Customer Reviews

As Time Goes By 6 [VHS]

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For Volume 6 of the BBC comedy series As Time Goes By we get to the point in the relationship where Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer) finally move in together and bring an entirely new dimension of discomfort to their relationship:

Episode 17 (my number of the episodes in the series, the videotape just says 1-2-3, but else where I have seen them described as Series 3 episodes 4-5-6, so take your pick) fines another encounter with Jeans Achilles heel, her sister-in-law Penny (Moyra Fraser), who continues to be worried about Poor Jean. As we saw in a previous episode, the prim and proper Jean cannot stop from coming up with wild stories to cover up the truth about her lovey-dovey relationship with Lionel. He has his own problems, when Pennys husband Stephen (Paul Chapman) wants to see Lionel in his professional capacity as a psychiatrist. Not only a psychiatrist, but, according to Jeans continuing web of lies, one with a badly sprained ankle received while playing golf.

Episode 18 finds that Jean and Lionel have at long last agreed that he should move in with Jean. But once he is actually moved in they find themselves having trouble adjusting to little things: like where should the pictures of their former spouses end up in the bedroom?

Episode 19 opens up a new front for problems as Jean is opening up a second office of her secretarial agency and the question of the moment is who is going to run the place? Sandy (Jenny Funnell) assumes it is going to be Jeans daughter Judy (Moria Brooker), which is why she is receptive to an offer from Alistair (Philip Bretherton) to be his personal assistant. Meanwhile, Jean wants Lionel to find something to occupy his time besides ironing her underwear.

At this point in the series As Time Goes By is working on the level of being charming and comfortable. There are no major embarrassments at this point, beyond Jeans inability to tell sister-in-law Penny the truth, so the overall humor is gentler for the most part. Writer Bob Larbey is not adverse to taking his time in letting these two old lovers, who have rediscovered each other after 38 years, try to live happily ever after.

Jean and Lionel look so real together and so familiar that it feels as though everything I do in my own personal life is alright because Jean and Lionel have lived through it too and it all makes sense somehow. I relate to them from the heart and my own expectations. Little by little I am building my own Jean and Lionel Library of Love. Their chemistry is so real and so honest.

I wish there were books on this series because I'd be the first one to buy all of them.

-Calladine

I should write reviews on every volume of the video collection of "As Time Goes By". Certainly the best sitcome/drama/soap opera...whatever that I've ever seen on TV or in film. I have all the video volumes and am presently taping what comes out on PBS. The quality of the shows is consistently excellent...one keeps expecting a weak show, after 3 or 4 years of broadcast (as it was in England) and it never comes...a few are outstanding but none are really weak.
Bob Larbey is a genius in that his scriptwriting has all the intricacies and subplots of an excellent novel. The character development makes these people almost literally jump out of the screen they're so real. It's almost hard to believe that Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer are NOT married to each other!..which they are not incidentally. (You know, I think they love each other as friends though...don't you agree?) That kind of chemistry doesn't come from nowhere.
My only lament is that the series is years old..the actors have moved on to other projects and the writers are working on other things. It's impossible to get new news or even old news from the UK about these people. I have questions that will never be answered.
Give yourself a treat..get all these videos and watch the rest on PBS. One warning though, have a dictionary nearby because the show is so smart they use words that even I had to look up! (sounds vain I know, but I consider myself fairly literate) Absolutely Awesome.

I am a huge fan of Dame Judi Dench and of this series. These particular episodes are very pivotal - as Lionel moves in with Jean for the first time. Now we see how they relate with each other on a much more personal, every day basis. This leads to such funny predicaments. Very entertaining - you cannot go wrong with this show.

Volume 6 of the "As Time Goes By" series on video finds some resolution to plot lines we witnessed in volume 5, and a new direction which will take us into Volume 7, and the end of the particular season that all three volumes contain.

This particular video showcases some of the best acting, and subtle charm that the series has ever conveyed. For background, it stars Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as Jean Pargetter and Lionel Hardcastle, who were once lovers, 38 years previous. They were separated and lost contact during the Korean War. The very first episode of "As Time Goes By" finds the two meeting again, and ever so slowly and gently, the romance re-kindles.

There are three episodes contained in this video, all from the series 3rd season. Episode 1 finds Jean and Lionel still at a standstill as to whom will move-in with whom (carried-over from the previous installment). This is one of the more convoluted stories, and Jean's constant lying does get a little grating after awhile, but she turns it around in the end.

Episode 2 is very touching. Lionel moves-in with Jean, and the two are left alone on their first night of living together. They each mean to do something nice for the other, but things don't quite come across that way. NOTE: Judi Dench does an outstanding job balancing hurt love with firm irateness. Subtle, fine acting.

Episode 3 takes things in a different direction, with Jean looking to expand her secretarial agency. This has one of my most favorite scenes in the entire series, with Jean & Lionel sitting together on a park bench eating ice cream. They look so in-love. It is one of the things that makes "As Time Goes By" so refreshing. Characters actually act like adults and love each other. What a concept!

Now, if only American television could take note of this.

As Time Goes By is a hilarous series that I have enjoyed for a very long time. These are great tapes to watch and enjoy time and again!