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Reviews
Murder in Provence: Episode #1.3 (2022)
Which is the Homicidal stalker?
It's not unusual for a mystery to produce three different suspects - it gives the detective a chance to find flaws in alibis and rehabilitate the reputations of the innocent suspects. The problem with this episode is that two of the suspects remain at large because they were innocent of this crime, but we now know enough about them to wonder how long it will be before they do commit murder.
McDonald & Dodds: Clouds Across the Moon (2022)
The new Chief Superintendent is the real star
Another implausible plot with entertaining byplay between the main characters, marred by a particularly unpleasant murder method.
Impossible to imagine James Murray as Chief Superintendent for this episode, but that just shows the writers and producers are more concerned to avoid racial stereotyping than gender stereotyping.
McDonald & Dodds: The War of Rose (2021)
Just how much did they re-shoot for Series 3?
Very confusing to have DC Craig (the dozy Bristolian in Series 2) and DC Malik (his sharp-suited replacement for Series 3) appearing in consecutive scenes, not to mention other walk-ons in the "team" briefings! Perhaps Lily Sacofsky's other filming commitments explain why she wasn't given such clever observations to make in "true" Series 3, and thus didn't need a dim-sounding colleague to highlight her ability, but it's a shame that we have lost the only genuine West Country accent. Implausible story, but the exchanges about the two-hour gas boiler repair were entertaining.
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Beware the American Wife!
This version addresses the "entail" issue more clearly than any other I can remember (Lady Catherine points out to Darcy that Rosings is NOT entailed to the male line). It's presumably a good adaptation from the stage play, but it's really let down by the casting of Mrs Bennet. Why would Mr Bennet marry an American if they're all as manic as this? Compare her performance with that of Priscilla Morgan in the 1980 TV version to see how the same character saying roughly the same things can cause us to cringe for completely different reasons. The film does drag a bit, using Lady Catherine in place of the Gardners odd, but there is lots that's worth seeing for comparison with all the other versions. But isn't it odd to see Charlotte Lucas listed instead as Mrs Collins?
Three Men in a Boat (1975)
Entertaining
Trimming the story down to an hour inevitably misses someone's favourite bit, but the most popular scenes are retained - and a walk-on part added for Shelley. It seems odd that so many (American?) reviewers are unfamiliar with Stephen Moore, but the film was made a few years before he became the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android - the original radio cast were stunned to discover they had a stage actor of his eminence working with them.
The final voice-over, giving non-fictional information about "George" and "Harris", is taken from Chapter VI of Jerome's "My Life & Times", and its inclusion gives a downbeat ending which is perhaps Tom Stoppard's oddest decision.
The Avengers: The House That Jack Built (1966)
The key to their relationship (and that's NOT a spoiler)
You've probably read the "What happened to the shining armour?" quote, which tells you in one line that Mrs Peel resolves this outstanding episode unaided, but things don't end there.
Immediately after that exchange, Steed holds out his hand to her, just as we see gentlemen like him do in period dramas - to assist a lady out of a carriage, or to escort her in to dinner.
"Will she take his hand?", we ask ourselves, as they're indoors and it's too early for dinner. Well, you'll just have to watch the episode to find out - but once you've watched it you'll understand their relationship.
The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder: Man with a Strange Tattoo (1971)
An episode that gives Political Correctness a good name
Mr Reeder wishes to save Lady Rothbard from embarrassment (not least because Sir Jason wishes it also). Colour hardly makes up for having a different "Miss Belman" actress, but it's Mr Reeder's view of justice which prompts TPTV to warn us that it reflects the attitudes of the time.
Lady Rothbard has shot the priest who attempts to reclaim the jewel which her youthful inamorata has stolen from the temple and presented to her. Her husband knows nothing of this (though the inamorata was to have been best man at their wedding - but was killed by priests seeking the stolen jewel). Mr Reeder spares Lady Rothbard embarrassment by not telling her husband that she had been treasuring the jewel for years (she pretended that the attempted theft related to a diamond necklace) - being satisfied with the knowledge that the jewel had been recovered by a second priest/thief and restored to the temple at long last. Lady Rothbard's murder of the first priest is glossed over as just of those things that must be tolerated to protect a lady's good name. He was only an Indian, after all, and the setting is long before 1948.
Good Omens (2019)
The pictures were better on the radio
Let's start with the good bits (of the first two episodes - that's all I could take): I enjoyed David Tennant and Michael Sheen as the two main characters, Nina Sosanya as Sister Mary Loquacious, and Sam Taylor Buck as Adam Young.
The "Garden of Eden" characters puzzled me - if Eve is "Adam's Rib", why is her skin so much paler? Discovering that God was not just a woman, but an American woman at that, made me realise where the money must have come from to make this adaptation, and made me fear for the adapter's treatment of Americans who feature in the plot (but as I haven't seen those episodes this isn't a spoiler).
I shouldn't really have been surprised at Anathema Device being American too, but that was my "U-571" moment. The opening sequence was reminiscent of BBC TV's "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - another story that worked better on the radio.