Search - Jericho of Scotland Yard - Series 1 & 2 on DVD

Darkly well done

A. Alden | Seattle, WA | 01/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This edition contains four episodes filmed in a VERY smoggy and dark London in the 1950s. The staging is very well done and the characters are well thought out and believable. Robert Lindsay excels in his portrayal of a lonely, tormented, but brilliant detective who battles on all fronts. Sounds like the template for all detective series, but I found them to be original and highly watchable. I would like to see more."

It's OK

Tim | Atlanta, GA | 02/08/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I guess I just don't like paying money to see the dark side of life, it's interesting overall, but, the hopelessness Jericho against the corrupt & sadistic element of of fellow officers in Scotland yard is not entertaining and uplifting. I much prefer series such as Midsomer Murders."

Fifties London has never been better portrayed

steve b | Dudley England | 05/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you have watched Foyle's War, you may think that the producers of Jericho have just cashed in on a fashion for period detectives. That may be so but Jericho captures its period far better than Foyle's War did. Set in the Nineteen Fifties, Jericho is at least in part based on real celebrity detective, Robert Fabian, known as 'Fabien of the Yard.' Fabien like Jericho having a TV series based on his cases. Robert Lindsay who plays Jericho is a talented actor who is equally at home in light comedies as well as in serious drama. He does not disappoint. The real surprise is the casting of Peter Bowles as the villainous heavy. Bowles is best known for his roles as upper crust English gentlemen in comedies. As the bad guy he is superb, a gem of inspired casting.

The real star however is the sets and the costumes. It took Britain a long time to recover from the Second World War, rationing for instance continued into the fifties. At the time Jericho is set Glamour, which in practise meant all things American, was finally being introduced even if it was overlaid on a background of neglect, grime and disrepair. The series portrays that brilliantly.

All in all better than most TV detectives from either side of the Atlantic.
"

A for atmospherics

Richard B. Schwartz | Columbia, Missouri USA | 01/24/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Jericho series is well worth watching, but its strengths are in its atmospherics more than in its scripts and its characters. Jericho himself is a nicely-realized figure, but his trench coat and hat, his talisman and his everpresent cigarette are more important to his portrayal than his language or skills at ratiocination. The real star of the show is 1950's London, with damp streets reflecting neon, nasty alleyways and deep class lines separating the (sometimes guilty) rich from the (sometimes innocent) poor. The ultimate effect is noir taken to the nth degree and there is sometimes a comic book dimension to the series, both in its graphics and in its use of colors, the gritty yellow of Jericho's trench coat reminding me of the stark yellow of Dick Tracy's. Many watch British drama for the country settings, the costumes and the domestic architecture. Watch Jericho for the urban setting, but remember that the 'realism' is highly stylized, unlike that seen in the world of, e.g., Jack Frost."