I've read all of the Agatha Raisin novels and recommend them unreservedly as they offer a genteel and playful form of entertainment that I had feared was vanishing.
The TV series take the plots of the novels and largely stick to the narrative. The acting is good, the production professional and the whole thing looks pretty lovely. My main issues are the dialogue which is unimaginative and at times unnecessarily crude and the proliferation of cliches throughout. The viewer is led like an idiot to see the plot milestones - this is a feature of modern comedy drama, alas. There is very little subtlety to how the narrative is delivered and the additions to the contents of the novels is often just silly.
It all has the feel of a team of teenagers having a go at a TV drama - the numerous odd camera angles and the music that tells the views what the emotion is - all far too much. The audio 'flashbacks' are particularly annoying.
It's the sort of drama you might watch while looking at a laptop screen at the same time - writing emails, maybe. It really does not merit close attention. Take another look and watch carefully what is done with the camera and the music... you will soon see how amateurish this is.
It's all a great pity as the original stories are fantastic and this could have and ought to have been a quintessentially sweet detective drama in the same style as The Ladykillers - gentle but with an edge. This has no edge and treat its viewers like halfwits. Such a wasted opportunity...
The TV series take the plots of the novels and largely stick to the narrative. The acting is good, the production professional and the whole thing looks pretty lovely. My main issues are the dialogue which is unimaginative and at times unnecessarily crude and the proliferation of cliches throughout. The viewer is led like an idiot to see the plot milestones - this is a feature of modern comedy drama, alas. There is very little subtlety to how the narrative is delivered and the additions to the contents of the novels is often just silly.
It all has the feel of a team of teenagers having a go at a TV drama - the numerous odd camera angles and the music that tells the views what the emotion is - all far too much. The audio 'flashbacks' are particularly annoying.
It's the sort of drama you might watch while looking at a laptop screen at the same time - writing emails, maybe. It really does not merit close attention. Take another look and watch carefully what is done with the camera and the music... you will soon see how amateurish this is.
It's all a great pity as the original stories are fantastic and this could have and ought to have been a quintessentially sweet detective drama in the same style as The Ladykillers - gentle but with an edge. This has no edge and treat its viewers like halfwits. Such a wasted opportunity...