Astley's Way

The documentary was first planned after the death of the composer in 1998 and was a year after he'd been on the pop charts via the Orbital version of "The Saint". With members of his family present to speak about the man were Jon (the official Who Archaelogist),Virginia (whose career as a singer songwriter not only saw her on the Indie charts in the early 80s but to blossom further in Japan) and Hazel,his widow. His son in law Pete Townshend was seen later reminiscing about the work they did together and the first time they met when he was introduced to the family by his future wife Karen,who was Edwin's eldest daughter. Edwin was represented by stills of photos and other memorabilia and clips were shown from some of the productions he composed music for. Obviously the film only scratched the surface when a career spanning over 50 years was the subject. While Jools Holland did an admirable job and performed the "Danger Man" Theme with his own band,what was sorely needed was more research as it would have been nice to have included Vera Lynn,the first to ever record any Edwin Astley music in the mid 40s. Neither Jon or Virginia spoke of their own careers and both are generally unknown of to the masses as Virginia is the Ultimate Cult Artiste