George Gently – Series Three (2010/Acorn Blu-ray)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: C+
The
Martin Shaw hit detective show George
Gently is back, but this time, Acorn has decided to release the show on
Blu-ray, starting with this Series 3
single. Yes, single, as the season is
only composed of two telefilms, which is oddly short. However, Gently
Evil and Peace & Love are
mysteries as good as what we got in the previous (and longer) seasons/series we
covered on DVD at these links:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7765/George+Gently+%E2%80%93+Series
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10129/George+Gently+%E2%80%93+Series
The show
has been pretty consistently good since it began (I even looked at the second
season before passing it on to our fellow writer) and Shaw continues to be one
of the reasons, yet I also believe it has more character development or more of
a real feel than most of the mechanical/on audio pilot police procedurals we’ve
had to deal with and the addition of Lee Ingleby as Sergeant John Bacchus only
adds to the show.
By the way,
it has been announced that Shaw’s 1970s hit The Professionals is going to be remade as a feature film, which
will be interesting for several reasons we’ll go into later (especially if the
show is issued on Blu-ray), so this series and Judge John Deed will soon have a new curiosity interest going for
them. This is worth catching, especially
if you start form the first seasons, which should be on Blu-ray down the line
soon.
I did not
want to go into the plots of the two mysteries, though I will say Warren Clarke
makes an interesting appearance that may reference the Red Riding Trilogy and since this is set in the 1970s, inevitably
references A Clockwork Orange.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is good and better than the previous DVD
releases, though there is some motion blur, these are clean transfers that make
the show more involving visually than it DVD counterparts. The PCM 2.0 Stereo mixes that are good as
well, warmer and richer than the Dolby Digital on the previous DVD sets and even
have some Pro Logic surrounds going for them, which makes watching the episodes
a further pleasure to watch.
Unfortunately, there are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
