Screen Two: Old Flames (1990)
Season 6, Episode 1
8/10
Old School
30 July 2013
When the BBC launched their Screen Two season they would always start with their strongest film, the one the critics and the public would lap up.

Old Flames is no exception. Starring Stephen Fry as a public school educated and uptight barrister, he meets up with a bumbling, neurotic old school friend played by Simon Callow.

Mixed in with another friend from the past, the sadistic Jackboots played wonderfully by Clive Francis and you have a creepy urban mystery dealing with lost friendship and identity.

The script makes subtle references to Hitchcock and Agatha Christie and it was noted at the time that those murdered bore the names of British drama critics of the day.

Clive Francis gives the standout performance and Callow is no slouch as the bizarre Nathaniel Quass. Fry on the other hand reminds you that in the 1990s, outside of comedy, he really did tend to play uptight establishment figures in dramas rather than the eccentrics he is known for nowadays.
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