Product Description

Series 1-3 of the BBC documentary that uncovers the mysteries of the British coastline

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2112 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-10
• Rating: Exempt
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 9
• Running time: 1638 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
All three series to date of the terrific documentary series Coast have been brought together in this nine-disc set, delivering over 1600 minutes of fascinating viewing.

If you’re new to Coast, this is the series that investigates and explores the mysteries of the British coastline. It’s an ambitious piece of work, attacked with real enthusiasm and knowledge by its team. And it’s their passion that’s one part of the success of this series.

The other magical ingredient though is the British coastline itself, and few opportunities are passed over to maximise it. There’s some glorious photography on show here, all the better for its digital presentation, and if anything--extraordinary given the running time of the three series--the only criticism of note is that in their desire to cover all of the British Isles, the team go at a faster pace sometimes than you’d like.

That’s hardly a damning criticism though, and it certainly pales in comparison to perhaps the best complement that you can attribute to Coast, that it inspires you to seek out and visit the many places it shows you. A superb, fascinating piece of work, and this three-series set is a complete delight. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Contains the first three series of the BBC documentary that looks at the mysteries of Britain's coastline.

Customer Reviews

Coast - a must!

This is an excellent series with true BBC investigation and great contribution from experts and people that lived during the times that some of the programs refer to.
It is definitely worthwhile buying and watching the whole series and it gives many hours of entertainment at a very good price. I actually think that buying the 3 series in one box is a great advantage and worth the extra money as you can not get enough of it.Great value!
Please go ahead and buy all 3 and you will enjoy it for sure!!

Very, very disappointing
Sadly yet another example of BBC "dumbing down".

Each episode starts with an over-long, American style introduction with over-loud music and this sets the tone for the whole. This is a double shame because the producers are trying to handle a very big story in quite a short time slot and every second should be precious to the story-telling.

Huge stretches of coast are covered at a time, but largely ignored with just a few places being mentioned and even then only in passing. In the first episode, for example, whcih starts at Dover, there is nothing at all on Rye with its beautiful old town and its litererary associations, ditto Hastings Old Town, nothing about Brighton's history and the Royal Pavilion, etc.

The real problem is that the "coast" of the title is simply being used as a device to segue, as the media folk say, from one bleeding chunk to another. The bleeding chunks in question are contributed by a miscellaneous bunch of presenters who each have their own story to tell. Thus it feels like four or five different series cobbled together in parallel, which is very disjointed.

The "natural world" bits are good and well presented, but surely merited a series of their own rather than being squeezed into this. Most of the other bits are pretty purile. The history is all human interest, for example, with no real history at all. Did it not seem strange to the producers to tell the story of the English Channel without describing how the Spanish Armada was defeated, or where William the Conqueror came ashore?

I was very disappointed by this offering as there is potentially a great story to tell here. The BBC had the oportunity to do so, but have totally messed it up. At best, this might be of interest to 11 year olds, but as adult info-tainment it is a sad and total failure. One shudders to think what would happen if the BBC were to re-make something like Civilisation today.