Customer Reviews

The Thin Blue Line: The Complete Line-Up

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The reason I give this three stars is not due to the quality of the show. That's easily five stars. To learn more about the show, please read some of the other reviews. My review (and my only complaint with this dvd set) is based on the startling omissions present on the dvd set!

My wife and I purchased season 1 and 2 on VHS about 4 years ago and we've nearly watched those tapes to the breaking point. When we saw that the dvd set was coming out, it went to the top of our Christmas list. Well, we couldn't wait until Christmas to watch it and after a few episodes, we began to feel very disappointed and more than just a bit cheated! In two episodes (that we've noticed so far) there are scenes missing on the dvd!

In Alternative Culture, Sgt. Dawkins asks Raymond to pick her up from her 're-birthing' class later that evening. Well, the dvd is missing the scene where she has her re-birth and Raymond is waiting for her with a bottle!

In The Green-Eyed Monster there is a scene outside the club where Boyle and Goody use their badges to gain entrance to the club and Raymond, rather than go against his ethics, says behind to wait in line. Yet again, this did not appear on the dvd.

Based on the fact that we watched two episodes and BOTH were missing scenes one can only imagine that there will be others.
If you've never seen The Thin Blue Line, you won't miss them. If, on the otherhand, you're a longtime fan, this is just frustrating (sort of like buying the Complete Mr. Bean dvd set only to find out there are scenes missing!).
So be forewarned! The Thin Blue Line 'The Complete Line-Up', as we shall see, is like a half-sucked sweet; Not what it used to be!

Contained herein is the complete "line-up", the full series of Ben Elton's The Thin Blue Line in another essential DVD set from BBC video! The first 2 discs include the 14 episodes that make up series 1 & 2 (Nov 1995-Dec 1996) and the 3rd disc includes over an hour of documentary and interview footage of creator/writer Ben Elton. Elton is best known for his work on Black Adder and the Young Ones. Both of these are essential DVD sets in your Britcom library and TBL is another must own.

The brilliant Rowan Atkinson heads the cast as the "excessively" riggid and by the book (which includes his personal life!), Inspector Fowler, who prefers his constables are as he is "Keen of eye, swift of thought, and regular of bowel". Rowan's performance here is most similar to his character in the Black Adder as far as dialogue goes so if you like that series you'll more than likely love this. The Thin Blue Line, like Black Adder, is a dialogue driven show and Ben Elton uses every chance he can to let the characters (especially Fowler and Det. Inspetor Grim) go off into hilariously wordy tangents. The show is filled with unique characters, each funny in their own right: Sgt. Patricia Dawkins (Fowler's girlfriend of 10 years!), Constables: Habib, Gladstone, and Goody, Det. Constable Kray (Series 1), Det. Constable Boyle (Series 2), and of course the endlessly bafoonish Det. Inspector Derek Grim of CID. The show is mostly based in the police station and occasionally in the field or at Fowler & Dawkins' flat. I fell in love with the show from renting the one lone VHS tape a local video store carried which only contained two episodes. Those episodes were well played believe me, so seeing this released was quite exciting. It also completed my Rowan Atkinson DVD trilogy (Black Adder, Mr. Bean, & TBL)! Here's the contents:

Disc One: Series 1
01. Rag Week
02. The Queen's Birthday Present
03. Night Shift
04. Honey Trap
05. Fire & Terror
06. Kids Today
07. Yuletide Spirit

Disc Two: Series 2
08. Court in the act
09. Ism Ism Ism
10. Fly on the wall
11. Alternative Culture
12. Come on you blues
13. Road Rage
14. The Green Eyed Monster

Disc Three: Extras - "Best of British: Ben Elton" (45 minute documentary), "Smillie's People: Ben Elton"(15 minute interview), TBL Cast Bios, & trailers

Trivia:

*In the first series, Grim's right hand man Kray is played by Kevin Allen. In series 2 the character is replaced by Boyle (Mark Addy). You may recognize Addy from "The Full Monty" or from the U.S. sitcom "Still Standing" where he's married to Jamie Gertz and has a son and daughter. Addy uses an american accent on the show, but once in a while you can hear his british one come through.

*Police Constable Gladstone is played with perfection by Rudolph Walker. Mr. Bean fans may remember Walker from his small role in the first episode where he is the exam giver.

*David Haig (Det. Inspector Grim) also worked with Rowan in the popular British film "Four Weddings in a Funeral" where Rowan plays the nervous and fumbling Father Gerald who presides over his wedding. Haig plays "Bernard St. John Delaney". Priceless scene.

I can't complete this review without a few quotes. Here are three favorites from the man, Inspector Grim:

"Goody-goody, lotti-dotti, namby-hoity, wishy-pamby, toity-washy, dotti-lotti, know it all, public school, stiff upper lip, stiff upper house master, prim & proper, rule brittania...uhh!"

"When you run us up the flag pole, you'll find you're saluting a very different kettle of fish."

"It's my arse on the line and I'm right up to my neck in it."

Just to let you know where I'm coming from, my taste in British Comedies lean toward those with A LOT of "in your face" sarcastic and/or vindictive wit such as Black Adder, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, The Young Ones and Monty Python. With the exception of Seinfeld, I don't know of any other American comedy that has even come close to these for pure "laugh" value.

If you like any of the aforementioned britcoms, I highly recommend The Thin Blue Line. Granted the story lines are not as unique (after all, it's a police station) but the witty insults are unrelenting and the range, contrast and chemistry between a great set of unique characters makes this (IMO) a classic. Chief among these is Inspector Grim - a Kojak wanna-be who believes the entire population should be born in prison, lives to take off his shirt while wearing his shoulder holster and who would "just once in a while like to knick a criminal whose balls have dropped".

...this is certainly one of the best of the last decade! Inspector Grim is hilarious with his run-on sentences and overenthusiasm for cases which usually don't end up going his way (like in the Xmas episode when he bags the wrong group of Christmas carolers).

Grim's right hand man in the 1st season (the dark haired guy with the unibrow) is much funnier than season two's guy (even though that heavy set guy ended up starring in a US sitcom). He just didn't get the lines and gags that the 1st season gave our unibrow actor.

Every character in this show is strongly written and played to a tee. Goodie is also hilarious.

Rowan Atkinson makes the show, of course, with his deadpan, afraid of sex and commitment, Chief Inspector role.

My only knock is how come it only lasted 2 seasons??? It's better than 90% of British comedy that's been out over the years, and it only got a handful of episodes made? I heard a rumour of a season 3 coming out but not sure if it will ever materialize. Since it's been over 7 years since Season 2, it may be hard to get back into the flow of things. But I would certainly welcome it!!! Just get the original cast back!

The police comedy is a difficult genre to manage. Inevitably, most shows/movies attempt to balance the serious social issues police must confront with comedy, but rarely is the balance successful. Certainly the dark dramas like Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue hit their niche, but movie franchises like "Police Academy" and series like the early 80s "Carter Country" quickly degenerated after the first instalment into silliness, and then stupidity.

But The Thin Blue Line forgets neither its comedic drive nor its serious source material. It's a very verbal comedy that preserves the occasional serious issue without becoming maudlin or polarized, like the old MASH series tended to be.

The show develops certain comedic patterns that, instead of becoming repetitive, are moments to which the viewer looks forward: Inspector Grim's increasingly lengthy litanies of insults starting with a riff on "hoity-toity", Kevin Goody's ridiculous physical comedy and almost liquid body motion in times of distress, Patricia Dawkins's constant sexual frustration, and so on.

Perhaps the show's greatest comedic triumph is the merging of Inspector Fowler's (Rowan Atkinson's) honest, if conservative and slightly out-moded social values, with the comedic conflicts his character experiences with other officers and characters. Fowler has a razor wit, and he honestly and strictly sticks to his values, even to the point that we might consider him too strict. It makes for misadventure, and yet it is genuine and credible. In the end, his British politeness and devotion to duty win out over violent, fire-armed courses of strong-arm action, and it's uplifting.

The characters are all likeable in their own ways. Even Inspector Grim, while annoying, is probably harmless enough to be forgiven. It is indeed a shame that only two seasons of The Thin Blue Line were made, and only seven episodes per season, at that. Alas, even Black Adder only survived four seasons. If anything, that's my biggest criticism of the show - the brevity of its run. Did it really warrant cancellation? Are the British that inundated with clever comedy that they can afford to dump this show?

If you can appreciate verbal humour, or ever like movies such as Atkinson's Johnny English, and certainly if you liked Black Adder, you can't go wrong with The Thin Blue Line.

British humor is usually either madly brilliant or badly gone wrong, there is never in-betweens. The thin blue line is in fact, beyond brilliant.

I was discouraged from getting this set by a Scottish friend of mine who is a rabid fan of Black Adder. He said, "You watch 'The Thin Blue Line' and cry," implying that it's nowhere near as good as BA. I'm glad to say he was mistaken!
"The Thin Blue Line" is a fine BritCom. Although nowhere near as sinister as "Black Adder," the writing is still sharp and funny. There is much more slapstick involved as well, making me feel it has more in common with "Fawlty Towers," perhaps, than BA.
There are two big reasons that I enjoy this show so much. First off, is the obvious choice of Rowan Atkinson. It's hard to find fault with him in most things, and the the same is true here. He does such a great job of playing the middle-aged, condescending Inspector Fowler. The character is best described as the emobodiment of those people who anally correct others' spelling mistakes on internet message boards, and Atkinson plays him well, indeed! He also comes off blissfully aloof. When his girlfriend suggests they do something passionate after work, he suggests reading "King Soloman's Mines!"
The second reason to watch this series is, without a doubt, James Dreyfus' performance as the figity, effeminate, Mars bar-loving Constable Goody. He often gives Rowan a run for his money in several scenes. His constant attempts to gain the affection of Constable Habib and his interactions with Inspector Fowler are hilarious.
The only real thing I can complain about is the swap out of Det. Insp. Grim's sidekick between series one and two. Mark Addy's character is okay in series two, but the Det. Constable Cray was hilarious in the first series. He didn't say much, but that was the point...he was just sort of a neanderthalish guy, but the delivery was quite funny.
I'm not giving this a full 5 stars simply because I am comparing it to truly untouchable stuff like "Black Adder," but it's certainly a worthy addition to anyone's BritCom collection. If you're a fan of British wit, Ben Elton or Rowan Atkinson, I highly recommend it!

Ben Elton's hilarious television series, "The Thin Blue Line" features some of the zaniest policeman to ever hit the British small screen. In this 1995-96 Brit-Com, we watch the comedic adventures of the oddball characters, who wear the uniform of the City of Gathforth's Police Department. The series stars the wonderful British TV comedian, Rowan Atkinson as the uptight and prudish Insector, Raymond C. Fowler. He is a man, who is comically obsessive about following the rules and maintaining stiff upper lip, British decorum. While many might laugh at him and his old fashion values, it is his morality and sense of fairplay that often gets his officers out of the many jams they get into. The other officers include Sgt. Patricia Dawkins (Serena Evans), a middle age and often morose women, who happens to be Fowler's live-in girlfriend. She feels like life is passing her by, which isn't helped by the lack of 'action' in the couple's bedroom. Others include Const. Maggie Habib (Mina Anwar) a smart & pretty young female officer, who's precocious comments often land her in trouble, Const. Frank Gladstone (Rudolph Walker) an older distiguish looking officer, who's long & winding stories of his youth, often come to an almost comically pointless end. Finally, there is the hilarious, Cont. Kevin Goody (James Dreyfus), who's overly effeminate & flamboyant personality, would bring the viewer to the conclusion, that he was gay, if it wasn't for the fact that he is often romantically 'mooning' over Const.Habib. You would think, that city crime would be this zany group's biggest problem. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead their attention and problems are often from the same source C.I.D. (Criminal Investigations Division), who often do their detective jobs by cutting corners and bending or even breaking the law. They are lead by the obnoxiously macho, Det. Insp. Derek Grim (David Haig). He's a loud, ranting man, who's seen one too many "Rambo" movies and might actually be dangerous, if he had more than half a brain in his head. Unfortunately his "bull in a china shop" ways often causes trouble for poor Insp. Fowler and his officers. The comic writing on this show is brillaint. The scripts (from writer/creator Ben Elton) feature a mixture of great characters and sharp dialogue, that will leave you laughing out loud. The ensemble cast is superb. The comic genius of Rowan Atkinson (of "Mr. Bean" & "Black Adder" fame) once again creates a new wonderful charcter. His bug eyed, Insp. Fowler lovingly pokes fun at every stuffy, prude you have ever come across. Likwise, Serena Evan's Sgt. Dawkins is the comic picture of middle age crisis and sexual desperation. But it is James Dreyfus's rubber faced, Insp. Goody, who really steals every scene he's in. This guy could give legendary comic, Jerry Lewis a real run for his money, when it comes to protraying great slapstick humor! The series has now been released to the DVD format in a three disc box set titled, "The Thin Blue Line - The Complete Line-Up". This includes both Series 1 & 2 on the first two discs. The third disc includes a documentary on series co-creator/writer, Ben Elton as well as interviews & trailers. "The Thin Blue Line" is a wonderful comedy, which will leave you holding your sides from too much laughter. A great British comedy! Highly recommended!

Over the last 20 years one British Comedian has stood out by himself, In shows such as Mr Bean, Blackadder and vaious one off movies and stand-up, Rowan is gifted. In this show (recently aired on BBC America), Rowan is brilliant as another bumbling character, who through a series of coincidences manages to keep his head above water. The writing and direction in this show are excellent and many co-stars (including one from 'The Bill'- ITV Cop show) keep this show edgy and hilarious! The performances that Rowan has done to date put him in the Peter Sellers class! Can't wait for his next series/Project.

I love Fawlty Towers, I love Black Adder, I love the Vicar of Dibley, and I love Jeeves & Wooster. But none of these compare to the humor of The Thin Blue Line. My daughter thought nothing could be funnier than Chef and Jeeves & Wooster so I bought her The Thin Blue Line and we have watched it over and over and over and it is still funny!!!! I only regret that there were so few episodes. If I could rate it 10 stars I would.