It's just such a treasure. And the show is unattainable on DVD (it's obtainable, but it costs a mint for a single story—as much as three months of Britbox!). We own exactly two classic Who DVDs, "Pyramids of Mars" and "Genesis of the Daleks."
I did recently get my hands on reasonably priced DVDs of some old BBC shows that were among the first to be brought over to the States as Masterpiece Theatre:
The First Churchills and
The Pallisers. Churchills is about the first Duke of Marlborough and his wife, and their varied fortunes. It's got Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill, whom he marries when she's 17, and John Neville as John Churchill who eventually becomes a Duke. Lots of Cavalier-age Court intrigue, with many Cavalier King Charles spaniels on view (King Charles II is usually carrying one). It's witty and fun. The video quality is not modern, but it's in color, and it's so well written and well played that I don't care. My brother and I watched some of it together when he was out here for Christmas—we saw it as children and both adored it. It held up fine. (Of course, being BBC, the sets, costumes, and outdoor settings were all exact, detailed, and gorgeous.)
The Pallisers is based on six Trollope novels and is set in the Victorian age. Susan Hampshire is also in this one, playing Lady Glencora, the sparkling and initially unwilling bride of Plantaganet Palliser (Philip Latham), a duke's heir whose main interest is politics. There's a lot of political history, but also many fascinating characters on the fringes of history, and very believable characters who change over time—it covers about 30 years.
One of my happy memories is of telling vison about this show—she adored Trollope's novels, but didn't know this 24-part series had been made out of six of them—and she found it and LOVED it.
She thought they were perfect adaptations and most of the characters were cast exactly right. It made me so happy to have given her half the pleasure that posting with her for years had given me.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
The only ones I haven't seen of the original Doctors 1-4 were the ones they lost the original footage from. I know there has been an attempt to restore using the original sound track and I think animated footage?? That would be awesome, but I haven't seen it.
Maybe when Irika is older she might like it (and not be too young for the scares).
I don't like horror, and the show has stepped over the line now. If this wasn't the next to last season, I might drop it. But, I'm sure the "big bad" will be defeated by the end of the season, so there's hope for Season 6.
