As time goes by (Series 4)

(Amazon UK link)

We started watching ‘As time goes by’ in March this year. We had DVDs of the first two seasons and liked them so much that, when I was in the UK in the Summer, I ordered the third and fourth season as well. We watched the third season in the autumn, and have just finished watching Series Four. Geoffrey Palmer and Judi Dench star as Lionel and Jean, separated by the Korean war, and reunited after thirty years. 

The first few episodes of Season Four revolve around Lionel writing the script for a mini-series commissioned by some people in the United States. He’s finding it very difficult to write about poignant memories, and is not helped by the loquacious though well-meaning Mrs Flack (Vivienne Martin). The background to these first few episodes also involves Lionel attempting to get used to living with Jean in a household that not only includes her twice-divorced daughter Judy (Moira Brooker) but Jean’s secretary Sandy (Jenny Funnell), who has broken up with her boyfriend.

Another episode involves Jean’s sister-in-law Penny (Moyra Fraser) being convinced her husband is having an affair, when it turns out that he’s trying to arrange a surprise party. Meanwhile Lionel and Jean decide that they really should get married, and Lionel’s father Rocky (Frank Middlemass) tells them he is giving them his house in the country. 

Later episodes - there are ten in the series - involve wedding jitters, the wedding itself, the end of the honeymoon, filming for the mini-series, and a discussion about whether or not Jean is going to retire. 

We watched one episode per week, and felt quite involved in the storylines which managed to offer something new each time. The acting is excellent, the stories well-done, with no bad language, no nudity, no violence… the humour is in the script and the timing, and the chemistry of the actors with each other. There’s much that’s poignant as well as several places where we smiled. We even laughed aloud a few times. 

I hope we’ll watch this series again in a few years, but - a tad perversely, perhaps - we’ve decided not to get hold of the later series. Apparently there were nine seasons of ‘As Time Goes By’, although the later ones had just six or seven episodes in each. I did glance at the storylines, summarised online elsewhere, and they looked rather less appealing, with Jean and Lionel starting to show signs of age, and the younger generation having trouble with their love-lives. I think it’s better to stop while we’re still enjoying the series, now that Jean and Lionel are happily married, and have made some decisions about where to live, and what they will be doing.

You probably have to be at least in your fifties to appreciate this series fully. I did see a few episodes on TV when I was much younger, and liked them, which is why I acquired the first two seasons on DVD when they were available. But we didn't watch them until this year. It was much better being around the ages of Jean and Lionel. 

It’s an undemanding show, with not a great deal happening and just a handful of characters who recur in most episodes. It doesn’t have the rather brash humour of some American sitcoms, nor any slapstick or canned laughter. It’s gentle, amusing, and heartwarming and I thoroughly recommend it if clean 1990s  UK sitcoms appeal to you.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

As Time Goes By (Series 3)

(Amazon UK link)

We watched the first two seasons of the 1990s sitcom ‘As time goes by’ earlier in the year, and liked it so much that I ordered second-hand editions of the third and fourth seasons. We started watching Season Three in July; there are ten episodes, but we didn’t manage to see one every week, so it’s lasted us until now. We watched the final episode of the season last night.

I had wondered if it would start to feel a bit tired or samey, but that hasn’t happened yet. The first episode of this season followed on directly from the last one of Season Two, with Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Jeffrey Palmer) in a hotel in Paris. It’s something they had dreamed of doing for years, but - unsurprisingly - it’s not at all what they expected, and arguments ensue.  

The second episode was one of my favourites. Lionel’s 85-year-old quirky father Rocky (Frank Middlemass) gets married to Madge (Joan Sims). Lionel, grumpy as ever, feels they’re being silly at their time of life, but eventually realises that they’re making the most of the time they have left, and that they really do love each other.  

Subsequent episodes see Lionel and Jean deciding to move in together, with the inevitable confusion as lack of communication means that they haven’t agreed WHERE they will live. This leads to them taking a break in their relationships, only to be thrown together again by Jean’s rather irritating former sister-in-law Penny and her tediously dull husband Stephen. 

Then the last few episodes involve yet more subplots: Jean’s business is so successful that she opens up a new branch, but nobody much likes the person hired to run it. And Lionel is asked to write a mini-series for American television about his romance with Jean, broken off when they lost touch, and resumed thirty years later. But during a visit to the United States, it becomes apparent that the producers want to make something that bears almost no relation to the reality…

There are many more storylines running alongside these broad outlines; Jean’s daughter Judith (Moira Brooker) and Lionel’s always-positive agent Alistair (Philip Bretherton) continue to add humour and a younger viewpoint; Jean’s secretary Sandy (Jenny Funnell) also takes a bigger role than she did in the first two series, and becomes established as close friends with Judith.  

It’s the character interactions that make this so enjoyable, particularly contrasting Jean’s mostly upbeat personality with Lionel’s perpetual grouchiness, which is partly due to lack of self-esteem. But there are some moments of deep thinking and tenderness, and the chemistry between the two is excellent.  

There were many times when we smiled and a few when we laughed. There were also moments when we felt poignancy; although some situations are caricatured, there’s a lot of realism in this sitcom from the 1990s, and the acting is impeccable. 

We’re looking forward to series 4, but although we have been liking this very much, I suspect one more series will be sufficient. At least for now.

Rated PG as there's no violence, nudity or bad language - but the theme and characters are unlikely to be of any interest to children or, indeed, teenagers. Very highly recommended if you like gentle - and genuinely amusing - sitcoms with middle-aged protagonists from the end of last century.

(Note: The Amazon link above is to the DVD of Series 3 on its own, but you can find better deals with combined series of this show, or indeed second-hand on one of the many excellent sites providing used DVDs. )

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

As Time Goes By (Series 1 and 2)

(Amazon UK link)

We’ve had a boxed set of ‘As Time Goes By’, series 1 and 2, for many years. I’ve no memory of how we acquired it; but I did remember it being a good TV show when I caught a few episodes in the 1990s. We wanted something light to watch once a week, and Judi Dench is always good value. So we started watching series 1 about four months ago.

The opening couple of episodes introduce the two main protagonists: Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer), as well as Jean’s daughter Judith (Moira Brooker). Jean manages her own business, supplying editors and proof-readers, one of whom is Judith.

Lionel, meanwhile, is trying to finish a book he’s writing about his life in Kenya. Judith is allocated to help him, and finds her quite attractive despite over two decades’ worth of age difference.

It doesn’t take long to uncover a surprising coincidence: Jean and Lionel knew each other in the 1950s, during the Korean war. She was a nurse and he was a soldier; they were in love, and intimate, and hoped to spend the rest of their lives together. But each thinks the other was responsible for their having lost touch for thirty years.

The first series sees Jean and Lionel gradually getting to know each other again, with many misunderstandings that are gradually resolved. It doesn’t help that Lionel's agent Alastair (Philip Bretherton) finds Jean remarkably attractive, again despite a significant age difference, and is determined to win her. Alastair is a caricatured creation, full of enthusiasm, clichés and endless good humour as he attempts to encourage Lionel to finish what sounds like a decidedly dull book.

It could have been rather trite or predictable - and I am astonished to learn that this ran for nine seasons - but the main characters are impeccable in their timing, and there’s a great deal of humour. We found ourselves smiling regularly, even chuckling a few times as the series progressed.

I’m still not entirely sure what it is about this show that makes it so very watchable, but somehow we found it very appealing. One episode at a time was rarely enough. So we watched two episodes most weeks, and segued straight into series 2. By the time I realised that the second season had just seven episodes, I’d managed to order seasons three and four from ‘World of Books’, knowing we were going to want more.

Perhaps we wouldn’t have appreciated it so much when we were younger (I think I must only have seen two or three episodes). But now we’re older ourselves, albeit not going back as far as 1950, we can appreciate the subtleties, and the way the two principal characters resist being labelled ‘old’.

We watched the last episode of the second season last night, and since it didn’t feel like a season finale, we went straight on to the first episode of series three.

I doubt if we’ll want to see all nine seasons of this, but am very glad we decided to watch the first two, as we’ve both liked them very much indeed.  If you appreciate gentle 1990s humour, and a slow-moving mainly character-based story with middle-aged protagonists, then I would recommend these highly.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Her Majesty Mrs Brown (Judi Dench, Billy Connolly)

(Amazon UK link)

I picked up the DVD of 'Her Majesty, Mrs Brown' at a charity shop. While we have enjoyed several historical dramas, including an excellent one involving a true story about royalty (The King's Speech) this is not really our preferred genre. However, when I noticed that the two main characters are Dame Judi Dench and Billy Connolly (better known as a stand-up comic) I thought it could be worth watching. 

It sat on our shelves for some months, however, until visiting friends opted to see it. At 103 minutes this is not a long film, and we were all mesmerised.

Judi Dench, as ever, is excellent. She plays a very upright, rather controlling Queen Victoria. She is initially portrayed as still in deep mourning, three years after the death of her beloved husband Albert. The public - and parliament - are trying to persuade her to return to public duties. But she refuses, insisting that she is Queen and can decide what she will and won't do.

John Brown (Billy Connolly) who was one of her husband's servants and confidants is sent for. He is not entirely happy about this, but has a long and loyal admiration for the Queen. This is not at first obvious, because he speaks his mind, and does not kowtow to his 'superiors'. Before long he starts to take the Queen out for rides, and with his sometimes brash, always honest approach begins to bring her out of her depression, something in which the rest of her staff failed dismally.

The Queen and John become very good friends despite their vast difference in status. She sees something of everyday life, and learns to relax a little in his company. Apparently historians cannot decide what exactly the relationship was, and whether there was anything more to it than friendship. This film does not in fact suggest anything more - there is not the smallest hint of impropriety, despite the title. But the amount of time the two spend together still gives rise to more gossip.

There is some lovely photography, with gorgeous scenery in Scotland when the Queen and company go to stay in Balmoral. The two main characters are excellent and entirely believable; Victoria in particular ages gracefully and perfectly, as the story progresses.

There isn't really much plot to this film, but we didn't notice that while watching. It's almost entirely character-driven, and that works extremely well. While far from gripping, it was very watchable by four of us with rather different tastes in general. There is some deep emotion, and also a few moments of light humour to lift the mood.

I'm not sure I would want to see this again, but it was certainly eye-opening in introducing a story I knew little about, and also seeing a rather different side of Billy Connolly.

(At the time of writing, the UK Amazon price is showing as almost £25 new - I would not buy any DVD at this price, and certainly not this one! But at a few pounds from a charity shop, I think it is worth having).

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews