I had reviewed this title about two years ago and still find it to be the very best mini-series from P.D. James. Tied closely with A Taste for Death in my list of favorites, the story is beautifully enacted by Roy Marsden and the rest of the cast. The nurses are beautifully portrayed as well as Mr. Courtney Briggs, the surgeon. A budding romance with Mary Taylor (Sheila Allen), the nursing school administrator, is also quite touching, as AD works through the list of suspects and the facts surrounding the murder of the two nurses at the training school. Dalgliesh can be both dominant and subtle in his quest for truth and justice. I especially like the flashbacks as AD meets the nurses and their friends and loved ones.
The denouement was beautifully and frighteningly portrayed as in the book, but there are some scenes missing. Some of these aspects are important to the story
This is how it appears on my current boxed set on DVDs I ordered from a BBC catalog about ten years ago. (About 20 years ago I experienced the same problem when I purchased the boxed set on VHS Not knowing the exact running time, I had taken a chance - both times. Though beautiful resolution and great acting, we just don't have the complete story) I would have given this one 10 out of 10 stars, but feel it is too bad that there are some pointless cuts. I had mentioned on a review board earlier about seeing this series on TV not long after it was first shown on Mystery! and taped it on VHS. When viewing it with my hubby, we found it to be an exciting, cohesive story. When I needed an extra VHS one day. I taped over it, sadly. In the 90's I ordered the set from a BBC catalog on VHS and noticed vital scenes missing. The same thing occurred about 10 or 12 years ago when I ordered the set on DVD. So I have both sets now without a few minutes of that footage. The same things are missing on the DVD boxed set.
I hope to find the real running time so I can purchase the set again on DVD. A response on a message board says I can get the series complete from Amazon in the UK. The question is, can I? Or was the series cut for good? The answer is NO.
I do wonder about the reason for the edit. (This also occurred with A Taste for Death, my other favorite mini-series.). In Shroud, I think one of them is really integral to the plot and is clearly stated in the book. It really makes all the difference when we see the inner AD.
IF anyone could help me in finding the original running time of this series, I would be so appreciative. It still remains at nearly the pinnacle of AD favorites, but was originally so much more.
Footnote: A friend purchased the Chronicles and the same unkind cuts occur there too. I noticed in her set that it says the best possible reenactment of the Series and how P.D. James was very pleased. I am surprised, but she wrote so many fine works that it must have been hard to keep track. She is my all-time favorite mystery writer. (I do think that they all look splendid if the viewers of the 80s and 90s like myself had not spotted the omissions).
I am hoping to find someone who taped the Series on VHS in reasonably good quality and can let me borrow a copy. (This would have been in the late 80s - early 90s time frame). At this stage they had a chance of being complete.
I am surprised about concerns for resolution. I have concerns for a complete story the way it was intended.
