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Felicity
Kendall and Pam Ferris return for a second series as the two
gardening sleuths Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme, who put
their green fingers to good use solving crimes...
The
Complete Second Series of
Rosemary & Thyme
opens with the The Memory of Water - a two hour long
episode, instead of the usual hour length stories. This tale
sees Rosemary and Laura's gardening expertise being called
upon to replant and restore a walled garden. They get some
help with their task from some local convicts, who Rosemary
is very sceptical of working with at first. Although this
episode is twice the length of normal episodes, it doesn't
feel stretched. It has a very clever plot with a twist at
the end and is a great start to the second series.
The
second episode, Orpheus in the Undergrowth, is not
a particularly good story. This is partly due to the small
location in which it is set - making it feel a little too
claustrophobic at times. It also didn't seem to flow as smoothly
as other episodes, which was probably due to the fact that
we never really get to know the characters before they are
bumped off. This sees the return of Laura's son Matthew (played
by Ryan Phillpot) and is the first story since since Series
One's Language of Flowers that delves into Laura's
personal life. It was also good to see Laura heal the rift
between her and her daughter.
They
Understand Me in Paris is set in over 100 acres of beautiful
gardens in the French Riviera and was the first Rosemary
& Thyme episode to be shot outside the UK. This episode
has plenty of comedy moments, but I particularly liked seeing
Rosemary and Laura jammed into a tiny French car. Laura spends
most of this episode trying to locate her favourite French
Cakes - that she remembers from her childhood. There was is
a very funny scene were Rosemary and Laura have trouble explaining
a death to the French maid. This episode also has a pretty
obvious continuity error in the first scene. Laura is wearing
a spotted top, two minutes later she's wearing a cream top,
and then she's back to wearing a spotted top again.
Disc
two in this collection opens with The Invisible Worm,
a bizarre but very interesting episode set in a prep school
and involving some strange rituals. Whilst filming, the design
team were not allowed to dig the lawns, so the rose garden
had to be created from scratch. This is a good episode, which
is is made more dramatic by the inclusion of the bizarre school
ritual of dressing as a stag in order to play a joke on the
school masters.
The
Gongoozlers is a very clever episode with a slightly different
theme. This sees Rosemary and Laura enter the world of TV
garden makeovers. Rosemary spends much of her time in hospital
so is absent from many scenes, leaving Laura to take centre
stage for a change.
Swords
in the Ploughshares is another episode that features Laura's
son Matthew. I liked the fact that we got to see some of Laura's
past, as it helps to understand her character better. This
is not one of my favourite episodes - although it is a well
produced episode.
Rosemary
and Laura investigate the mysterious blight affecting locals
entering a local gardening competition in Up the Garden
Path. The previous year's winner is then found dead and
Rosemary and Laura set about working out why. This is a good
episode, set in a beautiful village location.
This
DVD collection includes some pretty run-of-the-mill extras
including production notes, cast filmographies, a picture
gallery and quiz.
Overall
this is a thoroughly enjoyable box set that Includes
over nine hours worth of episodes of what is, in my opinion,
one of the best dramas being produced at the moment.
Heather
Simpson
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