Jemima Shore Investigates - The Complete Series [DVD] [1983]

Episode one is very poor, with appalling acting and direction. The technical quality is bad too as it bounces between video and film in a most distracting way. One forgets how things were on TV back then. Added to this, some of the long earlier sequences seem to be filmed as if they were theatre pieces on a stage set, and come across without any conviction, just an embarrassing awkwardness. The sound is poor as well, and very muffled at times with a ludicrous amount of background noise to make matters even worse. Words can’t express how bad it was. It must have been made with a very low budget indeed. Despite all this, Patricia Hodge is delightful, but the rest of the cast are truly dreadful, seemingly because of execrable direction! They are so over the top and lack any credibility! When one character has a heart attack it reaches a new low in credibility. As for the drunk - dear Lord what did that actor think he was up to. And the casual 'comic' violence against the women characters is truly shocking. The way Hodge grins after she had been assaulted is awful - and I'm not being P.C. about this. People seem to die all over the place as well, without generating any reaction from the other characters than a laugh. The police are portrayed as cynical onlookers without any real function too. Surely Antonia Frasers books can't be as bad as this mess? Looking at some Amazon reviews the next episode is presumably better. I’ll give it a go as I've paid for the darn series, but I’m not very optimistic! You have been warned....it’s certainly not up to BBC standards in that period.UpdateEpisodes two and four were a bit better both technically and in terms of the acting but episode three was as bad as episode one. Ghastly!

I can sort of see where Lois marshall is coming from. My wife and I found the first 2 eps "Slash of Red" quite unpleasant in its casual accepance of violence against women. A wildly overacting Ken Hutchison, bashes Jemima to the floor with a right hook and she actually seems (I stress - seems- ) to enjoy it. Throughout the 2 parter Hutchison constantly threatens brutal beatings to women (and men) and it's all OK!! As for the ending. Hopeless isn't the word. We've seen 3 other eps so far and they haven't been so poor. They are slow of course compared to todays Frantic pace, and that's not necesarily a bad thing, but it is a bit here. Some nice location shooting in London, but the acting is bad on the whole (a bit like it was in "Hannay"). Did we think it was at the time? Pat Hodge tries hard, it's her series, but she is badly supported. The prints are fine picture wise, but I found some of the sound muffled. It's hard to recomend this, and I hate being negative, but with this series I feel it's only fair to express my reservations. 5 July 2011...I have now seen all the eps. and I can't change my opinion. This is not a good series, and it's in the production and writing that it falls down almost completely. Sound levels vary alarmingly, direction is all over the place, with pauses and fluffs. The actors generally look uncomfortable, and I have to say, I just can't recomend this except for the very determined and curious (tho I still remain a Patricia Hodge fan).

Firstly the positive - The DVD is very reasonably priced and was delivered quickly by Amazon.That's where it ends i'm afraid. I bought this because I remember it being shown on primetime tv when I was very young. It seemed very exciting at the time so when it became available to buy recently I decided to get it. I have to say that I have been left very dissapointed. The storylines are lame, the acting wooden and the show itself is very dated. Even a great actor like Tom Baker can't salvage a wafer thin plot. The first story "A splash of red" shows Jemima Shore being "slapped around" by a drunken rogue and quite happily taking it in her stride - not the sort of behaviour you'd expect from a hard nosed reporter. To sum up, I have been left very dissapointed with this relic of a show, it proves that some things are better left in the past.

Could the 80s really have been this beige? Could the wonderful Patricia Hodge really have worn the Princess Di wardrobe and expressed all emotion by adjusting the degree to which her mouth hung open? Not that the supporting cast is much better. In the first episode the most animated character is the cat. (Nothing horrible happens to the cat, just in case anyone was worried.)The biggest difficulty with watching this now is the shift in values that make the tolerance of the drunken, violent behavior of one man very jarring. We watch an alleged investigator unable to defend herself with a well-placed knee to the groin or slap down the impertinent groping and kissing of a complete stranger. We are expected to sympathize with the murderer. As a historical curiosity this might be an interesting purchase but it has aged very badly. (Miranda's mother would have known just what to do to them!)I'm not sure I'm even going to make it through the whole series.

Oh dear, not as good as I remembered it this show.Picture a bit grainy and production very slow, found myself fast forwarding.Though the supplier was quick and on time, product dispatched within 24hrs.

It is what it is..watching it through 21st century vision and tut tutting about people's lack of enlightenment isn'r what this series is about

I've seen the low starred reviews for this dvd set but don't agree. The Eighties were a different time and it's a bit silly to make pointed references to violence against women in a story on this dvd when this has been endemic in every time period throughout history. The 'Splash of Red' wasn't my favourite story but I really enjoyed each of the self-contained mysteries and think that Patricia Hodge is perfectly cast as the aloof, dismissive private detective who seems to be running some kind of ad-agency at the same time. I very much enjoyed the series and would recommend it.

Too much 'playing to the camera' - Patricia Hodge is sweet but her character doesn't have enough 'oomph'. A better director might have helped.