Inspector Lynley - A Great Deliverance

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"A decapitation, a traumatized teen, and localized police corruption," a superior tells Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard. "A good result is important for all of us." The result is very good indeed, as Elizabeth George's gripping bestseller is given the grand PBS treatment. Originally broadcast on Mystery!, this production marked the long-running series' first adaptation of a whodunit written by an American. Nathaniel Parker stars as Lynley, the Oxford-educated detective (and the eighth earl of Asherton, no less). Sharon Small costars as his very reluctant partner, Sgt. Barbara Havers, a working-class cop who considers Lynley "an arrogant aristocratic ponce." Their relationship is at the heart of a baffling case involving the grisly ax murder of farmer William Tey. At the scene of the horrific crime is Tey's 16-year-old daughter, dressed in her bloodied Sunday best, and unable (or unwilling) to speak. While sorting out the clues and suspects (including a runaway wife and daughter, and a nephew poised to inherit the farm), Lynley and Havers are bedeviled by their own personal dramas (his best friend has married the woman he loves, and she struggles to take care of her senile mother). Havers, who initially has a sizable chip on her shoulder, remarks early on that maybe her new assignment is her boss's idea of a joke. "Maybe," Lynley offers, "he thought we'd make a good team." How right he is. --Donald Liebenson

Description

Talk about a puzzling case. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard (Nathaniel Parker, Far from the Maddding Crowd) is assigned to investigate the gruesome murder of a farmer in a seemingly peaceful country village, but it's his new partner, Sgt. Barbara Havers (Sharon Small, About a Boy), whom he's finding indecipherable. Havers is as gritty, rumpled, and working-class as the Inspector is refined, well-heeled, and sophisticated.

Is the murderer the farmer's shy daughter who was found next to her father's decapitated corpse? The nephew who stands to inherit the farm? The estranged wife who's protecting her new family from an unsightly past? Or is it a suspicious village resident with a shady past and a weak alibi?

Based on the best-selling mystery by Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance introduces Inspector Lynley with first-rate performances and abundant amounts of nail-biting suspense.

Special DVD features include: virtual tour of the Mystery! studio; Q&A with Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small; selected cast filmographies; selected cast list; biography for Diana Rigg, host of Mystery!; bibliography for Elizabeth George; selected cast list; link to the Mystery! Web site; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On one DVD9 disc. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Customer Reviews:

I am a fan!.......2007-04-10

I had watched the series on TV but had missed the pilot.
I never knew that there was so much murder and mayhem in
London and the English countryside.

great dvd.......2007-03-22

it's a great beginning to the lynley mysteries.....havers and lynley make a great team...ithey really belong together, even though he is rich and she is not...i am tired of investing myself in these movies or shows where the lead characters do not get together in the end....

Inspector Lynley-A Great Deliverance.......2006-11-06

"A Great Deliverance" is in a series of British mysteries genre which she explains is similar to Agatha Christie novels and much like a good crossword puzzle.

Fantastic Adaptation.......2006-07-30

This was an excellent movie. It stayed very true to the book. The English countryside was a perfect backdrop for this mystery. I think Elizabeth George is a wonderful author, and I am very excited that her novels are now movies. I highly recommend this movie. I would, however, recommend you read the book first. The experience will then be even more enjoyable.

Clash of classes.......2006-03-09

They come from different worlds, they bicker and they fight but they're great together. Grit, class and murder...and a hint of romance. Above all, a great mystery.

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