Product Details

• Actors: Michael Siberry, Julia St. John, Susan Hampshire, Naomi Radcliffe, Richard Standing
• Directors: David Evans, Indra Bhose, Ken Horn, Morag Fullarton, Sarah Harding
• Writers: Chris Thompson, Julian Roach, Russell T. Davies
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 5
• Studio: Goldhill Home Media
• VHS Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Run Time: 520 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004XMUJ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,836 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Checking into The Grand again, June 30, 2003

By 

Bill (Seattle, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grand, Series 2 (Boxed Set) (DVD)

If you enjoyed your stay at "The Grand," you're likely to want to check in again for "The Grand: Series Two." Get ready for some initial disappointment, and not only because two characters (Stephen Bannerman and Ruth Manning Bannerman) are played by different, less-effective actors.

In the initial episodes of the second series, the tone seems off. While the first series managed to feel like drama rather than soap opera, the second dives wholeheartedly into the soapsuds and becomes more episodic. Some characters even seem to act in ways inconsistent with their previous actions. It almost feels as if a new production team had taken over, although that's not the case.

Luckily, the second series hits its stride with the fourth episode and, for the most part, sustains it until almost the very end (with some nifty surprises and plot twists along the way). There's some very enjoyable writing throughout -- great credit goes to Russell T. Davies for staying true to his period and not trying to impose modern sensibilities on his characters.

For example, the character who reveals his gayness is utterly confused and conflicted in a way that seems consistent for an uneducated worker in 1920s Britain; his self-hatred and seemingly unresolvable sense of isolation are never glossed over.

By the end of the second series, it becomes clear, though, why there were only two series of "The Grand." Just about every avenue of development had been explored and there was little ground left to cover with the characters. So, you check out of The Grand generally satisfied with your stay, but feel fine not returning for another.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Grand" Mini-Series!, August 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Grand, Series 2 (Boxed Set) (DVD)

"The Grand," a former Masterpiece Theatere presentation, is a classic costume drama in the tradition of fine British fare such as, "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "The Pallisers," but I personally feel "The Grand," which I'd never heard of but stumbled upon recently via DVD, is better than either of those BBC classics.

The scene is post-World World 1 Britian, and the family-run "Grand Hotel" has recently been restored to its former glory and is celebrating it's grand reopening on New Year's Eve. Unbeknownst to the Bannerman family, their business manager has lost the family money in speculation and, to embarassed to tell his friend and client, does away with himself during the party. (This all happens in the first three minutes of the movie, so I'm not giving anything away.)

From there "The Grand" takes off as the owner, John Bannerman, is forced to allow his sinister brother, who has a passion for the John's wife, Sarah, as well as ladies of questionable reput, to invest in the Grand to save her. But "The Grand" follows far more than that one family story. There is the new chambermaid whose dreams of living "above stairs" turns into a nightmare and John's misguided son, whose life has been forever altered by his involvement in the war. As has the existence of the stalwart and oh-so-proper hotel manager/head butler, who lost his son, under rather mysterious cicrumstances, in the war. Then there's the mysterious guest whose profession shocks the sensabilites of the Victorian owners and a host of other guests and staff members who populate "The Grand's" enchanting landscape.

This engrossing series even held my husband's attention, who usually rolls his eyes when I utter the words "British costume drama." Though he was reluctant to begin watching, after the first episode he was like, 'Is that it? This is great!' We actually watched the entire 8-hour mini-series in two evenings and he was as eager to find out "what happens next" as I was.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing Period Piece, January 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Grand, Series 2 (Boxed Set) (DVD)

So far, we've seen The Grand Series 1. I nd a break because my head is spinning from all the goings-on in the series. We finished watching it last night (4 hrs one night/4 the next). Take note: it is NOT Austen-esque as I thought. None-the-less, it's terribly engrossing. It's drama--I mean real drama if that's what you like. Not very light/not very witty, (as I said-it's not Austen). But so well done. Very insightful. Prob the MOST insightful of that era equal to Dickens descriptns of his times. And that's what pulls you in. The classes/the clothes/the changes occuring from the war and the end of the Victorian era. Terribly engrossing. Great watching!!! Ever so slightly choppy at the end--like they missed a page of script or something because everyone sort of 'got happy' when they could have actually had one more hour of getting to that 'happy time'. It came too fast without resolving some previous heaviness. Otherwise--simply engrossing! Look forwd to Part 2!