Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Lewis onn DVD: great show, dodgy packaging

My Region 2 DVD boxed set of the Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis turned up today. Lovely crisp picture, the option of a 5.1 Dolby soundtrack on several episodes [but not the pilot] for those who value such things. Personally, I'm grateful whoever did the subtitles has taken the trouble to identify any pieces of music not composed by Barrington Pheloung, such as Muse's Hysteria at the start of the pilot - it makes my life easier compiling the soundtrack entries for any future edition of The Complete Inspector Morse. Of course, I'll be cross-checking the subtitles against other sources, having been led astray by subtitles on the Morse DVD releases.

Alas, the new DVDs do not include the excellent Lewis: Behind the Scenes documentary broadcast by ITV3 on March 4, after the final episode of series one screened on ITV1. Before the DVDs were released, some online retailers suggested the documentary would be included - seems that plan fell by the wayside. Even more unfortunate are the packaging blunders. The writing credits for the pilot are inaccurate, omitting both Russell Lewis [story] and Stephen Churcett [screenplay]. Stills taken from later episodes are featured on the pilot, while stills from the pilot are used on later episodes. These are minor mistakes, sure, but that jar when set against the care and attention lavished on Lewis as a show.

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