Really excited by this news. Hugh Laurie is somewhat underrated as a dramatic actor (House M.D. being the exception) and I have really wanted to see this ever since I discovered it existed several weeks ago. The DVD listing was put up quite a while ago and I was really worried that Dazzler would not release this on Blu-ray, so I'm definitely pleased to see that's not the case.
They try to avoid spoilers but do give away a few plot points and a hint about what happens to Laurie's character, so may be best to leave it until finishing the series.
I don't suppose Dazzler will be including it as an extra but would be happy to be proved wrong.
They try to avoid spoilers but do give away a few plot points and a hint about what happens to Laurie's character, so may be best to leave it until finishing the series.
I don't suppose Dazzler will be including it as an extra but would be happy to be proved wrong.
Thanks for this. I don't expect it will be on the Blu-ray, either, so hopefully it is still up in December.
So, after a very long delay caused by Amazon.co.uk not making this available for delivery outside the UK, I was finally able to get this in today. I am planning to start it right away and will report back with my thoughts at the weekend once I have finished it.
Confirmation:
These discs are Region B LOCKED.
BDInfo scan:
English subtitles are HoH in a small white font. There are no extras, only menus.
Disc 1 (Episodes 1-2):
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00000.MPLS AVC 1:52:32 34,312,607,808 34,626,753,353 40.65 35.22 DTS-HD Master 5.1 3471Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
I just finished the series and I quite enjoyed it. Hugh Laurie is brilliant, Helen McCrory is wonderful and it was lovely to see both Saskia Reeves and Sidse Babett Knudsen (my favorite Danish Prime Minister) again. Their performances rise above writing that I thought was a bit dodgy at times. Laurie's character Peter Laurence seems extremely put upon by everyone else, perhaps deservedly in several cases, but not so much in others and as the series is written, I often found myself wondering if he was supposed to be as villainous as the marketing implies. A couple of the minor characters, (
[Show spoiler]the junior barrister and especially Laurence's younger daughter
), are near to professional whingers and elicit little empathy for themselves, but by the end I found most every other character generally watchable, even though sometimes their characterizations of Laurence seemed at odds with what Laurie was acting out on screen. It's a good series, but it's probably too short and I could have done with more of Laurence and less of the minor characters. I think had the series continued on for two more episodes, it could been even better.
I did view the above supplement from the BFI. I don't know if Dazzler could have added it to their Blu-ray, but while it would have been useful, I can see why they wouldn't include it, because it has some video and audio issues like most video conferences do. However, anyone who watches the series should view the BFI video, which which helped me to understand most of what David Hare was thinking and where Hugh Laurie was coming from in his approach to playing the Laurence character, ultimately enhancing my appreciation of the series. Unfortunately, I can't find what the viewing figures were, but I don't see much online other than it got off to a great start (5 million viewers), which I'm assuming means there was a big but not spectacular drop-off.
Dazzler's Blu-ray presentation is generally excellent, though I noticed one instance of some rather heavy banding during one of the scenes inside a vehicle at night in the third episode. The video bitrate is very high--though I didn't think to check it as the scene was happening and a high bitrate doesn't solve all compression or encoding issues--so perhaps this is down to the source given the lighting needs in the car and the camera used? Other than that, I didn't notice any issues, though as I was watching for the first time, I wasn't watching critically. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is excellent, if not often challenged by the series' sonic requirements. The few musical selections and the dialogue are both crisp and clear throughout.
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Roadkill (2020) - 7 December 2020
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