O Fat White Woman
(1971)

TV Movie

Country: UK

Genre: Drama

Synopsis

New boy Marshalsea (Simon Gipps-Kent) comes to Upton Grange, run by Major Digby-Hunter as a prep school for boys taking the Common Entrance Exam to secure them a place at Harrow, Repton, and other first class English public schools. Digby-Hunter is particularly interested in getting Wraggett (William Relton) through the Common Entrance Exam, since he is going on to Eton, and getting a boy into Eton would be a particular feather in his cap. Meanwhile, the Major's spouse is busy playing the part of the perfect Headmaster's wife, but beneath the surface lurk dark secrets. The Major is in fact a sadistic bully to the boys, his wife is locked in a sexless marriage, and a remark made to her by one of the boys - "Your husband takes pleasure from hurting people" - leads her to face the truth about her life, her husband, and the school her husband runs.

Notes

• Written by Irish writer and playwright William Trevor (1928-2016), Trevor's short story of the same name was first published as part of the collection "The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories" in 1972, a few months after the transmission of the television broadcast.
• Transmitted as Season 2, episode 4 of the BBC anthology series "Play for Today" (1970-1984)
• The programme's title is taken from the poem "To a Fat Lady Seen From the Train" by Frances Cornford (1886-1960), which reads: "O why do you walk through the fields in gloves/Missing so much and so much?/O fat white woman whom nobody loves/Why do you walk through the fields in gloves/When the grass is soft as the breast of doves/And shivering sweet to the touch?/O why do you walk through the fields in gloves/Missing so much and so much?"
• This was Simon Gipps-Kent's very first screen acting role. The Profile picture on this page shows Gipps-Kent as Marshalsea.