “Ridley Highway,” from which the collection is tailored.
When “Ridley Highway” opens Vivien, 23, resides north of London in industrial Manchester along with her dad and mom (her father, David, owns a tailor store) and her cousin, Roza (Julia Krynke), who survived the Holocaust in Europe. Vivien is none-too-happily engaged to nebbishy Jeremy — their fathers organized the wedding — and secretly pines for her real love, Jack Morris (Tom Varey), who reveals up at her father’s retailer and rekindles their romance however tells Vivien he’s no good for her. That’s all she wants to listen to; she tracks Jack’s whereabouts to her estranged Uncle Soly’s (Eddie Marsan) clothes retailer in London (on Ridley Highway), hops on a prepare and, earlier than the day is finished, is working at a hair salon, renting a room from good Mrs. Jones (however is she?) and utilizing the title Vivien Evans to disguise her Jewish id amidst the tenor of the occasions.
Seems that Soly is, by night time, combating neo-Nazi gangs and it’s by him that Vivien discovers a startling secret about Jack, who she sees at a Nationwide Socialist rally in Trafalgar Sq. alongside Colin Jordan chanting “Perish Judah!”: he’s working undercover to combat the great combat (“I do unhealthy issues to unhealthy folks,” he tells her) and, below the alias “Peter Fox,” is deeply entrenched with Jordan and his goons. Vivien joins the combat, dyes her hair blond, calls herself Jane Carpenter and infiltrates Jordan’s lair.
Sequence author Sarah Solemani does a pleasant job establishing the environment of these occasions in London, and a number of other archival clips (in coloration) are interspersed all through the narrative as soon as Vivien arrives within the metropolis, which helps set up the tone. Rita Tushingham, who starred in a number of “Swingin’ London”-era films (“A Style of Honey,” “The Knack … and Methods to Get It,” “Smashing Time”), is readily available as Mrs. Jones, which lends an air of authenticity; newcomer O’Casey (her great-grandfather was the acclaimed Irish playwright Sean O’Casey) is plausible as Vivien, who balances her love for Jack, and for combating hatred, along with her disgust of creepy Colin Jordan. He’s interested in “Jane Carpenter” and Vivien has to play alongside — proving that she’s simply pretty much as good an actress as her real-life alter-ego.
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