I was an avid fan of the books and was reluctant to watch the tv show lest it ruin my memories. But it actually made the books come alive even better than my memory of them. Daniel Roche was born to play this part, and the rest of the family is on the nose. Violet and the Botts are perfect. The other outlaws are decent. The schoolmaster does not work quite as well (its easy for the acting for such a period piece at this point to seem over the top).
A note on the books - they are aimed at children but are actually very readable by adults - the vocabulary is sophisticated and the episodes are innocent but very funny. The world created is idyllic in a wodehousian way. By comparison, I personally find even the Harry Potter books hard to read as an adult - perhaps because they take themselves seriously and these are purely comic.
The choice of episodes was great but I really wish there had been more. Too late now - the kid actors have grown up unlike the character who moved through time but never grew up.
