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Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
Jericho (2016, 8 eps. 400 mins) was a short lived period television series set in the 1870’s. It followed the story of Annie Quaintain, who is forced out of her home following the death of her husband. She finds her way to Jericho a town created by low lifes and navvies who have been brought together to build a viaduct. The show only survived for eight episodes and was not renewed for a second series. The show stared Jessica Raine, Hans Matheson and Clarke Peters and is presented in a 2 DVD set. I’m not really sure who they thought would be gripped by the idea of building a viaduct in Yorkshire, with its associated problems of where to get stone from and who is trying to sabotage the workings. The show lacked that added bit of mythology building which has made American shows like Hell on Wheels so successful and that, on its surface, is only about building a railway, similar and yet miles apart in execution. This all sounds a bit bleak, but it certainly isn’t. The acting is spot on and the costumes and sets are great to look at, although the set designer could and should have dirtied the environment up, everything looks too clean and therefore a little unrealistic. They went for a tag line about building the future, but the scripts often get bogged down in the present, to the detriment of the show. Moreover this is a safe setting; the frontier should feel more like Deadwood (2004). It was an interesting idea, to essentially tell a western and place it in Yorkshire. Had it felt more like the frontier it may have fared better. The set is sparse, containing no extras and only English subtitles. 6 Charles Packer Buy this item online
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