TV on DVD: Pie in the Sky -- Series 1 (1994)

Available on DVD
From Acorn Media

Read Our Review of Series 2

Bookmark this on Delicious

Print Page





Although I'm the first to admit to a definite addiction to the Acorn Media sets and BBC/HBO/Warner Brothers releases that have turned me into a budding Anglophile-- honestly the idea of British cuisine or fine English dining has never sounded like an appetizing venture.

Yet move over Chef Gordon Ramsay! Long before Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and F-Word experiences began another UK culinary wizard was ruling the kitchens of the airwaves. He arrived in the form of Harry Potter and Tony award-winning History Boys star Richard Griffiths as the copper turned restaurateur Henry Crabbe on BBC1's delightful series Pie in the Sky.

Although it's pretty safe to say the title of his famously addictive steak and kidney pie isn't something that instantly causes American mouths to water, his homey and intimate restaurant Pie in the Sky and the eponymous series kept fans delighted for forty successful episodes running five seasons or “series” as they say in the UK from 1994-1997.

Now luckily for us Yanks, it's releasing stateside with the attractively packaged space saving slim design of the first series as a compact three disc set complete with all ten episodes. Preserved in the original 4:3 (or square television shaped) aspect ratio, thankfully those of us who are sometimes accent-challenged will be delighted to learn that Acorn has provided us once again with the added bonus of both Dolby Digital Surround and English subtitles for the deaf and or hard of hearing.

And, sure enough-- just like a delectable treat-- it only takes a few minutes once the first episode “The Best of Both Worlds” begins to realize just how different Pie in the Sky is from traditional UK police dramas. Quirky, offbeat, and character driven-- the show is sure to appeal to the same audience who had an appetite for fellow, recent Acorn TV on DVD releases such as the complete collection of The Last Detective and The Beiderbecke Affair.

Striking a nice balance-- it's funnier and less complicated than the beloved Midsomer Murders and one wherein we get an instant sense of the main character's personality more than we did throughout an entire season of Taggart. Yet, all the while the writers ensure we're drawn in by the pleasant charm of all of the characters involved rather than analyzing any gruesome psyches in the otherwise brilliant but dark Cracker and Ruth Rendell Mysteries.

In its premiere episode, Pie in the Sky utilizes a classic cop show cliché set-up to surprising effect. And in going with one of the oldest police cliches in the book, it makes a bold statement that the series isn't going where we think it's going when it takes the premise of a near-retirement copper and moves it into an entirely different direction as we meet our hero, Chief Inspector Detective Henry Crabbe only a little more than a month away from retirement.

Eager to put the twenty-five hard years of life on the police force behind him and move onto his second act as a restaurateur and chef-- much to the chagrin of his accountant and all-things-culinary-related disinterested wife Margaret (Maggie Steed)--he's shot in the line-of-duty by a fellow foodie and upper-class treasury bonds smuggler named Hooperman and played by Foyle's War star Michael Kitchen after he refuses to take a bribe.

While to Henry-- who's wounded in the leg-- this is exactly the right impetus to get out of the hospital and go to work on his dream career. But quickly we learn that the force has other plans for the affable food snob. This occurs after he's unexpectedly duped into innocently accepting an envelope from Hooperman and his manipulative and politically game-playing boss ACC Freddy Fisher (Casino Royale's Malcolm Sinclair) decides to blackmail the innocent Henry with the possibility of losing his pension during an image-ruining inquiry unless he willingly decides to stay on as a detective at Fisher's beck-and-call.

Still able to run the restaurant he then places in his wife's name-- while Fisher assumes that now Crabbe has "The Best of Both Worlds," as the episodes continue-- we watch him strive to solve cases and clean up bureaucratic messes all the while going about the business of starting Pie in the Sky. Thus, he continually juggles crime scenes with wine-lists as Henry wears two hats throughout-- hiring a new staff including some old ex-cons he'd locked up and adding on a hen house and naming the most troublesome chicken after Fisher.

Similar to The Last Detective and indeed Cracker-- as an outsider, Crabbe is often professionally paired with a female partner. This time it's in the form of the brainy, loyal, and supportive Cambridge (Bella Enahoro) and just like the aforementioned shows, the character of the wife takes awhile to develop into one with whom we can empathize and identify. Yet, eventually they make this up to the wonderful actress Maggie Steed as she does more than the wives of the other series to brilliant effect in one of season one's standout episodes "A Matter of Taste."

Changing roles at least temporarily as Margaret fills in for a friend victimized during a wine merchant warehouse robbery, she and her old school chum use their wits and the ridiculous value placed on the vintage wines to out-maneuver the villains with deliciously comedic results. And finally Steed is able to drop the frown that perpetually was written in as the disapproving accountant to become instead a fun-loving, risk-taking wife that only gets stronger as the season draws to a close.

Series creator Andrew Payne and his writing team deftly blend the gentle humor and eccentric characters that populate the restaurant with clever mysteries loaded with red herrings including one that does a complete 360 as Fisher and Crabbe are forced to partner together just as close as they'd been on the force in the old days to investigate a decades old crime.

Also containing bonus notes, a biography of Richard Griffiths, interview with Steed, that famous recipe and more-- it's a spirited and fun set from Acorn that is sure to gain in popularity a la Last Detective as more installments are released in the future. However, while I'm not one for betting-- I'm going to just go ahead and predict that it will Crabbe himself and not the kidney pie that keeps us enchanted on our side of the pond.

TV on DVD: Taggart -- Set 1

The World's Longest Running Police Drama
Arrives On DVD From Acorn Media
3/24/09

Bookmark this on Delicious

Print Page



Whenever “there's been a murder,” as the catchphrase to the phenomenally successful Glaswegian detective series promises in each and every episode-- you can bet that Scotland’s finest will solve the case before the closing credits roll.



Glenn Chandler’s Taggart—“the world's longest continually running police drama”-- first hit the airwaves on ITV Network in 1983 featuring the titular character Jim Taggart (portrayed by the late Mark McManus). And throughout its 25 plus year run, Taggart (the series) has changed both in format length and with its revolving door of cast members that are currently headed up by the no-nonsense DCI Matt Burke (Alex Norton), DC Stuart Fraser (Colin McCredie), DI Robbie Ross (John Michie), and DS Jackie Reid (Blythe Duff).



In Acorn Media’s premiere set of the Glasgow hit produced by Scottish television for ITV (where it consistently draws in phenomenal ratings both in the UK and around the globe), we’re presented with the logically titled Set 1. However, the first set to hit DVD isn't one that chronicles the original 1983 premiere season but instead includes 2002’s complete 19th season of the series over the course of the three-disc slim packaged boxed set which contains seven episodes as follows: "Hard Man," "Fade to Black," "Blood Money," "New Life," "Bad Blood," "Halfway House," and "An Eye for an Eye."



Luckily for audiences unfamiliar with the program, you don't need a primer to get right in on the action as Taggart’s primary goal is to deliver a seemingly simplistic murder mystery which typically opens the episode and then proceeds to morph into an increasingly complicated conspiratorial and intricately plotted crime that reveals the secrets of Glasgow’s most sinister criminals.



While the same quartet of detectives populate each show and you can always count on Alex Norton's unintentionally giggle-inducing poker face and angry delivery of his most frequently styled dialogue (examples: “Good God, man! Come off it.”) as the veritable walking warning about the dangers of work-related stress and high blood pressure to try and add a ticked off, self-righteous charge to every scene-- it’s amazing how little we actually learn about the detectives.



Balancing out Burke-- who I kept thinking would probably be the most successful candidate in the history of the old game show Make Me Laugh for his inability to crack as much as a smile in his near-attempt to give himself an aneurysm with every new line of dialogue—we have the young, sensitive, technologically gifted “celibate homosexual” Fraser, the handsome but emotionally immature Ross, and typically cool and grim Reid as the obligatory “female.”



During each case, they employ their most successful modes of investigation to discover how the victim lived which would tell the detectives how and why they died (which Burke calls the first rule of the job) in addition to identifying the two most important keys-- motive and opportunity.



In Acorn Media’s impressively transferred set that thankfully boasts subtitles to aid in understanding their thick Scottish accents, the Glaswegian officers uncover multiple motives and secrets in its terrific opener “Halfway House,” along with a few timely medically and scientifically motivated deaths in “Fade to Black,” “New Life,” and “An Eye for an Eye.”



Although “Hard Man,” “Bad Blood,” and “Blood Money” admirably make the most of techniques and plot lines from film noir and some of the mysteries are quite clever in their succinct fifty minute running time, overall (and similar to the detached yet infinitely superior production value of the long-running standalone village mystery series Midsomer Murders), overall it's hard to feel that invested in Taggart's goings-on.

This is especially true as none of the detectives manage to engage and unfortunately-- in order to keep things interesting-- it’s far too easy to just wait until Burke appears on the screen to crack us up without even trying to see who he chews out next with his cliche riddled speeches. Therefore, in the end it’s Burke who proves that-- instead of the boxed set’s episode “Hard Man”-- he is the series’ “Hard Man” and moreover its unlikely comic relief as well and that one makes us laugh even harder the more he tries to play it oh, so straight.

TV on DVD: Cracker -- The Complete Collection (10 DVD Set)

Own the Entire Award-Winning Series
3/10/09

Already Available

Bookmark this on Delicious

Print Page



In the debut episode of the 25-time award-winning British ITV television series Cracker, the amnesiac prime suspect accused in a series of brutally bloody slice-and-dice killings tells the forensic criminal psychologist interviewing him that he is “the one who needs the psychologist.”

And sure enough, the man on the receiving end of this observation is one about which the audience has already most likely had similar thoughts just moments after we’re first introduced to Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane’s brilliant, arrogant, deeply flawed, yet fascinating character Dr. Edward Fitzgerald.

Known throughout the series as Fitz—series creator and mastermind Jimmy McGovern (Fitz’s real-life alter-ego) created a British police drama unlike anything else on the airwaves. Inspired by his disappointment with the cool overly procedural and detached Helen Mirren hit Prime Suspect--McGovern, who wanted to introduce a criminal psychologist to her series in the second season—instead centered an entire show around the individual he was determined to make just as seriously flawed and demon-plagued as those with whom he must analyze and interrogate.

While the terms “groundbreaking,” “genius,” and “visionary,” are thrown around fairly cavalierly in a buzz-fueled media where blurbs rule as opposed to insightful articulation-- in the case of Cracker, all three words are not only justified but demanded.

Sharing his belief that the show’s success was in its audacity to become what he feels “was the first post-feminist drama series,” which benefited from its frank tell-it-like-it-is characters since in the early ‘90s, “everyone was getting sick of political correctness,” so that “the timing couldn’t have been better,” McGovern’s unique blend of complex Edgar award-winning mystery storytelling and emphasis on the neuroses, emotions, and problems of its characters on both sides of the law made this Manchester set drama a critical smash.

An admitted hypocrite who reveals that he drinks, smokes, and gambles too much—correctly surmising that “I am too much”-- Fitz is the type of anti-hero from the days of Cagney and Bogart in the films he worships whose ability to size up anyone with whom he crosses paths in two minutes makes him not only invaluable in assisting the local police department but far too gifted for his own personal devices.

And as a result, whenever he’s unable to gamble with people’s lives by assisting the police, he tries to lose himself in risky backrooms gambling away his finances and unhealthily working towards a heart attack in a mess of a private life where his skills as “an emotional rapist,” hold everyone around him-- especially his long-suffering wife Judith captive.

In order to understand the criminal mind, Fitz eerily must put himself in the criminals' shoes, skin, and mind-- empathizing with them in ways that chill us to our very core as he discusses their thought processes and primal urges to help them crack. And in doing so, he argues in the first episode’s bravura opening, that instead of initially reaching for books on philosophy and psychology (which he violently hurls at a lecture hall filled with university students), you first must force yourself to explore the darkest recesses of your soul.

Further revealing that he’s rehearsed his father’s death without the satisfaction of an "opening night" numerous times, the guilt ridden extremely lapsed Catholic runs hot and cold on people—especially those closest to him in the series’ most effective relationship-- namely his initially professional but later flirtatious and romantic tinged partnership with Manchester Police Department’s sole female detective sergeant, Jane Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville).

Nicknamed “Panhandle"-- Jane’s character—much like Fitz’s is the underdog and outsider in the perpetual boys' club of the department and as the copper who is always sent to deliver bad news, it becomes her duty as well to perpetually chauffeur Fitz around from location to location where the two reach a chemistry that sizzles within the first season.

With highly complicated and shockingly brutal crimes that span multiple episodes (typically two to three) before reaching a resolution, each fifty minute episode is included in Acorn Media’s recent release of the entire collection of the show, only previously available from HBO.

A comprehensive set that includes the original first three seasons which aired from 1993 to 1995-- the ten-disc collection also includes two stand-alone feature length mysteries made a decade apart in 1996 and 2006 respectively, as well as a forty-five minute new retrospective, interview filled documentary.

Although the show also aired here in the states on A&E and BBC America and was also remade into a short-lived and poorly received American version starring Robert Pastorelli—each episode of UK's Cracker is so compelling that in my view they always moved far beyond the limitations of traditional television storytelling and work much better when viewed in mini-marathons to absorb all eleven addictive mysteries to best appreciate the nuances, red-herrings, and subtle ways that certain jokes and throwaway lines come back to haunt people in the most unexpected of ways.

While in America in the '90s, we were treated with high caliber police dramas such as NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street-- honestly, they pale in comparison to the gritty authenticity of Cracker. And moreover-- when viewing this show for the first time in 2009-- I’m amazed by how much I feel McGovern’s work has inspired some of our most effective and highly praised dramas featuring anti-heroes in such critically lauded shows as The Sopranos, Dexter, Mad Men, The Shield, Rescue Me, and House M.D. which all seem to be going for (most notably in the case of Tony Soprano) Fitz’s unique mixture of angel and devil that we alternately root for and shrink away from sometimes within the same five minutes.

From the first riveting episode directed by Michael Winterbottom(24 Hour Party People, A Mighty Heart) to the very last one helmed by Antonia Bird(Priest, Total Eclipse), the gritty urban noir hasn’t lost any of its ability to startle with some truly incredible cases including three that I found to be the series’ strongest: “One Day a Lemming Will Fly,” “Men Should Weep,” and “Brotherly Love,” all penned by Jimmy McGovern.

Ironically, as McGovern reveals, “Lemming” was the hardest episode he had to write since it was supposed to have been completed by a theatre writer who “handed in an appalling script,” leaving McGovern no alternative but to “write it from scratch in something like a week.” Centering on the case of a teenage boy found hanging in the woods—what begins with the appearance of a simple suicide grows into an incredibly complex murder investigation as witnesses come forward reluctantly, family members reveal some biases they’d had about their son, and Fitz pursues one strict line of inquiry and promises to share the suspect’s “burden,” if he confesses.

When a confession is offered and simultaneously Fitz and Panhandle’s relationship tentatively starts moving to another level, Fitz is dealt an ego-shattering blow that his fierce desire to be right may have blinded him to what really happened. Moreover, his hypocrisies are unearthed in a way that puts the master manipulator and smooth talker on the receiving end of some dead-on analysis of his own.

While it would’ve been extremely satisfying to offer a clear-cut resolution or follow up on this case, brilliantly yet maddeningly, McGovern stays with the emotions over the crime and leaves interpretations up to us as it moves towards the final credits.

In two of the most alternately upsetting yet shocking episodes—which following the death of one major character earlier on should’ve found us a bit more prepared—the crimes hit much closer to the station. In the first, as a serial rapist brings out the worst in some of the ensemble as “Men Should Weep,” leads into an extremely chilling yet unforgettable conclusion in “Brotherly Love” that uses the set-up of three episodes each to produce six hours of some of Cracker’s finest and most troubling television that leads to a turning point in the lives of every major character, including those no longer standing by the end.

Additionally, it’s equally compelling in some of the series’ most provocative tales including the fact-inspired Hillsborough Disaster case that moved into a startling look at blue collar white male angst and culture clash fueled prejudice as Trainspotting’s Robert Carlyle’s troubling motive “To Be a Somebody” results in the death of one of Manchester’s finest and guest star Liam Cunningham’s closeted homosexual tendencies are tested when he falls for a troubled, seventeen year old orphan in “Best Boys,” which—similar to “True Romance” and “To Say I Love You”—illustrates the twisted lengths people go to for love.

While when the series as we knew it ended with “True Romance,” from McGovern’s replacement writer Paul Abbott (State of Play), eventually and most likely due to popular demand, Fitz returned in a mediocre but entertaining special entitled “White Ghost” in ’96 and once again in a collaboration with McGovern a decade later for the politically charged “A New Terror.”

And while they’re both adequate, “A New Terror,” especially feels like a major let-down in comparison to the original series. Likewise, despite the fact that the opportunity to watch Coltrane in any episode as Fitz is better than the alternative-- in my opinion, the show only worked to the best degree in its original three season run heyday in what is arguably England’s best contemporary police drama created thus far.

Packaged in a compact box with a DVD holder book that keeps all ten discs including the great 45 minute interview (unfortunately missing Geraldine Somerville) in accessible slide in “pages,” thankfully it also boasts subtitles and/or closed captioning on every episode for the deaf and/or hearing impaired which you’ll find yourself especially grateful for the opportunity to read Fitz’s lines when the drunken Scottish monologues slur together occasionally in order to savor every word.

A riveting series with Coltrane’s tour-de-force in a role that will make you view his Potter alter-ego Hagrid in an entirely new light—for mystery lovers and fans of whip smart, provocatively written dramas, you’ll definitely want to help yourself to this particular Cracker.

TV on DVD: Adam 12-- Season 2

Check out Video Exclusives and Episodes in our Screening Room

Film Intuition Log #1:
"One Adam-12, One Adam-12: Seasons 3-7, Please Report to DVD."

Whether they're volunteering alongside school children in preparation for the local Police Olympics or taking on a biker gang while on a picnic, veteran officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and probationary rookie Jim Reed (Kent McCord) are able to downshift from everyman to crime-fighting men in blue in a moment's notice.

Created and produced by legendary television visionary Jack Webb as an NBC spin-off from his wildly popular police procedural series Dragnet, "one Adam-12" became the new catchphrase following Dragnet's popular "just the facts, ma'am," tagline and while it seeped quickly into American culture, it was as deeply rooted in authenticity as its predecessor. Although partially filmed in the Universal Studios back-lot, outdoor filming also occurred in Toluca Lake, Studio City, North Hollywood, and Hollywood Hills as well as the then "newly completed Rampart Division station of the Los Angeles Police Department." Additionally, the secret to Adam-12's success was in its strict attention to detail as it featured "department issue badges, vehicles, and Los Angeles patrol stations" during its "seven season run... from 1968-1975," according to the official press release. Similar to Dragnet, the show's complicated plots were derived from actual LAPD cases, yet Adam-12 revealed an unprecedented grittiness in its depiction, ushering in a new far more dangerous era of policing as the show revealed the beginnings of the S.W.A.T. division, an increase in helicopter patrol, and the latest technology that we now take for granted.

While I feared it would seem hopelessly dated by today's standards, especially as a viewer who'd never seen the series before, I found myself quickly engrossed in the newly releasedwo-disc Season 2 DVD set from Shout! Factory and the way that, although methodology has changed, some of it still holds so true today. And while it opens with a slightly dull and less-than-action packed episode, it serves as an important introduction to those such as myself who'd been unacquainted with the original as we become familiar with the dedicated, gifted veteran and lifelong bachelor Malloy and his young overly eager Boy Scout like trainee Jim Reed who has a far more natural way with people but matures considerably under his partner's tutelage.

Notably switching gears from its opener-- perhaps crafted specifically to draw in audiences who may have missed the first season-- we're soon entrenched in the increasingly dangerous adventures the two ordinary men find themselves in as they track a serial rapist and murderer preying on young beautiful female hitchhikers around lover's lane. As is frequently the case throughout the series, Reed and Malloy must endure the constant scrutiny of the public who overstep their bounds throughout-- either trying to antagonize the officers, getting in the way, or causing quite a stir. When some of the situations prove far too much for young Reed-- a devoted husband and father to be-- such as when he arrests his first sex offender, Malloy is warned to reign in his partner who has less than one year on the force as Reed finds it hard to keep it together in a world where people who prey on children breathe the same air.

Fully humanizing the officers and doing much to fight stereotypes of both the officers (and diverse civilians), the two manage to always maintain integrity even when they're put in the most dire situations as Reed is threatened by a man who swears he'll get him once he's released from jail and Malloy finds himself held hostage when he wanders into the wrong restaurant for lunch.

With a natural antenna and a cop's intuition that only years of service can create, Malloy (Milner) continues to amaze such as when he notices that a local shopkeeper who'd never taken a day off in his life is suddenly nowhere to be seen as they cruise down the street in their Plymouth Belvedere and Kent McCord (as Reed) plays off of him well. Fearless and willing to try anything from hearing a baby crying and venturing into an apartment that's rumored to have a lion in it or assisting a young neighbor kid who returned home from a party on drugs, Reed and Malloy balance each other out.

Predictably, they develop a mental shorthand that's fun to watch as they exchange amused glances when faced with an overly chatty colleague, must try and stop a frightening sniper, deal with an elderly man who's tired of his wife's disruptive karate practice or trying to figure out how they could intervene when a man steals an airplane for a joyride and Reed deadpans, "What do ya do-- pull 'em over to the nearest cloud?"

With some events that have to be seen to be believed which makes it all the more riveting when you realize it's all strictly taken from "just the facts" as their Dragnet contemporaries would've said, perhaps its greatest legacy is upon discovering that episodes from both shows "have been used for training purposes by police academies in the United States, especially when teaching recruits correct handcuffing procedures" as well as the accurate depiction of "hand signals used by officers... to the methods used in field interviews, and even such minor details as routinely locking the doors of the patrol car before leaving it unattended to interview victims or witnesses."

In a New York University doctoral study conducted in 1976 by Joesph S. Coppolino, he concluded that not only did Adam-12 excel in its correct portrayals "as realistically reflecting police work" but also noted that the show influenced the way police officers acted as well, as Wikipedia further noted that since the series was the first to show arrestees being given the new Miranda Warning, suspects "would correct actual officers... [who] used a slightly different wording."

And although, like most civilians, I assumed that the catchy "one Adam-12" dispatch call that opened every show referenced Malloy and Reed directly, I realized upon further research that it broke down as one (their Central Division or Rampart Division location, Adam in revealing they were a two man patrol and twelve to referencing their precise beat. Likewise, I was thrilled to discover that the 2-Disc DVD set comes complete with two catchy, free Adam-12 ringtones so that you can experience the dispatch call for yourself, if your cell phone is compatible.

View One Version of the Opening Credits

Complete with actual LAPD commentary, a historic police based photo gallery, a "Ride Along Fact Track" and "Tour of Reed & Malloy's Training Center," the fast-paced and addictive twenty-six episodes of Season 2 may all run roughly 22 minutes each but they pack enough drama for a show twice its length. Police procedural television at its best and minus all of the grotesque violence and gratuitous Dennis Franz nudity of 90's shows, Adam-12 offers a wonderfully retro trip back in time as we ride-along with the endlessly hardworking Reed and Malloy who spend every waking minute doing their best to clean up the city of Angels.