As Time Goes By: Complete Series 4 (1995)
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Sidney Lotterby
Written by Bob Larbey
Starring Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, Philip Bretherton, Moira Brooker, Jenny Funnell

Features:

• Cast Bios
  
• Trailers for other BBC DVDs
  

Jean Pardgeter (Dench) and Lionel Hardcastle (Palmer) knew each briefly before he went off to fight the Korean War, but they followed different paths that eventually crossed again. They fell in love and decided to have a go at a relationship. Lionel moved in with Jean and her daughter Judith (Brooker). In the time since then, Lionel has almost finished writing a mini-series for American television about the story of how he and Jean met, separated for all those years, and finally came back together to stay. His publicist and friend Alistair (Bretherton) has been in contact with his people in L.A. to get the mini-series produced, while semi-courting Judith, but they never seem to be on the same page as one another. Series 4 takes us from the final stages of the script into the production of a somewhat "doctored" script that the "brains" in L.A. think will go over much better with American audiences.

This is quite possibly one of the best written and best acted sitcoms in television history. It's a shame that more Americans don't know about it. With a cast headed by Dench and Palmer, it was almost impossible for this series to fail, but when you factor in that they have a very strong script and a solid story to tell, it only makes it that much better. What makes the writing so good? I think it's that the writer knows that he can trust his audience to stay with him while he builds to each punchline. In fact, he seems to know that the fun lies in getting to the punchline, not having it rammed screaming down your throat. And the actors are more than up to the task.

What makes this series (and, indeed, most BBC series) different from American sitcoms is that it has the feel of a play rather than a television show; the scenes are constructed more soundly. There were several times in this series where there were only two people on screen simply talking--for almost two minutes! This could never happen in American sitcoms. The reason is either a) American's attention spans have shortened to Lilliputian proportions or b) American writers and producers think that our attention spans have shortened that much. This seems to be a never ending cycle in American television. Anyway, it was refreshing to be trusted to stick with the story even if it wasn't a laugh riot every fifteen seconds. At the end of the DVD set, I found myself really caring for the characters' lives I has just watched.

If there was one flaw, I would say it was how I found it rather odd to be reviewing the end of the series before the Series 1 through 3 came out on DVD. There were several times that I felt like I was missing part of the story because I didn't know what had come before. However, I don't fault this particular DVD, rather I fault the BBC for not releasing them in order. I'm sure they had their reasons. Rest assured, I will watch series 1 through 3 the first chance I get, though.

Unfortunately, the DVD set only has two items under the Special Features menu on disc 2: the Cast Bios and Trailers. The cast bios are text-only screens of...well...the cast bios. Even though it is interesting to know their background, it's just not enough. There are four trailers for other BBC productions including one that advertises the BBC America cable channel. I would rather know more about the series itself; either with some behind the scenes footage, gag reels, or a documentary about the show. Of course, it's missing the Really Big Special Feature which I look for on all DVDs: the director's commentary, but I would also like to have an actor's commentary, too! There is so much that could have been done that wasn't.

Even taking that into consideration, though, I think this DVD is worth keeping on the shelves for popping in the DVD player to spend a rainy day with this not-so-dysfunctional British family. I say go out and buy it.