Ballykissangel - Series Four - 3 Disc DVD Boxset

Ballykissangel - Complete Series Four List Price: $39.98 Sale Price: $29.17 Used From: $27.98 Average Rating:

Reviews

We have series 1,2,3,4, and enjoy it so much. We don't want each cd to end. We will review this many times. You had a fondness for each member of the cast. marilyn

This whole series is so down to earth and believable. I watched most of the original on PBS, but wanted to have the DVD's to see it all again. Ireland is the real star here, as is the little town of Avoca which was used as a backdrop. Every character in the story has a "real" quality which is so rare in any TV shows now. I would recommend these DVD's to anybody looking for a treat.

In case you haven't tuned-in to the British series BALLYKISSANGEL that aired on the telly from 1996 to 2001, its premise was to follow the career of a young priest assigned to the parish church in the Irish town of Ballykissangel (real-life Avoca, County Wicklow, Ireland), and specifically as he interacted with the town's cast of colorful and/or misfit characters. In series 1-3, the priest was Father Peter Clifford (Stephen Tompkinson), and it soon became evident that he was imperiling his priestly vows by falling for the owner of the local pub, Assumpta Fitzgerald (Dervla Kirwan). The growing sexual tension between the two, in addition to the charming and humorous subplots of each episode involving the village's other residents, made the series watchable to the point of addiction. At the end of series 3, Assumpta dies tragically, and Fr. Clifford, grievously heartbroken, departs abruptly. From that point on, beginning with the first episode of series 4, the production becomes but a shadow of its former self. The new priest, a former monk, is Fr. Aidan O'Connell (Don Wycherley), whose character is totally colorless and out of his depth. Without the Clifford-Assumpta axis, the other cast regulars gamely attempt to carry on: the local wheeler-dealer and business schemer, Brian Quigley (Tony Doyle), his daughter Niamh (Tina Kellegher), who takes over ownership and management of Fitzgerald's pub while staying married to Ballykissangel's deer-caught-in-the-headlights Garda officer, Ambrose Egan (Peter Hanly), and Quigley's two idjit can-carriers, Donal (Frankie McCafferty) and Liam (Joe Savino). But, it's just not the same - not even close. Casting tried to keep things alive with several new personae, the most intriguing of which is Fr. Aidan's somewhat mysterious sister, Orla (Victoria Smurfit). Orla is steamy, but by the time I gave up on series 4 at episode 9, the writers had failed to take her character much of anywhere. Probably the most useless newcomer is Colin Farrell as shepherd Eamonn's nephew Danny, on the lam from the big city with a favorite horse for some unexplained reason. With this small-screen appearance, Farrell was perhaps trying to duplicate the early 90s success of Catherine Zeta-Jones in British television's popular The Darling Buds of May: When the Green Woods Laugh. But, unlike the luscious Catherine, Colin manages only a scruffy and lumpish taciturnity. In any case, it was impossible for this viewer to engage with Danny; another segment of stacked-stone wall around his uncle's pasture would've been more entertaining. Perhaps female viewers find him attractively enigmatic. (Ok, ok, I see the political incorrectness here; Victoria and Catherine are both Hot Babes, and Colin might as well be a rock. I'm a Male Pig; so sue me.) At one point during the filming of BALLYKISSANGEL, Tompkinson and Kirwan became engaged, but they later separated after leaving the show. This perhaps illustrates the improbable truth that television art sometimes mimics real life and, in the cases of BALLYKISSANGEL and its protagonists' love affair, all good things must end. Two stars in admonition of what the former once was and fails to be. Requiescat in pace.

Excellent DVD. Enjoyed every moment of this wonderful series. The Characters,Story line, and scenery all make this a great way to spend a few hours just watching and relaxing. Really makes you feel good.

Ok, I agree that the new characters were welcome and interesting because frankly, by the end of season three, the Peter/Assumpta relationship had pretty much run it's course as far as holding my interest. As long as Brian Quigley and loonies, Liam and Donal were back, I was happy. I did, however, hate...HATE...the way the show handled the dissolution of Niamh and Ambrose's marriage. Granted Niamh married him for all the wrong reasons (thumbing her nose at her father was my guess), but watching Ambrose's increasing state of confusion, hurt, etc., while Niamh blithely pursued a man that had taken her fancy was painful to watch. I won't even go into how much I despised what happened in season six when they solved the problem in a totally unrealistic and unsatisfying way. I loved and enjoyed Ballyk from season one to it's ultimate end but the whole Niamh/Ambrose/Sean debacle is what keeps it from being five star all the way.