'Hawkmoor', 1978

On January 29, 1978 the five-part television series “Hawkmoor” began airing. It was created by Lynn Hughes and based on the activities of Twm Siôn Cati, a 16th-century Welsh folk hero.

The 5-part series starred John Ogwen as Twm and Jane Asher as Lady Johane Williams, and also featured Godfrey James as Twm’s right-hand man Shanco, Jack May as the English-born Sheriff John Stedman, Tom Owen as the sheriff’s son John, Philip Madoc as Vicar Davyd, Meredith Edwards as Sir Tom Williams and Rachel Thomas as Agnes. 

The series depicted Twm as a Welsh Robin Hood/freedom fighter protecting the Welsh people from the repression of Sheriff Stedman and the cruel (Catholic) Vicar Davyd during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.

Jane recalls: “I did a thing for the BBC called Hawksmoor [sic], I think, and it was about the Welsh Robin Hood character Twm Sion Cati, a figure in Welsh folklore. We were in Tregaron for some time and it was fantastic, we filmed all round that area. I played the equivalent of Maid Marian in his life, whatever her name was, so that’s a very happy memory of Wales more than 30 years ago.”

Photo) BBC one.

So It Goes...: Jane Asher in Hazell, 1978

 * Please, notice, this is a reblog from the So It Goes... blogspot*

Jane Asher in Hazell, 1978

Bit of a shout out to the excellent Jane Asher Source Blogspot here, with a few screencaps of Jane's guest appearance in the very first episode of Gordon Williams and Terry Venables London private eye drama, Hazell.

Entitled Hazell Plays Solomon and broadcast on 16th January 1978, our hero, played by Nicholas Ball (pictured with Jane) finds himself caught up in a tricky tug-of-love case when Jane's character arrives from America with the belief that a couple's daughter is actually her child and that the hospital mistakenly switched them at birth.

It's one of Jane's more brittle portrayals; her character starts out a tough no-nonsense whiny sounding, successful American from Bel Air but it turns out that this exterior (and slightly unbelievable accent) is a bit of a false facade as she's originally a working class Londoner who has married well. She informs Hazell that her own daughter had recently been involved in a car accident and the bloods of the child and Jane and her husband don't match and are biologically impossible. Adding to this evidence is the fact that the child she suspect is really hers has the same red hair that Jane does too - cue her revealing her famous locks by whipping off the rather unflattering turban she had been wearing up until that point. It's always good to see Jane shake her hair free!

Hazell does his digging though and finds out that Jane isn't as tough as she appears. She's a coke addict whose child died in the car accident and her marriage broke down as a result. He becomes convinced that she's obsessed with this switched at birth theory and will do anything to have a child of her own once more. 

Cue Jane stealing the young girl in the sinister and scary climax! Thankfully Hazell arrives on the scene and retrieves the girl for her parents, but there's tears before bedtime for Jane.

Hokey accent aside (and as I say, at least it was rather intentional) this is a great role for Jane which shows her range rather well and I liked the touch of having her hide behind things like big sunglasses, headscarves and turbans - all very tacky yet delightfully 70s. I'm sure too that her guest role helped boost Hazell's debut and captured the public's attention.

Posted by Mark at Wednesday, July 15, 2015

So It Goes...: Jane Asher in Rumpole of the Bailey, 1978

 * Please, notice, this is a reblog from the So It Goes... blogspot*

Jane Asher in Rumpole of the Bailey, 1978

Screencaps of Jane's guest appearance in the Rumpole of the Bailey episode, Rumpole and the Alternative Society, first broadcast on 10th April, 1978. The episode sees Rumpole journey to the west of England to defend Jane's character, Kathy Trelawney, a hippy schoolteacher who is charged with selling cannabis to a police agent provocateur. Like her appearance in the debut episode of Hazell also that year - shown just three months earlier in fact - Jane's role came relatively early in what was the second episode in what was the first ever series of Rumpole. It shows that Jane was quite a pull at the time, a star name that ITV felt would be able to attract viewers to their new productions.

I especially liked her court outfit seen in the last few pics. That, combined with how she wore her hair, made her look rather Pre-Raphaelite. Lizzie Siddal would have been proud!

MEET THE BEATLES FOR REAL: Jane Asher 10 Years Later

 * Please, notice, this is a reblog from the Meet The Beatles For Real blog [but I've corrected the many typos there were!]*

Meet The Beatles for real: Jane Asher 10 Years Later

Beatle fans are a loyal group. By 1978, Paul had been broken up with Jane Asher for 10 years and he had married Linda and had children. Jane was in his past, but she was still someone near and dear to Beatle fans everywhere. Jane is so much more than just Paul's ex-girlfriend because they were together all during the Beatle years and she is the muse of several of his songs. She was always well-loved by the fans during the time and always remained part of the "Beatle circle" as far as fans were concerned, even if she was no longer in touch with them. In 1978, Jane was in a play that was in London called "Whose Life is it Anyway?" And fans, Mary Ann Hockman and Marie Lacey had the opportunity to meet with her on a few occasions during the run of the show. Marie wrote about her encounters with Jane for the Aug/Sept 1979 issue of "The Write Thing." While Mary Ann's photographs appeared in the Oct/Nov 1978 issue of the same fanzine.Our next visit with Jane was in August 1978. She was starring with Tom Conti in "Whose Life is it Anyway?"about a young man's right to die after being paralyzed from the neck down in an auto accident. Jane was one of his doctors.

Doylene, Susie, Ann and I went to see Jane at the stage door. Susie had brought over a beautiful doll from America for Katie (Jane daughter who was 4 years old) and gave it to Jane from all of us. Jane was thrilled. We explained that we had already seen the play and enjoyed it and we were stopped by to see her before the show and say hello. She told us we should have come after the play so we could have time to talk and have a drink together. Since we hadn't done that, she said, "You must come over ot the house for tea" So we made arrangements to visit at 10 o'clock the next day.

The next morning we arrived at Jane & Gerald's home in Chelsea just as Gerald was leaving. He greeted us and said Jane was waiting for us upstairs. Gerald is a cartoonist and can be remembered for his caricature of the Beatles that appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in 1967.

They own the whole house, but up until recently only dwelled on the second floor. A sectretary took us upstairs, asking if we were there to see Mr. Scarfe or Mrs. Scarfe, so I told her "Mrs. Scarfe," although in a recent interview Jane said she was not married and acting was still her first love. We were welcomed by 4 year old Katie, holding our doll which she had also named "Kate." Jane appeared from the kitchen and we all sat down and had tea. Jane told us she was leaving the play in September (she was tired of it), but that she hoped TomConti would be chosen for the lead in the NY production. I asked her if the lines came as second nature and she said yes, that she thinks about other things constantly and sometimes goes into shock when she suddenly realizes she's on stage, thinking "where the hell am ?!?" She asked about our travels and I told her we'd just been to Dorset and she told us that they had considered moving there because it was beautiful and so magical.

Jane's mother lives on Abbey Road in St. John's Wood, in fact she was going to have lunch with her that day, and she asked where we were staying and told us that she, too once had a flat in Maida Vale (in '68 right after she broke up with Paul).

She said her brother Peter, lives in California now and they had gone to visit him and took Katie to Disneyland. Katie picked up a pear form a bowl on the table and asked, "Mummy" to cut it and peel it for her. Afterward, she said, "Mummy, I wonder if one should ate the pits?" Jane told her she shouldn't but it wouldn't do her any harm if she did. "Nut you see, Mummy, the point is, I already have ate them!!" Cute!

It was getting time to leave so I asked if we could take a picture before we left, which Jane agreed to. Katie loves cameras and took a photo of Jane with Susie's camera. Katie wanted to get in the pictures so I asked Jane if that was alright and she replied, "Normally I don't allow it, but for you, yes."

She was telling us all about the renovations of the house and how we'd see a big change the next time we came. She kept saying, "really, you mustn't wait so long to come again." It was such a good feeling to be sincerely welcomed by such a warm and pleasant person as Jane.