Kingdom

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...

I never thought Stephen Fry was quite right for the role of Jeeves (Jeeves really is kind of a d*ck, after all), but here he's perfect. He plays Peter Kingdom, the white sheep in a family of "serial shaggers," sickos and sociopaths. A Cambridge-trained lawyer, he's been carrying on the family practice in a small Norfolk town after his father's death and his brother's suspicious disappearance, and as the series opens, his damaged half-sister, Beatrice, has checked out of a clinic and come to join him. Fry's large, affable figure doesn't always blend in with this murky background, but most of the episodes deal with the cozier, goofier side of English country life—Druids, crop circles, cricket, quiz night at the pub, the vicar's "rude vegetable" contest, lockkeeper's cottages and garden allotments; there's even a brief glimpse of morris dancing.

More serious subjects like the exploitation of migrant farmworkers, the Data Protection Act 1998 (which may or may not prohibit a father from filming his daughter's cello recital) and CCTV snooping are treated in soft focus, and plot lines tend to be resolved conveniently but not always plausibly (how does young Scott manage to steal that racehorse again?). Nevertheless, Fry and the writers do a wonderful job of portraying Peter Kingdom as a soulful local hero and an incorruptible champion of "hooman roights" (as the Norfolkers say, at least some of them); the jokes are pretty good (when Kingdom's lovelorn associate, Lyle, refers to himself as a "great catch," Kingdom replies, "So's a giant squid, but you wouldn't want to be leading one down the aisle"), the supporting cast is excellent (even Beatrice starts to grow on you) and the swelling, hymnlike theme music and the aerial shots of the gorgeous Norfolk coastline certainly help to get the job done. We burned through all 18 eps on streaming Netflix (now it's only available on disc I'm sorry to say) and were inconsolable when it was over.

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.

I think this TV show is brilliant. I rarely get this involved into TV shows and plus British ones as well as they tend to have a much cynical shape to them most of the time. Which is great when your are into that sort of thing. Stephen Fry does a great job and the rest of that cast do a fantastic job. I am saddened that it got canceled. I would have loved to keep on watching. It's a soothing TV show with good humor and just a feel good show. Worth watching! do not let the opportunity pass you by.

If you like a bit of humor, eccentrics and a show that makes you feel good then this is the show for you. I kept putting it back watching this. Now that I finally have I have to admit that I was not disappointed.

I came across this show, on youtube.com, trying to find shows featuring Dominic Mafham. I was pleasantly surprised in spite of the fact that he isn't a main character. It is a lawyer version of Northern Exposure. I do find Hermione Norris's character a bit irritating but I think it is because I enjoyed her so much in Wire in the Blood and I tend to dislike "lovable but crazy and destructive sibling" characters. The stories are light and simple with a little darkness sprinkled from the plot involving Simon Kingdom. I have only watched the first few episodes of the first season so that might change. Overall, I would recommend this show as a nice alternative to most American network television.