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Born And Bred - Series 1-4 Box Set
RRP: £99.99
Easy Sunday afternoon watching
Review date: 2008-07-29 Rating: 8 out of 10
Yes Born and Bred plays on the small British Village setting, complete with your stereotypical idiots, ie Wilf Bradshaw and Eddy, the town mechanic and the plots do not contain high drama but I found this series endearing and difficult to stop watching. The setting and costumes were magnificent and I think the series succeeds in providing the viewer with light-hearted entertainment. Series Four was probably the weaker because of the contrived plot lines and reshuffle of characters but having said that the actors themselves gave good performances.
Still worth a Sunday afternoon's viewing.
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Reviews
Too Much Comedy, Not Enough Drama.
Review date: 2008-06-15 Rating: 6 out of 10
A good cast, beautiful scenery and good period detail - the late 50's/early 60's and the birth of the NHS - should mean a brilliant programme but sadly, in my opinion, the writers have gone overboard on weak slapstick moments and failed to concentrate on the medical side of the show.
James Bolam and Michael French are excellent as father and son GP's in an idealic rural setting, but too many of the other villagers provide little more than "comic relief". We have the 'Comedy' Vicar, the 'Comedy' Policeman, the 'Comedy' Stationmaster, 'Comedy' spinster ladies in matching outfits - and where a little humour is always welcome in even the most serious of dramas, scenes for example of the Vicar (Clive Swift - Keeping Up Appearances) learning to drive again, complete with leather coat, goggles etc is too unbelievable to make the viewer smile. A runaway horse pops up in places no animal is likely to get to, and when Michael French's daughter accepts the horse as a gift and the episode ends with "much laughter" from the rest of her family, it is hard not to wonder about the practical side of a townie family caring for a horse. Not to mention the costs involved.... French's wife tackles a bull which gets in her way as she goes to a wedding using a shortcut across a field - would a city bred woman DO such a thing? And if she did, would she survive?
Keeping a Health Inspector out the way until the new ward is ready involves Maggie Steed's Landlady vamping it up in a way that makes the viewer roll their eyes and cringe, as does the "long way round" that the poor man is marched by the helpful stationmaster.
With more meat to the plots, less slapstick and better rounded characters this could have been a real winner for the BBC. As it was, James Bolam left after series 3 and the 4th series was the final one. A shame because the cast were good, and the basic idea was sound - but the material they had to work with was not. There are scenes when you wonder how they are keeping straight faces.....
perfect family drama
Review date: 2007-08-09 Rating: 8 out of 10
This was a great series which unfortunately suffered from terrible scheduling on the part of the BBC when it was first shown. They kept pitting it directly against "HEARTBEAT" on ITV, a programme that had been running for more than a decade at that point and has shown no sign of losing it's popularity at that time or since.
"HEARTBEAT" fans are very loyal and since "BORN AND BRED" is a similar type of programme they would no doubt have been the same target audience that the BBC was hoping would watch "BORN AND BRED" so the decision to pit them against each other was sheer lunacy. "BORN AND BRED" never really got a chance to become popular through absolutely no fault of it's own. This show should have been a huge hit for the BBC if they had only put it in a better time slot.
Despite this, it was a great show with great characters and I think it's a terrible shame that it never got a fifth series. Like many fans of the show I was bitterly disappointed at it's cancellation.
John Henshaw was a real find as Wilf Bradshaw as his character displayed excellent comic timing and the gorgeous Jenna Russell is extremely sexy as Deborah Gilder. She is such a real beauty I would love to see her play the young Elizabeth Taylor as I think she'd be perfect for the role.
I would highly recommend for any fans of the show to buy the entire four series on DVD either seperately or as a complete box set so that they can watch this delightful series whenever they like.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Michael French
James Bolam
Creators:
James Bolam (Primary Contributor)
Michael French (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
EAN: 5036193090790
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 14
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2006-09-04
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 2059 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)