Plot: What’s it about?
Kate Swift (Joanna Lumley) has never known life outside of the lap of luxury, as she’s always been an aristocrat. She lived the good life of wealth, prestige, and influence, never once giving thought to those less fortunate than herself. Her husband was not a great man, but he provided the kind of lifestyle Kate had become so dependent upon. She was a mean, harsh woman and took her good fortune for granted, thinking her free ride would never come to an end. But the luxuries come to a halt when her husband vanishes, not only leaving her on her own, but leaving her in quite a precarious situation. When her husband disappeared, all of his wealth also vanished and of course, this shocks Kate to the bone. Now she has no way to live day-to-day, let alone the posh lifestyle she was accustomed to. In addition, she is in a significant amount of debt thanks to his departure, which strains Kate even more. So now Kate finds herself on her own, in a mountain of debt, left to fend for herself for the first time in her life, not to mention the investigation into her husband’s disappearance and business deals. She does have some help in the form of her offbeat father (Richard Vernon), a drunk journalist (John Bowe), and a young female burglar (Nadine Garner), but the way things are going, she’ll need all the help she can get…
I had never heard of this series until its home video release, but I wish I had found it sooner, as Class Act is a terrific show. I was drawn to the series because of the presence of Joanna Lumley, of Absolutely Fabulous fame, as she has a knack for darker comedic material, which seemed to be the main focus of Class Act. Lumley is given more of a chance to shine here though, as she can be more subtle with her performance. I love AbFab, but the humor was always one-dimensional and while effective, that limited the performances of the cast members. But here, Lumley can give a more nuanced, natural turn that has more depth and of course, that means more laughs. This show has a darker tone than I expected, but the humor comes through well and the assortment of characters is wonderful. Others present in Class Act include John Bowe of Poldark, Nadine Garner of Changi, and Richard Vernon of The Sandbaggers, but that’s just a sample of the talent involved. The writing in Class Act is quite good also, with a sharp wit that really drives the humor home, so its not all pratfalls and cheap gags here. You’ll find some of those to be sure, but Class Act also offers intelligent humor in liberal doses. So if you’re a fan of darker comedies or just love Lumley’s work, then I more than recommend Class Act.
This release from BFS enables fans to snag the entire run of Class Act, all wrapped up in this one collection. This multi-disc keepcase houses a total of four discs, each of which contain two layers of content. So if you do the math, with four dual layered discs involved, there’s ample space for all the episodes. As you can probably guess, that means about five to seven episodes per disc, so no compression follies are evident. I was pleased to see BFS release the entire series in one collection, as this is the kind of show you want to keep watching until its finale, its simply that well crafted and enjoyable. But aside from all the episodes, you find much else in this collection, as supplements are quite thin. A total of almost twelve hours of content is included however, so there’s plenty of material to be perused. Even so, the price comes off as a little high, given the market value on similar releases. Even so, for a low profile British series, I think BFS’s asking price is reasonable. I can’t imagine Class Act being a top seller, so there’s good reason the price isn’t as rock bottom as more popular television shows. So it might not have much in terms of bells & whistles, but the show is fun and all the entire series is included.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame, as intended. I found the episodes to be solid, but not quite as refined as I had hoped. As this series started in 1994, I expected clean prints and a sharp, remarkable visual texture. While the prints don’t show debris often, there is grain evident and in darker scenes, it becomes more obvious. This never lessens the image much, but I do think it warrants a mention here. The colors look bright and accurate, with no errors to report and flesh tones are in fine form as well. No miscues with the contrast either, with black levels that look great, save for the darker moments, when grain is an issue. In the end, this is a nice overall treatment for this series, but I suppose I expected a little more.
Audio: How does it sound?
Not a whole lot to discuss here, as the audio is acceptable, but the material never demands much beyond the basics. The musical soundtrack has some pep however, though sound effects have a limited amount of impact. But then again, this series doesn’t need any strong presence in that area, so no harm done there. The main focus in this series is on the dialogue, so it needs to be as crisp and clean as possible. And in this case, we’re in luck, as the dialogue is just that and sounds terrific. So all the vocals come through loud and clear, with no muffled moments or distortion to mention. The audio is by no means memorable, but it serves its purpose, which is to let the material be noticed, not the soundtrack itself.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This release includes some talent files, as well as a selection of production notes.
