Death in Holy Orders

I too have been used to seeing Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgleish, but changes are not always bad. I watched it on PBS recently, so it was some years after it first appeared in the UK. It was one of those "I know that person" moments that often occur while watching British programs. More recently here we have watched Mr. Shaw in the Inspector George Gently series, and here he is looking much younger! The production dates explained that confusion.

I have enjoyed the two programs very much. I hope there are more. My only problem is that "Death in Holy Orders" ran for three hours from 8-11 pm. I just can't stay awake that long! A friend in the UK explained that their version is cut up into shorter episodes, perhaps hourly. This is a PBS choice, and doesn't take away from the whole production.

Such a nice change from continuous gun battles and car chases!

When Roy Marsden signed off in 1998, I thought that was the end of for Adam Dalgliesh on TV, so I was very glad to see the BBC take up the as were new novels, and breathe fresh life into them.

Martin Shaw does a very fine job, he's a terrific actor and very different to his roles in George Gently and Judge John Deed, I believe in him here, a continuation, rather then a replacement for Marsden.

If I'm honest, I liked the first half more then the second, as I thought it was faster paced and more dramatic, but overall it's a terrific, engaging mystery, which is so much more then just a whodunit.

The acting is terrific, it's Robert Hardy that delivers the masterclass, but Hugh Fraser and Jesse Spencer that stand out.

At the time I wished they'd done more, and remade others, but that was never the point of this series. 8/10

Martin Shaw is a great Dalgleish: very humane. There were several other excellent performances. The portrayal runs close to the book and the characters very convincing for the most part. My only real disappointment was Victoria Scarborough's portrayal of Inspector Kate Miskin. Her smirking during the interviewing of two of the characters in particular was actually very distracting, and it was good for one of them to put her in her place. That didn't fit with my remembrance of the book. Also I cannot imagine anyone giving answers to a police officer who acted in that way in real life. It smacked too much of the 'good cop/bad cop' which appears too frequently in fictional films. Overall though, it was a great two part film.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I came across the film because I had been so impressed with the work Jesse Spencer did for his character in House, I sought out to see more of his work. This movie does not disappoint since he plays quite an important character quite beautifully. But what really blew me away was the wonderful acting throughout the entire film. Every actor was perfect for his/her respective role and the direction was superb as well. Martin Shaw was perfect as Commander Dalgliesh and turned practically every interaction into an interesting character study. Also deliciously into their roles were Hugh Fraser as the cynical George Gregory and and Alan Howard as Father Sebastian. There is also Janie Dee as the sympathetic Emma and Robert Hardy as Father Martin. His poignant portrayal especially at the end of the first part (the movie has 2 parts) had me panicking because I thought it was the end, and I didn't want it to be over. Which brings me to the music: lovely, lovely musical score. I have so many favorite scenes that I don't mind re-watching this movie with those I recommend it to. I guess, I should have expected the high quality since it's a BBC production but still, in my mind it was just a TV movie and I thought, how good could it be. The answer: extremely so. Personally, I enjoy movies that are invested in the characters, not just in the plot, action or mystery. Death in Holy Orders delivers all the way.

A classic, typical P D James story, well filmed for television. I actually saw Martin Shaw's other outing as Dalgliesh (The Murder Room) before this one, but I liked him better here, possibly because there was less of a soppy subplot in this case. Good acting all round, here, with special praise due to Robert Hardy, who is always good value, and to Jesse Spencer as the troubled head ordinand. Julia MacKenzie does a super turn, too. The plot is full of interest and is grippingly told in three hours. The only weakness in my view is the location. The college is supposed to be on a cliff that's being eaten away by the sea, but we never see it properly at all. All we are shown is the silhouette of a tower on a cliff, plus close-up shots of what could be more or less any old ecclesiastical buildings. Small budget, I suppose, but a shame, because it would have been good to get a fuller feeling for the claustrophobia of the college in its windswept location, battered by the forces of nature. Nevertheless, well worth seeing.