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Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris play Rosemary Boxer and Laura
Thyme, two sleuthing gardeners, who more than often find their
clients dead in the cabbage patch, next to the doll most of
the time. Employ these ladies at you own peril...
ITV
has had a bit of a chequered last couple of decades as far
as programming is concerned, gone are the halcyon days where
they could do little wrong. So, what better way of getting
an audience than smashing together two perennial favourites;
gardening programmes and detective mysteries, this might seem
a little desperate but what could have come up smelling of
manure became a very watchable little rose. Given the strange
juxtaposition of genres I'd love to have seen what was rejected,
like the combination of dope growing and making a bit of extra
cash in Hash in Your Attic. I mean, who would really
employ these two as gardeners? One minute you're thinking
of having your herbaceous border trimmed - very popular amongst
some women I hear - and then bang... either you or a loved
one is dead. Of course, it never hurt the show to have the
consummate professionalism and abilities of Felicity Kendal
and Pam Ferris.
This DVD box set represents the complete run of Series Three
of the series. Included on the first disc is the seasons opening
story, which runs at a little over an hour long. The Cup
of Silence pretty much encompasses everything about the
format of the show. Our two star gardeners are hired to sort
out a bit of weed trouble in a vineyard owned by one brother,
the other brother owns the adjacent hotel. As the fates have
decided, and the pine box round the back awaits, they meet
up with an old friend of theirs, Angus, who is there to do
a food and drink review. As luck would have it, bad luck that
is, Angus turns up dead. Now I think about it, I really wouldn't
hire these ladies. Even being their friend appears to be a
terminal experience. As more dead bodies pile up and more
suspects are identified, the girls' role up their sleeves
and dig deep to solve the mystery.
The
episode really epitomises the show. It's witty without being
laugh-out-loud, it's tense without being gory or grim; in
short it's the kind of thing that a whole family could sit
down and watch together. One of the great things about the
show is the obvious easy interplay between these two women;
you really do get a feeling that they have a bond, though
it's a bit disconcerting to see how easily they bestride the
horrors of murder.
Disc one contains a nice set of features for fans of the show.
There's A Behind the Scenes Rosemary and Thyme feature,
which runs at a very respectable 45 minutes and looks at the
making of the show with lots of footage of the stars making
their Spanish episodes. Also included are some Production
Notes and a filmography for both Pam and Felicity. Lastly
the extras contain a picture gallery of ten pictures - shame
you can't easily use them as computer wallpaper. There is
nothing of a set-up on any of the discs, but you do get a
great picture and a stereo soundtrack.
Disc
two contains two stories, In a Monastery Garden and
Seeds of Time and, believe it or not, exactly the same
extras that appeared on disc one. Poor Felix will he get his
throat cut on every disc. In a Monastery Garden sees
the girls back on the trail of murder and mulch when they
are asked to sort out Wellminster Cathedral's ageing herbal
garden. Unfortunately the daughter of the garden's custodian
is found dead. Does this have anything to do with the impending
visit by the queen?
Still
bizarrely employable, in Seeds of Time, the ladies
are off to sort out a seed museum, now owned by the great
grand daughter of the famous botanist Edwin Pargeter. Things
go well until a dead South American turns up in the back garden
- and I thought I had enough problems with weeds.
Disc
three and the horticultural homicide continues... and would
you believe it poor old Felix gets his throat cut again in
the same set of extras. The disc contains three stories this
time Agua Cadaver, Three Legs Good and The
Gooseberry Bush and by now you'll be getting the gist
of where the stories are going. Agua Cadaver, finally
sees the girls in Spain - helping out one of Rosemary's ex-lovers
with his Moorish garden. Dead man walking I'm thinking. But
no, ten minutes in and a local girl, Maria, is found dead.
At least in this episode the girls replace their dodgy land
rover with a dodgy Spanish equivalent.
Three
Legs Good and the girls are back in London with a three
legged dog, called Holly, as a side kick. His owner Volker,
a psychiatrist, turns up dead and it would seem that Holly's
original leg loss may hold the clue to her owner's demise.
Last
up is The Gooseberry Bush, wherein our intrepid heroines
are creating a garden as a wedding present. If you ask me
it's like asking Beelzebub to do your cake. For a minute,
when the girls find a baby literally in a gooseberry bush,
you might think that things have taken a more life enhancing
direction. But no, Sir Potter is found dead, but what has
this got to do with the baby?
Disc
four is the last in the set and hands up who thinks that poor
old Felix will get his throat cut in the same set of extras?
Very odd. Apart from the same set of extras for the fourth
time the disc contains the last two stories Racquet Espanol
and Enter Two Gardeners. Ok you're way ahead of me,
the girls are back in Spain for Racquet Espanol, and
you'd have thought they would have had their passports revoked
for the common good by now. Bull rings, tennis, motorcycles
and some cute Spanish ladies, oh and a dead body of course.
Did the paella, drink or heat kill off the tennis player?
The girls whittle out the truth.
Last
episode up is Enter Two Gardeners which sees both actresses
return to their roots when they investigate a murder at a
theatre.
In
the end this isn't great art but for eleven million viewers
it was great entertainment and eleven million people can't
all be wrong?
Charles
Packer
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