The Amazing Mrs Pritchard

I can't help it. English acting is my opium. It intoxicates me, it enslaves me. They do it better (acting) over there than anywhere else.

The cast is superb, starting with Jane Horrocks in the title role. Don't deny yourself the pleasure of seeing her, and Michael Caine, in the delightful "Little Voice".

I am most drawn to Mrs. Pritchard's chief aide, Catherine Walker, played by the astounding Janet Mcteer. This is a performance beyond mere acting. A woman who can seem mannish, frighteningly formidable, cruel, yet vulnerable, in desperate need of affection, and just when you think she would frighten most men, she goes to bed with a man old enough to be her son.

I reviewed Ms. Mcteer very favorably in the 2000, "Songcatcher", and forgot about it till I looked up her credits, in the wonderful IMDb. IMDb is surely one of the great venues of our time. I would like to thank Mr. IMDb, but this information doesn't seem to be available.

I've only seen the first three installments. No. 4 of 6 is on it's way, and I can't wait!!

I liked it. As a short series, I found it interesting and more importantly, entertaining and for me, that's what TV is about: entertainment!! I've just read one comment saying the whole thing was so PC and another saying the opposite. I just find this strange and fail to see why every single program on TV needs to tick all the PC check-boxes for some people and needs to oppose all the PC rubbish for others. What's wrong with pure entertainment that's not 'designed' to fit a particular agenda? Sure some of it is fantastic - meant as in pertaining to fantasy - but what the hell in wrong with that? I don't watch much TV, preferring to pick and choose stuff I think might be interesting and this short series fitted the bill nicely.

This is one of the least realistic,and most annoying, things I have ever seen. The plot is nonsense, the central character smug, the acting second rate,and the setting totally unrealistic. Most infuriating of all, it projects a Britain that is entirely white and middle class. Not only are all the main actors ,and apparently therefore candidates in Mrs Pritchard's party, white , but even the extras seem to have come from old Tory central (casting) office ! The only non white faces seem to be in the background at the hospital-although not,of course, doctors. If this is what television believes the world if like,and what people would vote for, then you wonder why David Cameron is bothering about image change.

I watched this show mainly because it was written by Sally Wainwright, creator of the excellent At Home With the Braithwaites and ITV's recent Jane Hall. She is a fantastic writer with a strong sense for creating 'real' people, especially those in the North and, in particular, women. There was also the added bonus of the great cast. Jane Horrocks is a fantastic actress, anyone who has seen Little Voice knows how versatile she is, and the supporting cast all bring their own strengths. I had never seen either Jodhi May or Carey Mulligan outside of a corset so it was great to see them do something contemporary.

I thoroughly enjoyed this programme. There was something so likable about Ros Pritchard that I found myself rooting for her from the start (although I can't say the same about her husband!). You could say that the two daughters, especially the youngest, were a little too similar to the daughters from The Braithwaites, but I really didn't mind. The characterisations and dialogue was spot on, I laughed out loud several times. As well as being funny and entertaining, Mrs Pritchard managed to make some very serious, and real, points about the state of modern politics and the problem of voter apathy. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.

Hasn't this been done a hundred times? You'd think after Margaret Thatcher this wouldn't be such a shocking premise. I found the whole thing silly and irritating.

I dislike prejudice in any form so it offends me to hear statements like, "Women are better at politics because they can admit when they've made a mistake." I don't think work has a gender, I don't think women are better at politics any more than men are better at engineering. I also dislike seeing women treat their husbands like children and their children like adults.

This might make a nice "follow your dream" film for school girls except for the fact that the film teaches that self-esteem is a more useful career preparation than education or experience.