P.D. James-Death in Holy Orders/The Murder Room (2003)

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    This set contains two complete three hour telemovies over two discs. There are no extras. The two discs are packaged in a double Amaray case.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Death in Holy Orders (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	173:58
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (85:05)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jonny Campbell
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jesse Spencer Christopher Fox Alan Howard Alex Avery Martin Shaw Clive Wood Janie Dee Jeff Rawle Tom Goodman-Hill Emma Rydal Hugh Fraser John Clegg Jonathan Coy
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	Box	Music	Julian Nott

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
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

    Martin Shaw is an actor whose work I have enjoyed in many different television shows, such as The Professionals, and Judge John Deed more recently. I also had the pleasure of seeing him doing Stanley in a live version of A Streetcar Named Desire here in Sydney some years ago. He is an excellent actor who generally does a good job with the characters he plays. This show, Death in Holy Orders, is certainly no exception. Here he plays the famous detective from P.D. James' novels, Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard. Previously this part has been played by Roy Marsden in 10 films. Personally, I much prefer Shaw .This detective is quite a complex man, a widower who still yearns for his wife and also a poet of some renown. This is the first of two telemovies in which he plays the role. This one was made in 2003 and was followed by The Murder Room in 2004. They were both made for the BBC and are being released here as a two disc set. Each movie is presented in two parts as they were shown on television.

    The plot is quite complex, easily filling the nearly three hour running time. It is set in and around St Anselm's Theological College somewhere on the English coast. The college trains young men to be priests. One of the young ordinands, Ronald Treeves gets killed in a landslide on the beach near the college and the coroner returns a verdict of 'Accidental Death'. The young man's father is not happy with this verdict and pulls strings to arrange for New Scotland Yard to send Dalgliesh to investigate. Commander Dalgliesh has a history with the establishment, having spent quite a lot of time there in his youth. As he investigates more bodies start turning up...

    The main characters are:

• Father Martin - The old priest who used to run the college and is now one of the four priests on staff. Dalgliesh knew him as a boy.
• Father Sebastian - The current warden of the college who is having a running battle with the Arch-Deacon over whether or not the college should give up its treasures or be closed down.
• Father John - Another old priest who was previously accused of being a paedophile by the Arch-Deacon. He and his sister Agatha brought up Raphael.
• Father Peregrine - The fourth live-in priest at the college who is obsessed with car parking and other petty rules.
• Arch-Deacon Crampton - A brash and unlikeable man who is set on closing the college which he sees as elitist and removing their various treasures, such as art works and a mysterious papyrus. The Arch-Deacon was accused of killing his wife but it was not proven.
• Emma Lavin - A scholar who teaches poetry to the ordinands and takes a shine to Dalgliesh.
• Raphael - A young ordinand with a murky background who has a vendetta against the Arch-Deacon, believing that he killed his wife.
• Mrs Munroe - The lady who does the linen for the college and found the body of Treeves.
• Professor Gregory - A teacher at the school who helped Mrs Munroe with the body.
• Eric Surtees - The surly and slow caretaker of the college.
• Karen Surtees - Eric's sister who visits Eric regularly and whom he seems to depend on for advice and support.
• Inspector Roddy Yarborough - The officer who investigated the Arch-Deacon's case and is convinced he is guilty.
• Clive Stannard - A researcher using the college library.

    This is a quality mystery, well acted and with a intriguing storyline which bears multiple viewings. I had previously seen it on television but still found it quite enjoyable. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is average but watchable. The long running time seems to have resulted in a less than satisfactory bitrate.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was not overly sharp, affected throughout by grain, probably as a result of the bitrate. Shadow detail was poor for such a recent production.

    The colour was fairly dull, driven mostly by the source material and there was some evidence of colour bleeding, especially from light colours.

    Artefacts included some minor aliasing and a little edge enhancement.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.

    The layer change occurs at 85:05 and was not noticeable. It was placed at the end of part 1.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by Julian Nott is of good quality adding tension and drama to the movie.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu was still and silent allowing for the ability to select parts and subtitles.

     The set is available in the same format in Region 2 and the two movies are available either separately or together in Region 1 . The Region 1 issue of this movie includes a thirty minute featurette on P D James and some text bios, which makes it the best choice.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

The Murder Room (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	177:06
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (87:50)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Diarmuid Lawrence
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Martin Shaw
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	Box	Music	John Lunn

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
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

    Martin Shaw plays the famous detective from P.D. James' novels, Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard in this 2004 telemovie. Previously this part has been played by Roy Marsden in 10 films. Personally, I much prefer Shaw. This detective is quite a complex man, a widower who still yearns for his wife and also a poet of some renown. This is the first of two telemovies in which he plays the role. Death in Holy Orders was made in 2003 and was followed by The Murder Room in 2004. They were both made for the BBC and are being released here as a two disc set. Each movie is presented in two parts as they were shown on television.

    This second telemovie is the best of the two, having a stronger story and a better production all round. This is not to say that the first one was average because it certainly wasn't, however, I felt that this one had a more realistic setting and therefore was a more accessible story. The story here revolves around a family owned museum about England between the wars called The Dupayne. One of its main features is an exhibit about gruesome murders committed in those years which is referred to as The Murder Room. The museum was started by the father of the three main characters here, Marcus, Neville & Caroline Dupayne. Neville is a psychiatrist who recently lost his wife. Marcus is a civil servant who is about to retire and has set his heart on running the museum. Caroline is a socialite who lives in a private flat over the museum. The three of them are the trustees of the museum and as the lease is due for renewal on the museum they must all sign the new lease or otherwise the museum will close. Neville does not want to sign as he wishes the museum to close. When Neville ends up dead, in a very nasty way, suspicion falls on his siblings and many others including:

• Marie Strickland - An old volunteer who has been involved in the museum for many years.
• James Calder-Hare - A curator at the museum who is also working on some research and has a serious illness plus some surprising friends.
• Muriel Godby - The museum receptionist.
• Angela Faraday - Neville's PA and lover.
• Ryan Archer - An ex-patient of Neville's who has been given a job as caretaker at the museum. He has also been in trouble with the law.
• Tally Clutton - A slightly dotty older lady who lives in a cottage on the museum grounds and works there as the cleaner.
• Sarah Dupayne - Neville's daughter.

    To make Dalgliesh's task of tracking down the killer more difficult, more bodies start to turn up bearing a similarity to a murder from The Murder Room and there is some sensitive government involvement in the case. In addition to the well put together mystery this movie also sees Dalgliesh continuing his relationship with Emma Lavenham from the previous movie which goes through many ups and downs over the course of the movie. This is a quality mystery, well acted, and with an intriguing story line which bears multiple viewings. The score of this particular film is a highlight. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is decent, slightly better than the other film. The long running time seems to have resulted in a less than satisfactory bitrate.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably sharp, although affected somewhat by grain, probably as a result of the bitrate. Shadow detail was better than the previous film but still nothing special.

    The colour was quite decent, although as most scenes took place at night bright colours were not overly used.

    Artefacts included some minor aliasing and a little edge enhancement.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but contained some minor errors.

    The layer change occurs at 87:50 and was not noticeable. It was placed at the end of part 1.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good. The sound was surprisingly rich and warm considering the bit rate.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by John Lunn is excellent, adding tension and drama to the movie.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu was still and silent allowing for the ability to select parts and subtitles.

     The set is available in the same format in Region 2 and the two movies are available either separately or together in Region 1 . The Region 1 issue of this movie includes a P D James interview and some text bios, which makes it the best choice.

    The video quality is decent.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall