The Pallisers

I never binge watch series, but I ripped right through this one. It does a pretty good job of staying true to the books, and where it doesn't, it tends to improve the story. The books are worth reading, but not quite first rank. The Palliser Novels, which were known until recently as The Parliamentary Novels ramble through quite a few stories over about 25 years. The Pallisers themselves are not primary characters in all of them, but the series turns the tale into Plantagenet and Glencora's story. Which makes for much more entertaining viewing, but requires a massive change in book six.

Most of the casting is great. Susan Hampshire is first class as Glencora. The one absolute, incomprehensible disaster is Donal McCann as Phineas Finn. In the books, he's the tallest, handsomest man in the country, which drives his story. In the series, Glencora even refers to him as "seven feet tall and an Adonis." And then in trundles Donal McCann who's slightly portly, shorter than most of the actors and some of the actresses, and has a face like a dropped pie. In the books he's hopelessly sweet, his only fault being a habit of falling in love with every woman he meets. In the series, he's a sex pest and date rapist who picks fights with all the other characters. They should have cast Stuart Wilson, who plays the impossibly hot, mustache-twirling Ferdinand Lopez, in the far more important role of Finn.

The production values are high, but the video quality is a bit frayed. Not bad, just not equal to the quality of the series.

this is one of the greatest mini-series ever made.

The Pallisers is based on Trollope's six wonderful political novels, and this production is very faithful to the source material. I was a little nervous when I heard that the first eight episodes were being released because I was afraid that they wouldn't be as good as I had remembered. However, I was very pleased to see that this production has aged rather gracefully, unlike so many other productions from the 1970s. It is still a delight to behold.

I have waited 17 years to see The Pallisers again and, while owning episodes 1-8 is wonderful, I am champing at the bit to see the rest.

It's a long series, but worth watching every episode, as you get immersed in the political world of Mid to-Late Victorian England, and observe Plantagenet Palliser's (Phillip Latham) rise to power, accompanied every step of the way by his wife, Glencora (Susan Hampshire). There are many characters in this saga, including the second generation, which includes Anthony Andrews as their son and Jeremy Irons as their daughter's suitor.

Who can forget Phineas Finn (Donal McCann), Lizzy Eustace (Sarah Badel) and Ronald Culver as the duke of Omnium? And so many others!

Plenty of scandal, intrigue, romance and history!

Don't miss it!

Does anyone know why the beautiful narration by Greer Garson was removed from the DVD? I too loved the series and want to watch it again but with the narration and cannot locate a VHS or DVD with it.

I remember looking forward to every Sunday evening with Alistair Cooke and The Pallisers. Wonderful. We would sip sherry and not speak for one hour.

The cast, in my view, was brilliant. The costumes authentic and because of the way in was filmed in 1974, I felt I was watching and enjoying live theatre. This would be a brilliant class project for students in a high school. To hear beautiful English spoken and watch a tale of long ago unfold each week for a whole term. Marvelous.

This excellent series starts slowly and takes several episodes to really get off the ground, but patience is rewarded because the series becomes quite engrossing. Most of the acting is excellent, with many of the "Usual Suspects" of BBC/Masterpiece Theater productions. Central to the whole drama are Phillip Lathan as Plantagenet Palliser and Susan Hampshire as PP's wife, Lady Glencora. Past the first few episodes they are rarely at the center of the goings on, but they provide a dramatic constant and help hold the rather sprawling series together. The focus of the series, like Trollope's "Palliser" novels, moves from one series of characters and events to another. While this makes "The Pallisers" a bit jumpy and episodic, it does provide variety and keeps the very long miniseries from getting stale. My personal favorite series of episodes are those in which Phineas Finn is tried for murder; there are some wonderful courtroom scenes. If you like period drama, this is just the ticket for you.