Time For Murder was originally shown in 1985, and the show consisted of 6 different stories written by 6 different authors, all of which were prominent of the mystery genre at the time. The hour-long shows were written by individuals such as Fay Weldon, Frances Galleymore, Antonia Fraser, Michael Robinson, Gordon Honeycombe, and Charles Wood. The great thing about the episodes of “Time For Murder†is the fact that only the time and the title of the show are common to the episodes; this means that certain episodes have a little bit of humor strewn throughout, while some will cause chills to go up and down one’s spine.
Of particular note during this mini-series has “This Lightning Always Strikes Twiceâ€, a story that shows a very tense family situation through the eyes of a tutor. However, all of the episodes are solid, and they all gain from having a tremendously proficient set of actors to play the roles in the show. This means that (well-respected at the time) actors such as Sylvia Syms, Amanda Root, Judy Campbell, and Jane Asher are all present in some form or another during “Time For Murderâ€. The DVD set itself does not give individuals much in the way of bonus features; the only thing that I could find were cast filmographies. The video quality itself is about par for the course from this period of time; the audio is slightly above-average, as it seemed to be boosted from the original film to the current version on this DVD set. Despite the fact that this series had been covered up with the grime and dust of twenty years in a vault somewhere in England, the quality of each of these episodes will likely give the series the attention that it rightfully deserves.
Here’s to hoping that the sales of Time For Murder are at a level that Acorn Media is happy with, and is also at a level that will get television stations across the world to start digging up their old shows. If that is possible, then some shows (such as Get A Life) may actually be given a new lease on life by innovative and cutting-edge firms such as Acorn Media. Time For Murder should be purchased by anyone that is a fan of the mystery genre, or just loves finding out about some amazing stories that have gotten forgotten for whatever reason. The show may have only been six episodes, but they have high replay value.
Rating: 7.6/10
Time For Murder / 2008 Acorn Media / 309 Minutes / http://www.acornmedia.com /