At Home with the Braithwaites - The Complete First Series

Rating:
Summary: Hard to believe but engrossing
Review: If you ever thought you have had one of those days, picture this. A mother of three named Alison Braithwaite (Amanda Redman) is given a winning lottery ticket for her birthday by younger daughter Charlotte (Keeley Fawcett) and winds up with 38,000,000 pounds. Knowing what her family is like, she tells no one except two women (played by Lynda Bellingham and Sylvia Syms) who help her form a charitable trust to give the money away to needy people. In the meanwhile, her not too brainy husband David (Peter Davison) is trying to wriggle out of a hot affair with his secretary Elaine (Judy Holt), her older daughter Virginia (Sarah Smart) has a lesbian crush on their neighbor Megan (Julie Graham), who is having an affair with a young window washer, all the while her middle daughter Sarah (Sarah Churm) lets her drama teacher know how she feels about him but later gets pregnant by her boyfriend, at the same time the Press is sniffing around closer and closer to the true identity of the lottery winner!!!

And that is only the surface problems Alison is facing in the opening season of the smash television hit in England, "At Home With the Braithwaites." Played for shock, tears and laughs, the first season of this series is now available in a boxed set from Acorn Media (AMP 7184). My wife and I watched the two DVDs (6 episodes) on three consecutive nights and thoroughly enjoyed them. Of course, the plot was exaggerated beyond credibility-but the wish fantasy of winning a huge lottery makes it too strong to resist the story of someone who actually did win, even if that person is fictional.

Davison has the acting skill to give you a really believable idiot whose face you would love to punch; while Smart's pouting and feeling sorry for herself because of all the trouble she herself has caused makes her at the same time sympathetic (she never could get her parents to listen) and repugnant (nothing can excuse her actions, only explain them). Don't you agree that the British actors are good at creating such characters that are at the same time typical and yet completely individual?

This is the kind of series you invite friends over to see and have a game of predicting what new problems will arise in the next episode. And believe me, it takes great acting to make all of this palatable. And if you any of you recognize your own problems in all this, it is because keeping big secrets to yourself can be dangerous to your health.

The only bonus features are some selective film biographies of the main characters. Also, although the original telecasts are in 16:9 ratio, the company that supplies Acorn Media has told them only the full-screen version of the Season 1 is available. That accounts for some awkward compositions in some shot.