Product Details

• Actors: Patricia Routledge, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Hughes
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 4
• Studio: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• VHS Release Date: July 7, 2000
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004WG2S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,863 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snobbishness has never been so funny!, August 14, 2001

By 

Becky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping Up Appearances - Giftset 1 (Rural Retreat/Sea Fever/Angel Gabriel Blue/Entertaining the Hyacinth Way) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bou-quet) the social climbing queen of snobbery, is one of the funniest characters ever to emerge from prime time television. Whether she is planning her next candlelight supper, terrorising her neighbours, harassing her husband, or dealing with her decidedly downmarket extended family, her antics are sure to bring gaiety into the lives of old and new fans alike, and for generations to come!

The episodes on this tape are screams. The first section deals with Hyacinth's attempts at entertainment, with extremely humiliaiting results for her, and hilarious ones for us. Watch her get doused with water. Watch her get taken for a very wild run by a very nimble and limber Newfoundland. Watch her turn her car and house into a rainforest.

Then we see her attempts at ruralisation. See Richard cause injury to himself in shall we say, a rather SENSITIVE part of his anatomy as Hyacinth desperately tries to extricate herself from the grip of impolite farm animals. See Richard put on a fireworks and electrical lighting display at the church hall, while Hyacinth prays desperately that no one will notice Onslow's tattoos. View Hyacinth's attempts at horseriding, where she seems faster and more agile than an Olympic showjumper. And watch while she and Richard become joined at the hip in the kitchen of their, to put it tactfully, rather SMALL abode.

See Hyacinth and Richard on the golf course, which is where her plotting a new executive position for Richard has left them. Which one of them will be offered employment with Frosticles frozen food company?

Why does Hyacinth desperately need the vicar's advice? What socially unacceptable ailment does Richard have? And why will Hyacinth become alarmed?

And what does Hyacinth glimpse ckimbing from a lifeboat aboard the QE2 that makes her blood run cold?

You'll find the answers and much, much more, on these videotapes - which are wondeful keepsakes for the diehard Hyacinth fans and a wonderful way to introduce rookies to the world of Hyacinthdom - a world in which she strives for a "large house, sauna, swimming pool, room for a pony," but whose immaculate planning is always disrupted by the antics of her less than ideal family - her cross dressing brother in law Bruce (who was inconsolable over a large tear in his flamenco frock), her rich sister Violet, her second sister Daisy, a thwarted romantic who claims that Mills and Boon type books are her "last foothold in romance" ("I get very little practice," she says, "at least I can keep abreast of theory), her ailing Daddy (who once pedalled into the river on his bicycle stark naked while chasing the milkwoman), their youngest sister Rose (who dates a different man every night and who once wanted to be a nun) and Daisy's slovenly husband Onslow (who prefers horseracing to Daisy).

I promise you that if these tapes will provide hours and hours of viewing pleasure. If you weren't a Hyacinth fan beforehand, these episodes will convert you!

Once Hyacinth has entered your life you will never be the same!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hyacinth Bucket at her best!, March 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Keeping Up Appearances - Giftset 1 (Rural Retreat/Sea Fever/Angel Gabriel Blue/Entertaining the Hyacinth Way) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have fallen in love with "Keeping Up Appearances" and since you cannot always catch it on the "telly," these videos are wonderful to own! One can enjoy Hyacinth and her "white slimline telephone with automatic last number redial" at any time! This set is economically priced and would make a wonderful gift for any other "Bucket fans" you know! Enjoy!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CLASSIC BRITISH SITCOM, November 3, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping Up Appearances - Giftset 1 (Rural Retreat/Sea Fever/Angel Gabriel Blue/Entertaining the Hyacinth Way) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Roy Clarkes' award winning, popular British sitcom is largely due to the fantastic portrayal of super snob Hyacinth Bucket (according to her, pronounced Bookay - amusing stuff!) played by Patrica Routledge. This is a witty look at surburban life and pays particular interest to some of the inevitable pretentiousness and desperate social climbing that takes place. The scripts and performances sparkle against the often chaotic situations Hyacinth and her poor, put upon husband Richard get into. Hyacinths roots always come back to haunt her when her two sisters Rose and Daisy and Daisys', over weight, couch potato husband Onslow arrive at her home usually in the middle of one of her parties or "candle lit suppers". Theres also her neighbours, Elizabeth who turns into a jittering, nervous wreck whenever she enters Hyacinths house for fear of dropping what Hyacinth calls her priceless antique china cups and Elizabeths brother, Emmett who goes to great lengths to avoid Hyacinth. This is a fine British comedy classic. A real winner. Every episode on this video is bound to have you in hysterics. The quality never once falters so it is really impossible to select a favourite. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!