Rating: 
Summary: Joy at last! I own my own video of my favorite BBC series!
Review: Back in the 1970's,I first saw The Pallisers and I was mesmerized each week by the adventures of Glencora Palliser and all her friends. This series let me escape to a time when the clothing was beautiful and the talk was of sex or politics (is there a difference?). Susan Hampshire was totally wonderful as she aged throughout the run. Her husband, Plantangnet, was unknowingly hysterical in his attempts to keep his wife calm and loyal while trying to get a decimal coinage system through Parliament. The other cast members work around these two and develop further plot lines which go on year after year. It really is an 1870's Dallas with a rotating J.R. and Sue Ellen. I believe there were about 26 episodes and each one got better and better. Problems were beautifully resolved but there were always little red herrings that helped it to continue into the next episode. Characters aged ever so gracefully. This program got me through a tough time in my life. My dad had just died and I was obviously very sad. Thanks to this series, I was able to escape for a while each week into another world. Now I have the first 8 shows and I look forward to the next 8. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long. Buy it and get to know the Duke of St. Bungi!
Rating:
Summary: The Pallisers-A monumental work
Review: Based on the political novels by Trollope, which few read since they are a total of over 2000 pages, this series is one of the most intelligent television renderings of a work of literature that has been done, illustrating the strength of television over movies for the dramatisation of literature. I hope the rest of the episodes will be issued soon, too.
Rating:
Summary: The Pallisers, Series I-II-III
Review: Having seen the series when it was aired originally in the '70's, I have waited 30 years to buy it on tape. For those of you who want the best of the Masterpiece Theatre approach, with Susan Hampshire and an outstanding cast, the most gorgeous music you have ever heard, a story that will keep you glued to the screen, you will NOT be disappointed. The two best series ever put out by the BBC are The Foryste Saga and The Pallisers. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The Pallisers, Series I-II-III
Review: Having seen the series when it was aired originally in the '70's, I have waited 30 years to buy it on tape. For those of you who want the best of the Masterpiece Theatre approach, with Susan Hampshire and an outstanding cast, the most gorgeous music you have ever heard, a story that will keep you glued to the screen, you will NOT be disappointed. The two best series ever put out by the BBC are The Foryste Saga and The Pallisers. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Television
Review: I fell in love with this series when it was screened several years ago here on cable television. Although by today's period drama standards it could be called, 'tacky' due to the studio like nature of the filming, it is compeling viewing! You'll find yourself adoring Glencora, Palliser and even the old Duke. If you've read the novels, you won't be disappointed as the series plays them out faithfully. Susan Hampshire is stunning. Perfection.
Rating:
Summary: You Must See Them ALL - Brilliant Series!
Review: I just love the regency era - the pomp the circumstance and especially the clothes. I'd never heard of the this particular series before but went completely by the period. I AM SO GLAD that I did! THis was an absolutely amazing series.... I had also never before been aware of Susan Hampshire and must now say I am a devoted fan. The story tells of a young heiress who lives life to the fullest, has her flirtations and falls in love with what appears to be a fortune hunter, but before he gets his hooks into her she is made to enter into a betrothal and marriage with a 'no-nonsense', very staid peer of the realm (Philip Latham) and heir to the Duke of Omnium - who, by the way, was interested in another as well. It goes on to show their struggles to adjust to one another - with I might add, the female having to make the most adjustments as the fact that her being in love with another just "....did not signify!" The trials and the tribulations of their struggles, and eventual accommodations to one another amidst the politics of the day are a rare treat and a masterpiece of brilliant acting. I highly recommend this set and recommend picking up Sets 2 and 3 in order to perpetuate your total enjoyment of a magnificently brilliant series!
Rating:
Summary: You Must See Them ALL - Brilliant Series!
Review: I just love the regency era - the pomp the circumstance and especially the clothes. I'd never heard of the this particular series before but went completely by the period. I AM SO GLAD that I did! THis was an absolutely amazing series.... I had also never before been aware of Susan Hampshire and must now say I am a devoted fan. The story tells of a young heiress who lives life to the fullest, has her flirtations and falls in love with what appears to be a fortune hunter, but before he gets his hooks into her she is made to enter into a betrothal and marriage with a 'no-nonsense', very staid peer of the realm (Philip Latham) and heir to the Duke of Omnium - who, by the way, was interested in another as well. It goes on to show their struggles to adjust to one another - with I might add, the female having to make the most adjustments as the fact that her being in love with another just "....did not signify!" The trials and the tribulations of their struggles, and eventual accommodations to one another amidst the politics of the day are a rare treat and a masterpiece of brilliant acting. I highly recommend this set and recommend picking up Sets 2 and 3 in order to perpetuate your total enjoyment of a magnificently brilliant series!
Rating: 
Summary: The grand British soap opera
Review: I view this series with the fondest memories of watching them on PBS during the 70s. They have always been a faithful rendition of Anthony Trollope's series, combining the social and political commentary of his Victorian England with the entertaining social weaving of a varied cast of characters and situations. The first set in the series has been a savoured return to the stories and characters, particularly following the complicated triumph of the relationship between Plantagenet Palliser and the enchanting Lady Glencora; the troubled choices of Alice Vavasor; and the sometimes petty and sometimes noble ambitions of Phineas Finn. I enjoyed the stories that remain satisfying in their period style. I recommend them highly.
Rating:
Summary: Trollope without pain
Review: If you are a fan of English costume drama, interested in amiable depiction of High Victorian Society, if you liked the most recent BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, and, most particularly, if you ever were forced to slog through Anthony Trollope's endless series of lengthy novels recounting the peregrinations of the Duke of Omnium, Phineas Finn, et al, then this is the series for you. It may be most interesting to the long suffering Trollope-reader. I believe that his novels were a sort of 1840s counterpart to modern cable TV. They were made to be read in the evenings, often aloud to gatherings of family and friends. And, since there was little competition for polite entertainment, there was undoubtedly little incentive for the listeners to want the stories rushed to an end. Hence, the elegantly written descriptions of drawing room rivalries, scrapes most often between the honorable and landholding wealthy and the rather dishonorable new-rich tended to drag on and on...and on. This TV treatment, although not a great commercial success in Britain when it was made thirty years ago, is therefore surprisingly successful - the acting, though criticised as stilted, actually is stylised. The basic drama of the situations (will the grand Duke of Omnium crush his defeated rival when they at last meet at some European gambling Spa? Will whatsisname, the preppy son of the Duke make good on his promise to marry the American adventuress?) comes across much better - and MUCH faster - through the TV episodes, and frankly make Trollope quite entertaining in the process. Occasionally, TV takes narrative forms from the past and does make them paced and pallatable for new audiences. This series is still not for fans of fast editing, car crashes, and gore. It is, however, well-paced, mannered, elegant, wholesome and intelligent drama that should have been released to the public decades ago. I have looked for it from time to time for over twenty years - having viewed these episodes as a young school teacher in Singapore in the 70s, where anything from Britain or America was a lifeline to home. I will look forward to watching it again, in senile rapture, rooting for the Duke and wishing ill on the many rascals that surround him.
Rating:
Summary: Why can't it go on forever?
Review: In my teens, I had a great love affair with Trollope novels, and usually am skeptical of tv renditions of my favorite reads. But the BBC's "Pallisers" portrays Trollope's political novels beautifully. (I remember watching this series in the 70's when I was a flight attendant with layovers in Salt Lake City -- this series was a warm friend in a city that rolled up the sidewalks at 5pm.) Susan Hampshire's Glencora is perfection. She is the pivotal character who lights up the entire production. All of the characters are developed at such a comfortable pace, you're surprised when you find you've begun to love some you detested at first glance. If you're not a great fan of Masterpiece Theater-type programs, you might find the first few episodes a little slow-moving as they set the stage for the gigantic group of characters and subplots to follow. But bear with it. The payoff is some of the best television ever filmed.
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