Kavanagh

Awesome series - one of a select few awarded 10/10. Big fan of John Thaw and he does not disappoint in this. Watched it first time around, just rewatched and still superb. Thaw had a contract to do more before his untimely demise and truly sad that he could not continue with this and potential new ventures.

Kavanagh Q C gives us a glimpse of Inspector Morse, if he had become a barrister rather than a Chief Inspector,found love rather than solitude,and had hailed from Sargent Lewis's neck of the woods rather than Cambridge. This sort of television should be the norm, not a rare exception.

To me it is bland pablum, because Kavanagh does not have the force of personal character that Perry Mason had. But stories very similar in some ways. Maybe it is the silly British white court wigs they wear that makes my stomach queasy. John Thaw was outstanding as Morse and I enjoyed the more indepth look at the character's perssonal life. Kavanagh QC should either focus more on the courtroom drama exclusively or on the character, becauses what it DOES do is skim over both. I watched the episode about the Jehovah's Witness mother and son today and it could have been so much better if it had not just been the veneer -- no real drama anywhere in it even though there is blood and guts and death and more life hanging in the balance in court. Pleasant enough but only good for background noise while I do other thing.

The writing and the acting are sublime. We must also credit the editing, which keeps things moving smartly along.

The courtroom scenes are meticulously wrought. As a longtime trial lawyer I can say they are not only realistic, but made riveting by their very realism, rather than by contrived histrionics. There is often a surprising twist.

Each episode has multiple subplots surrounding the central courtroom drama, involving Kavanagh's once-unfaithful but now apparently loving wife, his naive and often disrespectful children, and his flavorful rivals and chamber colleagues.

High literature, this is. Just excellent.

I had not seen this series before today.The first episode whilst not outstanding was well worth watching, decently acted and entertaining. However I couldn't help but note that no less than six of the actors had previously appeared with John Thaw as central characters in separate episodes of Inspector Morse:- George Costigan - The infernal serpent, Phyllis Logan - The daughters of Cain, Holly Aired - Last bus to Woodstock, John Shrapnal - Death is now my neighbour, Lisa Harrow - Sins of the father and Oliver Ford Davies - Second time around. There may have been others I had not spotted. I wonder if Thaw was instrumental in selecting the cast based upon their performances in the crime series.