Just for interest...
I think this TV programme will be aired in the UK fairly soon.
Best wishes
Rosemary Silvester
Bristol Magpies
(supporters Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives, UK)
The Man Who Lost His Head
Telefeature (2007)
ITV (UK) & TV One (NZ)
THE MAN WHO LOST HIS HEAD is a light-hearted contemporary telefeature
focusing on Ian Bennet, a repressed British museum curator (played by
well-known actor Martin Clunes), whose life is turned upside down when
he is sent across the world to return an ancient Maori carving to the
small fictional New Zealand town of Otakataka on the west coast of
Northland.
Straitlaced Museum Curator Ian Jones (Clunes) is about to marry his
boss's daughter, Fiona (Caroline Harker). Preparations are underway and
Fiona is already drawing up seating plans. So when a repatriation claim
comes into the museum for a Maori carving to be returned to a remote
corner of New Zealand, Ian isn't keen to be given the job, particularly
when he understands what a delicate case it is. The Ministry has told
the museum to be sympathetic to the claim, and while the museum director
has agreed to do this, he has no intention of letting the piece go back.
Such a job needs an experienced pair of hands. The promotion that Ian
has long worked for is dangled before him as reward, and he knows he
can't say no. Meanwhile, out in New Zealand a very determined Maori
community is waiting for him.
The carving in question is of an old Maori chief's son who went over to
England in 1860 to buy arms. But the son was seduced and kept by a lady
aristocrat and never allowed to return. In desperation, he carved a head
of his own likeness and sent it back to watch over his father's people,
but it was lost on the way. Since then, it's as if this remote Maori
community has been cursed, and having at last traced the head to the
museum in England, the people are intent on getting it back in place on
their marae – the village sacred house - where it belongs. Only then
will their luck return.
But then Ian arrives with his hidden agenda, and his bureaucratic
reasons for rejecting their claim. The marae, he says, is an inadequate
building to house such a precious artifact: no security, no access. Zac
(Calvin Tuteao), the purist who first traced the head, is enraged: the
head is sacred and must be housed in marae. He and the other elders
manage to delay Ian's return while they prepare an appeal. It's just
long enough for hard-hearted Ian to become seduced by his new
surroundings. He teaches in the primary school; he drives the local bus;
he becomes absorbed with the ancient myths; and all the while he knows
he's falling for a Maori woman named Lollie (Nicola Kawana).
The Man Who Lost His Head is the story of a very pale fish, getting very
much out of his depth. It follows Bennet from the dusty back-rooms of
the British Imperial Museum to a small Kiwi town for whom the return of
the likeness of Takataka is the single biggest event since the real
thing left almost 200 years ago.
KEY CAST
Ian MARTIN CLUNES
Lollie NICOLA KAWANA
Uncle Hohepa TE PAKI CHERINGTON
Fiona Harrison CAROLINE HARKER
Nigel Harrison JOHN CALLEN
Zac CALVIN TUTEAO
KEY CREATIVES
Executive Producer JILL GREEN
Executive Producer JOHN BARNETT
Producer EVE GUTIERREZ
Writer MARK WALLINGTON
Director TERRY JOHNSON
DOP DAVID ODD (BSC)
Editor MARTIN SHARPE
Production Design GARY MACKAY
Costume Design BARBARA DARRAGH
Make-up and Hair DEB WATSON
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
