The Worsted Viper

Starring:Mrs. Bradley Mysteries Set
Studio: Wgbh Boston
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Diana Riggs glides through The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries like a true grand dame. Set in 1920s England, this mystery series wallows in swank cars, jaunty tunes, well-cut clothes, and extravagant hats--and every so often, Riggs turns to the camera and delivers sardonic observations with a wicked purr. Aided by her chauffer George Moody (Neil Dudgeon), scandalous divorcée Mrs. Bradley (Riggs) solves murders with her keen observations and psychological insight (along with a little pickpocketing and genteel extortion).

Saucy storylines abound: Death at the Opera mixes lesbianism at a girls' school with a bread-slicing machine; The Rising of the Moon features knife-throwers, dwarves, and a hall of mirrors; in Laurels are Poison, ghosts kill with poison-tipped arrows; and in The Worsted Viper, the revival of an ancient virgin-sacrificing cult threatens Moody's own daughter. The mysteries are more stylish than fair in their presentation of clues; anyone looking for a puzzle to solve will be frustrated as crucial information is withheld until after Mrs. Bradley has brought the villain to justice. But the heart of the show is the delightful rapport between Rigg and Dudgeon, which will win over any fan of British mysteries. --Bret Fetzer
Description
Emmy® Award-winner Diana Rigg (Rebecca, The Avengers) portrays the glamorous and outspoken Mrs. Adela Bradley, a well-traveled, well-appointed, oft-liaisoned divorcée who dabbles in psychoanalysis, toxicology, pre-feminism, and murder investigations. Assisted by her devoted chauffeur and confidant George Moody (Neil Dudgeon), Mrs. Bradley solves the most complicated crimes with a sly combination of charm, intelligence, and wit. In this set of four scintillating mysteries, she gets the lowdown on the upper crustmuch to the bemusement of Police Inspector Christmas (Peter Davison). Based on the novels by Gladys Mitchell, The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries take you back to high-mannered 1920s England, complete with the glamorous costumes, lavish cars, and hot jazz music of the Roaring Twenties.

Death at the Opera While visiting her alma mater, Mrs. Bradley unravels the murder of a teacher and discovers that the foundation of this finishing school for young ladies is as improper as it is secretive.

Rising of the Moon A traveling circus comes to townbut not to everyone's delight. When the knife-thrower's assistant is found murdered, Mrs. Bradley must win the cooperation of the troupe and the locals before another victim goes to the big top in the sky.

Laurels Are Poison Mrs. Bradley visits an old friend living in a supposedly haunted house where the tragedies of war have left nearly everyone haunted by ghosts of the pasteven George, her chauffeur.

The Worsted Viper While visiting a quaint coastal resort town, Mrs. Bradley attends the wedding of George's daughter. But after a series of ritualistic murders, she finds herself strangely reminded of her very first case.

Special DVD features include: virtual tour of the Mystery! studio; selected filmographies; selected cast list; biography for Diana Rigg, star of Mrs. Bradley and host of Mystery!; link to the Mystery! Web site; scene selections; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

Amazon.com

Diana Riggs glides through The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries like a true grand dame. Set in 1920s England, this mystery series wallows in swank cars, jaunty tunes, well-cut clothes, and extravagant hats--and every so often, Riggs turns to the camera and delivers sardonic observations with a wicked purr. Aided by her chauffer George Moody (Neil Dudgeon), scandalous divorcée Mrs. Bradley (Riggs) solves murders with her keen observations and psychological insight (along with a little pickpocketing and genteel extortion).

Saucy storylines abound: Death at the Opera mixes lesbianism at a girls' school with a bread-slicing machine; The Rising of the Moon features knife-throwers, dwarves, and a hall of mirrors; in Laurels are Poison, ghosts kill with poison-tipped arrows; and in The Worsted Viper, the revival of an ancient virgin-sacrificing cult threatens Moody's own daughter. The mysteries are more stylish than fair in their presentation of clues; anyone looking for a puzzle to solve will be frustrated as crucial information is withheld until after Mrs. Bradley has brought the villain to justice. But the heart of the show is the delightful rapport between Rigg and Dudgeon, which will win over any fan of British mysteries. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Emmy® Award-winner Diana Rigg (Rebecca, The Avengers) portrays the glamorous and outspoken Mrs. Adela Bradley, a well-traveled, well-appointed, oft-liaisoned divorcée who dabbles in psychoanalysis, toxicology, pre-feminism, and murder investigations. Assisted by her devoted chauffeur and confidant George Moody (Neil Dudgeon), Mrs. Bradley solves the most complicated crimes with a sly combination of charm, intelligence, and wit. In this set of four scintillating mysteries, she gets the lowdown on the upper crust—much to the bemusement of Police Inspector Christmas (Peter Davison). Based on the novels by Gladys Mitchell, The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries take you back to high-mannered 1920s England, complete with the glamorous costumes, lavish cars, and hot jazz music of the Roaring Twenties.

Rising of the Moon A traveling circus comes to town—but not to everyone's delight. When the knife-thrower's assistant is found murdered, Mrs. Bradley must win the cooperation of the troupe and the locals before another victim goes to the big top in the sky.

Laurels Are Poison Mrs. Bradley visits an old friend living in a supposedly haunted house where the tragedies of war have left nearly everyone haunted by ghosts of the past—even George, her chauffeur.

On two DVD5 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Customer Reviews:

I do enjoy a British sleuth, but ...........2007-05-08

The setting is nice - and that's about it! A waste of time an monney ...

I would like to be chauffeur for Adela and George.......2007-03-17

I fell in love with Diana Rigg's portrayal of Adela Bradley, and Neil Dudgeon as George Moody the chauffeur. The casting could not have been any better.

I loved the time and places - set in the roaring 20's of England. The clothing, the sets and decor, the cars and characters, countryside and small towns, and of course the mysterious murders. It's all good fun, and with Mrs. Bradley's occasional glance in our direction, we feel part of her world. There are some very light, tongue-in-cheek moments, but we are also invited into a painful piece of George's past, and indeed we see what a good friend Adela can be.

It is very hard for me to be satisfied with one set - I enjoy these characters so very much that I want more. Clearly labeled "series 1", the powers-that-be must have had plans for at least one more season. I'm curious to know the mystery behind why that didn't pan out. A few years have passed since these were created so I am assuming, with much chagrin, that there will not be more.

So we have to savor series 1 and the single-episode dvd "Speedy Death" all the more. I watch them over and over and over. I highly recommend these DVD's.

Cynical sleuth, brilliant production.......2006-06-22

Any woman who, upon realizing that she's being checked out by the opposite sex, cannot make up her mind as to whether he is "vaguely fascinating or fascinatingly vague" deserves hats-off. I have found the delightful Mrs. Bradley as my favorite amateur sleuth after Ms. Marple and the utterly humorous Hercule Poirot. "The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries" stars the very charming Diana Rigg (of "The Avengers" fame) in the role of Mrs. Bradley, and Neil Dudgeon as her ever-solicitous servant George Moody. A rich divorcée who travels in her own Rolls Royce, writes books about the psychological aspects of crime, and has her own chauffeur as her nemesis.

This second set in the series brings us "Death at the Opera", "The Rising of the Moon", "Laurels are poison" and "The worsted viper". In the first one, Mrs. Bradley goes back to her "finishing school" - "a place where girls go to be finished, literally, if they believe everything they're taught here" to paraphrase Mrs. Bradley's own words. The school's art teacher dies during the rather bore some performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado". A premature diagnosis by the school's Headmaster proposes it to be a heart attack, but the discovery of scratches on the back of the door tell Mrs. Bradley there's foul play involved. She appears to easily go along with the school Headmaster's desire of not calling in the Police until a second death happens. This is where Inspector Henry Christmas makes his entrance into Mrs. Bradley's life and into the series.

The second episode evolves within a community of nomad entertainers - also known as gypsies. A beautiful young woman, who is the target in the knife-throwing act, gets killed...oddly enough, stabbed to death. A call from Inspector Christmas, asking for her notorious psychological advice, interrupts Mrs. Bradley's night on the town. The next morning, she is driven by George to the quintessential English village, where "once the preserves have been preserved, what else is there to do but die of boredom".

In "Laurels are poison", Mrs. Bradley proposes to her chaffeur a visit to a haunted house; which he accepts, on the condition of not having to do the actual haunting. George takes an active part in this and the next episode, when painful memories of his deceased brother really start to "haunt" him. Later his own daughter is in danger for her life during "The worsted viper". This will appeal to mystery fans who are also interested in the occult - luckily the two go together like a horse and carriage. Someone seems to be practicing an old pagan cult that requires a soon to be married virgin to be sacrificed. I must say the ending took me totally by surprise.

I found Mrs. Bradley to be a character with a rare combination of feminine etiquette and male independence. Her downside is her cynicism; however, she is assertive (and almost sensitive sometimes, to the "womanly arts"); yet there is always a man by her side, be it her chauffeur or Inspector Christmas, who seem to be very protective of her. The costumes are excellent. I love Mrs. Bradley's clothes, especially the hats. The DVD includes cast biographies and a virtual tour of the set as a special feature, with details on the settings for the different episodes. The drawings by Edward Gorey for the Mystery! credits are fantastic in their uniqueness, and his ideas have been applied to the decoration of the sets as well.

Unrealistic, unsuspenseful, crudely political, and unlikable.......2006-04-22

As the heading indicates, I couldn't stand this series. I bought it despite the indications that it probably wasn't popular when new: just a handful of episodes, and a writer I'd never heard of (I love mysteries of all kinds).

Despite the attention to detail in the 1920s setting, this show has almost nothing to recommend it. Peter Davison does the best acting possible with such a frankly impossible police detective---his slightly flirty appreciation of Mrs. Bradley and his eager desire for her help are equally implausible; and Diana Rigg's role has her showcasing cattiness without charm. The solution to the first episode was a complete cop-out, relying on a cheap gimmick. Everything fits together like Lego, Mrs. Bradley doesn't sleuth but rather swans about rooms, and none of it is the least bit true to life.

But dwarfing these criticisms is the wholly unsympathetic depiction of the inhabitants of this 1920s world: the writer sees everyone except her amazingly postmodern heroine and sidekicks as psychologically warped. She pours scorn on everyone through sniping dialogue that is put in Diana Rigg's mouth, as well by making the surrounding characters parrot absurd statements---all to show in loud capital letters that THE BOURGEOISIE STINKS. This thread of nastiness runs through the two programs I watched, until I finally gave up in disgust. The last straw was when I watched as Diana's character entered a village shop and talked briefly to the female occupant (Mrs. Bradley never has to justify her presence to anyone, be it noted), which provoked a hysterical outburst about a gypsy being "young and pretty." Uh-huh. Villagers in 1920s Britain had hysterical outbursts over the youngness and prettiness of non-Anglos because they were and are, let's face it, repressed evil people who have nothing good to contribute to the world. That's what "Gladys Mitchell" evidently thinks, anyway. The fact is, people don't talk or act this way, and never did, but Mitchell has created such strawmen just so that she can tear them down. Maybe she enjoyed the experience; I certainly didn't.

Emma Peel's grandmother?.......2006-01-31

Adela Bradley (Diana Rigg) has thoroughly embraced the Jazz Age, she has intruded into male-dominated fields like toxicology, criminology, and that new science of psychology. She has flouted conventions by discarding her corsets ...and a few husbands, is not adverse to speaking her mind in a most unladylike fashion and is altogether too familiar with her chauffeur George.

In this set of four mysteries Adela returns to her alma mater to deliver a speech and stays to solve a murder (DEATH AT THE OPERA), in THE RISING OF THE MOON, Adela and George happen on a traveling circus and soon find themselves embroiled in long buried secrets, unrequited love, blackmail and murder. Adela (and George) take a break to visit an old friend only to find that her home is truly haunted by more than one ghost from the past (LAURELS ARE POISON). The final mystery (THE WORSTED VIPER) in this set finds Adela accompanying George to a seaside village to attend the wedding of George's daughter. While there a mystery from Adela's past returns. Throughout this series Adela finds herself bumping into Police Inspector Christmas (Peter Davison) much to the annoyance of George.

The tone of these mysteries is lighthearted and irreverent. Adela makes caustic asides to the viewer while delightedly defying conventions. The costuming of this series is marvelous, Adela is dressed in a manner designed to be both up-to-date and shocking, completely keeping in with a character who would do this simply because she could. The muscial score is filled with music from the Jazz Age and is a joy in itself. The mysteries themselves are clever, fastpaced, fairly laid out and full of enough twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing to the end.

I highly recommend this series, especially for any fans of THE THIN MAN or the LORD PETER series.

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