Rosemary & Thyme – Series Two
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C Episodes: B-
The story of two middle-aged women who are brought
together by chance and an interest in murders was a bit hit. Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris) is a former
policewoman who just found out what a rat her husband is. Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendall from Parting
Shots, reviewed elsewhere on this site) has just lost her job and wants to
smash her former employer. Together,
they are back in Rosemary & Thyme – Series Two (2004) and 9 more
episodes comprising of eight more mysteries (14 to date) are featured in this
new DVD set from Acorn Media far. The
episodes this time are:
1) The
Memory Of Water – The two-part second-season opener has the duo
fixing the grounds of a British courtyard near a prison. They do their best to get their work done
and get out, but want it to be done right in the first place. Just before they can finish, someone turns
up drowned to death, so they stick around to clean that mess up too.
2) Orpheus
In The Undergrowth – Lighting strikes twice when the ladies are hired
to fix up an important memorial, when a dead body shows up in the middle of the
construction. Well, they will not have
any of that and decide to even find out who murdered the poor soul
3) They Understand
Me In Paris – The duo get hired to help restore a 150-year-old garden
in France, but some people would like to see it rot, even if that includes
newly rotting corpses.
4) The
Invisible Worm – Anthony Andrews guest stars in a show where the ladies
are called into find out why roses are dying on a college campus. Then, higher forms of life start to follow,
so they investigate.
5) The
Gongoozlers – A new TV show about making over your garden could have
axes falling on set as Rosemary is injured under mysterious circumstances. Laura and the host of the show team up to
investigate!
6) The
Italian Rapscallion – The ladies go to do their plant work in Italy
for a restaurant, but a break form the work turns to murder and they do double
duty to finds out why.
7) Swords
Into Plowshares – A woman poses as Rosemary to possibly destroy a
garden and steal priceless merchandise, causing the ladies to do their take on
battling identity theft.
8) Up The
Garden Path – A contest for best garden turns to the contestants
finding all their work mysteriously destroyed.
When the head of the contest turns up dead, they decide to change the
rules a bit themselves and find out what is going on.
Rosemary & Thyme is absolutely still
worth your time, even when some of the mysteries run into minor problems. There is more here than in the first set and
a third series is underway. The ladies
fit even better into their roles this time and this is all top rate TV Mystery
fare for the most part. It is also
fun.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image is nice
and clean, a top-rate presentation in line with the best digital HD-intended TV
productions that are thankfully on the increase. This may even looks a tad better than the transfers from the
previous set, if still lacking detail in parts. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo once again has nice Pro Logic
surrounds and the combination makes the show a fine watch on DVD. The theme song is performed by John Williams,
with general music performed by Christopher Gunning. All the extras are on DVD 1 and include another stills section,
cast biography text, text production notes and a trivia quiz for the first
time. Start with the first set, then
try this one. Odds are if you like
mysteries, you’ll want both.
- Nicholas Sheffo
