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List Price: $29.98Amazon.com's Price: $23.99 You Save: $5.99 (20%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0794051211125
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, NTSC
Label: BBC Warner
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: BBC Warner
Region Code: 1
Release Date: January 25, 2005
Running Time: 374 minutes
Sales Rank: 12645
Studio: BBC Warner
Theatrical Release Date: 1982
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The cozy community of Barchester is rocked from its complacency when a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight Septimus Harding (Donald Pleasence) becomes the pawn in a political battle begun by his younger daughter's beau John Bold and kept kindled by his older daughter's husband Archdeacon Grantly (Nigel Hawthorne).Running Time: 385 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794051211125
Amazon.com:
The first two episodes of this BBC miniseries only hint at the delights to come. A lawsuit aimed at church reform in the town of Barchester forces a decent middle-aged clergyman (the august Donald Pleasence, best known in the U.S. for the Halloween movies) into a moral crisis and a conflict with his son-in-law, a pompous archdeacon (Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George). The gracefully written and acted narrative shows glimpses of dry wit--but in episode 3, the arrival of a new bishop (Clive Swift, Keeping Up Appearances), his imperious wife (Geraldine McEwan, The Magdalene Sisters), and his devious chaplain (Alan Rickman, Truly Madly Deeply, the Harry Potter movies) launches The Barchester Chronicles into a satirical power struggle all the more mesmerizing because of the smallness of the territory. The scheming of the citizens and clergy of this British town is both Byzantine and wonderfully comic as the tempestuous personalities claw and dig at each other.
Rickman, in one of his first film or television roles, turns in a tour de force of oily ambition. McEwan's ferocious machinations are downright terrifying, while the sputtering Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) seems constantly in danger of bursting a vein. At the center of it all is Pleasence. Making goodness compelling has always been difficult, since wickedness is always more dramatic; but Pleasence brings a deep and stirring passion to his role that proves as engaging as all the back-biting that surrounds him. And these are just the more familiar faces; a host of lesser-known actors give equally superb performances. The final episode (of seven) will have you on pins and needles. The Barchester Chronicles, adapted from two novels by Anthony Trollope, is one of those marvels of British television, a skillful production that proves intelligent fare can be hugely entertaining. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A hilarious story that can be viewed over and over and still be amusing and delightful.
I am presently viewing The Barchester Chronicles for the 3rd time and enjoying it immensely. The characters are dead-on portrayals of villagers, clergymen and their wives and daughters with all their human foibles. Money, power and ego are fought for here behind all the facades of righteousness. Never depressing though; it's very funny and humor rules the day.
The role of the mild-mannered warden of the hospital is played very well by Donald Pleasance. Nigel Hawthorne is the Arch Deacon who ... Read More
Rating: - Brilliant comic acting
For those who enjoy seeing great British actors at the peak of their form, this is a feast. Alan Rickman, Donald Pleasance, Nigel Hawthorne and Geraldine McEwan are brilliant, and funny, funny, funny. Don't miss it.
Rating:  - The Barchester Chronicles
Worth seeing. Good, not great, but some very interesting characters. Alan Rickman is superb!
Rating: - Quite good, really
(I'm just trying to sound 19th-century British and failing - it's FABULOUS!)
This is one of the best shows of its type I've ever seen - maybe THE best. As others have noted, all the actors give great performances, and the humor is kick-your-heels riotous. Alan Rickman as Obadiah Slop(e) (hubby and I love the places where ladies say that Mr. Sleope's behaviuh is eodious) is enough to make the series great, but there is so much more!
Even the little baby in the piece is a good actor. ... Read More
Rating: - One of the Greats
First of all, you should read Trollope: The Warden and Barchester Towers. They are fabulously wonderful and entertaining books.
Then you should buy this film. It is a true masterpiece, which faithfully and effectively condenses the stories.
The acting is superb. Donald Pleasance was born to play Septimus Harding; he is magnificent as the cello-playing, kindly old warden. Nigel Hawthorne as the archdeacon is a scream: sputtering, constantly outraged, a wily, politically ... Read More
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