A gift from Dave. Short TV series made by the BBC in 2000. There is some good dialogue in the small, and some equally horrendous stuff elsewhere. The many story arcs are hackneyed, and the reprieves all-too-sudden; each eposide predictably reverts to the status quo ante, which robs the series of the possibility of growth. The producers realised this too late, for the last episode goes out in a big (but not flawless) way. Pete Postlethwaite is dependably solid. Frank Finlay demonstrates the otherwise downward trajectory of these BBC miniseries by showing up all the younguns. I think Geraldine James's character was supposed to be credibly incoherent. Let's not talk about the children.