Product Description

Lust, greed, and gossip in a glamorous British hotel of the 1920s

As the most opulent hotel in Manchester, England, during the decadent Roaring ’20s, The Grand is more than a building. It’s a nexus for schemes, scandals, romance, and intrigue. For owner John Bannerman, The Grand symbolizes a tradition of luxury and elegance begun by his father. For Marcus Bannerman, it becomes a risky investment and a way to entice his brother’s wife into bed. And for the maids and porters employed there, it represents a possible escape from their hardscrabble past--and an endless source of backstairs gossip.

Written by Russell T Davies (Casanova, Touching Evil) and featuring three-time Emmy®-winner Susan Hampshire, this is addictive period drama in the tradition of Upstairs, Downstairs and The Duchess of Duke Street. Divided by class and circumstance or tied together by love and loyalty, the myriad characters who populate The Grand prove unforgettable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23645 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 900 minutes

Amazon.com
Image Upstairs Downstairs on a more massive scale. Or, if you can, a serious version of Fawlty Towers set in the 1920s in Manchester's luxurious Grand Hotel. Closed for renovations following World War I, the hotel and its staff face financial ruin, foreclosure, suicide, and infidelity before even reopening its doors to guests in the first episode of the series. When it finally welcomes visitors, guests abound, but so does trouble. This highly acclaimed eight-part story has everything a miniseries requires: suspense, social climbers, financial double-dealing, humor, murder, and semiretired prostitutes.

Written by Queer as Folk author Russell T. Davies, The Grand features an ever-surprising plot propelled by strong characters, their loyalties, rivalries, and revelations. The large and adept cast portrays the hotel guests, staff, and owners. This diverse ensemble re-creates an era when class distinctions between the upper and working classes were all-important. The Grand's doorman acts as a cultural interpreter between the posh owners and the working-class staff. The sets and costumes are done with a remarkable attention to detail that will please both Anglophiles and PBS fans. --Tara Chace

Exclusive Magazine
"Certainly addictive"

MemorableTV.com
"A top notch series"

Customer Reviews

ANOTHER GRAND BRITISH EPIC STORY IN FILM.
This is 15 hours (18 episodes) of delightful English storytelling that takes place just after WWI. You will be glad you have the complete series with no need to wait a week between each episode. Each segment builds upon the next drawing you into the story as though you are part of the family of The Grand hotel.

It ranks along side series giants like The Pallisers, The Barchester Chronicles, and Monarch of the Glen. Part of the reason might be that Susan Hampshire (3-Emmy winner) stars in all of those. She is outstanding in The Grand, playing Miss Harkness, a resident of the Grand, a prostitute, and proud of it. It takes a bit of acceptance, at first, seeing her as a lady of the evening,, instead of someone like Lady Glencora Palliser. Hampshire scores a perfect 10 for this performance.

Mrs. Harvey, played by Christine Mackie, is the Grand's head housekeeper. She acts and sounds quite like Gemma Jones in The Duchess of Duke Street. In my opinion, Mackie performs equally as fine with her character as Harness, as Jones did as the Duchess. She keeps the downstairs servants in tow and in their working class place--or tries to (similar to Upstairs, Downstairs). She and her counterpart, Mr. Jacob Collins, the hall porter (Tim Healy) are a huge part of the success of the stories linked together by the interconnected lives of the people who own, live and work at the Grand.

Marcus Bannerman (Mark McGann) is a ruthless owner you'll soon learn to love to hate.

It would take 18 reviews for the 18 episodes to tell the story. Since that is impossible, let me say there is something for everyone: romance, rape, costumes, sex, blackmail, lavish sets, arson, child selling, comedy, prostitution, murder, elegance, greed, gays, a hanging, class struggle, embezzlement, gossip, lust, child selling, and fun 20's music. If it's a sin or a pleasure, you'll encounter it through The Grand series. There are stories within a story. Overall it's about the Bannerman family (3 generations) and their attempt to save the Grand from failure. For some the cost it to high. For others, success will come at any cost necessary.

If you worry about the cost, divide the cost by the 18 episodes. Each one is a movie in itself and every segment is top notch. This is another of a long line of outstanding productions of British drama. The box calls it ADDICTIVE. That is TRUE.

That's the Pros. Now the Cons: The Grand ends with episode 18. You will want more.

Wonderful program!
This series has everything one could want: love, hate, war vets, lust, deceit, betrayal, money, and power. You will love some of the characters and hate others, but will definitely be drawn to the compelling storylines. The sets and period dress serve to transport one directly to the twenties, and give one a taste of what life was like for not only the privileged but the not-so-privileged as well. The only complaint I would have is that there are not MORE episodes!

Overwrought soap opera
I think my negative reaction to this series was a result of my unrealistic expectations. I had just finished watching Upstairs Downstairs and thought The Grand was along those lines, or at least more like The Duchess of Duke Street.

Instead, this was a seamy (and at times steamy) and trashed up soap opera. I failed to like or even feel sympathetic for the majority of the characters and, in real life, I would NOT have cared to stay an hour at a time with any of them. Why, then, would I sacrifice an hour of my time watching them?

Within the first two episodes, we're "treated" to someone blowing his brains out (focus on all that blood on the wall, please), a masochistic pervert being serviced by a former whore, and a swarmy villain who might as well have had a handlebar moustache to twirl.

Another reviewer noted, "This series has everything one could want: love, hate, war vets, lust, deceit, betrayal, money, and power." The problem for me was that it lacked compassion, affection, likeable people and all the other positive characteristics and activities that make a show worth viewing.

So, if you go into it knowing beforehand that it is a melodramatic dip into the dirty end of the pool, you may like it. If you are hoping for something with more smiles than sneers, or something closer to the "old style" Masterpiece Theater, you may -- like me -- decide that it just isn't that grand.