The Grand: Series Two (2001)
Review by Igraine
Film:
DVD:

Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Douglas MacKinnon, Noella Smith, Kim Flitcroft, & Morag Fullarton
Starring Rebecca Gallard, Susan Hampshire, Julia St. John, Mark McGann, Michael Siberry, Louis Ramsay, Stephen Moyer, Ifan Meredith, and Tim Healy

Features:

• Slide Show
  
• Cast Filmography
  
• Web Links
  

The second series of The Grand is the continuing saga of the Bannerman family and its hotel, which is oddly enough named The Grand. It revolves between the upstairs family who runs the hotel and the downstairs staff who actually do the hard labor. Stories of scandal, vengeance, dishonesty and romance interweave among the family and staff. Marcus (McGann) opens a scandalous night club and makes Stephen Bannerman (Meredith) the manager. Marcus continues his seduction of his brother's wife...and will that lead to the ruin of John & Sarah's (Siberry and St. John, respectively) marriage? Marcus's wife twists and turns a deceptive plot when she has a miscarriage. Will Stephen ever face reality and accept his true love, Kate the chambermaid (Gallard)? And lest we forget Esme (Hampshire), the former Madame, as she is back in business after many years. Will the hotel survive all of this drama and somehow keep their doors open for business?

This second series is much better than the first run. The characters are not as one-dimensional. They all have managed to develop into real characters. They have depth and you can begin to see in them the many facets of what makes us human, and thus the performances were much more enjoyable. The settings are exactly the same as the first series, so not much improvement there. But, hand in hand with the stronger characters is better writing. I found myself much more intrigued at the twists and turns of the plot.

The special features are identical to the last series. Nothing but a Slide Show, Cast Filmography, and Web Links--and again, you have to manually write the URL down and cart it over to your computer if you want to see what's what. Again, as before, we'd love to see scribe Davies given a chance to talk about his view of the series. Or, anything really. The British public television folks are not known for their special features.

Overall, it's not bad. It is actually much better than series one, but you need to watch the first run in order to be "in the loop" on much of what goes on in this set. If you enjoy British period series, then this one's worth at least a rental.