The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Dalziel & Pascoe…. Why No DVDs?

I keep searching around for DVDs of series that were so down-right entertaining to watch that I can’t believe I didn’t set up my trusty VCR years ago. Of course, we no longer watch anything on the VCR machine, so I would have to check to see if my husband has disconnected it. Everything these days is in DVD form…. everything EXCEPT some of my very favorite shows.

I remember watching Dalziel and Pascoe on the A&E Network. It was so many years ago that I don’t even know when it was that I saw the delightful show. I do know, however, that I absolutely loved the show. Colin Buchanan and Warren Clarke were exceptionally well-cast as the two "hero" detectives. Clarke’s portrayal of brash, disgusting, bully-of-an Inspector Dalziel was equaled in it’s perfection with Buchanan’s upper-crust younger and "greener" Inspector Pascoe.

While typing up the 2001 Edgar Awards, I was reminded (once again) of how much I miss having access to this great British show. Did you know that this show won the 2001 Edgar Award for the Best TV Feature/Miniseries? I didn’t even know about the Edgar Awards back then, but I did know that it was a wonderful series, based on a wonderful series of books by Reginald Hill.

I keep checking on Amazon, Blockbusters, and Netflix to see if they have released any of the shows, but no such luck. I hope that they are planning to offer them soon. In the mean time, I have the next best thing………. I am listening to the unabridged books on tape. Although it’s great fun to hear the books, it would be even better to finally have access to DVDs of the shows.

House of Cards Trilogy

The House of Cards Trilogy is one of the finest BBC productions set in “modern days” that I can think of.  Although the trilogy started in 1990,  it doesn’t seem at all dated to me. There are, of course, concrete things like the use of cassette recorders and the absence of today’s ever-present cell phones that double as cameras, but, for me, those types of props don’t make a story line outdated/obsolete.

This political thriller/drama stars Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, the deliciously evil, ambitious Chief Whip of the Conservative Party. Do not worry about becoming lost with regards to the British political system… Francis Urquhart provides a lot of information in his wickedly clever asides to the camera.

The trilogy follows Urquhart as he schemes, ruins, manipulates, back stabs, charms, corrupts, uses, destroys, conspires, flatters, (and any other adjectives that you can think of when you think of the lowest of the lows) his way up the British political ladder. Ian Richardson is absolutely delightful to watch!

I have to admit that of the three series that make up this trilogy, the first one… rightfully named “House of Cards” is by far my favorite. The second series (“To Play the King“) brings in one of my favorite actors (Michael Kitchen), who, as the Prince of Wales seems very familiar to us.  “The Final Cut“ is the third part, and, it is by far my least favorite series of the trilogy.

Others might find the second or third parts of the trilogy the best parts….. “You could think that, but of course, I could never comment.”     

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Rosemary and Thyme update….

We finally finished the third season of the Rosemary and Thyme show, and I have to say that it improved immensely. After that baby-in-the-jeep episode, I wasn’t at all sure if we would continue watching the shows. But, I’m glad to say that we persevered.

We found that they have gone for a more comedic type of relationship between the two main characters, which tends to make them more believable. I have to say that I am glad that we rent the shows from Netflix. Because we just rent the shows, we feel like we can stop at any time. And, we have done just that on several occasions with other shows.

We are members of both Netflix and Blockbusters…. more on that in a later blog.

A Little of This, and A Little of That… Best Authors, TV Movies

Well, I just finished looking up the few authors who I had not read from the Agatha Awards Best Novels page. As I was doing the research for the little "blurp" on the authors, I noticed that most of them have not only been nominated for the Agatha Awards, but also for (other) very prestigious mystery author/book awards.

Anyway, I have posted the names of the five last authors on the What’s New on the Site page.

On another note…… my husband and I started re-watching the Cadfael movies, and, even though we have read the novels and have seen all of the productions, we are enjoying them immensely. It’s funny how some things can never lose favor, isn’t it? Of course, (Sir) Derek Jacobi is great in any role he takes on… We "saw" him in Manor House, a part that he only narrated, and he was terrific in that. And, if you have read my previous blog about I, Claudius, you know how we felt about him in that! (Actually, I just checked my TV & Movies page and see that I haven’t written about I, Claudius…. something I have to remedy!)

 

MENU