Product Description

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Black Adder) stars as Inspector Raymond Fowler, leader of a dedicatedly incompetent squad of keystone kops in a tiny British town.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11561 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-06-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 420 minutes

Amazon.com
Set in a fictitious British suburb, The Thin Blue Line is the wickedly funny story of a rather down-at-heel police station headed by Inspector Raymond Fowler (Rowan Atkinson, best known as Mr. Bean), a pompous, repressed but well-intentioned anachronism who wants to do the right thing but who is constantly hampered by his own shortcomings, not to mention his blundering Criminal Investigation Department colleagues. Atkinson expertly balances his character's inflated sense of self-importance with the insight born of old-school police values, for which his galumphing, shiny-suited CID counterpart, DI Grim (David Haig) has no time at all. Strongest among the supporting cast is Sgt. Pauline Dawkins (Serena Evans), who also happens to be Fowler's live-in lover--a moral dilemma that his traditional values won't allow him to resolve. He salves his conscience by avoiding sex with her whenever possible, an amusing subplot enhanced by Evans's brilliant performance--she positively vibrates with contained, ladylike lust in a manner only equaled by Penelope Keith in the classic sitcom To the Manor Born. Scripted by Ben Elton, this series manages to satirize provincialism, institutionalized pig-headedness, and dated moral values in one fell swoop, while also being chock-full of quick-fire, Black Adder-esque dialogue. --Roger Thomas

Customer Reviews

"And perhaps a small selection of cupcakes?"
Contained herein is the complete "line-up", the full series of Ben Elton's The Thin Blue Line in another essential DVD set from BBC video! The first 2 discs include the 14 episodes that make up series 1 & 2 (Nov 1995-Dec 1996) and the 3rd disc includes over an hour of documentary and interview footage of creator/writer Ben Elton. Elton is best known for his work on Black Adder and the Young Ones. Both of these are essential DVD sets in your Britcom library and TBL is another must own.

The brilliant Rowan Atkinson heads the cast as the "excessively" riggid and by the book (which includes his personal life!), Inspector Fowler, who prefers his constables are as he is "Keen of eye, swift of thought, and regular of bowel". Rowan's performance here is most similar to his character in the Black Adder as far as dialogue goes so if you like that series you'll more than likely love this. The Thin Blue Line, like Black Adder, is a dialogue driven show and Ben Elton uses every chance he can to let the characters (especially Fowler and Det. Inspetor Grim) go off into hilariously wordy tangents. The show is filled with unique characters, each funny in their own right: Sgt. Patricia Dawkins (Fowler's girlfriend of 10 years!), Constables: Habib, Gladstone, and Goody, Det. Constable Kray (Series 1), Det. Constable Boyle (Series 2), and of course the endlessly bafoonish Det. Inspector Derek Grim of CID. The show is mostly based in the police station and occasionally in the field or at Fowler & Dawkins' flat. I fell in love with the show from renting the one lone VHS tape a local video store carried which only contained two episodes. Those episodes were well played believe me, so seeing this released was quite exciting. It also completed my Rowan Atkinson DVD trilogy (Black Adder, Mr. Bean, & TBL)! Here's the contents:

Disc One: Series 1
01. Rag Week
02. The Queen's Birthday Present
03. Night Shift
04. Honey Trap
05. Fire & Terror
06. Kids Today
07. Yuletide Spirit

Disc Two: Series 2
08. Court in the act
09. Ism Ism Ism
10. Fly on the wall
11. Alternative Culture
12. Come on you blues
13. Road Rage
14. The Green Eyed Monster

Disc Three: Extras - "Best of British: Ben Elton" (45 minute documentary), "Smillie's People: Ben Elton"(15 minute interview), TBL Cast Bios, & trailers

Trivia:

*In the first series, Grim's right hand man Kray is played by Kevin Allen. In series 2 the character is replaced by Boyle (Mark Addy). You may recognize Addy from "The Full Monty" or from the U.S. sitcom "Still Standing" where he's married to Jamie Gertz and has a son and daughter. Addy uses an american accent on the show, but once in a while you can hear his british one come through.

*Police Constable Gladstone is played with perfection by Rudolph Walker. Mr. Bean fans may remember Walker from his small role in the first episode where he is the exam giver.

*David Haig (Det. Inspector Grim) also worked with Rowan in the popular British film "Four Weddings in a Funeral" where Rowan plays the nervous and fumbling Father Gerald who presides over his wedding. Haig plays "Bernard St. John Delaney". Priceless scene.

I can't complete this review without a few quotes. Here are three favorites from the man, Inspector Grim:

"Goody-goody, lotti-dotti, namby-hoity, wishy-pamby, toity-washy, dotti-lotti, know it all, public school, stiff upper lip, stiff upper house master, prim & proper, rule brittania...uhh!"

"When you run us up the flag pole, you'll find you're saluting a very different kettle of fish."

"It's my arse on the line and I'm right up to my neck in it."

It should be called the Incomplete Line-Up!
The reason I give this three stars is not due to the quality of the show. That's easily five stars. To learn more about the show, please read some of the other reviews. My review (and my only complaint with this dvd set) is based on the startling omissions present on the dvd set!

My wife and I purchased season 1 and 2 on VHS about 4 years ago and we've nearly watched those tapes to the breaking point. When we saw that the dvd set was coming out, it went to the top of our Christmas list. Well, we couldn't wait until Christmas to watch it and after a few episodes, we began to feel very disappointed and more than just a bit cheated! In two episodes (that we've noticed so far) there are scenes missing on the dvd!

In Alternative Culture, Sgt. Dawkins asks Raymond to pick her up from her 're-birthing' class later that evening. Well, the dvd is missing the scene where she has her re-birth and Raymond is waiting for her with a bottle!

In The Green-Eyed Monster there is a scene outside the club where Boyle and Goody use their badges to gain entrance to the club and Raymond, rather than go against his ethics, says behind to wait in line. Yet again, this did not appear on the dvd.

Based on the fact that we watched two episodes and BOTH were missing scenes one can only imagine that there will be others.
If you've never seen The Thin Blue Line, you won't miss them. If, on the otherhand, you're a longtime fan, this is just frustrating (sort of like buying the Complete Mr. Bean dvd set only to find out there are scenes missing!).
So be forewarned! The Thin Blue Line 'The Complete Line-Up', as we shall see, is like a half-sucked sweet; Not what it used to be!

Witty sarcasm, classic characters & great acting
Just to let you know where I'm coming from, my taste in British Comedies lean toward those with A LOT of "in your face" sarcastic and/or vindictive wit such as Black Adder, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, The Young Ones and Monty Python. With the exception of Seinfeld, I don't know of any other American comedy that has even come close to these for pure "laugh" value.

If you like any of the aforementioned britcoms, I highly recommend The Thin Blue Line. Granted the story lines are not as unique (after all, it's a police station) but the witty insults are unrelenting and the range, contrast and chemistry between a great set of unique characters makes this (IMO) a classic. Chief among these is Inspector Grim - a Kojak wanna-be who believes the entire population should be born in prison, lives to take off his shirt while wearing his shoulder holster and who would "just once in a while like to knick a criminal whose balls have dropped".