Janus

I was living in Hong Kong through the 1980s and 90s, so missed some fine Australian movies and television dramas. However, one morning in 2002 I caught Janus on the ABC at about 3.00am and was totally blown away. I then set up my recorder to tape every episode, even while I was once again overseas. But Dubya invaded Iraq and the resulting non-stop coverage for several weeks pre-empted Janus and my taping went all awry.

Since then I have been able to watch Phoenix (from the same team) on DVD and been highly impressed.

Now Janus has been released on DVD and I have been able to watch the entire first series, including episodes I have not seen previously. It is even better than I recalled. Realism, subtlety, grittiness, the underhanded behaviour of both prosecution and defence lawyers are all there, along with some seriously menacing crims.

What a series. But a word of warning; if your attention span is limited to just ten or 15 minutes, forget it.