jmmorris@yahoo.com

Charming 8 episode series about a famous garden. At its simplest, that is what it is. But the garden in question is Sissinghurst in south east England, one of the most famous gardens in the country. Its fame does not so much come from its beauty as its connection to twentieth century literary history. It was owned by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, who built the gardens in the 1930s, but also has connections to Virginia Woolf. Wolf was Sackville-West's lesbian lover, one of many one of many. The show is focused on Adam Nicolson and his wife. Adam is the grandson of Vita and Harold, who is trying to change Sissinghurst. Adam is trying to reconnect Sissinghurst to Vita's time and to reconnect the estate to the surrounding land. Much of the series up until episode 6 focuses on the problems that Adam and his wife have in trying to get their ideas accepted by the public body that now runs Sissinghurst. Things start to change in episode 6.

If nothing else you get to see a wonderful garden which is well worth visiting, particularly in May-June when it and most English gardens are at their peak. Not too far from Scotney Castle or Exbury, also worth a visit. Castles and famous houses abound in south east England.

This works best as a comedy: don't go looking for more, just go for a good laugh. If you liked 4 Weddings and a Funeral or About A Boy, then this is way funnier. If you didn't see any humour in those, then this might not work for you. The vignette approach puts it almost in the style of the Monty Python films. Defintely of a similar standard: this is the crew that did 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, About A Boy and they've clearly progressed on from that and made a film with world class production values, a tight script and above all screamingly funny.

John M

The Edge of Darkness plays an issue of the times i.e. the 80's nuclear issue. But it also imbeds itself in a much deeper way in those times. The newscaster who interviews him was a TV newscaster of this period . The politician who is talking at his daughter's university/college, in the early part of the show, was a politician of that time (Michael Meecher - still a Labour politician in England). Having lived in the England till around the time this came out, and being a policeman at that time, when you strip away the sensationalist aspects this is a slice of the place and people of England at that time. An historical curiosity in a way.

John Morrison