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Television

ITV’s Midwinter of the Spirit is a satisfying example of Middle-England Gothic

Plus: ‘Britain as Seen on ITV’ plunged us into the era when blokes with eccentric hobbies were a TV staple

26 September 2015

8:00 AM

26 September 2015

8:00 AM

For years, Ian Fleming was famously self-deprecating about the James Bond books. (‘I have a rule of not looking back,’ he once said. ‘Otherwise I’d wonder, “How could I write such piffle?”’) Towards the end of his life, though, he finally produced an essay in their defence — proudly pointing out, among other things, that however fantastical the plots may become, they’re always carefully rooted in a world recognisable as our own.

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