The Glittering Prizes

None of the British mini-series that found their way across the Atlantic stand as a greater achievement than "The Glittering Prizes." Not "I: Claudius," not "Brideshead Revisited," none of them.

Frederic Raphael's script strikes just the right combination of warmth and acidity with a note of genuineness that we don't always associate with this writer. The performances are uniformly apt. Many of the young cast would go on to solid careers, yet few of them would ever give greater performances than they do here.

Undoubtedly the TV technology of the period may appear quaint, but that certainly hasn't held back "I, Claudius." I have seen this series again since the first American run in 1977, so I'm not relying only on dim memory. The writing and acting still hold up.

So many of these mini-series are really second-rate, sometimes dreary, but that's what average means, average. "The Glittering Prizes" is among a handful of really great pieces of television, and we are waiting impatiently for the BBC to complete excavation of the archives and place this wondrous series before a new generation of viewers.

This series was the kind of thing that made TV worth it a quarter century ago. Written by the English novelist Frederick Raphael from his book, it was more than a little autobiographic, and carried the flavour of the 50s and 60s, while avoiding many of the clichés this period evokes.

The TV series was Intelligent, wry, literate, subtle, with brilliant acting.

In post-war England, it followed a group of students at Cambridge, with their hopes, affairs, confrontations with life, and, later, disillusionments and achievements. It's impossible to explain how truly intelligent the writing is; this has to be experienced.

We NEED it on DVD!

This series, which ran on PBS in the '70s, was written by award-winning screenwriter and novelist Frederic Raphael. It follows a group of Cambridge students from the 50's through to the 70's. Several of them are thinly-disguised versions of their real-life counterparts. For example, Tom Conti plays Adam Morris, an aspiring Jewish novelist (presumably Raphael himself) and Mark Wing-Davey (of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) plays Mike Clode (obviously David Frost.) A wonderful analysis of life in England from the post-war period through to the Swinging '70s. Shamefully, this series has never been released on video.

Totally engrossing series. Excellent cast, with a young Tom Conti particularly outstanding. Many mini-series have since come and gone, but very few match it in quality or in hauntingly evoking an era. A masterpiece.

This must be the last of the quality BBC dramas yet to be released on DVD. I wonder what the problem is? Maybe the BBC has lost the original tapes - I hope not. Assuming that the tapes do exist still, I would expect the demand is enough now to justify its release on DVD. I would certainly be prepared to pay a premium to obtain it. It's one of those productions that do not date, but evokes the atmosphere of the 1950's to the 1970's as I remember living through it. Considering the number of excellent actors in the series you would think there would be a demand just to be able to see them as they were at the beginning of their careers. So come on BBC - at least let us know if we may hope!!!