Keeping Up Appearances - Hats Off to Hyacinth

Director: Harold Snoad
Studio: BBC Warner
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Adored British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances concluded after its fifth series, the second half of which is compiled on Hats Off to Hyacinth. Fans of the unflappably snobbish Hyacinth Bucket (Patricia Routledge) will delight as she schemes to be cast a production of the musical The Boyfriend and attempts to launch a new career as a professional hostess. Along for the ride are her good-natured husband Richard (Clive Swift), her trembling neighbors Elizabeth and Emmett (Josephine Tewson and David Griffin), her tawdry sisters Daisy and Rose (Judy Cornwell and Mary Millar), and Daisy's oafish yet sensible husband Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes). Hyacinth terrorizes her world, armed with nothing more than a voice that could pierce armor and an unshakable faith in her own opinion. The series achieves its comic peak, however, when Richard actually dares to raise his voice to Hyacinth, a moment that will fill fans with shocked giddiness. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Tireless social climber Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet," of course) takes her final bow in the last episodes of this hilariously classy comedy of manners. This disc includes the final four never-before-released episodes of season five, as well as the special "The Memoirs of Hyacinth Bucket."

Customer Reviews:

This is Our Hyacinth at her comedic peak........2006-04-19

In this gem Our Hyacinth unleashes her considerable operatic powless upon us and all I can say is God Save the Queen. This grouping contains among other things Our Hyacinth trying like heck to land a major part in Emmits play "The Boyfriend". Our Hyacinth's comedic timing is flawless throughout this masterpiece of brit com. The most wonderful abet chilling moment in the one of the selections comes when Our Hyacinth stays a few minutes to put a few beautiful young ladies through their paces. Hyacinth is at first lecturing the good ladies in word and finally by searing painful example of with her amazingly tedious and time worn vocal instrument. The results are without a doubt hallarious as her voice thunders through the church hall driving everyone within earshot into deep cover. Fade in to another location to find, the Vicar of the parish, Richard, the Vicars good lady wife and two or three fine ladies in 20's flapper attire couched beneath an old church hall stage. What totally kills me is how everyone is gone and Hyacinth is oblious to their departure still giving pointers to ladies long since gone. And what advice she gives. Hyacinth says, and Ladies Notice my diction, its so important that the audience hear the words! The other thing is aweful as her voice is it carries like a fog horn on a still night.

Meanwhile Our Hyacinth as usual in totally oblivious self absorbed blissful glee continues to completion her rendition of the lead song "The called Boyfriend". What makes this scene of Hyacinth singing the Boyfriend so terribly funny is how convincing she is making you see she is deadly serious in thinking her voice represents nothing but the absolute height of professional quality in every way. That is the MAGic of Hyacinth Bucket. If we the audience thought for just one second Hyacinth did not have absolute faith in her every ability the jokes would fall flat. It is Hyacinth's indomitable faith that her every word is right, her instincts regards the finer things in life and the social graces will always be unerringly right that makes her so funny special and without peer.

Another weird fact. I heard Patricia Routledge sing for real in another series where she played a older detective sort of like a more jazzy up to date Mrs. Marple. In fact Patricia Routledge has a wonderful voice and she can sing too, I was impressed. They say that to really know how to sound bad when you sing you have to be blessed with a good singing voice and knowledge of how to use it. Trust me Patricia Routledge wins on both counts she has a terrific singing voice in real life and she obviously has a deep enough understanding of how to sing properly to really mangle every possible rule of good singing to death as Our Hyacinth. The Boyfriend is Patricia Routledge's tour de force as Our Hyacinth, this is her master work not to be eclipsed. If you do not buy this copy of Keeping Up Appearances you do yourself a shockingly criminal neglect. You will not and never will be the full and well rounded culturally effeat icon of social moral and political rectitude our Hyacinth wanted you to be without this as part of your Keeping Up Appearances collection.

This is a MUST have group of episodes for any fan of Our Hyacinth Bucket. I would certainly buy this grouping of Keeping Up Appearances episodes for to hear Hyacinth singing Boyfriend by itself. The Boyfiend episode is not in the boxed set so if you want to squirm in your seat to the sounds of Hyacinth butchering I mean singing "The Boyfriend" you simply must buy this DVD set. I only givw thia episode five stars because, I can not give it one billion. Anyway go buy this DVD so you too can laugh yourself silly. Make sure if you watch this episode you do not take high tea with your Royal Delton, with the blue perrywinkles painted on. If you are having your high tea while watching the boyfriend you want to be drinking from a plain beaker \ cup hopefully one of Daisy's finest.

Ok go buy it now!

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