Simply A Masterpiece

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is a great series from the 1970s and it is a pity it is only 2 boxes. The collection is exciting because 1) there is a who's who of wonderful character actors starring and 2) there is a who's who of little known but wonderful writers of detective stories here complete with short bios.The series is a fine recreation of Victorian and Edwardian times. It is video and is fussy but the sets are lavish and some shows feature live action in the countryside.Most of the plots are clever and the characters include female detectives too! Nice touch! Some are doctors but others are jewelers or insurance or gentlemen or cockneys. Instead of building as series around a young star to be (perhaps) the producing team used the best character actors around and therefore the series is a who's who of the very best talents around.check it out! you will like it! J E F Rose

Having never seen them I stumbled across the first series on DVD ... they are typical British television in the best sense... literate, beautifully acted (with an amazing cast list) and with a marvellous sense of period.They are based on early crime novels and most of the writers are unknown to me especially those based on novels that are clearly not of English origin. Whilst the production standards of 1970 may not match today and some of the individual plots are sometimes a bit ordinary the two series make great viewing for any fan of crime novels and will especially appeal to any fan of the Sherlock Holmes.

It is so easy to look back and say we had higher standards of television years ago but this series goes a long way to proving the point. When they were originally broadcast these programmes went out at 9.00 on Monday evening following a current affairs documentary "World In Action" - very often a controversial and downright bloody-minded look at national and international politics. In the same slots today we have a half-hour soap opera followed by a series about a PA in a supermarket chain, coping with her employer relocating its head office.These programmes are literate and don't betray their literary origins. The scripts are full of period flavour, take their time to develop plot and character, and give the actors plenty to work with. And what actors: John Neville, Robert Stephens, Peter Barkworth and Peter Vaughan to name a few of the leads; character actors of the quality of Terence Rigby and George A. Cooper turn up in supporting roles.The production values are very high, too, with richly decorated Victorian settings. The BBC has always set the benchmark for period drama in the UK but Thames gave them a run for their money here and were rewarded with a Best Design BAFTA in 1972.If you enjoy period detective work but you are suffering from Holmes fatigue you could do far worse than invest in these for your DVD player - theowinthrop, please note!

I discovered this series on '70s American public television by accident while channel-surfing (or whatever we called it back in the days when you twisted a knob and then had to fine-tune the receiver). I felt like it was almost my personal secret then, something like Jean Shepherd's Ralphie feels before he decodes Annie's message. Except, this doesn't turn out to be a disappointment. The stories were intelligent, accessible, and timeless. This is TV doing what it should, before everything was about teen angst. (You know, I was a teen once and I don't remember having any angst. Maybe that was partly because my TV entertained me without suggesting I had to be glum to be cool. Maybe not.)I've never seen it since and I've often wondered why not. It seems like the kind of thing that modern mystery fans would love to have, even if that meant buying it on DVD.