This captures the book. It's well acted and the calibre of the cast speaks volumes for the quality of the script. It sunk without trace after transmission and as far as I'm aware the BBC didn't broadcast it again. This is a shame.
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davep-1513 July 2002
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lucyrfisher3 September 2009Alun Weaver, a professional Welshman, retires and returns to his roots. While looking up his old mates and taking them on an extended pub crawl, many old affairs are revived and resentments rekindled. All the characters are forced to confront their past and present (though the darkness of the novel is somewhat toned down).
This great series, acted superbly by Britain's best, was never repeated and is not available on DVD. When will the BBC (and film companies) realise that its past is its future? BBC - you're sitting on a goldmine.
Back then, the BBC could do drama - now we're sinking in a drift of reality shows. -
clsladen16 April 2008The story, while highly amusing, is nevertheless somewhat poignant. The characters are totally real and believable, and the acting first-class.
I absolutely love this series and am at a loss to understand why it has not been released on either VHS or DVD. That it has not been is especially odd given that Kingsley Amis's novel won the Booker Prize in 1986, his 'Take a Girl Like You' was telecast in 2000 and Andrew Davies wrote both screenplays.
I cannot fathom why those who determine what is and is not released for public purchase don't take the opportunity to 'cash in' on the peripherals of what's 'hot'. I shall, however, continue to monitor IMDb and hope for better things.
I taped it when it appeared on Australia's national broadcaster (ABC), was magnanimous enough to lend it to a work colleague who promptly lost it - I suspect, to add insult to injury, without watching it!