Kavanagh Q.C. - The Complete Collection [DVD]

I am a big John Thaw fan, so I really enjoy Kavanagh Q.C. The programs are well-written, well-acted, well-produced and thoroughly enjoyable. Having said that I'd like to offer a recommendation to American fans of British TV DVDs.For those of you who enjoy British television programs, do yourself a favor and purchase an "all-region" DVD player. My friends and I have all purchased the Pioneer DV420V all-region DVD player from Amazon U.S. Cost is under $100 (under $80 in my case). It comes ready-to-play DVDs from any and all regions in the world. Once you have this little beauty you can order British TV titles on DVD from Amazon UK. They sell for a fraction of the price of the same titles in the U.S. (when they are available in the US - there are many titles that aren't sold in the U.S., or the U.S. titles available are many seasons behind those released in the UK).For example, the Complete Inspector Morse lists for well over $400 in the U.S. You can find it for as little as $340 on Amazon, sometimes cheaper elsewhere. However, the Region 2 version sold through Amazon UK sells for under $70, even with the current strong US dollar. So even after purchasing the Pioneer DV420V, you still save almost $200. That's on a single title. The Complete Kavanagh Q.C. sells for about $250 in the U.S., $28 on Amazon UK. Granted, the U.S. versions of these two programs come with a nice wood storage box, but other than that the programs are identical. For the money you save you can buy wood boxes for them and still save a ton - if wood storage boxes are your bag. So you can purchase Morse and Kavanagh in the U.S. for $590 from Amazon U.S., or both titles and the Pioneer DV420V all-region DVD player for less than $180 from Amazon U.K., saving $410! Both programs and the DVD player and still save over $400. Wow!Other bonuses from buying British titles from Amazon U.K. include a quicker release date - many British titles in the U.S. are well behind the U.K. releases - and unedited programs. For some reason the U.S. versions are often edited, cutting out portions of the original UK broadcast. I find this troubling to say the least. Also, sometimes the original music in the U.K. broadcast is changed, I'm guessing this is because the producers only obtained the U.K. rights for music when they made their programs, not worldwide music rights. This isn't always the case, but it happens frequently enough that it bears mentioning. So you get the DVDs quicker, cheaper and better. In the U.K. as soon as a program finishes its season (or series as they call them in the U.K.) the DVD comes out. That's usually not the case in the U.S. I don't know why the U.S. lags so far behind the U.K. in DVD release dates, but it does.So do yourself a favor. Buy the Pioneer DV420V - an excellent DVD player, by the way - and purchase region 2 DVDs from Amazon UK. You'll save a ton of money and often get a better product. Oh, by the way, there's another bonus - all-region means all-region, so if you get DVDs from other regions, like Japan, South America, India, China, etc., you're golden. The DV420V will play them all. Without any fooling or fiddling around. It comes set-up to play everything. (Note: I've read a few reviews from people saying they had trouble playing other region DVDs with the DV420V. In every case all they needed to do was read the manual and follow the easy instructions for setting the DV420V to all-region play. I did it just to see how hard it is to do, and in all honesty, a fifth-grader could do it. You'd have to be a complete moron to not be able to follow the all-region set-up instructions. However, as I said before, the DV420V comes with its default set to all-region, so it shouldn't be necessary. I mention this only in the rare event that it doesn't come set for all-region play so you'll know that it is a very simple matter to fix it.

Kavanagh QC is a very good character, and some of the courtroom maneuvering is first-rate; as accurate as Law & Order during the first seasons but more subtly done. The acting is very good and the plots are different enough to keep you interested. John Thaw gave some very solid performances throughout.The only episode that fails is Kavanagh's trip to the US to help represent a man on death row. Of course the state of Florida is populated entirely by knuckle-dragging, drawling racists, who've framed the man for the most predictable, implausible reason one could imagine.I wish the British would get over their inferiority-needs-to-assert-moral-superiority complex about the United States. They're so smart and competent when they're not being neurotic, they might even produce an interesting and biting look at the death penalty. Are US death-penalty defense attorneys overworked, underpaid, deprived of adequate resources, while working under enormous psychological and social pressure? According to this episode, that's not true -- American public defenders are merely corrupt. Is the US death-penalty system fundamentally unfair in the selection of criminals who are subjected to the penalty? According to this episode, that's not true either -- the death penalty's only purpose is to inflict racist violence on innocent and framed defendants. Throw in shots of US and Confederate flags with trumpet riffs that sound like Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, and you have an episode written more to salve the neuroses of British scriptwriters and the conceits of uninformed British viewers than an episode worthy of the rest of this series.BTW, if you really want some good criticisms of the US from a British barrister, you can't do better than Rumpole's takes on the US in "Rumpole and the Honourable Member" and (to a lesser extent) "Rumpole's Return."

I've submitted reviews on each series; this overview of the collection draws various themes together. Kavanagh has a complex personality: as an interrogator, he is merciless and awesome; in conference, he is direct and non-judgemental; as a father, he is firm but benevolent; as a husband, he is flawed but loyal. John Thaw has delivered a convincing performance in each of these roles, developing the script character into a likeable leading role (if not always an easy one).Some viewers may find the Kavanagh format too formulaic: the 'unwinnable' brief; the unresponsive defendant; the cliffhanger trial; the diverting sub-plot; the embarrassing incident involving Kavanagh's rival, Jeremy. But the formula works, and the collection never loses its originality.Part of this formula relies on the strength of the supporting cast. Viewers will no doubt already be familiar with the regular cast, but some of the visitors are outstanding too: Geraldine James as the razor-sharp interrogator in Nothing But The Truth; Paul Rhys as the eerie murder suspect in Job Satisfaction; Deborah Findlay as the god-fearing mother in Bearing Witness.Complex moral issues are raised. Should victims of rape have to endure interrogation? Should war criminals be held to account for their distant past? Can a social worker's distant relationship with a teenage client ever be foregiven? These matters are treated sensitively, sometimes leaving open moral answers.Questions of law are also aired - the priviliged positions of ecclesiastical and military courts; an inadequate trial defence as a ground of appeal; a tort case where the claimant does not request damages.Some of the episodes work better than others, but the collection forms a cohesive entity of characters and plots. Its value is far more than the sum of its parts.