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A lovely introduction to a 40-plus-years-old television tradition, This Is Coronation Street includes a highly entertaining, 75-minute documentary about Coronation Street, the long-running British drama, followed by the series' first five, black-and-white episodes out of 1960. The former gathers the show's creators, original stars, and other luminaries to discuss Coronation Street's deep and sustained impact on pop culture, its early and realistic reflections of northern English society, and the ways in which the series' penetration of class barriers set the stage for so-called kitchen sink dramas (e.g., Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) in British cinema.All very interesting, but seeing the first live-broadcast shows themselves is a real eye-opener. Written with remarkable fluidity and strengthened by textured dialogue and seamless performances, Coronation Street today looks not only like a prototype for London's nastier evening soap, Eastenders, but such gritty ensemble American programs from the '70s as Hill Street Blues. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A rare treat for sociologists and soap opera lovers.
I think I once caught about 10 seconds of a "Coronation Street" episode on BBC America, and had I known it was the longest running TV serial in history, I would have paid closer attention. Look at the statistics. It was scheduled to run for 13 episodes in 1960 and is still going strong! In all, there have been (according to a bonus feature on my DVD copy) over 4,000 episodes, 35,000 characters, 55 marriages, 25 births, 82 deaths, 51 weddings, and 32 barmaids, all of which have been watched by 17,000,000 UK viewers. And one of the actors, William Roache, has been with the series since it began.

So what is the incredible draw this show seems to exert? As one viewer said during an interview, we love to watch people who are doing the same thing we are doing in homes just like ours. (Remember how popular "The Honeymooners" was?) Now that Acorn Media (bless 'em) has released a two-DVD set called "This Is Coronation Street" (AMP-6196), I had the chance to watch the first 5 black and white episodes and a 75 minute documentary about the history of this remarkable show.

When the fifth episode ended with the police at the door and looking for one of the younger characters, I have to admit I was angry that I could not see the sixth one and after that the seventh, right up to wherever they are now. The only actress I recognized was a daughter who just left her Polish husband and announces she is pregnant, which reunites them. (Her name is Anne Cunningham and I remembered her from an old "Avengers" episode and one from "Are You Being Served?"). The rest were unknown to me, and I found this a great advantage since I was able to see them as real people and not as actors whom I recognized from other roles.

First of all, I would recommend this as a Must to all sociology and British history majors since it accurately portrays life in northern England as it was in 1960 and as it changed down through the years. Obviously film and drama majors must watch to see how a writer can "get them where they live." Psychology majors will love to see the public's reaction to the jailing of one of the main characters. (If any of you has seen the bonus material on the 1967 "Forsyte Saga" tapes I so highly recommended a while ago, you will recall how the Brits reacted to the Rape Scene. Funny what people consider to be worth arguing about.)

As for the rest of us, lovers of good soap operas will adore not only the first five episodes but also the history of this show. In short, there are very few who will not love this Acorn Media set. Perhaps they will now issue a companion set about "East Enders." ... Read more

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British mystery fans will find a wry sense of humor combined with a good old-fashioned bloodbath in Death's Shadow. Badger's Drift is in many ways a typical small village: charming scenery, closely intertwined lives, and--whoops!--a headless corpse. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is soon on the scene, teasing apart the intricate network of village relationships and grudges with an increasing sense of urgency as new corpses begin piling up at a gratifying rate. The mystery is a fun one, offsetting the gore with a light touch and a knowing wink that this is all in good fun. Barnaby, ably played by John Nettles, makes an excellent detective hero--firm in his resolve, a little too passionately dedicated to his job, and smart enough to crack the case without being so fast as to interfere with the body count. This witty, well-acted production is everything you could ask for in a mystery. --Ali Davis ... Read more

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Mystery author Caroline Graham is at it again with a new and tangled installment in the Midsomer Murders series. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby (the gently irascible John Nettles) and the trusty sergeant Troy (ably played, as always, by Daniel Casey) are trying to keep the peace between the locals at Martyr Warren and the two clans of Travelers who have decided to settle in for a bit. Things, of course, turn deadly, with murder, theft, and spouse-swapping all on the menu. Graham's welcome undercurrent of humor runs through the carnage, this time in the form of Barnaby's frustratingly strict new diet. As always in this fine series, the performances are first-rate, the puzzle is an engaging one, and village life is depicted with all the affection and gentle teasing it deserves. Well worth watching. --Ali Davis ... Read more

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Strangler's Wood is a gruesomely enjoyable entry in the darkly witty Midsomer Murders series. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is on the case again, this time in pursuit of a serial murderer who has apparently resurfaced after nearly a decade of quiet. The story is a thoroughly absorbing one, full of nasty crawling secrets that come out when Barnaby begins poking below the village's surface, and the solution is genuinely satisfying. As in other programs in the series, Strangler's Wood also pays realistic attention to the way Barnaby's job affects his home life, making his tenacity at pursuing a case exasperating without getting melodramatic. Fans of Daniel Casey's Sergeant Troy will be pleased to see him prominently featured in the episode as well. This is a terrific, stand-alone chapter in an excellent series. Watch it. --Ali Davis ... Read more

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Fans of Caroline Graham's young-but-game Sergeant Troy are in for a double treat with this entry in the Midsomer Murders series. At the behest of Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby's actress-daughter Cully, the two policemen spend this episode trailed by a Troy Doppelganger researching a part. And we're not even to the mystery yet, which is a surprisingly and enjoyably old-fashioned one: A ho-hum case of vandalism in a local museum leads to rumors of a haunting and a very real murder. Beyond the Grave has a much less weighty feel than some of the other episodes in this series, but there is much to recommend it, including the exasperated but loyal relationship between Troy and Barnaby and a deft performance by Prunella Scales as a village psychic. --Ali Davis ... Read more