A Place to Call Home

There's still a lot to like in this show if, that is, you are willing to throw credibility out the window. Like most soaps, the writers pour on the drama, but at times they don't just pour on the drama, they drown you with it. Think of anything that could happen to one family and it will happen to these poor Blighs -- and anyone else who happens to enter their orbit. What redeems the show is the good cinematography and period costumes and, for a soap, some occasional, terrific acting. Elizabeth is excellent, as are Jack, George, Carolyn, and Sarah, who basically carries the show. However, some of the men and and the women who play the younger generation aren't up to the task -- Harry and Henry are both good, but not James, Anna, and, worst or all, Olivia, who is either a very bad actress or is just stuck playing an unredeemable stock soap opera part (the eternally perky, always terribly concerned victim). Still, if you're looking for completely mindless entertainment, and willing to put up with more dastardly deeds that Mrs. Fletcher ever found in Cabot Cove, it's certainly worth a look -- and, of course, you can also look at all the young men who sport 2020 gym bodies and take their shirts off every opportunity they can. (One odd detail: the actors' accents all seem to switch back and forth from Australian to English to neither, or both. Very strange.)

This is one of the best TV series to come out in a long time...we live in the States but tend to watch English shows vs American 90% of the time since the reality show trend is a total waste. I'm a Brit expat and husband is American, we both loved this post WW2 drama. The cast is superb and make this series all the more compelling. The 50s' feel is well done, as is the portrayal of the three generations and how they cope with their different - and unexpected yet similar - experiences. Not to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, the series generally takes us to fresh plots/characterizations in ways other shows haven't. Bravo! We saw series 2 on the BBC and anxiously await its screening on Acorn Media next month. Series 3 is apparently being filmed now to be shown later in the year with a 4th to follow. Looking forward to seeing it -- why can't this type of series be shown here at the same time? Why do US audiences have to wait a few years or worse watch a US-made remake that usually flops? Don't the studios understand that we are not idiots and enjoy watching intelligent shows?

I really enjoyed this series. It had me crying, angry, happy, and sad. It was a very emotional series. Each season was better than the last. It was very well written and the actors were superb! I didn't know Australian TV was so good! I didn't find out until the end that this was a true story.

A soap, but a soap of the very highest quality. Noni Hazlehurst's performance alone is reason enough to watch.

I started to watch this amazing television programme with a friend, through her recommendation, while I was in Australia on holiday (I am from the UK). Unfortunately, the series was half way through the story. But the more I watched it, the more I liked it. The cast were terrific and while the series, unlike so much of the local television, looked like an A-grade period drama. Nostalgia is a potent sentiment, one that transcends even the most stubborn cringers. As the season come to an end, I found myself happily reporting that, despite my assumptions, A Place to Call Home actually explores with real sophistication the stuff that resonates powerfully in our national consciousness – a longing for the past, and a longing for home – and that makes for great television. Luckily I have been able to get the DVD not long after it was released. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the second series next year. But, hopefully I will be able to purchase the DVD once it gets released.