Pie In The Sky – Series Two (1995/Acorn Media DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: B-
When we
first saw Pie In The Sky with
Richard Griffiths as reluctant Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe, we were
impressed by its sense of humor and intelligence, as this review will show:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8519/Pie+In+The+Sky+%E2%80%93+Serie
Series Two gives us ten more episodes of the
show and it has our crime solving cook still trying to make a financial success
out of his restaurant and cuisine capacities while still finding himself solve
murders no one else can seem to. The
humor is a plus in a show that may remind Nero Wolfe fans of a few of his
cases. Of course, Wolfe had a cook he
always fought with, but here, the cook is the detective and the idea is that
his mind is so good, its complexities is as good for making superior food as
solving crimes formulated by unusually complex minds.
Maggie
Snead, Malcolm Sinclair (from the more recent Casino Royale) and Bella Enahoro make up the rest of the regular
cast, but the actors all around fit together well making this one of the better
detective shows of its time. Nice to
have it out on DVD.
The 1.33
x 1 image is still poor throughout with a soft, fuzzy digititis-accompanied
transferred from what looks like filmed shows.
The BBC again needs to upgrade these for a future Blu-ray release and
hopefully did not loose the film prints.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound performance is better but has some
distortion and limited range just the same.
Extras are less this time, repeating text on Griffiths and adding cast filmographies.
- Nicholas Sheffo
