Note- I get 10 graphics per forum frame, and all my captures for Jericho click out to full size.
Opening scene- polishing a spoon. My very first thought is I've done that. I've polished the good silver for my mother-in-law, and I've sat at a restaurant table wrapping silverware in napkins. The background noise is men, and the scene is a woman looking- something. More than reflective, sad maybe? Resigned? Holding down a mountain of dread?
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/spoonsm.jpg)
I am a woman and that very first few seconds already have me. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I'd lived a hundred or two hundred years ago.
Very quickly we see furniture being moved out and possibly a carpet bag on the table beside her. Very quickly my head rattles off a list of possibilities- evicted, auction, death of a husband, moving for some reason. Not sure yet, but I'm obviously hooked if I'm already going down a list.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/spoon2sm.jpg)
Jessica Raine plays Annie Quaintain in Jericho. (Jessica also played Verity Lambert in An Adventure in Space and Time, a story about the origins of Doctor Who in the television industry, so squeee.) In this interview in which she's called 'the unstoppable Jessica Raine', she says about Jericho, "It really illuminates how much women have been written out of history". YES. That is exactly the feeling I got in the first few seconds of the opening scene.
My husband and I have already mini-debated Hell on Wheels versus Jericho, and while I admit HoW is very well done and probably as realistic as a portrayal can get, I feel sick watching it, so I don't. I'm sure the shock of all that screaming and bloody gore is how they retain their ratings, so look at them go, right? The reason I compare these two shows is because they are both historical portrayals of how local communities flipped upside down during the industrial revolution as railways introduced our first world connections in high speed. I personally favor Jericho, and just because it got dropped after the first season has nothing to do with quality, but in my opinion, the way audiences have been trained by the entertainment industry to spike ratings over the shock yank that I call 'experience addiction' in a Walking Dead article I wrote.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/trainsm2.jpg)
click here for real info on the train used in the show
One of the really fun things about period documentation is authenticity in costuming and sets, so let's check it out. You can see filming this series was no small feat.
Jericho: Behind the scenes of a new ITV period drama
Is ITV drama Jericho Britain's first western?
Vintage specialist delivers props to Jericho
Actress Jessica Raine about Jericho: It’s got a bit of grit to it
How's this for behind the scenes? lol, thanx Diddy. She said it was boiling hot in those costumes. I don't know how women didn't just faint all the time back then.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/costumeshotdaysm600.jpg)
I think the bigger part of my music collection is soundtracks, so I was hoping I'd find one for Jericho, but so far all I know is that the composer is Tim Phillips (his dotcom), who was once in a rock band called CatHead and was the performer for "Song for Ten" in the 2005 Doctor Who Christmas special The Christmas Invasion.
Annie Quaintain's children are played by Sam Bottomley and Amy James-Kelly (sometimes credited as Amy Kelly). I like noticing kids because sometimes you see them in stuff later all grown up and go oh yeah...
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/childrensm.jpg)
Our first look at Hans Matheson playing Johnny Blackwood.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/firstlooksm.jpg)
Our behind the scenes look at Hans getting a cuppa tea, lol.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/hanstea.jpg)
Aaaaand a really iffy shaky moment may or may not lead to a romance later... Those are usually the best kind.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/unloadingsm.jpg)
This is where my friends would expect me to make a minecraft joke.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/minecraftsm.jpg)
Big thanks to Diddy Wheldon (check her on facebook), who plays a navvy in eps 1-8 {note IMDB error}, for alerting me to a U.S air date on Acorn TV. This snip just below clicks to the press article. If you like train history, if you love the idea of a 'European western' and absolutely beautiful scenery, if you are looking for a woman's perspective in a really good show, THIS.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/JanikaBanks/blogupdates/syfydesigns/Jericho/acornarticle.png)
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