Kingdom

I surprised myself by enjoying this - it's not usually the kind of programme that I'll sit down and avidly watch, but the producers have successfully managed to put all the ingredients into the pot and so turn out a very enjoyable meal.

All of the main characters are well written and well portrayed, especially Stephen Fry who really excels in the title role.

The stories are always interesting as are the underlying plot strands and there's a nice bit of comedy thrown in for good measure.

Even if this isn't usually your 'cup of tea' I'd highly recommend giving it a go. I really hope there is a second series.

Great show and Fry was perfect... except for that sister. The sister character was actually quite difficult to watch (therefore, nicely played) but actually weakened the other characters and is irrelevant to the plot lines. This drew down the attractiveness of the show (2 points) and seemed to reflect a strange choice by the writer(s). It is almost like they were forced to put this character as a foil for Fry (and everyone else). There are cleverer ways to accomplish this that fit the arc of the plot lines without doing damage to the other characters. I wonder how many watchers mumble to themselves, "Just kick her butt out of the house and stop enabling!" Maybe its just me...

Yes, it's just a fairy tale about a solicitor in a picturesque British market town, his wacky family, and equally eccentric clients and fellow townsmen, but I totally fell in love with it. Sadly, it only ran three years before being canceled for being costly to produce, but at least we have those three years. I recently watched it on Netflix and had a difficult time getting through the last two episodes. I kept pausing the streaming because I didn't want to get to the end of the series. Stephen Fry is simply wonderful as Peter Kingdom, but so is the rest of the cast in their roles as family, colleagues, and clients. This show is such a charmer, you might well fall in love with it too.

Stephen Fry, playing an attorney with a young, eager-beaver legal intern, lives and works in a small seaside town somewhere in England. The show has wit and charm--also, it delivers thematically with usually understated or just matter of fact truths about life. Fry is truly great in this role, where he is asked to be the man everyone likes and to whom they turn to solve their problems, legal and otherwise. His character's sister is over the top with obvious, but not major, psych problems. But she makes a great contrast to the almost always unflappable Fry. A special mention should go to the actress who plays Fry's secretary/receptionist. She helps to make the show seem real by being a good person whose presence helps Fry to solve the problems of the various denizens of this village. At 18 episodes, the show is incomplete---the final episode does not in any way wrap up the show or give a sense of an ending. Three good reasons why show stopped: cancelled--Brit t.v. is notorious for cancelling popular shows (did it with Foyle's War and outcry was so great that it was brought back for a few more shows); Fry is a millionaire who may have decided that he'd had enough; the episodes had covered a lot of ground in terms of what it's like to live in a small village with quirky characters and situations. Anyway, with all he junk on t.v., it is truly too bad that a quality show only gets 18 episodes. I believe that with a bit of creativity many more stories could have been engendered and not have been repetitive or boring.

Just finished watching this charming British show...I know it's old news but it's sad they couldn't carry on at least one more season. In this challenging year of 2020, it's nice to visit such a gentle "Kingdom"...at least for a little while.