Product Details

• Actors: Douglas Henshall, Kate Ashfield
• Directors: Marc Evans
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: December 15, 2009
• Run Time: 210 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002SAJ6E6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,232 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Pbs Release Date: 12/15/2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Well-Written and Crafted Detective Story Revolving around an Auto Accident., November 25, 2009

By 

mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Collision (DVD)

"Collision" is a departure from the typical crime film in that the detectives are auto accident investigators, not homicide detectives. Their job is to explain what happened in a 6-vechicle accident on England's A12 freeway that left 5 people dead. If they find any wrongdoing, the cases are turned over to the appropriate departments of the police force. The first senior officer on the scene of the accident that May afternoon is Ann Stallwood (Kate Ashfield). She and her former flame DI John Tolin (Douglas Henshall) work together uneasily to put the pieces of the smash-up together. This turns out to be a lot more intricate and entertaining than I expected.

A mild-mannered piano teacher named Sidney Norris (David Bamber) lost control of his car, causing a car driven on a clandestine errand by Karen Donnelly (Claire Rushbrook) to smash into him. A van bringing furniture from the Netherlands, driven by Daniel Rampton (Dean Lennox Kelly), runs into them and is catapulted over the median, where it is hit by a BMW carrying a young couple en route to the woman's 23rd birthday party, with a police car in pursuit. Then Brian Edwards (Phil Davis), driving his complaining mother-in-law, runs into them, as do wealthy executive Richard Reeves (Paul McGann) and his driver. Then Daniel disappears after the police arrive on the scene.

It's all quite contrived, as the accident is connected to no fewer than 4 crimes. That's a high crimes-per-vehicle ratio, but none of the crimes seem implausible in themselves. Reactions seem realistic. It's not just a bunch of melodramatic backstories. The script by Anthony Horowitz and Michael A. Walker is packed with intrigue but down-to-earth at the same time. Director Marc Evans has the film jumping around in time a lot, starting after the accident and then going back weeks, days, hours, but not in that order. It can be a little confusing, but more is revealed about the accident with every jump. "Collision" is equally dependent upon its structure and character writing to maintain interest, and both are quite competent.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Show; Lousy DVD Production, December 17, 2009

By 

J. Troutman "jtphil" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Collision (DVD)

I agree with all the laudatory reviews of this show; it's a complex story, brilliantly told, with lots of twists and surprises.

Having said that, the production of the American DVD leaves a lot to be desired. PBS did a really crappy job.

First of all, this is neither a full-screen nor a wide-screen format, but some kind of bizarro reduced-screen; even using the reformatting capabilities of my tv, I was never able to get the image to fill my tv's screen. Weird.

Also, the DVD faithfully reproduces all the Masterpiece crud that PBS added to its presentation, including the introductions, the "thanks to viewers like you", and the interruption of the conclusion of the show from the credits. Whereas the original had a nice musical segue into the end titles, PBS interrupts that for a commercial for the DVD.

PBS did a real disservice to the show. Just to be clear I rate the show itself five stars; the DVD production ought to be one star, if that.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collision - a study in complexity, December 4, 2009

By 

Graham Seel (Clayton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Collision (DVD)

This British police drama, written and created by Anthony Horowitz, is a superb example of the best of British television drama. Well acted, directed and filmed - we take those things for granted. But the story itself, and its realization, give us more than just another police drama. Centered around a horrific multi-car pile-up on the A12 outside Chelmsford, we see the building up of a picture of several lives, including character, relationships, politics, and intrigue. Even though the scene jumps between locations, people and points in time at an almost alarming rate, it doesn't become too confusing to stay on top of. Rather this increases the tension, making it a spell-binding watch. (It was originally shown over 5 nights in Britain - this would have driven me crazy - I watched it first on PBS in 2 episodes).

Most intriguing of all for me is that this is in some way an essay in complexity, and in particular the idea that the tiniest, most insignificant action in the midst of a highly complex system (humanity in this case) can have huge, unintended and completely unpredictable consequences. For lovers of complexity theory this is a version of the butterfly and the typhoon - in this case initiated by ... well you'll just have to watch the program to find out.

It is a long time since I've enjoyed a television drama this much!