Father Brown (2013) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Mystery | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2013 | ||
Running Time | 450:00 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | ? | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Ian Barber Dominic Keavey Matt Carter |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring | Mark Williams |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Debbie Wiseman |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The Father Brown Mysteries are a set of 50 or more short stories written by G.K Chesterton in the early 1900s. They have been adapted for television a few times including a Kenneth More series in the 1970s. The BBC has re-adapted these stories into a new series of mysteries set in the Cotswolds in the 1950s, which is obviously not their original setting. The adaption modernises the stories somewhat whilst still retaining a historic setting. It is my understanding that these episodes are not directly based on the stories.
Father Brown (Mark Williams) is a Catholic priest in a small English village who besides caring for his flock also has a knack for solving mysteries much to the annoyance of the local police detective, Inspector Valentine (Hugo Speer). He is a gentle, compassionate and caring priest who uses logic to investigate crimes. His regular sidekicks are the parish secretary, Mrs McCarthy (Sorcha Cusack) and local aristocrat, Lady Felicia (Nancy Carroll). This series is similar in some ways to Midsomer Murders or Miss Marple with mysteries involving local residents, nuns, oddball religions and other local institutions. The excellent addition here is a sense of humour aided by the wonderful performance of Mark Williams who is a comic actor. My only criticism is that sometimes the stories feel a little rushed to fit the 45 minutes length of the episodes, 60 or more minutes may have allowed the stories to be told in a little more detail.
The settings are picturesque and stories interesting. Roadshow is releasing the full series of 10 episodes on this three DVD set.
Recommended.
The video quality is very good.
The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.
The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was good.
The colour is very good showing off the beautiful countryside where the show is shot.
Artefacts were restricted to some jagged edges and a little aliasing.
There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.
There are no obvious layer changes during the episodes.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is very good.
The discs contain an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a surprising amount of surround presence.
Dialogue was generally easy to understand and clear.
The orchestral music sounds great and fits the show well.
The surround speakers are well used for a television show providing lots of immersion and atmospherics plus extra body to the music.
The subwoofer supported the music.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu featured music but was pretty basic otherwise.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This show is only available locally at this stage.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is very good.
No extras.Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | SONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output |
Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Marantz SR5005 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |