P.D. James - Death in Holy Orders & The Murder Room [DVD]

Always a big fan of Martin ShawLiked the murder rooms but not keen on the other film. BUT getting the set at a better price than if I just bought murder rooms on its own made the purchase worthwhile.

Phyllis Dorothy James belonged among the best followers of Agatha Christie traditions in British detective fiction. Her plots were not that good, but the artistic level was much deeper. These two BBC TV adaptations of the then-very-recent novels (early 2000's) are very solid, sticking rather close to original plots, distilling very well the complex situations among characters to the few main story lines.Death in Holy Orders deals with suspicious deaths at the Anglican college campus in an isolated mansion by the sea, followed by a brutal murder of a visiting auditor. The Murder Room is put in a weird criminology museum, in which the relations between family members and others are tense to the point of break and further murders ensue...Martin Shaw is very good as Adam Dalgliesh, brings a civil and human portrait of the detective, although some viewers may miss the tall figure of actor Roy Marsden from earlier adaptations. Overall, the quality viewing (even if somewhat disturbing in a few rather brutal scenes) with lots food-for-thought.

DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS & THE MURDER ROOM - Martin Shaw DVD 2006I have read the P D James novels and was frankly not that enamoured with them, I think that it is the old problem of a female/male author writing about the thoughts and emotions of a central character of the opposite sex, in my opinion it seldom works for very obvious reasons and I find myself constantly thinking `that's not right... he wouldn't do that/think that/say that', this has particularly held true with James's later works.I did however, enjoy the television adaptations but to my mind the later two productions starring Martin Shaw were by far the better. Shaw's Dalgliesh came across with more of the authority and grit that befits a senior police office whilst still retaining the sympathetic personality of the character.This set was purchased quite a long time ago and my wife and I have just revisited the complete P D James series with both Roy Marsden and Martin Shaw and thoroughly enjoyed both productions but for myself I found the latter actor's portrayal more in keeping and convincing.

Martin Shaw is very good as Commander Adam Dalgliesh in the two stories featured on this DVD, "Death in Holy Orders" and "The Murder Room". The actor took on the role as Commander Dalgliesh when the BBC took over the rights to P.D. James's novels from Anglia Television who originally adapted the novelist's Adam Dalgliesh Chronicles for the small screen from 1983 to 1998, in which Roy Marsden originally played Adam Dalgliesh (in the Anglia-produced TV adaptations of the Adam Dalgliesh Chronicles, the protagonist was originally a Superintendent before being promoted to Commander).Going back to these two stories, I would say that Martin Shaw did as good a job of playing Commander Dalgliesh as Roy Marsden did for fifteen years. This is a must for all fans of great detective shows and is highly recommended, along with the complete box set of the Anglia Television adaptations of the Adam Dalgliesh stories with Roy Marsden.**Review edited on Tuesday 10th May 2022**

And why the half star? The first story was a bit slow, and I became confused with too many similarly clothed characters being introduced. But I stuck with it, and the events, relationships, and motives eventually became clear. I particularly liked the acting of Robert Hardy, who, for once, did not overdo it. There were many well known actors contributing to a slow but compelling whodunnit. This story gained my four stars, whereas the second one deserved the full five. The characters this time were more clearly defined, and Jack Shepard had a much more meaty role than that of Wycliffe. Years previously I can vaguely remember the tall, imposing and understated performance by Roy Marsden, but he did have the advantage of developing the character of Dalgleish over a much longer time. Martin Shaw did very well, with another dignified and dedicated performance. But with only two stories, I was disappointed and frustrated that there were no more programmes produced. Definitely worth watching.

Outstanding DVD set. Two full length , two part stories. Martin Shaw takes up the cudgels from Roy Marsden as the eponymous Scotland Yard Commander Dalglish , and boy do you feel your in safe hands! Shaw is his understated enigmatic self , but his qualities are perfect for this role, given Dalglish's inner pain and memories.He's born to this role. The stories are excellent- typical PD James. Strong characters, subplots , depth and great whodunit value! Despite the length of the stories they never lag, and will keep you gripped I promise.

These stories are from good books. The first is a Little slow and so gets boring but the second, The Murder Room is a very well produced crimi TV and Martin Shaw is brilliant as Dalgleish

pd james hits it just right with adam dalgliesh. and martin shaw does the part justice

Questi due film per la tv realizzati dalla BBC sono tratti da due romanzi della grande giallista inglese P.D.James ed ero curiosa di vedere come fossero stati adattati per la televisione,in quanto non è affatto facile rendere il personaggio principale,il comandante Adam Dalgliesh.Il primo episodio Death in Holy Orders,cioè Morte in Seminario,restituisce molto bene l'atmosfera del libro e gli attori che interpretano i vari sacerdoti sono strepitosi,Martin Shaw,pur molto misurato, aggiunge un po' di calore al personaggio di Dalgliesh che altrimenti potrebbe risultare troppo distaccato,fare l'effetto "pesce freddo",cosa che Dalgliesh non è.E' invece totalmente non riuscita la trasposizione sullo schermo della storia d'amore tra Dalgliesh ed Emma Lavenham,la sceneggiatura è carente,quando non addirittura ridicola,la scelta dell'attrice,sbagliata,peccato.Se ci si accontenta della trama gialla,resta comunque un bell'adattamento di uno dei migliori libri della James.Il secondo,The Murder Room,La Stanza dei Delitti è altrettanto buono e corretto,certo non è così "british" come il precedente,ma è proprio il romanzo da cui è tratto ad essere diverso,si svolge a Londra,ha meno atmosfera.Sottolineo come sempre la bravura degli attori inglesi,di tutti,dal più importante a quelli che interpretano personaggi minori.La nostra televisione,non è una novità,non ha comprato questi due film che invece sono l'esempio di come si deve fare una buona televisione.

Fan de cet acteur, ne peux donc qu'être satisfaite de ces deux DVD.Anglais audio et sous-titres, parfait pour moi.Langage clair .Jeu de l'acteur parfait.

Lovely to see Martin Shaw in this role.

Have to say I actually prefer Martin Shaw to Roy Marsden as Dalgleish....yikes major backlash coming. Great performances all round and terrific production of PD James' wonderful novel (actually all of her novels are outstanding). Very good video quality....watched it on my computer.

Stimmungsvolle englische Landschaft, hervorragend besetzte Typen und eine gute Story, was will ein Krimifan mehr? Nur Martin Shaw, der seinen Charakteren normalerweise seinen unverkennbaren Stempel aufdrückt, kommt mir diesmal als dichtender Detektiv Adam Dalgliesh zumindest in der Folge "Death in Holy Orders" ungewöhnlich uninspiriert vor. Es sei denn er teilt meine Meinung, dass Poeten langweilig sind, in dem Fall: brillant gespielt, Martin! Für diese Theorie würde auch sprechen, dass er für P.D. James der beste Dalgliesh war und nachdem ich die Folgen mit den anderen Darstellern nicht kenne gehe ich als loyaler Fan einmal davon aus, dass sie Recht hat.Mir persönlich hat die Folge "The Murder Room" noch einen Hauch besser gefallen, da sie neben Spannung und Atmosphäre auch noch einen Anflug von Humor zu bieten hat.Klassische englische Krimis, in denen alle Beteiligten ein Mordmotiv haben und das Rätsel nach und nach entschlüsselt wird, aber kleine Warnung: Dalgliesh braucht ziemlich lange, bis er seine Fälle geklärt hat, also entweder eine Nachtschicht einlegen, oder das Meisterwerk in Raten genießen.