The Darling Buds of May-The Perfick Collection (1991) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1991 | ||
Running Time | 1002:41 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
RSDL Multi Disc Set (6) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Rodney Bennett David Giles |
Studio
Distributor |
Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
David Jason Pam Ferris Philip Franks Catherine Zeta-Jones Julie Davis Abigail Rokison Christina Giles Katherine Giles Stephanie Ralph Ian Tucker Moray Watson Rachel Bell Kika Mirylees |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $89.95 | Music |
Pip Burley Barrie Guard |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
The title of this whimsical television series is based upon the Shakespeare sonnet from which I have included an excerpt above. This series was shown on ITV in the UK between 1991 and 1993 and included 9 episodes and 2 specials, all of which are included on this 6 disc set. Each episode was approximately 100 minutes in length and was shown over two weeks. The specials are approximately 50 minutes each. The set is basically in the order the episodes were shown on television, except that the second special which was shown between episodes 6 & 7 is included last on this set. It does not make a huge difference as the special in question does not advance any of the ongoing storylines. This special, Le Grand Weekend, also answers the question I posed in my teaser on the main page. Gollum (or at least a very young Andy Serkis) guest stars in this special as Greville, a young man who is on the same trip as Pop & Ma Larkin (the main characters).
The Darling Buds of May follows the mild adventures, family dramas and love of life exhibited by the Larkin family. They live in the idyllic world of 1950's Kent, 'The Garden of England', on a farm near a small village. The patriarch is Pop 'Sidney' Larkin (David Jason), a lovable rogue who enjoys his food, loves a drink, enjoys flirting with women, always has a plan or a deal on the go and has a heart the size of a horse. He always tries to help everyone around him whether they are his family, friends or even people he has just met. The matriarch is Ma 'Flo' Larkin (Pam Ferris), a well padded woman who loves to cook, runs a tight household and has a heart nearly as big as Pop's. At the beginning of the series they have 6 children. The oldest is Mariette, a beautiful young girl (played by a young and comely Catherine Zeta-Jones). The others are Montgomery, the only boy; Primrose; Zinnia & Petunia, the twins and Victoria. The show is based upon the novels of H.E. Bates. Besides the family there are a number of recurring characters, however only three of these are important. They are Angela Snow (Kika Mirylees), a friend of Pop and one of his female admirers who he gets involved in his schemes, Edith Pilchester (Rachel Bell), another of his female admirers who lives in the village and is quite lonely and The Brigadier (Moray Watson), a retired Army officer who is chairman of the town council.
The episodes are:
Overall, this is a very enjoyable and relaxed television series with many pleasures to be found, although it is pretty light so may not suit those who like their TV gritty. By the way, this collection in the shops is subtitled 'The Perfick Collection' because Pop constantly describes things as 'perfick'.
The video quality is average.
The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.
The picture was fairly clear and sharp throughout but badly affected by grain and colour bleeding, with no evidence of low level noise. From a sharpness perspective it was watchable but no more. The shadow detail was generally poor but luckily was not needed too often.
The colour was washed out and suffered from a number of colour artefacts, especially bleeding and rainbow effects on clothing. The bleeding affected light colours worst but most were affected to some degree or other.
Besides the colour artefacts there were also significant amounts of specks and flecks, minor aliasing on jackets and the like, some tape tracking artefacts and some minor edge enhancement.
There are no subtitles.
Most of the discs had layer changes which were quite obvious and caused significant pauses. One disc was a DVD5 and therefore did not have a layer change.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is fine but certainly nothing spectacular.
This DVD contains one audio options, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s. The sound quality was reasonable although was fairly flat
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.
The theme tune by Pip Burley is good and suits the series well. Other incidental music was composed by Barrie Guard and does its job without standing out.
The surround speakers were not used.
The subwoofer added a small amount of bass to the music but this was as a result of my amp's bass management, not the soundtrack itself.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
None.
The menus were very simple and allowed for episode selection only.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Previously, a three episode set of this series was released in Region 2 & 4, including episodes from all three series. The full series has also been released in Region 1 and includes a number of extras including interviews with the cast, biographies & picture galleries. Region 1 seems to have the edge as it actually has some extras, although reviews indicate the picture quality is just as bad.
The video quality is average.
The audio quality is fine.
The disc has no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Bose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub) |