Review of Monarch Of The Glen: Series 1-7 Box Set

Introduction

Beware, this review may contain spoilers. I offer no apologies as this series is the sort of purchase to be made by someone familiar with the series rather than a blind purchase. This boxset is 2Entertain`s all-in-one edition of the series already released in individual half-seasons by Acorn Media. With an RRP of a whisker short of £160, you`d have to know you`d enjoy the show. If you fall into that category, then you can class yourself as a Boglie (the term the BBC has given to dyed-in-the-wool fans).

Monarch Of The Glen is part of that picturesque, whimsical genre beloved of Sunday evenings on British television and which has spawned shows like Ballykissangel, Darling Buds Of May and Heartbeat. Take an ensemble of likeable characters, a picturesque location and give them a series of low-stress comedy-drama adventures, and you`re on to a winner. Created by Michael Chaplin, based on the Highland novels of Sir Compton MacKenzie (he of Whisky Galore), the show was never intended to be high drama and as such was ideal Sunday evening fodder for the family to curl up watching.

Monarch was always an ensemble show, and the continual changes in cast prove that nobody was indispensible. If there was a star, it was the crumbling family estate of Glenbogle. A draughty old pile in the Balmoral style, the laird had not only to contend with shoring up the place, but maintaining the cottages of the community who relied on Glenbogle for their living. That often paved the way for storylines over the seven seasons the show ran.

The title came from Sir Edwin Landseer`s 1851 oil study of the same name, depicting a magnificent red deer stag and parallelled in Big Eric, the biggest and most successful stag on the estate.

Ostensibly, the star of the show was Alastair Mackenzie as Archie MacDonald, sulky London restauranteur turned Scottish Laird in a tax dodge cooked up by his dotty father Hector (played by Richard Briers). While he may have been a heartthrob, Archie could be a pouty sod, wafting around the castle like he hated every minute of it, mooning after a succession of appalling females while all the time the real gem was right under his nose. Archie abandoned castle at the end of series five in favour of his half-brother Paul (Lloyd Owen), who seemed to have as little luck with the ladies as his brother. Alastair Mackenzie went on from Monarch to fire up a career in films which in the succeeding three years since he left the show has been a little less than stellar. It just goes to show that the lead in a successful tv show isn`t necessarily a guarantee of fame and fortune.

Hector, Archie`s father was the real strength of the series - Richard Briers at his dotty best. Hector was no financial genius and had run the estate into the ground before handing the place over to his son to avoid death duties. Sadly, the long weeks filming the series in Scotland started to tell on Richard Briers and he decided to bow out of the series at the end of season three - in inimitable Hector fashion. The hole in the show resulting required the drafting in of an equally larger than life character and for the last two years of the series Hector`s race-driver younger brother Donald was drafted in - played by former Doctor Who Tom Baker.

The quality of the show, however, was in the supporting cast. Susan Hampshire, who had set pulses racing in the 1960s in The Forsyte Saga, played MacDonald matriarch Molly. She had been a sixties dollybird model who had fallen for first Donald and then Hector. In her debut role, Glaswegian actress Dawn Steele played playful castle housekeeper Lexie McTavish. Throughout the first three series of the show, while Archie was moping around with uberbitch Justine and droopy Katrina, fans were wishing the dozy young Laird would spot the perfect mate standing at the castle Aga. Alexander Morton played the taciturn ghillie Golly Mackenzie. Golly had an affinity for the stags on the estate and in many ways reflected their behaviour. He was a wise counsel for Archie, better than his father in many ways, and a staunch defender of the family and the castle. After Hector`s departure, he carried a torch for his lifelong unrequited love Molly. Hamish Clark played barmpot estate handyman and assistant ghillie Duncan McKay. Like Dennis The Menace in a kilt, all Duncan needed was a scruffy dog called Gnasher to be complete. What he got instead was Golly`s willowy blonde daughter Jess (Rae Hendrie) as love interest and occasional sparring partner. Any oddball scheme or adventure always involved Duncan and in many ways he was always a better hero for the show than Archie. Sadly there was no way he could become the heir to the estate. Perhaps the most interesting of the show`s peripheral characters was Hector`s neighbour and best enemy Kilwillie, played by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes. He flitted in and out of the show, and his appearances were always memorable.

Monarch combined comedy and drama in a skilful mix, never turning into a farce but able to turn to tragedy in the wink of an eye which I personally always found a little unpalatable. It was, however, a thoroughly entertaining series and over sixty-four episodes it was impossible not to fall for the dotty mix of characters who inhabited Glenbogle and its environs.

Video

Although I haven`t been able to conclusively confirm the series was shot from day one in 16:9, I have been led to believe that the show was screened from day one in that format. The DVDs, however, are not. Series 1 (2 discs) is presented 4:3, and some shots certainly do look a little cramped. Series 2 and 3 are presented as letterboxed 4:3 (approximately 14:9). Series 4 to 7 are presented in their original and fully anamorphic 16:9. As the previous Acorn released set was presented in identical fashion, one has to assume that 2Entertain has used exactly the same master tapes to produce these discs and has only authored different menus.

The series was always shot with an eye to the beauty of the Scottish countryside, and even when it is pouring with rain, the photography by Ken Brinsley, John Hooper and John McGlashan is memorable.

Audio

The series was made in stereo and is presented here in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Features

Nane but the subtitles.

Conclusion

One of the more pleasant Sunday evening series of recent years before both ITV and BBC got fixated on the adventures of various coppers and pathologists. Monarch of the Glen was plaid-coloured escapism of the best kind, full of charm and humour but with enough substance to keep more cynical viewers onside. This twenty-two disc collection undercuts the previous Acorn release by a whisker per disc, but corrects none of the production oversights. That said, the set is a difficult temptation for Glenbogle fans to dismiss even at the high £2.48 (RRP) per episode premium.