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The Flame Trees of Thika was an early attempt by Euston Films to create a
filmed product primarily for the US market, and thus became something of a model
for future co-production. The series was very much in the tradition
of the other British dramas that had been so successfully shown in the US under
the overall title of Masterpiece Theatre, being an adaptation of Elspeth
Huxley's memoir, which featured an Edwardian/Georgian family of the type made
popular in the earlier Upstairs Downstairs (ITV, 1971-1975), but transposed to a
far corner of the empire in Kenya. Fascinatingly, the series anticipates
the many television and film works that were soon to be made concerning
Britain's colonial past, such as Gandhi (d. Richard Attenborough, 1982), Heat
and Dust (d. James Ivory, 1983) and The Jewel in the Crown (ITV, 1984), although
it remains unusual for its African rather than Indian setting.
The Flame Trees of Thika certainly does not offer the same kind of reflective
insight into the colonial experience as the earlier drama Staying On (ITV, tx.
28/12/1980), but there are moments, amidst the spectacular scenery and wildlife,
that at least begin to illustrate certain paradoxes. The malevolent Boer
farmer, Mr Roos, represents the unacceptable face of racism, while at the same
time the Grant family have their house built by the natives but seem to think
they are the ones giving out favours. They also import their heavy and
inappropriate Victorian furniture into the new house, an act whichprovides a
handy visual metaphor for colonial hubris. But there is no real sense that
the series is anything other than a literal record of the family's African
sojourn, rather than an attempt to dramatise and comment upon its historical
context. Unfortunately, even the narrative aspects are undermined by some
weak performances, with only Holly Aird (in a wonderful first role) making the
viewer care about the outcome. But for all its faults, The Flame
Trees of Thika is a significant production, as it saw the beginning of Euston's
attempt to move away from its usual London crime stories and towards a more
prestigious transatlantic product such as Reilly, Ace of Spies (ITV, 1983), and,
in the hands of the stalwart director Roy Ward Baker and veteran writer John
Hawkesworth, the viewer was guaranteed a comfortable, if unchallenging
experience.
John Williams
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