Sunday 27 April 2014

Jamaica Inn mumble mumble

Jamaica Inn is one of Daphne du Maurier's best loved books. Published in 1936 it tells the tale of a young girl who moves to the inn on Bodmin Moor and falls in love with a local smuggler.

It came as something of a surprise when the BBC announced that part of their new production of Jamaica Inn was going to be filmed in Kirkby Lonsdale. Lovely though Kirkby is, one of the things it is most famous for is not resembling either Jamaica or Cornwall. However the Beeb crew turned up, took over the square and dressed it up to look like Launceston, much to the outrage of residents of the real Launceston.

The drama was broadcast last week. You may have noticed the fuss. Millions complained that the actors were mumbling incoherently. "Technical problems," said the BBC, implying someone had forgotten to plug in a microphone. "Producer problems," retorted BECTU the technicians' union, which may have more credence given that even the new director general Tony Hall has complained of muffled dialogue in BBC dramas.

It made a good subject for the Westmorland Gazette cartoon. You can see my suggestions below and discover which made the front page by visiting my website here.

And on the subject of the front page, my cartoon has now been running in the Westmorland Gazette for 30 years. Not the same one, obviously, as even I have to think of a new joke now and again. You can read Katie Dickenson's story here and revisit some of my favourite cartoons here.












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