Revisiting Brideshead

The streets of Oxford were deserted every time an episode of Brideshead Revisited, a novel by Evelyn Waugh first published in 1945, was broadcast as a TV series in 1981. When I was studying at Oxford ten years later, TV repeats were still popular with students due to the idyllic scenery and the elegant and nostalgic appeal. On the other hand, a section of academia was less enthusiastic - they saw it as representative of a Thatcherite form of reverence to glorified Britishness. Nonetheless, I continue to regard it as an immensely enjoyable series with a memorable performance by Jeremy Irons who plays a British officer recalling memories of his student days at Oxford and his journeys in the inter war years. Some parts of the filming have a Maltese and Gozitan backdrop. Sharon Spiteri at Lost in Thought recenty watched the episodes on DVD. From a recent post:

A couple of days ago I was watching Brideshead Revisited on DVD and bang during the seventh episode, just as I was dropping off to sleep, I heard a man speak to me in Maltese. I shook my head and tried to focus and saw something like a Maltese bus on screen. I nodded off again and heard him again, very clearly, say "Stenna ftit". I opened my eyes wide and looked about me in terror. I was sure I was hearing voices, until I focused on my laptop screen and realised that the scenes with Charles, Sebastian and Kurt in French Morocco were filmed in Malta with Maltese extras. You can hear Maltese very clearly. The doctor and the monk at the hospital speak Maltese, and so do the people on the bus. Lovely.

Brideshead Revisited - Wikipedia