Campion - The Complete First Season

Starring:Campion
Studio: BBC Warner
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
"Do you take the long road?" asks a gruff restaurant manager of a hapless drifter. Thus is launched one of the serpentine mysteries written by Margery Allingham, featuring a genteel 1930s sleuth named Albert Campion (played by Peter Davison, a former Doctor Who), whose bland good manners mask a macabre humor and a relish for solving crimes. All of Allingham's stories take the long road, winding their way through a collection of eccentric personalities, improbable murders, and unexpected narrative twists.

Amazon.com

"Do you take the long road?" asks a gruff restaurant manager of a hapless drifter. Thus is launched one of the serpentine mysteries written by Margery Allingham, featuring a genteel 1930s sleuth named Albert Campion (played by Peter Davison, a former Doctor Who), whose bland good manners mask a macabre humor and a relish for solving crimes. All of Allingham's stories take the long road, winding their way through a collection of eccentric personalities, improbable murders, and unexpected narrative twists.

Look to the Lady centers around the attempted theft of a 1000-year-old golden chalice from the upper-class family entrusted with it care, encompassing witchcraft, a vast criminal organization, strange rituals, and a murderous horse. The Case of the Late Pig takes Campion and his cantankerous manservant Lugg (Brian Glover) into the British countryside, where they encounter a childhood bully, enigmatic letters, a human corpse replaced by a dead pig, and some very important ice cubes. In Police at the Funeral, Campion and Lugg investigate a murder among an upper-crust family of bickering middle-aged siblings and their imperious mother. And in Death of a Ghost the normally unflappable sleuth loses a bit of his objectivity when murder strikes among some good friends, the bohemian enclave that's built up around a deceased artist who decreed that every year after his death one of his 12 last paintings should be unveiled. During a sudden blackout at the annual event, someone stabs an abrasive young artist with a pair of ornate scissors. Campion's interplay with the crusty Lugg, a former burglar with an almost impenetrable Cockney accent, is the series' strongest element. The roundabout plots poke fun at the conventions of murder mysteries while providing all the comfortable pleasures of the genre. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Behind his distinctive owlish glasses and gentle, deceptive naivete, Albert Campion conceals a passion for excitement and danger. Peter Davison (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who) plays Margery Allingham's enigmatic sleuth, with Brian Glover as his loyal but slightly shady manservant in these classic mysteries set in the 1930's.

Customer Reviews:

Campion - First Season.......2007-01-23

Very enjoyable for Allingham fans. Stayed close to the book and only dropped one star due to the
"fuzzieness" of some of the audio. The usual problems of the background music being too loud
was noted with some regret.

Brilliant Interpretation of Margery Allingham's novels.......2006-11-11

Peter Davison is Albert Campion to the life in this detailed representation of Margery Allinghams classic mysteries of the 1930s. The BBC has once again lived up to its formidable reputation. Acting is fabulous, sets and costumes word perfect and direction is tight.
Such a shame there are only two box sets, produced in 1989 & 1990 respectively.
It would have been good to see more of Albert and Amanda as portrayed in the later novels.

Very good indeed.......2006-07-16

Campion is very well portrayed by Peter Davison - the eccentric, brilliant detective with royal connections. But for me it is his manservant and 'Watson' who makes this series - Magersfontein Lugg is superbly irreverent of the great and the good of the land.

"Nothing sordid, vulgar, or plebian".......2006-01-19

"Albert Campion. Born 20 May 1900. Name known to be a pseudonym. Education: privileged. Embarked on adventurous career 1929. Justice neatly executed. Nothing sordid, vulgar, or plebian. Deserving cases preferred, police no object. Business address: 17 Bottle Street, Picadilly, London W1. Specialist in fairy stories."

I watched the Campion series on PBS' "Mystery!" when it first aired - I was only a young teenager, but as a life-long anglophile, not to mention sucker for 1930s mysteries, I was absolutely enamoured. I awaited a re-run of the series (to no avail), but finally we have Mr. Campion and friends on DVD! Peter Davison ("All Creatures Great and Small," "Dr. Who," "The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries") is pitch-perfect as upper-class sleuth Albert Campion, and Brian Glover is incomparable as his manservant/sidekick, Lugg. As with all BBC productions, all details of the series are impeccable, and the scenery is positively delicious. Unlike many of his literary peers, Mr. Campion possesses great wit, and uses it disarmingly, even in the most stressful of situations (for instance, when the Bad Guys are practically upon him - hardly a time for anyone but our Campion to be cracking wise! -- some people just can't carry that sort of thing off, dontcha know...). Even that other high-tone sleuth Lord Peter Whimsey can't match Mr. Campion! Sit back, watch the adventures of Mr. Campion, and have a spot of fun!

Where is Diana Rigg when you need her?.......2005-01-17

Margery Allingham developed a number of plots involving actors and/or artists and this series includes them all. Allingham's debonaire sleuth has a different background, than Marsh's Allyn or Sayers' Wimsey. Although of somewhat noble birth, he was born on the `wrong side of the covers' and his name does not reflect his pedigree. The name Campion is taken from a small white field flower that he sometimes wore in his buttonhole.

Unfortunately, this and other bits of trivia are missing from these DVDs, because the BBC videos are missing `Mystery Theater' hostess Diana Rigg who introduced the stories to PBS viewers and often shed additional light on the background of the protagonist and his sidekick valet-sometimes chauffeur of his car (which can give Morse's red sports car a run for the money any day) the former house breaker and very talented Mr. Lugg.

The first season includes episodes that feature: 1/ the ancient family secret of one of Campion's old school chums which involves a frightening sight that leads to death; 2/ A poisoner removing the members of an old family of Campion's acquaintance; 3/ The death of a bully who made Campion's life as a child hell; 4/ An artists family plagued by his misjudgements and misadventures long after his death.

Like Christie, Allingham excelled in stagecraft and her plots as well as her characterizations of Campion (played by Peter Davison -- `All Creatures Great and Small' and "At Home With the Braithwaites) and Lugg are well done. Some of the peripheral actors are also well drawn, although occasionally a few are over-the-top which has more to do with dramatization than text. We learn more and more about Albert and his manservent as time goes by, but it would have been nice to have Lady Diana introducing each episode as some of the humor might be missed by those not familiar with the series. Although it isn't necessary, it is worth reading Allingham's books beforehand, so as to be in the know.

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