Inspector Lynley - Set 2
List Price:
Our Price: $21.78
You Save: $18.17 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $17.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew Havill, Clare Swinburne, Mark Brighton, Nathaniel Parker, Sharon SmallBrand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: PBS
Movie Reviews of Inspector Lynley - Set 2
Movie Review: Brilliant Character Roles Make These Mysteries Top Notch.
Summary: 5 Stars
Series 2 of the "Inspector Lynley Mysteries" brings 4 more of Elizabeth George's mystery novels to the screen, leaving only two Lynley/Havers novels that have not been dramatized as of this writing. Nathaniel Parker stars as suave and aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, and Sharon Small is his more crudely mannered working class partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Parker is perfection in his role. Fans of the novels (I have not read them) often find fault with Small's appearance and delivery. But film is a visual medium, and the D.S. Havers of the books may not lend herself well to it. Her character has been watered down a little for film.
The four films were directed by four different people and written for the screen by three. Yet they maintain an relatively consistent tone and style. "A Suitable Vengeance" might be the best of this series, followed by "Deception on His Mind". Ironically, these stories are the most sordid and, in the hands of lesser talent, would be the most crass. They wouldn't be out of place on a daytime soap opera. Yet they are the most successful at creating tension and emotional impact. Credit is due directors Edward Bennett and Tim Leandro, as well as the films' casts.
The supporting casts of all four films do wonderful character work throughout. They elevate the films from what could easily be gaudy melodramatic murder mysteries. There is one conspicuous exception, however. Lesley Vickerage is hopelessly miscast as Inspector Lynley's love interest Helen Clyde. It doesn't help that her character is not written especially well either. Helen is frumpy and neurotic. She and Lynley have no chemistry. We are left wondering what on Earth the attraction is. Helen features prominently in two of these films and appears in three. That bit of poor casting should have been rectified after the first Inspector Lynley Series.
"Playing for the Ashes" revolves around the dirty laundry and hidden dysfunction of two families, a common theme in Elizabeth George's mysteries. A star cricket player, Kenneth Waring (Mark Brighton), is murdered, apparently by arson, at the same time animal rights activists torch a nearby puppy farm. The investigation leads Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers to Kenneth's estranged -and obsessed- wife Jeannie (Ruth Gemmel) and his aristocratic foster mother, Miriam Whitelaw (Phyllis Logan), who doted on Kenneth while shunning her own daughter, Olivia (Neve McIntosh). The story unfolds nicely and keeps us guessing until the end. There is an interesting theme about the motives behind philanthropy. The character work of this accomplished cast is truly impressive. The film's flaw is its scenes between profiler Helen Clyde and Lynley. They are grating. The audience should be interested in seeing this handsome gentleman pursuing a lady. Instead, we dread it.
"In the Presence of the Enemy" is a case of child kidnapping that appears to be politically motivated. The young daughter of Labor Party government minister Eve Bowen (Sophie Okonedo) is kidnapped and threatened with death unless the child's biological father, conservative newspaper editor Dennis Luxford (James Hazeldine), publishes an article acknowledging his secret child. Suspects include the parents' spouses as well as their political and professional rivals. Sergeant Havers works closely with a country cop, Robin Payne (Robert Whitelock), who is assigned to the case in the area where it is believed the girl was held, while Inspector Lynley chases down leads in London. Whitelock gives an impressive supporting performance.
"A Suitable Vengeance" finds Inspector Lynley revisiting his aristocratic roots and Sergeant Havers out of her element. They have traveled to Lynley's family estate for his and Helen Clyde's engagement party. Also in attendance are an assortment of relatives: Lynley's junkie brother Peter (Matthew Goode), photographer cousin Sidney (Claire Cox), her boyfriend Justin (Dominic Mafham, Lynley's mother (Gabrielle Drake), who presides over the estate, and her longtime companion Dr. Trenarrow (Peter Egan). While the guests attend a play, the husband of an employee of the estate is murdered. Lynley and Havers, though outside of their jurisdiction, can't help themselves but investigate. Things are complicated by Lynley's strained relationship with his mother, suspicions of his brother's involvement in the crime, and a black carrying case that seems to turn up everywhere. Although it is decidedly sordid, "A Suitable Vengeance" is the most successful of the Inspector Lynley films to date in creating tension.
"Deception on His Mind" takes place in the Pakistani community of a seaside city. When she suspects that her neighbors are related to the victim, D.S. Havers ingratiates herself into the case of a murdered Pakistani businessman, via an old acquaintance, Emily Barlow (Emily Joyce), who is the Detective Chief Inspector on the case. Inspector Lynley, fresh from his honeymoon, is only peripherally involved in the investigation. Havers is frustrated by the negligence and apparent political motivation of her would-be friend, D.C.I. Barlow, who seems to have decided upon the guilty party before the investigation has begun. So she risks her career to sort out the complex hidden relationships between the deceased, his fiancé, her brother, and their various lovers. The outwardly conservative community in "Deception on His Mind" comes across as an exotic Peyton Place. The fact that the characters are credible and the tension truly affecting is a credit to Elizabeth George, as well as director Tim Leandro. Emily Joyce and Tarek Rumini, as Munir Malik, are memorable and suitably despicable in villain roles. There's even an action sequence in this one!
Summary of Inspector Lynley - Set 2
The most celebrated detective duo in years is back on the case. Nathaniel Parker (Far from the Madding Crowd) and Sharon Small (About A Boy) return as the New Scotland Yard team of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers in four riveting murder mysteries that take them from seedy urban underbellies to posh country estates in search of whodunit. The misfit tandem of the suave Inspector and the rumpled Sergeant has evolved from cultural rivalry into a successful team of close friends and confidantes. But solving murders isn?t their only problem. In addition to his puzzling caseload, Lynley struggles with his blossoming relationship with Helen (Lesley Vickerage), while Havers grapples with both newfound personal freedom and professional challenges. Inspired by a string of successful cases, Lynley and Havers unravel a fresh caseload of heinous, suspenseful crimes, each based on a novel by Elizabeth George. Playing For The Ashes The murder of a beloved sports star leads to a loaded lineup of key suspects and bizarre twists. Without much cooperation from a dysfunctional family and other odd "players," Lynley and Havers break the rules to tease the killer out of hiding. In the Presence of the Enemy The abduction and killing of a Government minister?s daughter brings Lynley into a lethal web of political and personal unrest. But after another child is kidnapped, the pair must decipher the deceit and pinpoint the murderer to stop a second senseless killing. A Suitable Vengeance When a local shopkeeper is found dead, a celebration of the Inspector?s engagement to Helen at his impressive family estate becomes a murder investigation. But the biggest surprise is the key suspect: Lynley?s drug-addict brother, Peter. Deception on His Mind While Lynley is honeymooning in Mexico, the body of a young Asian man is found on the beach, leading to a trail of racial tensions, family loyalties and illicit sexuality. Havers, after discovering an old police school chum is on the case, sets off to ensnare the killer. Special DVD features include: link to the Mystery! Web site; scene selections; and closed captions. On four DVD5 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 2 finds the mismatched police detectives from Elizabeth George's novels somewhat more harmonious than in their previous quartet of BBC/PBS dramas. While aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley (Nathaniel Parker) and his working class, protégée-partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers (Sharon Small) maintain a shaky trust, they develop a firm regard and respect for one another, even making small inroads into each other's personal lives. Not that romance is in the air: One can spot the occasional wistful look on their faces, but the emerging intimacy between Lynley and Havers has more to do with sharing tough times in the trenches of murder investigations.
Playing for the Ashes concerns the killing of a respected cricket star and the strange constellation of suspects directly or indirectly connected to him, including an estranged wife, an angry lover, a maternal philanthropist and her streetwalker daughter, an untrustworthy agent, and a network of animal-liberation activists. Lynley and Havers find, not surprisingly, that looking into a high-profile murder is a slow and hazardous venture; all the more so in In the Presence of the Enemy, a tense thriller about a kidnapped girl whose abductor demands that a powerful newspaper editor publicly confess he is the child's secret father. While Lynley searches for clues in London, Havers teams with an eager detective in a small town and is instantly uneasy about the latter's emotionally unbalanced mother and girlfriend. A Suitable Vengeance is set deep within the intrigues of Lynley's wealthy family. Havers shows up as a guest at her partner's Cornwall estate to help celebrate Lynley's wedding engagement, but is soon navigating old grudges between family members when Lynley's drug-addicted brother becomes a suspect in the death of a shopkeeper. Finally, Deception on His Mind strains Lynley and Havers's relationship a bit when the latter's investigation of the murder of a Pakistani man is called into question by an old chum. A harrowing climax leaves enough ethical and narrative ambiguity to make one yearn for more in the Lynley-Havers series. --Tom Keogh
Similar DVD Movies
Midsomer Murders, Set 19Release date: 2012-02-28; DVD
Best price: $33.49
Price in other shops:
The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries - Series 1 (Speedy Death / The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries)Wgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2004-11-23; DVD
Best price: $20.52
Price in other shops:
VeraAMG; Release date: 2011-08-30; DVD
Best price: $39.13
Price in other shops:
Masterpiece Mystery: Inspector Lewis 4 - Original UK EditionPBD; Release date: 2011-09-13; DVD
Best price: $16.80
Price in other shops:
Inspector Lynley - A Great DeliveranceWgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2003-07-29; DVD
Best price: $9.85
Price in other shops:
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries - Series 6Wgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2008-09-02; DVD
Best price: $15.18
Price in other shops:
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: Set 5Public Broadcasting Service; Release date: 2007-10-02; DVD
Best price: $17.45
Price in other shops:
Inspector Lynley Mysteries - Set 4Wgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2006-10-17; DVD
Best price: $22.60
Price in other shops:
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries - Set 1Wgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2003-11-25; DVD
Best price: $20.02
Price in other shops:
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries - Set 3PBS; Release date: 2005-08-02; DVD
Best price: $17.39
Price in other shops: