El regreso

Sadly not up to the standard of 'Coming Home' just a quick money grab follow on without the style or story of the original. The focus shifts from Judith (who is a bit player and very 'ho hum') in this follow on. Very contrived and no really worth the effort.

A disappointment as a followup to Coming Home there just didn't seem to be much of a point to any of it. Emily Mortimer, who was the focus of the first as Judith is replaced here and made a minor supporting character which is bad news. Bad because the actress that replaced her is dull as dishwater and bad because it makes the whole series lose it's focus with her sidelined. Joanna Lumley and Susan Hampshire are still fine as always but they are on the fringes of the story. As with most British productions the attention to detail is excellent in both costuming and settings but this is a middling show and a bit of a dull viewing experience.

Since my sister is a great fan of Rosamunde Pilcher's books I wasn't too keen to see this TV movie, but was really surprised by the quality of the storyline and the acting skills of the cast. The lavish countryside combined with the moving and often surprising turns of the story glued me to the TV, I really felt the characters unlike in so many other cheaply produced TV movies. One can clearly see the scope and drama of this evolving family epic against the background of a changing social and political society and the power of love, family, friendship and god to mend all human errors we fall so easily for. After viewing this movie I just hope the film adaptations of Rosamunde's son Robin are of equal quality!

I enjoyed the tv movie version of "Coming Home", so I was pleased to see the sequel. It really wasn't bad. Not written by Pilcher, but in the spirit of the first story. Some characters deleted, some actors changed, but mostly a continuation from the first. A feature I really enjoyed was the use of newsreel footage from the era. It was helpful to set the stage of the various time periods involved. The basic story involves Loveday's struggle to keep the estate Nancherrow in the family after the death of her father. Lots of parallel stories involving the various characters as in the first film. It has a good feel for the changes England went through after WWII and into the early 1950's.

If we're being honest Coming Home never really stood up to the excellence of Pilcher's book, so this sequel never really stood much of a chance.

To be fair though if you can ignore the fact that the script is not good and the acting is infinitely worse then this is passable. The story isn't all that great but shines occasionally. But i think the biggest problem i had with the whole thing was the change of the main focus, i think it would have been better if they had focus on making the story around Judith and Jermemy.

To sum up it is just about worth watching if you liked the first installment, but personally I prefer the book to them both!