Just for Larks

Quite why there has been a recent flurry of programmes about Philip Larkin I'm not entirely sure.

First came C4's 'Philip Larkin: Love And Death In Hull', essentially a frank and unflinching portrait of the man. Despite the involvement of several admiring associates from the literary world and further afield, the programme was something of a character assassination - or, at least, it would have been, had the details of his unsavoury prejudices and sullen demeanour not already been fairly well-known.

And then, a couple of weeks' back, BBC2 gave us 'Love Again', a dramatisation of Larkin's adult life. As the title (taken from one of his most famous poems) might suggest, the focus was squarely on his complicated love-life, his emotional inadequacies and his fear of commitment and restriction within relationships. Consequently, the dramatisation was far more sympathetic in tone than the C4 documentary had been. The darker aspects of Larkin's personality - the racism, the sexism, the alcoholism late in life - were skirted around or only briefly touched upon (although his downtrodden relation to his domineering mother was well-drawn), and instead Hugh Bonneville portrayed him as a surprisingly jovial and amiable character. His bumbling mannerisms and inability to express his feelings made him seem an endearingly comedic figure, naive and harmless rather than someone who irrevocably damaged the women's lives he touched.

In this respect, it reminded me of the spring TV adaptation of the novel 'Lucky Jim' by Larkin's close friend Kingsley Amis, which featured Stephen Tomkinson in the lead role, and it also left me feeling a little disappointed that they couldn't make it as equally "warts 'n' all" as the C4 portrait had been. I suppose, though, that this angle renders Larkin a more palatable figure to swallow - and, as I conceded on this very blog a short while back, this is an issue I struggled with myself a few years ago.

In truth, it made for excellent viewing, and there were some fine touches - perhaps most brilliantly when on a joyless Christmas Day spent with his mother, the Queen's Speech on the TV turned into 'This Be The Verse', and switched into Larkin's own voice. The poetry was inserted judiciously, and the dialogue was frequently sparkling:

"Let's face it, I'm no Ted Hughes in the charisma department";

"It's time for some positive thinking"
"They give me medals for negative thinking, Betty - I'm not about to start now"

"Do you feel you could have led a happier life?"
"Not without being someone else"

'Love Again' was one of those rare beasts, the sort of BBC curiosity that goes some way to counterbalancing the atrocity that is 'Fame Academy' and justifying the licence fee.