Casualty - Series 1 [DVD] [1986] | ![Casualty - Series 1 [DVD] [1986]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51M2VX50XVL._SL160_.jpg) | Directors: Antonia Bird, Frank W. Smith, Gary Wicks, Jan Sargent, Michael Brayshaw
Actors: Bernard Gallagher, Derek Thompson, Brenda Fricker, Julia Watson, George Harris
Studio: Cinema Club
Category: DVD
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £12.50
as of 27/11/2009 21:07 GMT details
You Save: £17.49 (58%)
New (12) Used (6) from £7.50
Seller: hanklea
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 13167
Format: PAL
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region: 2
Number Of Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.1
EAN: 5014138302719
ASIN: B000E6D1O2
Theatrical Release Date: September 6, 1986
Release Date: April 10, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
Quality undiminished April 30, 2006
Prospero77 (Warwickshire)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I can highly recommend Casualty Series 1. These are the full episodes. I have to add however there isn't much in the way of extras. Episode 1 has an audio commentary with Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) giving a commentary on episodes 11 15 along with the medical advisor to the shows.
br /
br /I was struck at how clear the DVD reproduction was. Usually BBC series from the mid 80s transfer quite badly onto DVD or have that 'Miss Marple' grainy quality but Casualty is sharp, crisp and extremely well shot.
br /
br /The stories themselves were excellent and filled with 80s memorablia (Ford Cortina's a plenty) but the key ingredient was the strong ensemble cast headed up by the excellent Bernard Gallagher playing Ewert Plimmer. Add to that team some very well written melodrama and you have successful ingredients.
br /
br /Today, Casualty of course has spawned so many spin offs that some of the original freshness has disappeared or become subsumed by a desire to look slick or Hollywood-esque.
br /
br /Of course there might be one or two episodes that would never conclude in the same nonchalent way today but that seems a small criticism compared to the enjoyment I gleaned from this 4 disc DVD set. At 15 episodes (about 12 and a quarter hours in all) its sound value for money and there really isn't a bad episode among them.
br /
br /A good solid British drama-well worth a look.
Casualty 1st Series May 5, 2006
Mini (England)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I ordered the Casualty first series DVD and received it this morning. Obviously not managed to watch it all yet, but I've had a quick look at a couple of the DVDs......looks really good. Looking forward to start watching it!
br /
br /Matt O'Malley asked on a previous review if the programmes are edited or complete episodes.....well on the back of the box it says in very small writing "Due to clearance and contractual reasons, certain edits have been made!". However, don't let this put anyone off.....I don't think much has been edited, perhaps only a couple of minutes over the entire series.....the four DVD's total 12 hours and 11 minutes. So thats just over 48 minutes per episode!!!
br /
br /When I read Matts question I was a bit dubious about buying the DVD....but I'm pleased I did order it......can't wait to watch it all! (I hope this is of some help to you Matt!)
Edited episode May 21, 2006
A. Busby (UK)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Just thought I'd let readers know that the 'edits' mentioned on the packaging and talked about here refer to the episode 'Teeny Poppers'. When originally broadcast, it featured a storyline about a man trying to impress his girlfriend by dressing as Spiderman. The BBC couldn't get the appropriate rights to use the Spiderman 'image' on DVD so had to edit the entire storyline out of the episode. It nows runs 43 minutes 52 seconds rather than approximately 49 minutes 30 seconds.
Finally! April 25, 2006
Callum Adams (Milton Keynes, UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Finally, the finest and most enduring drama series ever broadcast reaches DVD! Obviously I can't speak from experience about this particular series - as it was in fact broadcast five years before I was even born - but I've always been fascinated by the classic episodes and finally I get the opportunity to witness Casualty from the very beginning. So, after you enjoy series nineteen every Saturday night (what a subtle plug, no I don't work for the BBC!), srick this on and find that quantity had no effect on quality!
The base for 21 years of brilliance February 11, 2007
Andrew Kyle (Glasgow, Scotland)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I did not start watching Casualty until i was old enough to understand what it was all about, and even then, as a kid i wasn't in for medical dramas, i wanted sci fi and action. So when i started watching Casualty, one of the BBC's best saturday nighter ever, it must have been, ohhh i don't know, mid 90s. And from then till the early 00s i only watched it patchily. Now i watch it consistently and therefore the first season on DVD was clearly a need-to-buy. Of course i was dubious, i mean, this began in 1986, surely there must be some change in quality since then.
br /
br /Not so. Not so at all. In fact the shivers down my spine at the opening theme really got me going. The series has changed very little in 21 years - back then it was topical, blunt, patchily good-humoured and patchily dark and gritty, laden with both comedy stories/characters and deeply dramatic plots and twists.
br /
br /Showing the medical profession as people and not superheroes (although several of them are inherently superheroes in their own right...Go Charlie!)was a brave move back then, but an idea worth a round of applause.
br /
br /The characters, so three dimensional, are all so varied. We have the daft, eccentric and polish Kuba; the witty yet troubled King; the weary but all knowing Ewart (the original Harry Harper); the stunning but mysterious Baz; the brilliant double act Paramedics; and of course, let us not forget, the workhouse of the lot...the not-really-that-good-an-actor Charlie Fairhead (sorry Mr Thompson, but honestly, i don't care - you're brilliant!!) who has lost none of his charisma in the recent series. He is quite often the source of much amusement, but at the same time, the driver of real drama.
br /
br /This DVD release is one of many so brilliantly, when you're sitting there enjoying the theme rolling on at the end, you're thinking...i have 20 odd more seasons to go. And we haven't met Ash or Sam or Maddox or Josh or...pick one. You'll all have one person you remember, or one event. Casualty is so brilliant and so British that it'll last forever. And DVDs like these simply reinforce that...long live Casualty!
br /
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
|
|
|
![Casualty - Series 2 [DVD] [1986]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000FL79IK.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
![Casualty - Series 3 [DVD] [1986]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000HA46P8.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
![The Bill - The Complete First Series [1984] [DVD]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009F68GQ.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
![Holby Blue - Series 1 - Complete [DVD] [2007]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0015083NU.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)
![The Bill - The Complete Series 2 [1984] [DVD]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000AYQJOW.01._AA75_PU_PU-5_.jpg)