olivia_sutton | Entries tagged with british tv dvds mini-reviews

I recently cross-posted my British TV Mini-Review posts from Live Journal (now hosted on Dreamwidth) to my WordPress blog. But going through those posts I decided I really should include an updated version of this project. So here is volume one of those updates. This list includes Australian and British series.

Title: ANZAC Girls

Featured Actors: Georgia Flood, Antonia Prebble, Laura Brent, Anna McGahan, Caroline Craig, Honey Debelle

Episode Length: 1 Hour

Episodes: 6

Discs: 2

Total Seasons (Series): 1 (Mini-Series)

Format: Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Region: 1

Production Source: ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corp.)

General Information: This series is based on a historical book about Australian and New Zealand nurses in World War I.

Title: Call the Midwife
Featured Actors: Vanessa Redgrave (voice only), Jessica Raine, Helen George, Miranda Hart, Jenny Agutter, Judy Parfitt, Pam Ferris, Ben Caplan (Series 1)
Episode Length: 1 Hour
Episodes: 6
Discs: 2
Total Seasons (Series): 9 (scheduled)
Format: Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Region: 1
Production Source: BBC
General Information: A long-running series that follows the adventures of a group of Midwives in the UK in the 1950s. I only have the first season.

Title: Danger Mouse – Mission Improbable
Featured Actors: Alexander Armstrong, Kevin Eldon, Dave Lamb, Stephen Fry, Shauna MacDonald
Episode Length: 11 minutes (usually, except the occasional 22-minute special)
Episodes: 7
Discs: 1
Total Seasons (Series): 3 (so far)
Total Number of Episodes: 89 (so far)
Format: Color, Animation, Widescreen, PAL
Region: 2
Production Source: CBBC
General Information: An updating of the original Danger Mouse, with a new cast and CGI animation, but still the same plot. Danger Mouse is the world’s smallest secret agent, who along with his assistant, Penfold, keeps the world safe from notorious plots. His boss is Colonel K and he still lives in a red Royal Mail pillar box.

Title: Doomwatch: Winter Angel
Featured Actors: Trevor Eve, Dallas Campbell
Episode Length: 100 Minutes
Episodes: 1 (Pilot)
Discs: 1
Total Seasons (Series): Pilot made, never went to series
Format: PAL
Region: 2
Production Source: Channel 5 (UK) (Working Title Television)
General Information: An updated continuation of the classic series, Doomwatch created by Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler (who created the Cybermen for Doctor Who in the 1960s), this is a pilot for a series that was never picked up. In the original series, the “Doomwatch” team served as a watchdog group that kept an eye out for environmental and humanist consequences of the actions of business, scientific, or government excesses. This series has university lecturer Neil Tannahill receive a message that something has gone horribly wrong at a nuclear waste disposal site. It is worth noting that the British series, Eleventh Hour starring Patrick Stewart, though not officially connected to the original or the attempted updated version of Doomwatch was very much a spiritual successor and explored similar themes and concepts.

Title: Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries
Featured Actors: Edward Petherbridge, Harriet Walter, Richard Morant
Episode Length: 1 Hour (Multiple-part stories)
Episodes: 21 (Three Stories)
Discs: 10
Total Seasons (Series): 1
Format: Color, Standard, NTSC
Region: 1
Production Source: BBC / WGBH
General Information: A lavish adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers later Lord Peter mysteries featuring her aristocratic sleuth meeting, falling in love with, and eventually marrying his wife, Harriet Vane – a mystery writer.

Title: Framed
Featured Actors: Trevor Eve, Eve Myles
Episode Length: 90-Minute TV Movie
Episodes: 1
Discs: 1
Format: Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Region: 1
Production Source: BBC
General Information: A wonderful story filmed in Wales. When there is a disaster at an art museum in London, the curator proposes moving the art to a small village in Wales for safe-keeping and protection, just like during World War II. This decision and the people of a small Welsh village permanently change the curator.

Title: Grantchester
Featured Actors: Robson Green, James Norton, Morven Christie, Tessa Peake-Jones
Episode Length: 1 Hour
Episodes: 6
Discs: 2
Total Seasons (Series): 3
Format: Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Region: R1
Production Source: ITV
General Information: An Anglican priest, Canon Sidney Chambers, and a cop, Inspector Geordie Keating make for unlikely partners and friends, solving crimes in the small community of Grantchester, near Cambridge. This series is set in the 1950s and based on the short stories of James Runcie.

Title: Jewel in the Crown
Featured Actors: Art Malik, Susan Wooldridge, Tim Pigott-Smith, Geraldine James, Charles Dance
Episode Length: 1 Hour
Episodes: 14
Discs: 5
Total Seasons (Series): 1 (Extended Mini-Series)
Format: Color, Standard, NTSC
Region: 1
Production Source: ITV/Granada
General Information: Set in India from 1942 to 1947, this series covers the country’s twilight as part of the British Empire and it’s independence. Much of the focus of the series is the racism of the colonials in India, and the struggles of various people in the country, both the British people who settled there and the Indians who lived there.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: My Home Office
Current Music: The Beatles

Hi all,

Again, my TV DVD collection is pretty vast, and of course includes American shows as well as British ones, but in prep for a possible panel next Mediawest I'm writing-up and posting these mini-reviews. This takes off from the previous post which ended with "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Enjoy! And feel free to comment with your own suggestions of British TV on DVD.

--Olivia

Title: Hornblower (AKA The Adventures of Horatio Hornblower)

Featured Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Robert Lindsay, Jamie Bamber, David Warner.

Episode Length: 2-hr movies

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 4, 2, 2

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Note: I have the Complete Series boxed sets from A&E which is a total of 8 2-hour movies in 3 boxed sets.

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: ITV

General Information: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, naval officer in 1794, from a wet-behind the ears ensign with sea-sickness to a seasoned officer, based on C.S. Forester's series of books. Beautifully shot, with gorgeous tall ship design British fighting ships, including Horatio's ship The Indefatigable. Think Master and Commander but with a lower budget, though, honestly, it doesn't really look like a low budget production -- again, the filming is gorgeous, despite the budget. A bit of trivia, the original C.S. Forester novels were one of Gene Roddenberry's inspirations for Star Trek.

Title: Jeeves and Wooster

Featured Actors: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 5 or 6

Total Seasons (Series): 4

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: Granada

General Information: Based on PG Wodehouse's short stories, Jeeves and Wooster is about Bertie Wooster (Laurie) a upper-class twit in 1920s England (although in the last series he spends several episodes "abroad" in the US) and his perfect valet Jeeves (Fry). Jeeves can do anything. He also pulls his charge out of trouble, prevents him from getting in trouble, sees to it that he's always in style, and basically cares for him like a kid. Watch for Laurie's piano playing - it's often the highlight of the show.

Title: Life on Mars

Featured Actors: John Simm, Philip Glenister

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 8

Total Seasons (Series): 2

Format: PAL Region: 2

Note: At least Series 1 of this series is also available in NTSC, Region 1. But, because there is an American series of the same name, make sure you are buying the right one.

Production Source: BBC

General Information: Sam Tyler is a detective in modern London who's knocked down by a hit-and-run car. He wakes up in 1973. However, it is very unclear whether he's in a coma and dreaming, gone totally off the deep end and has created his own world, or he's really time-traveled to 1973. And this intentional ambiguity is what made the show very, very special. The second thread of the program was that it gave the producers the chance to do a 1970s-style cop show, without running into obvious social changes involved. Life on Mars does actually deal with 70s social issues, including those specific to the UK such as football hooliganism, but in a very clever way, since Sam is from 2006 and has modern viewpoints, and he's confronted with a world that's very different. Someone once said, "The Past is a Foreign Country," and this show deals squarely with that concept. Third, it is a fun 70-style cop show. The publicity, press, and special features all mention that the show is like The Sweeney, something I've never seen (so I don't know), but I found it very similar to The Professionals, which was another reason I really liked it.

Title: NeverWhere

Featured Actors: Gary Bakewell, Laura Fraser

Episode Length: 30 Minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 1 (mini-series)

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: BBC

General Information: Based on Neil Gaiman's novel, this fantasy series follows a man, Richard Mayhew, who falls into another world below the London Underground. The plot of the novel is very similar to L. Frank Baum's novel The Wizard of Oz, in that once he discovers the fantasy world he just wants to go home.

Title: The Piglet Files

Featured Actors: Nicholas Lyndhurst, Serena Evans, Clive Francis, John Ringham

Episode Length: 30 Minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 7

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: London Weekend Television

General Information: Peter Chapman is a teacher at a small Polytechnic, when he is recruited by MI5 to teach the field agents how to use technology. Over time, he also becomes a field agent himself. This is an extremely funny series - smart, clever, intelligent, etc. It also really pokes fun at the British secret services, and various programs (The Sandbaggers, James Bond, etc) that celebrate them. However, to call The Piglet Files a British Get Smart would be an over-simplification because the program is not a parody and Peter is not working for his own agency, the way Max works for Control. Rather, Peter really is working for MI5 but in this series they are very much taking the Mickey out of the British security services, especially MI5.

Title: The Professionals

Featured Actors: Gordon Jackson, Lewis Collins, Martin Shaw

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 14 or 15

Total Seasons (Series): 5

Note: Packaged as 4 boxed sets

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: London Weekend Television (ITV)

General Information: William Andrew Philip Bodie (who goes by just Bodie) and Ray Doyle are the top agents for CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), a fictional British security agency - somewhere between Scotland Yard, MI5 (internal security) and MI6 (external security). Their "Controller" (or boss) is George Cowley, a principled and dedicated agent of the State. Although this 1970s-era program focuses on anti-terrorism plots for the most part (think about when it was made and what was going on in the UK at the time), the fact that it is a fictional agency with a wide purview allows for a wide plot landscape. There is even a stunning episode that focuses on what happens when an individual representing the State is given too much policing power - that is, citizens may be safe from crime but they also have no freedom ("In the Public Interest"). That's another focus about "Pros" that makes the show particularly interesting for an American viewer - here's a show that is willing to criticize the very "agency" it also portrays as heroic. Similarly, the heroes are not perfect - they make mistakes, they mess-up and when they do innocents die. Of course, since it is a 1970s show, there's plenty of jiggling women who are portrayed as a distraction to Bodie and Doyle, and other attitudes of the 1970s prevail. But it's still well worth watching, especially in this day and age.

Title: Randall and Hopkirk, Deceased (2000)

Featured Actors: Vic Reeves (Jim Moir), Bob Mortimer, Tom Baker, Emilia Fox

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6 or 7

Total Seasons (Series): 2

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: BBC

General Information: A remake of a 1960s ITV series of the same name, in my personal opinion the 2000 version is better. Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk are best friends and partners in the private detective business. In the premiere episode, Marty is murdered and returns as a ghost to help his friend and partner solve his own murder. When circumstances force Marty to remain past sun-up, he is stuck on Earth as a ghost that only Jeff can see. Tom Baker plays Wyvern, Marty's "spirit guide", who teaches him the ins and outs of being a ghost. Jeannie is Marty's fiancée who ends-up becoming Jeff's new partner in the detective business. Since she cannot see Marty and doesn't know that Marty's ghost visits Jeff, this adds a comic element. Because of Jeff and Marty's genuine friendship - there is also a bittersweet element to the series, since Jeff is in mourning for his friend - yet his friend is still around. This particular version of the series also has a supernatural or paranormal focus. A very, very good program that should have lasted at least one more season.

Title: Robin of Sherwood (AKA Robin Hood)

Featured Actors: Michael Praed (Series 1 & 2), Jason Connery (series 3 only), Clive Mantle, Ray Winstone, Judi Trott, Peter Llewellyn-Williams, Phil Rose, Mark Ryan, Nickolas Grace, Robert Addie, et. al.

Episode Length: 1 hour normally but with several 2-hour episodes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6, 6, 13

Note: I have The Complete Boxed set which consists of 22 episodes on 8 discs (counting each of the many 2-hour or 2-part episodes as a single episode.)

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Format: PAL Region: 2 (Also available in NTSC, Region 1)

Production Source: BBC

General Information: The single best version of Robin Hood I've ever seen. Robin, in this version, is a follower of Herne the Hunter, a mysterious figure who speaks like Obi-Wan Kenobi or a Vorlon. However, when not possessed by Herne, the very old human male lives in a cave. Robin, as Herne's son, gets advice from both HERNE, the mysterious god, and Herne the guy who gets possessed by the god. It's a little confusing but it gives this version of Robin Hood it's lovely mystical quality. Because Michael Praed leaves after the second series and is replaced with Jason Connery, this is also the only version of Robin Hood I've seen that deals with the death of Robin Hood. And, both versions of the legend are used - Praed is the traditional pauper Robin Hood; whereas Jason Connery is Lord Robert of Huntington, a Peer of the Realm, who turns his back on Society when he sees how the people are being exploited and takes up Robin's role, gathering Robin's scattered men and women in the process.

Title: The Sandbaggers

Featured Actors: Roy Marsden, Richard Vernon, Dennis Burgress, Ray Lonnen, Alan MacNaughton, Bob Sherman, Jerome Willis, Michael Cashman, et. al.

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: Granada

General Information: A serious fictional portrayal of MI6. Although there are some great funny lines in this series, overall it's very, very depressing, and regular characters are killed off on a routine basis. But, it's still very much a "do not miss" show if you like the spy genre.

Title: Sapphire and Steel

Featured Actors: David McCallum, Joanna Lumley, (and David Collins, occasional)

Episode Length: 30 minute episodes, forming multi-part stories

Story Length: 4-8 30 Minute episodes, one story per disc. The boxed set contains all six stories.

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: ITV

General Information: A mysterious, moody, and dark series. Sapphire and Steel are "elements" who act sort of time detectives or police officers, showing up after time has messed-up to fix things and set things right. This is the weirdest TV show I've ever seen and still enjoyed. (The Prisoner is weirder, but I don't like it - it's too strange.) Needless to say, you really don't know what is going on. Ever. Though in the individual stories, all of which are very, very different from each other, you can follow what's going on, it's just really hard to describe such a strange show, accurately. It's also very scary and dark. Joanna Lumley is Sapphire, normally dressed in blue, with the powers of telepathic communication with Steel, and the ability to manipulate time to some extent. David McCallum is Steel who is super strong and has the ability to lower his body temp to near absolute zero (though' it also takes a lot of energy). Because of the 30-minute cliffhanger format (the same as classic Doctor Who) the series is very addictive.

The Sarah Jane Adventures - See separate entry under Doctor Who

Title: Sea of Souls

Featured Actors: Bill Paterson

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 2 (that I know of)

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: BBC

General Information: Set in Scotland, this series follows a university professor and his students as they investigate paranormal mysteries. Each episode is a 2-hour movie, however on the DVD set they are broken into 1-hour parts with a "to be continued" card.

Title: Sherlock Holmes (AKA, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and various movie specials)

Featured Actors: Jeremy Brett, David Burke (Series 1 only), Edward Hardwicke (thereafter)

Episode Length: 1 hour, some 2-hr movies

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): varies

Note: I have the Complete Boxed set, which is 41 episodes on 12 discs. It is sold in the US under the title "Sherlock Holmes the Complete Granada TV Series".

Total Seasons (Series): 5

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: Granada

General Information: No one can play Holmes like Jeremy Brett, and surprisingly both Watsons work extremely well as well since the changeover is made between "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" when Watson is supposed to be three years older anyway. What makes this version of Sherlock Holmes so good is that they actually adapted the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories - which are, of course, darn good. And, it being British, the historical detail is unmatched.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: My home office
Current Music: Everybody Dance Now

Hi all -

In prep for a panel I might do at next year;s Mediawest (and yes, I do owe you guys a con review - it's been busy here. And raining alot!) I wrote up brief summaries for all the British TV in my DVD collection. Keep in mind I also collect US TV and US film on DVD. Actually, I'm guessing I have around 200 films on DVD and all but a couple are American films. I do really like British TV tho - so, tho' I have American stuff, yeah, my collection is heavily weighted to British TV. I might post just a list of my American TV shows (possibly not annotated - as most should be well known.) Because the list is long it will be posted over several days. Doctor Who and it's spin-offs will be posted seperately.

Vocabulary Guide:

British-American Usage Chart

•Programme = Series

•Series = Season

•Part = Episode

•Serial = Story or Episode (for Doctor Who or Sapphire & Steel)

•Double-length = Two-part story or episode

Ep. -- Episode, in the American sense of the word.

AKA -- Also Known As (Some British series had different titles in the US, or each season (series) had it's own title)

MI5 -- Military Intelligence 5, the British internal security service, similiar to the FBI in the US.

MI6 -- Military Intelligence 6, the British external security service, similiar to the CIA in the US.

Scotland Yard -- the British National Police Force. Somewhat like the FBI in the US, and somewhat like the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in Canada. They are generally invited in to cases throughout the country, but may also cover rural areas, like the RCMP.

The Met -- Depends on context, but usually short for the London Metropolitan Police.

Oxbridge -- Oxford and/or Cambridge -- not only refers to the two universities, or to someone who as graduated or attended either one, the term "Oxbridge" also refers to an attitude of intelligence, breeding, cultured-ness, etc. Somewhat like the US terms, "High brow" or "Ivy League" but without the snobbishness that implies. (The British universities allow anyone with the intelligence to do so to attend, without the costly fees that would keep poorer students away.)

British TV Recommendation List (AKA my Personal (UK) DVD List in alphabetical Order)

Title: All Creatures Great and Small

Featured Actors: Robert Hardy, Peter Davison, Christopher Timothy, Carol Drinkwater (Series 1-3), Lynda Bellingham (Later Series)

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 13 or 14, depending on set

Total Seasons (Series): 7, Series in my personal collection: 3, plus Christmas specials

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: BBC

General Information: Based on the series of autobiographical novels by James Herriot, this series is about vets in 1930s England. It's a really great show about people, surviving in bad times, and dealing with hardship in a blunt, yet accepting way. If you've never seen it you are missing something. Also, like many British shows, familiar actors do show up in guest roles, including Patrick Troughton and Nicholas Courtney (not in the same episode).

Title: Bang Bang It's Reeves and Mortimer

Featured Actors (Comedians): Vic Reeves (Jim Moir), Bob Mortimer

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set):

Total Seasons (Series):

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: BBC

General Information: A British sketch comedy show. However, this isn't Oxbridge, it's working-class comedy. Reeves and Mortimer were among the first of the New Wave, lower/working class (AKA Blue Collar) comedians, and one of the most successful. (Similar New Wave comedies include: The League of Gentlemen, Little Britain, and Absolutely Fabulous). Overall, I wasn't that impressed, but I had picked up all of the Reeves and Mortimer series after seeing Randall and Hopkirk, Deceased (see entry).

Title: Black Adder

Featured Actors: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Miranda Richardson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 4, plus specials

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: BBC

Note: I have "The Complete BlackAdder" boxed set, which includes all four series and the specials. The box set is 27 episodes and 5 discs.

General Information: A Oxbridge comedy that is quite possibly the funniest British show I've seen, this historical comedy also teaches history (albeit in a twisted way). Blackadder consists of four series (seasons), each with it's own title, set in different time periods (The Middle Ages; Elizabethan England; The Regency, and World War I. Specials included a Victorian Christmas Special, a special set during the Parliamentary wars, and a futuristic special with time travel to various eras.) The casts were different for each season and some popular guests returned as different characters in other seasons. Notably: Brian Blessed in series I only as Richard IV; Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart (Series 2) and Cap't Flashheart (Series 4); and Gabrielle Glaister as the cross-dressing Bob (a girl pretending to be a guy) in Series 2 and 4. Nicola Bryant is in the Christmas special. Again, if you somehow missed it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Title: Blake's 7

Featured Actors: Paul Darrow, Gareth Thomas, Michael Keating, Sally Knyvette, Jan Chappell, Jacqueline Pearce, et. al.

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 13

Total Seasons (Series): 4

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: BBC

General Information: A group of criminals escape from an Earth that is under the control of a tyrannical Federation in an alien spacecraft they re-name The Liberator. An anti-Star Trek science fiction program. Although there are some great funny lines in this series, overall it's very, very depressing, and regular characters are killed off on a routine basis. Although this was my favorite British SF show after Doctor Who in the 80s when I first saw it, it doesn't stand up that well. But still worth investigating if you don't mind the really bad special effects.

Title: Brass

Featured Actors: Timothy West, Caroline Blakiston, Geoffrey Hisliff, Geoffrey Hutchings, James Saxon, Emily Morgan, David Ashton, Shaun Scott, Gary Cady.

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 13

Total Seasons (Series): 1

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: Granada

General Information: A British version of Soap, in that it parodies soap operas. This series follows the adventures of two families in a Welsh mining village; the poor Fairchilds who work in the mines, and the rich Hardacres, who own the mines. The show also parodies Dallas and other night-time soap operas, but in a very British style. The word "brass" itself is British slang for money (not "upper-echelon military" - that's American slang). Brass is a very, very funny show.

Title: Catterick

Featured Actors: Vic Reeves (Jim Moir), Bob Mortimer

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 2 (only 1 on DVD so far)

Format: PAL Region: 2

Production Source: BBC

General Information: A fantastic British New Wave comedy but with a plot. There is also a heavy use of music in this series, so if it ever makes it's way onto Region 1/NTSC discs be on the lookout for the dreaded music replacement notice. The show involves a man, just out of the military, on his way home, when chaos ensues. This series is very weird, but since it does have a plot, and music, and it's also lots of fun, it's more approachable than the other Reeves and Mortimer comedies.

Title: DangerMouse

Featured Actors: Animated

Episode Length: 10 minutes or 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): Varies

Total Seasons (Series): 7

Note: A&E bundled two Series in each set originally, and subsequently has issued a Complete boxed set. I have the Series 1 & 2, Series 3 & 4, and Series 5 & 6 boxed sets.

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: Thames

General Information: "He's terrific, he's magnific, he's the greatest super agent in the world - Danger Mouse! Danger Mouse, our Mouse, he's terrific, he's magnific, he's the best! Danger Mouse!" Danger Mouse, the world's smallest secret agent is a small white mouse known for his white turtlenecks and black eye patch. Aided by his hamster assistant, Penfold, he reports to Colonel K (a Badger) and fights evil and chaos (usually in the form of Baron Greenback, a frog, and his assistants Nero, a caterpillar, and a crow). Danger Mouse lives in the top flat of a normal red pillar-box style post box. Full of puns, silly situations, parodies of just about everything, and witty dialog - Danger Mouse is enjoyable for both children and adults. The Narrator gets some of the funniest lines, like the Narrator in the US-series Rocky and Bullwinkle. Note: in some areas in the US, when episodes of Danger Mouse were aired they were joined together and the narration stripped out - this destroyed an awful lot of the humor of the show. The DVDs faithfully restore all the narration. Also, the voices are the original ones, not the dubs (apparently, again, only when shown on TV in certain areas, some of the characters were over-dubbed for unknown reasons).

Doctor Who - See Separate Entry (There's an awful lot and I have just about all of it)

Title: Fawlty Towers

Featured Actors: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 12 - in Complete Set

Note: I have the complete collection boxed set - 12 eps, on 3 discs.

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: BBC

General Information: John Cleese as exactly the wrong man to run a hotel. Nuff said. Actually, this Oxbridge comedy is a true classic. The episodes often started with one small thing that then snowballed with hilarious results.

Title: The Grand

Featured Actors:

Episode Length: 1

Number of episodes per series (DVD set):

Total Seasons (Series): 2

Format: 1 Region: NTSC

Production Source: Granada

General Information: Russell T. Davies' historical drama set in a hotel in the 1920s. I bought this because it is Russell T. Davies (Doctor Who) producing, and I wanted to like it. But, to me, it came off a cheap imitation of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Title: Hamish MacBeth

Featured Actors: Robert Carlyle, David Ashton, et. al.

Episode Length: 1 hour

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 5 to 7

Total Seasons (Series): 3

Format: PAL Region: 2 (Note: These are also available in NTSC, Region 1)

Production Source: BBC

General Information: A small town constable in the Scottish Highlands solves mysteries (with his Highland White Scottish Terrier) while sorting out his love-life and figuring out his destiny. A bit strange, but very good. PC MacBeth's goal in life is to solve crime in his beloved Lochdubh, without getting promoted, since that would mean leaving the village. Avoiding promotion is an issue because he's very good at his job.

Title: Heat of the Sun

Featured Actors: Trevor Eve, Susannah Harker, Michael Byrne

Episode Length: 2-hr Mystery! movies

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 3

Total Seasons (Series): 1 (that I know of)

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: Unknown

General Information: Trevor Eve, whom I've long admired as an actor, plays a Scotland Yard Detective sent to Kenya, partially as punishment, and partially to "clean up the town" as the saying goes. Det. Albert Tyburn is an honest cop, who is thrown into a situation where the super-rich ex-pat "locals" do whatever they want and the police have stopped caring. Tyburn wishes to do something about this. An excellent mystery series, I wish there was more. Beside, Trevor Eve, in khakis, running around, looking hot, and boy does he - what's not to love?

Title: Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Featured Actors: Simon Jones, David Dixon, Peter Jones (as the voice of the book), Mark Wing-Davey, Sandra Dickinson

Episode Length: 30 minutes

Number of episodes per series (DVD set): 6

Total Seasons (Series): 1 (mini-series)

Format: NTSC Region: 1

Production Source: BBC

General Information: The original British television mini-series, based on the books by Douglas Adams, which was in turn based on the radio series. Although the effects are not good, the mini-series is far superior to the American movie by the same name. The plot goes like this: Arthur Dent is rescued by his friend Ford Prefect shortly before the Earth is destroyed by a Vogon Destructor Fleet to make way for a hyper-space bypass. In a bit of irony, Arthur's house had been slated for destruction for precisely the same reasons. Ford introduces Arthur to the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the galaxy's most useful and popular book. Again, a Oxbridge comedy filled with biting wit and sarcasm, very funny asides, interesting, useless, and possibly untrue trivia, iconic characters, outright silliness, the works. And even though it has some truly awful effects (Just ignore Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head), the "computer-generated" drawings by the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy were actually all hand-drawn animation which is pretty incredible. It's a must-see!