Reviews

If you like witty, dark humour, please do ignore the crummy reviews and give this a shot. For me, a cracker, with a tight and hilarious script, genius acting and fabulous cameos. My city/state's been slow to the pandemic "party" having basically locked itself off for two years until just recently, so watching this in the midst of our first real wave, as my anxiety is going through the freaking roof, has been just the tonic I needed. The escape film within an escape film within a doco within... I don't know what meta text is glorious. I'm so glad the actors who went along with the ride could see the quality.

I was young at the time, I admit it shamelessly, but I absolutely adored Give us a Break. It was just the thing for this (then) 12-13 year old anglophile. I fell in love/lust with Mr McGann on the instant, and have remained more or less in that state ever since. And heavens, am I tired.

I am now also a proud owner of the novelisation of Give us a Break, which I picked up in an Op (Thrift) Shop many moons ago. I even bought second and third copies, as I found them, to give to friends. Some people (those who donated the books in the first place) have absolutely no taste! It is as funny as the series.

I can't remember whether the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Thingy) ever repeated this, or the vaguely recalled post-script movie-length episode that came out some time afterwards. Well, they should!!

Hurrah, basically, for Give us a Break! It was a definitely one of the highlights of my TV watching career.

I'm not really certain where the idea that Wimsey is stupid and Bunter a detecting genius comes from, as per the previous review. The novels certainly never suggest such a thing, in any way. Dorothy L Sayers' ideas, in social terms, were certainly what some might call progressive (I just found them utterly reasonable), but Lord Peter's intellect and sensitivity were never belittled by her. She was more interested in presenting a vision of equality than anything skewed in either direction. Bunter and Lord Peter are equally matched in intelligence (as is Harriet Vane, when she appears in the later novels) although Wimsey has the advantage of being able to make those occasional fantastic leaps of imagination which a great detective needs. I've always found Wimsey an attractive, intelligent and sensitive character and that, to my mind, is exactly how he should be portrayed.