Long, Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away - Tom Was

[Moderator]

A Man Called Donald McDonald.

Let us talk about him, and the Man Behind The Masque.

Must have been very hard for Tom to be so far away from his beloved Sue for so many months.

And what a gorgeous part of the world to be filming in!

With new friends to meet and work with and enjoy.

But then again, there were all those wicked insects, midges, hungry for his flesh!

Paradise is seldom without a serpent.

Best,
Dirk

[tracy]

when you have a lovly relationship and have been married for along time like tom and sue have and also tom not having worked away for some time till the monach of the glen project then its got to be starnge for tom and sue to be apart from each other . and also i would think tom would have done some sight seeing while he was in scotland . its a shame sue could not have been there with tom but i would think they rung each other every night which is very sweet .you have a lovly place like scotland where tom was and then sue even farther away they would have missed each other . you can see the love they have for each other in the pictures of them both and the this is your life that was done on tom . and with all the insects that were about tom wouldnt have enjoyed that bit proberly getting bit now and then .in one part there tom was in scotland lovly scenery and the other part sue who he loves adores and you know what they say there is no place like home and i say tom would be glad to have got home to sue and the cats.hope i havent spoke out of turn here .

[Moderator]

No, Tracy this is exactly the kind of thing we were after.

To discuss this part, or the place, or any of the people involved in the filming of "Monarch of the Glen." Perhaps someone remembers some anecdote from an interview or an article? Or even something that Donald himself said or did that they thought was particularily funny or witty. There is a deleted scenes brief video available, out on the Net, that is fun, regarding Donald on a shopping trip. Sad that it was axed from the on air episode. But Tom said once, that his best work often wound up on the cutting room floor of some editing suite.

Best,
Dirk

[jaybee]

Monarch of the Glen: Donald Macdonald was one of my favourite Tom characters. The character was fabulous and Tom played him to a T. A mischievous kid in a grown-up body with the odd little bit of teenager and actual grown-up thrown in. The scene where he asks his lady-love to help him up after he's just proposed to her was hilarious.

There was an interview article written about Tom during that time. The woman interviewing him offered him a seat on a sofa. This is what he said:
"I don't think I've sat in a sofa for... let me see... the last time must have been before Cordon Brown became Chancellor."

When asked why not, he said:
"It's my knees. A lot of old people, when they get too comfy in low-slung seating, pretend that something has amused them vastly. They're thinking, 'How am I going to get up?', when suddenly someone makes a very tame joke and they rock back and forwards with laughter and that propels them upwards, like this: Ho ho ho... ho!"

That also had me in stitches as I can totally relate to the problem. My sister has a sofa that I usually end up sitting in when I visit her and I usually end up doing what is now known in my family as the "Tom trick" to get up. I'll look at my sis, she'll give me a grin and say, "Ho ho ho". That's my cue.

[Sarah]

There are biting insects in Scottland? Then what on earth do they wear Kilts for?
Sorry very bad joke...

Try Australia, in summer it's hell, this year is hell more than any other I wish i was in Scottland or somewhere cold so i could cover myself head to toe with only my eyes peeping out so nothing can bite me. They could make a doctor who episode based on these black swarms of killer mosquitos.

sadly I have not yet seen monarch of the glen it is on my list.

[Moderator]

Dear Sarah -

Google "Midges" and compare them to your local pests.

I understand Alaska has a similar mosquito problem. They are the "unofficial" state BIRD up there; and their "unofficial" state SALUTE is the swatting and batting of the aforementioned beasties.



Best,
Dirk

[merlinsseer]

"TAFU !!" definition : Some sort of angular oriental fish, also known as BEAN TURDS !!

The scene has been put back on the DVD version and I am so glad it was rescued from the cutting room floor. From start to finish it's a pure joy to watch and it never fails to make me laugh . Poor Ewan trying to maintain his spilled dignity in the wake of Donald's laughter. It's not nice to laugh but you just can't help it, blame Donald if you feel bad about it because he is very good at sucking people into bad behavior, but usually for better reasons.Sometimes not.

Donald Ulysses MacDonald, childish, flippant, conceded and funny but he is also sad, angry and riddled with a guilty conscience for a past that he would much rather avoid and run away from, pretending that he did the right and " honorable " thing by doing so to begin with. He is much more complex than he appears to be at first and you grow to love him for all his faults and he has many. His unlikely friendship with the young cook Ewan is great fun to watch develop and the two of them cowering with terror in the garage to hide from the wrath of Ewan's mother ( both for different reasons) makes you realize how on some levels they are equal in emotional maturity and that friendship ( and fear of angry mothers) knows no age boundaries.

There are far too many great scenes in this series with Donald to cover them all, but I'm especially fond of the " bed and breakfast" story with the Russian and the panther and the one in which Donald tries to became Laird of Glenbogle. The use of the estate dishes as clay pigeons was great, especially when he promptly marches off to get more when his request for a bigger allowance is turned down. The dance class fiasco and mad dash to hide in the basement from the women was rich.

If you haven't seen Tom in this series, go get it now and watch it Donald is a great character that Tom gives so much depth and multifaceted personality to. Even my husband enjoyed watching it, only the episodes Tom was in, but he did enjoy it very much. He has a very hard time watching any program that involves accents and swears that Tom and Susan Hampshire are the only two he could understand. Normally he gives up and stops watching any British program but he stuck around and watched this just because he liked Donald so much. It was a little disappointing that Tom was only in three episodes for the 7Th season but at least he was there.When ever I asked my husband if he wanted to watch the next episode the reply was , " Is Tom in this one? " . If the answer was no, I was to call him when Tom showed up. I know there was a lot of personal sacrifice on Tom and Sue's part for him to make this series and I would like to say - thank you , thank you, thank you so much.

[Sarah]

Ah yes we call them sand flies, there are many species, only 3 of them bite humans and none spread disease. Well one species carries Brahma Forest Virus but it rarely bites humans. Our local mozzies on the other hand spread Brahma Forest Virus , Ross River Fever, Dengue further up north and a few other nasties. Lovely critters. the sand flies are anoying in summer I live on the coast but they cannot hold a candle to our mozzies. Bot flies are another lovely we have, they lay their eggs under the skin which hatch into maggots and bore holes as they make for the open sky and become more bot flies. They rarely lay eggs in humans but there have been cases, it's baby birds and other livestock that suffer. I won't mention the various other flies we battle that is another story, it is why Aussies invented hats with corks hanging off them. I have an allergy to mosquito bites so I find them even more unpleasant. I would swap all the 'Midges' in Scottland for just a portion of our mozzies. Sorry you can get back to it now, I have scotts in my family and they are such sooks

Dear Sarah -

Google "Midges" and compare them to your local pests.

I understand Alaska has a similar mosquito problem. They are the "unofficial" state BIRD up there; and their "unofficial" state SALUTE is the swatting and batting of the aforementioned beasties.



Best,
Dirk

[Moderator]

Dear Sarah -

No problem. Don't mind drifting off-topic a bit, as long as we can swim back into it. Which is exactly what you have done.

Anyone else have any stories/comments/favourite quotes regarding Tom's role of Donald MacDonald? Or is it Donald McDonald? Seems the media and the internet has it listed both ways, about evenly divided.

Best,
Dirk

[tracy]

:D also id like to know how tom got on when filiming the part with the big panther in an episode of monach of the glen in which he had to calm the panther down when it came in to the dinning room .i bet tom loved it as the panther would be trainned as well