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Hadleigh: Series Three
R2 - United Kingdom - Network Review written by and copyright: Paul Lewis (16th January 2009). |
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The Show
 Hadleigh: Series Three (Yorkshire Television, 1973) In this third series of Hadleigh (YTV, 1969-75), landowner James Hadleigh (Gerald Harper) romances Jennifer Caldwell (Hilary Dwyer) whilst also maintaining his ownership of the Westdale Gazette. 
If it were made today, Hadleigh would no doubt be little more than a glossy soap opera, a glimpse into an idealised lifestyle of wealth and property. However, the series is much more than that: Hadleigh’s hopes are often dashed, and there is a healthy spattering of issue-led drama too (for example, in the way in which Jennifer’s love for Hadleigh puts her in conflict with her socialist background). As played by Gerald Harper, James Hadleigh is a little naïve and very conservative in his values; in this respect, he is similar to the character played by Harper in Adam Adamant Lives! (BBC, 1966-7), the Victorian swashbuckler who found himself in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ and, episode after episode, discovered his values in conflict with those of the modern world. In Hadleigh, this conflict is best expressed in the relationship between Jennifer and Hadleigh himself, where Hadleigh’s ‘old-fashioned’ values are often highlighted through the way in which they are contrasted with the values of the thoroughly modern Jennifer; when in the first episode, following Hadleigh’s awkward proposal of marriage, Jennifer suggests that she may simply want to sleep with Hadleigh and not necessarily marry him, Hadleigh conservatively refuses to engage in a sexual relationship until he has a firm response to his proposal. (Jennifer responds by delivering the poetic, and very truthful, line: ‘I might take so long to answer that we might lose our way with each other’.) In fact, the scene in which Hadleigh proposes to Jennifer is one of the highlights of this series. Taking place during an intimate dinner, Hadleigh’s proposal begins and ends awkwardly, whilst Jennifer deflects his questions; she’s clearly wary of the idea of marriage, perhaps because it conflicts with her sense of independence. When Jennifer asks Hadleigh why he has never married before, Hadleigh tells ‘I’m only forty; it’s not so old. I mean, there’s so much I wanted to do… I was able to do in my position’. Harper plays the scene in a very sensitive way, tears welling in his eyes as, through shyness, he avoids the gaze of Jennifer as she expresses her concerns: ‘You’re making it sound as if you’ve just reached this stage in your life and I’ve just happened along, not that meeting me has forced you to change, which is as it should be. I mean, it could have been anyone’. The innate goodness of Hadleigh is tested throughout the series: he’s not an all-seeing, all-knowing protagonist, as a key subplot in the early episodes of this particular series proves—Hadleigh’s relationship with Jennifer is complicated due to the fact that sometime in the past, Jennifer had a fling with Hadleigh’s friend Oliver Mason (Nigel Hawthorne) prior to meeting Hadleigh. Mason tries to deny his former relationship with Jennifer, but Jennifer wants to air their secret. 
Episode Breakdown Disc One: 1. ‘First Impressions’ 2. ‘Second Thoughts’ 3. ‘The Last Rent Dinner’ Disc Two: 4. ‘A Tale of Two Paintings’ 5. ‘Strained Relations’ 6. ‘Mrs Paige’ Disc Three: 7. ‘Gentlemen and Players’ 8. ‘Mishaps’ 9. ‘The Caper’ Disc Four: 10. ‘The Goddaughter’ 11. ‘Family Feelings’ 12. ‘Departure’ 13. ‘Touch and Go’
Video
Like most productions of this era, the series was shot on a combination of film (for location work) and video (for in-studio footage). Compared to LWT or Thames’ output of the period, Hadleigh (produced for Yorkshire Television) clearly had a much smaller budget, but for the most part this works to the benefit of the series, pushing the characters into smaller, more intimate settings. Network’s DVD presentation is good; there are no problems with the presentation of the series on these DVDs. The original break bumpers are intact. The series is presented in its original broadcast ratio of 4:3. 
Audio
Audio is presented by two-channel mono sound. There are no issues with the audio track. No subtitles are provided.
Extras
There are no extra features.
Overall
I have to admit to not watching Hadleigh prior to the DVD releases by Network, as I had always assumed that the series was little more than a glossy soap opera. However, there’s much more to this series than that, and it’s held together by a strong performance by Harper as the morally-upstanding James Hadleigh. Hadleigh is not in the upper-tier of the 1970s dramas released by Network (it’s certainly not in the same league as the superb Public Eye), but it’s a series that puts modern dramas to shame, both in the warmth of its protagonist and the relative severity of the dilemmas that he faces. For more information, please visit the homepage of NetworkDVD.
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