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    Keeping Up Appearances - The Complete Series 3 & 4

    BBC/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 436 mins . PG . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    I honestly can’t remember when I’ve hated a character so much on television or even in a movie. There’s the bad guys that you kind of hate (but you also secretly love) and then there’s those characters that are so well developed as to warrant you kicking in the television and sending the bill to whoever put them on the air.

    Hyacinth Bucket is such a character. So pretentious as to insist her surname be pronounced ‘Bouquet’, she lives the ideal of the series’ title. I’d never really watched an episode of this before and starting in on Series 3 it took me a couple of episodes to realise that it isn’t just me - every character in this series hates her too! She’s a right old witch, as pretentious as they come and full of her own over-inflated self. Pretending she’s something she’s not; upper class, she inflicts her wayward desires upon all and sundry and will not listen to a word against whatever it is she wishes.

    It’s no wonder no one likes her.

    I felt more for her long-suffering husband Richard, who is dragged from exotic demand to exotic demand balefully attempting to hold her back from spending their middle class income. The poor bastard. As I noted frequently while watching this series, I would have cheerfully gone to jail for the rest of my life for the sole single pleasure of strangling Hyacinth to death.

    At any rate, after a while you get the feeling that everyone here is perfectly cast in this series that is obviously aimed at the older market end of the BBC audience. Patricia Routledge is brilliant as Hyacinth for the fact we come to hate her so very fast. It’s not many actors who can have you seething in such a minimal timeframe. The clash of cultures as Hyacinth deals with her particularly lower-working class family is also half the humour here and Routledge is brilliant in her portrayal of that snobbish bitch we’ve all met at some point in our lives.

    "I’m sitting here completely surrounded by no beer!"

    With an excellent cast of stalwart British theatrical actors, Keeping Up Appearances is essentially British – I’m not sure a series set anywhere else could possibly be as good or as funny. And it won’t be to everyone’s taste – as noted, this seems heavily aimed at the older market - but for anyone wishing to check out just how far a character can be developed and how easily the audience can be manipulated into feeling strong emotions of dislike and yes, hatred, look no further.

    Included herein on this three disc set we have the Christmas Special that served as a bridge between the end of Series One and Two and the first episode of Series Three, plus the six episodes each of Series Three and Four.

    While the show has its moments of outrageous comedy, we tend to laugh more at this woman’s blind and chosen stupidity. General stupidity isn’t always a source of laughter – in fact it can be downright sad – but here, this woman has chosen to act so foolishly and that is her ultimate downfall. Everyone can see straight through her and she is too blind or has chosen to be so stupid as to not see it. She deserves our pity really, but then we don’t have a show to chuckle at. My one real gripe with this show (with every episode penned by the same author in Roy Clarke) is in the hasty disassembly of the ending. A show will bring about a climax as any sitcom will do, but there it will end, leaving us a little short on closure in some particular storylines. In direct opposition to this though is a good factor – each episode leads toward a chronological conclusion and builds each time to one overall tale. Some shows do it, but not many comedies. They seem to live in separate cells each week so they can grab the unwitting who may be walking by the television without them needing to know the ongoing plot.

    Keeping Up Appearances is certainly a British comedy; there’s no way it could ever be accused of being anything but and therefore will appeal more to the mums and dads like mine, half of whom come from bonnie olde Englande. However, anyone familiar with an older code of society while living in our modern one will understand and find the humour in this not wildly funny, but certainly amusing series.

      Video
    Contract

    Made by the Beeb in 1991 through 1993, these two series' look impeccable. Colours are exacting, saturation levels are perfect and the lines are crisp and sharp. Shadow detail is not really applicable as nearly everything takes place indoors during daylight on a set, though frequent outdoor shots all look fine. Blacks are true to life though again, don’t make themselves too common in this 4:3 ratio delivery.

      Audio
    Contract

    While some of the dialogue may trip up the unwary listener with local inflections and expressions, the majority is still clear and easily understood. As noted, the majority of actors here are classically trained in the theatre and are more than eloquent in their erudite enunciations. Stentorian too. (That’s enough from the Big British Book of Theatrical Terms for now.

    There isn’t so much music to speak of, save for the signature tune by Nick Ingman and this may get a little annoying each episode and on the main menu repeated ad infinitum. It’s a Dolby Digital stereo offering, of course, and is crystal clear and ably does its job here.

      Extras
    Contract

    Unless you count the Christmas Special, which I don’t, there aren’t any extras here, which is certainly not unusual from the ABC video/DVD range. Not to say they all don’t, it’s just common.

      Overall  
    Contract

    Any fan of the series or of the players will find much to revel in here, although it may be hard graft for anyone unfamiliar with the characters or plot. I hated the show up to the first three episodes, but after I realised everyone else in the show and the lounge room felt the same way, I understood we are supposed to hate this haughty, ignorant windbag. Which made things much easier. I enjoyed the series from then on and while I’m not rushing out to get the first two seasons, I would enjoy seeing them should the opportunity arise.

    It’s a well-presented three disc set, although a couple of extras might not have gone astray. What would have been interesting is Patricia Routledge’s personal thoughts about this most hateful character and how much fun she must have playing the selfish old shit. However, this is a tidy collection for fans of the series and well worth the investigation.


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      And I quote...
    "You think your parents are bad… wait ‘til you see Hyacinth Bucket in full swing."
    - Jules Faber
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    • DVD Player:
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          Akai
    • Audio Cables:
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    • Video Cables:
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