Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11173 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-03-05
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 500 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
From 1863 onwards Anthony Trollope wrote a series of six novels which became classics of the Victorian period. Under the collective title The Pallisers the BBC turned the novels into an epic 22-episode serial in 1974, the single most ambitious drama production in the history of the Corporation. The series is a mixture of political and romantic intrigue as various male characters vie for power and the women look for love--and all are regularly thwarted by the rigid social codes of the era. Lady Glencora (a marvellously subtle and complex performance by Susan Hampshire) is unsuitably in love with Burgo Fitzgerald (Barry Justice) while aspiring politician Plantagenet Palliser (Philip Latham) yearns for another man's wife. The arranged marriage of spirited Glencora and decent but distant Plantagenet is the catalyst for the saga, which gradually expands to encompass considerable political wheeling and dealing. With a wide streak of satire The Pallisers is as witty as it is moving, a high point of 1970's BBC drama only surpassed by I, Claudius (1976). As a prestige BBC drama it is immaculately presented and finely acted, though the occasional obvious back projection or painted backdrop show how much more lavish television production values have since become. --Gary S Dalkin

Synopsis
Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glencora are in love with others when their family decide that they are a perfect match for one another.

Customer Reviews

Superb television from the golden age of BBC drama
Covering the next two books in Anthony Trolloppe's "Palliser" novels ("The Eustace Diamonds" and "Phineas Redux", these episodes continue to delight and enthrall. Those who have read the books will discover that Simon Raven's adaptation masterfully captures the intrigue of Trolloppe's plots and the wit of his writing. The series was easily the BBC at its very best: the casting and performances are superb, the studio sets are magnificent, and directors Hugh David and Ronald Wilson clearly revelled in the drama created by Trolloppe's characters. A must for aficianados of classic TV.