Rating: 
Summary: Top notch human comedy (or nearly)
Review: Recently Acorn Media released the first two seasons of a comedy called "No, Honestly" with husband-wife team John Alderton and Priscilla Collins. Now we have another Britcom with a husband-wife team of a slightly up-market nature: Michael Williams and Judi Dench. Taped in 1981, this series precedes the more familiar "As Time Goes By" with Dame Judi and Geoffrey Palmer, seen so often on PBS. "A Fine Romance" shows a somewhat more comedic Judi as Laura (a translator) and spouse as Mike (a landscape gardener), who meet at a party given by her younger sister Helen (Susan Penhaligon) and her husband Phil (Richard Warwick). There is that instant dislike that leads grudgingly to not only liking but to living together on terms that can best be described as an uneasy truce. You have never seen Judi in quite a role as this: terrified of dentists, prone to hide in closets when all is not well, giving those priceless "I'll kill you later" looks when Mike does not behave up to her standards. Mike (whom you might recall from "Educating Rita" and the more recent "Henry V") is forever rumpled, unsure of him self, really committed to Laura but never brave enough to take that final step. In fact, the 18th and last episode, the only one with a high degree of seriousness, ends ambiguously with Laura wanting a child and Mike perhaps ready to go all the way. All in all, this is a charming series and much funnier than "No, Honestly" because the characters are simply more believable. See both series, by all means, and you will see that where Alderton and Collins elicit plenty of belly laughs, Williams and Dench make us see ourselves a bit more clearly and we laugh at what we see. As an added bonus, you can hear Dame Judi herself singing with broad British A's the Kern song from which the title of this series is drawn. Fred and Ginger did it no better on a larger screen.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Delightful!
Review: Those who are familiar with As Time Goes By will already be familiar with the writing of Bob Larbey, who also wrote A Fine Romance, and those who've enjoyed As Time Goes By will almost certainly enjoy 1980's A Fine Romance. Though not so well known, this light romantic comedy about two mismatched 40-something lonely hearts bears all the hallmarks of Larbey's classic and engaging style of writing. Briefly, Dame Judi Dench (As Time Goes By's Jean Pargetter) stars as Laura Dalton, a highly competent albeit somewhat shy, nervous and highly-strung translator with a tall, pretty, charming and very happily married younger sister named Helen, who only wants to see Laura as happy as she is. Helen and her husband Phil decide to team Laura up with Phil's friend Mike Selway, but it's a match made more out of desperation than a belief that the pair would be suitable companions. Mike (the late Michael Williams, Dame Judi's real-life husband of 30 years who died of cancer in 2001), is a shy, laid-back but very nervous, unkempt, disorganised, and socially-inept landscape gardener. He also has very little in common with Laura with respect to their likes and dislikes. The humour in the series is gentle, and it gets its "spark" from the tension engendered by the pairing of this seemingly unlikely couple. This is the first of three series. The boxed set contains three videos, and each video consists of three 25-minute episodes for a total of nine episodes. This is truly a sweet, charming, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable series. If you've enjoyed As Time Goes By, I strongly recommend getting this first boxed set. If you enjoy it (and I really do think you will), then go ahead and get sets two and three, for they are just as enjoyable as this one. Personally, although I did have a slight preference for As Time Goes By when I first saw A Fine Romance, I have found that following a second viewing of the latter series, I now enjoy it every bit as much as As Time Goes By. Both are absolutely delightful series that are a joy to curl up watch time and time again.
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