Taking Hugh for Granted

Tuck in your shirt, do up your tie and brush your hair because Hugh Grant academics Oscar and Diggory are breaking down The Remains of the Day which was nominated for eight academy awards in 1994.  Based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same name, the rigid, resolute and rule bound Mr Stevens (played by Sir Anthony Hopkins) cultivates a world of manners and decorum in the Darlington househo...

Lose your senses with Oscar and Diggory as they discuss Hugh Grant's role in director Ang Lee's 1995 Oscar-winning period drama Sense and Sensibility.  When a certain Mr. Dashwood dies, he must leave the bulk of his estate to the son by his first marriage, which leaves his second wife and their three daughters Elinor (played by Dame Emma Thompson), Marianne (played by Kate Winslet), and Marga...

Listen as Diggory and Oscar attempt to unpick Cloud Atlas (Thomas Tykwer and Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 2012) and Hugh Grant's five roles within it -  playing characters from a slave-owning reverend, to a 70s sleaze-ball, and a savage, hellbent, Hawaiian cannibal.  Beginning on an 1849 ocean voyage across the Pacific and travelling across multiple time periods including futuristic Korea,...

Think Hugh Grant's big acting break was 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral? Think again!  Join Diggory and Oscar as they discuss Maurice (James Ivory, 1987), and what could the best looking Hugh has ever been on screen - until he grows a moustache half way through the film at least... In 1909, Maurice Hall (played by James Wilby) attends Cambridge university, where he befriends Clive Durham (...

Join Oscar and Diggory in covering your ears to block out the sound of the truly awful singer Florence Foster Jenkins (Stephen Frears, 2016).  Based on a true story, legendary New York heiress and socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (played by Meryl Streep), obsessively pursues her dream of becoming a great opera singer. The voice she hears in her head is beautiful, but to everyone else it is h...

Join Oscar and Diggory as they discuss Hugh Grant's fascinating portrayal of Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin in Impromptu (Lapine, 1991).  Set in 1830s France, Impromptu follows George Sand (played by Judy Davis), who is known as an eccentric maneater, traversing the world without a care for societal norms and leaving a trail of adoring men in her wake. However, when she meets pia...

Sit in as juror while Oscar and Diggory judge whether A Very English Scandal (BBC, 2018) has been taking Hugh for granted.  Based on real events taking place in the UK during the 1960s and 70s, Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe (played by Hugh Grant) attempts to have his former lover, Norman Scott (played by Ben Wishaw), murdered for fear exposure of their homosexual relationship may end his...

Entangle yourself in a forbidden romance with Oscar and Diggory as they watch The Bengali Night (Nicolas Klotz, 1988), discuss their dreams and reveal the abysmal results they received in their French results back in school.  The film, also known as La Nuit Bengali , follows British Engineer Allan (played by Hugh Grant), who falls in love with his employer's eldest daughter Gayatri (played by...

Toot along to the tune of Music and Lyrics (Marc Lawrence, 2007) as your hosts, Oscar and Diggory, conduct yet another investigation to find out whether we've been taking Hugh for granted.  Alex Fletcher (played by Hugh Grant) is a washed up singer who is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he's never written a decent lyric in his life, he...

Climb aboard an Istanbul-bound cruise ship with Oscar and Diggory as they embark on another quest to find out whether we've been taking Hugh for granted. This time the boys are taking a look at Bitter Moon (Polanski, 1992) in which Nigel (played by Hugh Grant) meets a mysterious American named Oscar (played by Peter Coyote) and his beautiful French wife Mimi (played by Emmanuelle Seigner). Over th...

Volunteer as tribute to listen to this special 'Question and Answer' episode, Oscar and Diggory field questions from loyal THFG listeners. Oscar and Diggory discuss how they met, which films they wish Hugh Grant had been cast in and set the parameters for The Hughnger Games: a hunger games style battle royale scenario in which it's last Hugh standing.  Also, Oscar and Diggory interview Mary,...

This week we step inside the world of Bridget and her diary in Bridget Jones’s Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001). Bridget, portrayed by Renée Zellweger, is an average woman struggling with her perceived imperfections like her age, weight, job and her lack of a man. As a New Year’s resolution she decides to take control of her life by starting a diary in which she will always tell the complete truth. Wh...

It's back to school with Oscar and Diggory as Hugh Grant gives us a lesson in how to manage your day in 30 minute chunks, pretend you have a son and ruin any chances you had with the ladies in About a Boy (Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, 2002). Thirty-eight-year-old Will Freeman (played by Hugh Grant) is a slacker who has lived comfortably off the royalties of a song written by his deceased father, an...

This episode we invite you to dip into the Valentines chocolate box of romantic delights that is Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999) , full of soft centres, fingers of fudge and, if you fancy something hard, there are plenty of nutty nuggets to wrap your lips around... It's a date! William Thacker (played by Hugh Grant) is a bookseller at a shop in the Notting Hill district of West London. When wor...

Diggory, Oscar and Paddington Bear (voiced by Ben Wishaw) invite you to join in the investigation as to who has stolen Aunt Lucy's 100th Birthday present. With Paddington framed and jailed, the lead suspect soon becomes the devilish and egotistical actor Phoenix Buchanan (played by Hugh Grant).  We have the return of new regular feature 'Synopsis Simon', discuss Oscar's final foray in to acti...

Hitch a ride with Diggory and Oscar as they travel to early 1940s Kenya to catch a look at one of Hugh Grant's early works: White Mischief (Michael Radford, 1987). Based on the novel of the same name,  White Mischief dramatises the events of the Happy Valley murder case when  "Jock" Broughton (Joss Ackland) was tried for the murder of Josslyn Hay (Charles Dance).  Make sure you're f...

In this spoiler-free episode, Diggory and Oscar take a butcher's at Hugh Grant in Guy Ritchie's 2020 British gangster flick 'The Gentlemen'.  Fresh out the cinema and on to the back of bus, Diggory and Oscar give their hot takes on the film discussing all things Hugh Grant: his bizarre estuary accent, his sleazy look and what is next for Hugh on the big screen.  Synopsis: A drug kingpin...

Join in the festivities as Diggory and Oscar rewatch the Christmas classic 'Love Actually' (2003) in an attempt to answer the all important question nobody is asking - are we taking Hugh for Granted?  While eight London couples try to deal with their relationships in different ways, the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) takes a shine for his Catering Manager, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), at his ne...

Listen if you dare as Diggory and Oscar discuss Hugh's performance in the 1988 Thriller/Horror ' The Lair of the White Worm '.  After young archaeologist Angus Flint (played by Peter Capaldi) discovers a large and inexplicable skull, strange things start happening in the rural English countryside.  Could this skull belong to the D'Ampton Worm, a mythical beast supposedly slain generation...

In our inaugural episode Diggory and Oscar take you back to the Sussex countryside in the summer of 1994 to pick apart the film that made Grant a household name, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. It’s the height of the wedding season and Charles (Hugh Grant) appears to be unlucky in love, before meeting American Carrie (Andie MacDowell). After one night of passionate lovemaking he thinks his luck has...