Most of the reactions below come via Twitter, where “Life in Squares” was a trending topic after the first episode aired last night with an audience of between 1.85 and 1.9 million UK viewers.
In the aftermath, one must-read review is by Frances Spalding, acclaimed biographer of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Her piece on The Conversation website is titled “Life in Squares: how the radical Bloomsbury Group fares on screen.”
Here’s a quote from it:
Her despairing cry may be echoed by some viewers of the BBC’s three-part series Life in Squares, for the Bloomsbury Group attracts many detractors as well as legions of devotees. — Frances Spalding
Be sure to click on the comments below to read Maggie Humm’s assessment of Spalding’s review, along with her own insights.
Family reaction
Before the official premiere, Emma Woolf, great-niece of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, penned her reaction for The Daily Mail: “How TV’s got my aunt Virginia Woolf so wrong.”
And Vanessa Bell’s granddaughter, Cressida Bell, posted this on Facebook the morning after:
UK TV ratings: Bloomsbury set drama Life in Squares opens to 1.85m http://t.co/9sFWNDH71V
— DS Entertainment (@digitalspyent) July 28, 2015
#LifeInSquares is now trending TOP in UK. Visit http://t.co/Cq9IcZNSDl for Top trends in your area pic.twitter.com/4h3CAUnrH0
— TrendsinUK (@TrendsinBritain) July 27, 2015
Life in Squares, BBC One, review: ‘lively’ http://t.co/BwQuVDqPGZ pic.twitter.com/2CorvvNch0 — Telegraph Books (@TelegraphBooks) July 27, 2015
#LifeInSquares manages to obscure all Bloomsbury’s achievements and at the same time reduce their private lives to a downton-esque melodrama
— Alfie (@AlfieTurner1) July 27, 2015
I would have struggled with this piecemeal version of the Bloomsbury group #LifeInSquares had I been unfamiliar with the comings and goings. — Jill (@JillHS23) July 27, 2015
Life in Squares viewers had to use Wikipedia to decipher the plot … http://t.co/UDABAZoGYv
— UK News Information (@AnglosearchNews) July 28, 2015
Some help navigating the Bloomsbury Group’s relationships! #BloomsburysOutsider #LifeInSquares https://t.co/bZamz4rH0W — BloomsburyReader (@BloomsReader) July 27, 2015
Only @BBC / America Can Turn Wild Naked FreeLoving Bohemian BloomsburyGroup Into Dull Tame Downton With No Knickers pic.twitter.com/WwJhbJTg6Q
— kelvin Fitzimmions (@fitzfun2011) July 27, 2015
@AnnGagne right, I must now find a lover of yours to seduce and abandon, while wearing a natty tie #lifeinsquares #bloomsburygroup — Beatrice Bazell (@beatricebazell) July 27, 2015
As Virginia asked Vanessa, of their loved and loving male friends, are they all sodomites? #LifeInSquares, @BBCTwo – http://t.co/EtEz2vFQK0
— theartsdesk.com (@theartsdesk) July 27, 2015
I’m clearly not bohemian enough. Life in Squares bored me to tears.
— GC (@GrowlyCub) July 27, 2015
Having written about Vanessa Bell, painting and the Bloomsbury Group for my finals at uni, can’t say the BBC have done any of them justice..
— Sifa Mustafa (@SifaMustafaLDN) July 27, 2015
life in squares @theartsdesk http://t.co/aP2XSn9tF6 “Yet it’s hard…to empathise with the struggles of any of these privileged characters”
— Yvette Greslé (@yvettegresle) July 27, 2015
No, quite good, actually. At least I thought so… https://t.co/NoUqlAFFZT — Kathleen D Donnelly (@SuchFriends) July 27, 2015
Rather a silly title ‘Life in Squares’ on BBC2 tonight about the Bloomsbury set but an excellent piece of drama. http://t.co/4tXUBGKcHm
— Michael Theodorou (@MrTheodorou) July 27, 2015
@JaneDewarWriter Yes – hoping for better next week, but the emphasis seemed all wrong! #LifeInSquares
— Claire Thinking (@clairethinking) July 27, 2015
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