Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)

Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)
Oh, to be in England...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

PBS Update- The Bletchley Circle, Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge


I just wanted to give two of these series currently running on PBS a big thumbs up (or a 5 teacup rating, whichever you prefer) and the other one a resounding meh!

The Bletchley Circle is soooooo awesome that ITV can't possibly leave it at just one 3 episode series. Oh, please, please, please make this a recurring series. We need more mysteries solved by these brilliant code cracking females!

If you haven't yet seen this amazing series, you were able to catch up online at the PBS website: The Bletchley Circle until they took the first episode down, the stinkers.

Someone has uploaded all three episodes to YouTube. The link is here: YouTubeBletchley. Enjoy it while it lasts!



My other 5 teacup rating goes to the second season of Call the Midwife. I was a bit skeptical of whether the BBC could keep up the amazing quality of the first season but wow, they sure have. One really gets the feel of the emerging improvements in medical care in the second half of the 20th century when you watch this show. And it always seems to make me cry and yet not seem depressing somehow. I gotta read the book when this series finishes!

Just be careful when you are watching this. Inevitably, someone either male or under the age of 18 will walk into the room just as you are watching a delivery with the midwife between the poor mother's legs!!!!

Haven't been following? Catch up here: Call the Midwife Season 2


So here comes my lukewarm assessment of Mr. Selfridge. It's okayyyyyyyyy....

Two and a half teacups (with the tea running out of the half cup)? I have been watching it. I haven't been enthralled or enthusiastic but I leave it on after Call the Midwife. A friend of mine used to work out in the same gym as Jeremy Piven and described him as "very small and squirrely".  Perhaps that is part of it but the scripts must be at least partly to blame. I love the main character Agnes Towler (played by the marvelously named Aisling Loftus) and Frances O'Connor is her usual luminous self as Harry Selfridge's wife Rose.

I will give it a few more weeks however as I did enjoy the latest installment with the Suffragettes. They are dear to my heart and you will find my post devoted to the Suffragettes here: Mary Poppins and the Suffragettes.

What do y'all think of these three PBS series?


28 comments:

  1. I love Call the Midwife--absolutely wonderful. I have no idea how they produce this show--it looks like those babies are really being born on-camera. Where do they get all those newborns. I love the compassion that the midwifes, nuns and secular, bring to their work.

    I am hoping to get started on Beletchley Circle this week--thanks for the tip on where to find episode 1.

    I didn't watch Mr. S after the first two-hour episode. Despite being interested in Agnes's story, I found Mr. S himself so annoying that I couldn't bear to watch anymore.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hi Jane. You'll love the ladies of Bletchley.

      I am wondering how "The Paradise" is. I think the BBC did better with the "Downton in a department store" theme so I'm hoping PBS picks that one up for next season.

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  2. Unfortunately I have not been able to follow Call the Midwife, although I have caught a few episodes when it has been in reruns at weird times, I have 3 little ones and the 7pm hour is getting everyone ready for bed. Now I have been watching the Bletchly Circle and it is outstanding!! Such clever women. I am right there with you on Mr. Selfridge, I have been watching, but not really following, if that makes sense, the only thing I have found interesting about it so far is the story of Agnes. I imagine I will watch it until the end just to find out what happens to her!! Thanks for the post!!

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    1. Hi Anonymous. If you are in the US, you will be able to watch Call the Midwife online on the PBS website after the little ones are in bed. Glad you are liking The Bletchley Circle too!

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  3. We watched --and loved-- the Bletchley Circle and two series of Call the Midwife when they first ran over here. But we lasted about 10 minutes with Mr Selfridge. The so-called acting? Pfui. Utterly, totally, wretchedly unwatchable.

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    1. Hi Mary Ellen. How did Andrew Davies go so utterly wrong? Now I have to ask, did you like The Paradise? I have heard it was much better.

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  4. I've watched the first two episodes of The Bletchley Circle and absolutely adored them. I absolutely cannot wait for the last episode. I agree, it would be a shame if they didn't continue with this series.

    I've also been religiously following Call the Midwife since the first season. I'm so glad you can watch the season two episodes online or I would be lost. So far season two has been every bit as good as season one.

    I'm going to see Mr. Selfridge through to the end because I love Agnes and cannot wait to see where they take her character. At any rate I'm going to trust to hope that Andrew Davies is going to pull through and make this at least an okay series.

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    1. Hi Essy. Let's hope Mr. S improves. Unfortunately Andrew Davies only wrote the first 2 or 3 episodes as far as I am aware so unless they bring him back to write the season finale we may be out of luck.

      Sounds like we have to hang in there for Agnes' sake! And then maybe The Paradise will arrive next year (see the comment below)

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. I've just started the Bletchley Circle and love it- such a great series with wonderful acting. As for Mr. Selfridge, I have continued to watch it only because I am interested in all of the other characters, especially Agnes. I really enjoyed the last episode because of the sufragettes, but also because he was in a coma and I didn't have to see too much of him. :-)

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    1. Hi Ramona! Hahaha, maybe we can hope for another coma for Harry S!

      Enjoy Bletchley and stay tuned for my next post on sufragettes in film.

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  6. I have a region-free DVD player and got the DVD for The Paradise over the winter and my husband and I really liked it. The acting is better, the script is better and it does an interesting job with looking at the impact that a large department store has on smaller, specialized stores. Fans of Larkrise to Candleford will recognize many of the actors- so far, the actors who play Laura, Minnie, Fisher Bloom and a male character whose name I'm not remembering have appeared.

    We have also been watching Mr. Selfridge and finding it quite painful in comparison- in short, I wish that PBS had invested in The Paradise rather than Mr. Selfridge and that it was available in the US now!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Abby. Yes it would appear that PBS backed the wrong horse this time. It is hard to know anymore whether it will be ITV or BBC that has the best shows. BBC did the wonderful Call the Midwife, but ITV did The Bletchley Circle.
      I hope they go back and get The Paradise for next fall. Thanks for the review!

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  7. What do you mean the the 1st episode of the Bletchley Circle is nestled under the 1nd episode? We were away and didn't see the 1st one and now PBS.org is not streaming it on the computer any more.

    Thanks

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    1. Sorry Anonymous! When I wrote that they had episode 1 and 2 on the PBS website. Now they have episode 2 and a preview of episode 3. Apparently they want you to either buy the DVD or purchase the first episode through ITunes.
      However some naughty person has put the first episode on YouTube. The link is here: http://youtu.be/mV-3kThY6mw

      Enjoy it!

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  8. Please tell me they are going to make more stories for the Bletchley Circle Ladies....I just LOVED the 'Tiny-Minnie Series...The actresses were just so good. I haven't seen anything that good in a very long time!!! Please tell me there is more in the works.

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    1. Hi Anon. Yes, more Bletchley Circle for next year. http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/itv-announces-second-series-of-the-bletchley-circle-as-hattie-morahan-joins-the-cast/

      Delete
    2. The Bletchley Circle is so good, & the 2nd series is filmed! FYI, here's the public fan page https://www.facebook.com/TheBletchleyCircleWatchers #TBCW

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  9. I'm right there with you. LOVE 'Call the Midwife'. Sometimes I watch the episodes twice to make sure I got it all and The Bletchley Circle...WOW! I keep searching and searching to see if Season 2 is in the works. Mr. Selfridge...hmmmmmm. The story is a good one. The sets are beautiful. It SHOULD be a good series. The characters are awful. Mr. Selfridge himself is really bad. I don't know...bleh.

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    1. Hi Mego. Season 2 of The Bletchley Circle is a sure thing! Yay! http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/itv-announces-second-series-of-the-bletchley-circle-as-hattie-morahan-joins-the-cast/

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  10. Could not agree with you more about The Bletchley Circle. I think it was OUTSTANDING and after last night I want more!!!! As for Mr. Selfridge, I have tried to watch but find myself slipping off to do other things while waiting for TBC just after. Jeremy Piven is so annoying and a horrible actor....sorry! To me it lacks the quality that usually exists with Masterpiece!

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  11. Please share there will be a Season 2 The Bletchley Circle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there will be a Season 2 of The Bletchley Circle and Hattie Morahan (Elinor from S&S 2008) will join the cast. Yay!
      http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/itv-announces-second-series-of-the-bletchley-circle-as-hattie-morahan-joins-the-cast/

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  12. Why are we banned from watching episodes of Call The Midwife on internet here in Montreal. It is unfortunate to be deprived of catching up when it was impossible to watch the PBS showing.

    V

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello V. As a fellow Canadian I thought the same thing and so contacted PBS a few years ago about another Masterpiece show. Apparently, they only pay for the rights to the US and so our Canadian IP addresses mean we can't access the online content (I think that's right).
      I agree it totally sucks. They want our donations but we don't get the same content.

      Delete
  13. "Just be careful when you are watching this. Inevitably, someone either male or under the age of 18 will walk into the room just as you are watching a delivery with the midwife between the poor mother's legs!!!!"

    And this is a problem, why?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Richard!
      Haha! I have a teenager who pulls a face and says things like, "What are you watching?" which just makes me laugh.
      Yes it shouldn't be a problem unless you don't want to have the "where do babies come from?" talk with a little one in the middle of your favourite show.

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  14. Series 2 of The Bletchley Circle has completed filming!

    More on that and other TBC news @ https://www.facebook.com/TheBletchleyCircleWatchers

    #TBCW ~The Bletchley Circle Watchers

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