A Mind To Kill – Series 2 + 3 (Acorn Media DVD sets) + Secret Diary Of A Call Girl – Season One + Two (2007 – 2008/Lionsgate
DVD sets)
Picture: C+ Sound: C & C+/C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
British
TV has two sides, the respectable production dramas like A Mind To Kill (its crime angle being a plus in that respect) and
then there are the racier shows you would not see in America like Secret Diary of A Call Girl.
We will now look at both.
We
previously covered the debut season of Mind
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9525/A+Mind+To+Kill+%E2%80%93+Series
To my
pleasant surprise, the shows Series 2
& 3 sets are as smart and solid as the first, though the shows have not
broken out of the set-up the series began with, Philip Madoc is so good here
that it is more watchable than many similar shows. Each 4 DVD set has all of its hour-long
episodes (7 episode in the second season, 8 in the third) and to see how things
do build, I would watch the show in chronological order.
Call Girl is a comedy about the title
character (the effective Billie Piper) who is regular Hannah by day and sexy
escort Belle by night. Based on memoirs
of an actual “working girl” as it were, Belle talks to the audience often
(breaking the fourth wall) and has some funny and interesting things to
say. The reason the show works is
because it is funny and honest, even if we have seen some of this before and
not all the episodes are going to be great.
The Showtime Network showed this one in the U.S. and it deserves more credit
than it got. Each two-DVD set sports 8
episodes and makes for mature viewing.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 DVDs are all a little softer than expected
with some motion blur, color issues and other small flaws (like noise here and
there) that hold them back, though I would like to see them on Blu-ray to
compare. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is better on Call Girl than Mind, but
Mind slowly starts to sound better
by the later seasons.
Extras on
Mind 2 include cast filmographies
and a 7-minutes-long clip of the fourth episode of Yr Heliwr, the Welch version of the show made at the same time with
the same cast for that market, while Mind
3 has text notes from three female cast members of the show. Call
Girl 1 includes a making of featurette, while Call Girl 2 has Webisodes and an interview with Piper.
- Nicholas Sheffo
