The Times
December 12, 1994
FOUR films of "magic and mystery" will be broadcast on BBC2 over Christmas in a new series, Siren Spirits.
Bideshi, Get Me to the Crematorium on Time, White Men are Cracking up, and Memsahib Rita are all produced by the all-women, black production company, Leda Serene for the BBC and the British Film Institute.
Frances-Anne Solomon, on e of the founder members of Leda Serene and current Series Producer for the BBC, said they received over 100 entries.
The production company worked with 36 writers before they arrived at the short list of four.
Bideshi is 50-year old Ajoy's (Roshen Seth), encounter with death. In a coma in hospital, Ajoy's soul leaves his body and he is witness to his life from another plane. He is unable to leave the world of the living, until his spirit comes to terms with the marriage of his daughter Joyoti(Archie Panjabi), to a young West Indian.
Mamsahib Rita is Shanti's (Nisha Nayar), bittersweet fantasy of her English mother(Jayne Boniface) who resembles Rita Hayworth. As Shanti makes her way to her father's(Kalem Janjua) sari shop, a living mausoleum of memories, she is accosted by local white thugs who follow her and harass the family.
Shanti's mother commits suicide as she is unable to cope with the pressures of a mixed marriage in a racist society. Shanti's father refused to let go of hi dead wife's image, and on her death anniversary, Shanti is haunted by the memories. Shanti, herself, sees her mother, who she has never known, as part of Hindi film goddess(Sudha Buchar), and part film noir femme fatale. It is this apparition of her mother, who becomes Shanti's talisman, protecting her from the forces of evil.
When Bonetta(Joan Hooley) and Grady(Jason Rose) say :till death do us part," they mean it. Get Me to the Crematorium on Time, is about the twenty-year old love affair between the two. Grady has a heart attack and dies. Bonetta, in a mental hospital still finds solace in Grady's arms. The hospital staff does not think Bonetta is fit to leave the hospital for Brady's cremation but Bonetta makes it to the crematorium on time.
The surreal, White Men Are Cracking Up is about the mysterious Maisie Blue(Theo Omambala), a black avenging angel who offers her clients whatever they ask for ? sometimes this may even be the opportunity to commit suicide. Detective Margrave(Jon Finch) has become obsessed with Maisie Blue's life. "She bathes with the curtains open", he tells his dictaphone. "Just like an angel she leaves nothing behind. Not prints. Nothing." The most engaging film in the series, White Men Are Cracking Up, leaves the audience hanging as Margrave's questions, "Who are you Maisie Blue" remains a mystery.
Series Producer Frances Anne Solomon said: "Siren Spirits unleashes a wealth of talent, which for so long has been forced to remain silent, due to the lack of real funding from mainstream televisions companies."
