Bramwell – Series 1-4 Complete [DVD]
Bramwell – Series 1-4 Complete [DVD]
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Box Set, Interactive Menu, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: This lavish period drama tells the story of Eleanor Bramwell (Jemma Redgrave), a pioneering female doctor in the late nineteenth century, and the struggles she has with her friends, her colleagues and society. Determined to take the medical profession out of the dark ages, her strongly held opinions often draw her into conflic
List Price: £49.99
Price: £26.49
Dr Who News
Bramwell Series 1 – 4,
“Bramwell” is a series of stories built around the life of a dedicated doctor called Eleanor Bramwell set in an impoverished area of east London towards the end of the 19th century who chooses to manage a small infirmary to provide free medical care for anyone who needs it in the area. She does this in the teeth of fierce opposition from the medical etablishement and the initial reservations of her father, another doctor who tries to talk her out of it but she eventually finds a sponser to provide funds and she goes ahead. Whether such idealistic people actually existed in Victorian London is anybody’s guess but it would be nice to think so.
Jemma Redgrave is radiant and gives a terrific performance as Bramwell (she can tuck in my bedsheets any time) and David Calder is superb as her father and their relationship is brilliantly conveyed by two accomplished actors at the peak of their form. It is a gripping and at times moving portrayal of medical care provided in an environment of extreme squalor, rampant alcoholism and widespread crime where appaling sanitatary conditions lead to the rapid spread of infectious diseases and high mortality rates. Occasionally Bramwell gets into trouble when she tries to intervene in the lives of people around her and she has an unhappy love affair but she always bounces back, adjusts her cap and gets stuck into her work. Conditions in Victorian London are reconstructed well and the whole production is very impressive and superbly done.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Superlative,
Followed this series faithfully when it originally aired in the nineties, and through the years it stuck in my mind for its excellence. It was a delight to see it released on DVD. About time! Watching it again was like unearthing a treasure all over again. Topping the list of reasons it remained with me all these years was the strong character of its title character. A strength all the more singular for not detracting from her vulnerability. That’s significant, given the time. It’s 1895, a time when woman were derided for thinking themselves intelligent beings, let alone daring to display it. And here we find Eleanor Bramwell, a woman who not only dares to believe in her intelligence, but has the chutzpah to pursue science and healing. Gutsy indeed, and just one of a clutch of words that befit her. At a time when so much about medicine was being discovered, Bramwell is a true pioneer, and for her sins we see her many conflicts and struggles with those around her, and the challenges she faces in choosing to practise medicine among the poor of London’s East End. The entire cast, setting, writing and production are first-rate. It’s a shame dramas of this calibre are now rarely made.
Was this review helpful to you?
|great untill the last 2 discs,
This Series is great until the last two discs,clearly the last two were written by a different author.They were very fragmented and depicted a different and more negative character of Eleanor Bramwell.
A sad way to finish an other wise wonderful and gripping series
Was this review helpful to you?
|