Hamish Macbeth Series 1-3 Collection (DVD)

I can't remember how I stumbled across this series, but am VERY glad that I did. It is comedy; it is drama. It is thoroughly enjoyable, having great humor, excellent characters and character development.A small town policeman Hamish Macbeth (Police Constable, or "P.C. Macbeth" in the Scottish vernacular) is set in a small Highland town of fierce loyalties. As capable of bending a law as he is of enforcing it, Hamish is actually quite a sharp detective, but busily hides it because he ardently desires to avoid ANY notice from the higher ups. Credit for his crime-solving abilities would mean unwanted attention. That would eventually mean a transfer out of the BEAUTIFUL Highland community where he has become an essential part of the close-knit fabric of this small town. The antics with which he manages to solve local crimes and do justice for his community--without garnering any credit--is an integral part of this series' humor, though plenty of comedy is also mined elsewhere throughout.Hamish is also a flawed character, making him seem much more real, more down to earth. He is capable of deeply feeling guilt when his actions, though well intentioned, cause harm. On the whole, his flaws make him much more likeable. These flaws are not overdone, and certainly make him more realistic than the portrayal of an unflawed palladin would have done. We get an intimate look at the eccentricities, integrity and honor of the title character throughout the series, and he measures up as a man of character and honor despite his flaws.I also loved the townsfolk. This show, like the Canadian series, "Corner Gas," exhibits wonderful local color that is characteristic of ANY small town, regardless of continent and culture. In both of these series, despite having grown up on another continent or in another country--I KNOW and grew up with these people!I loved pretty much everything in "Hamish Macbeth." I loved the Scottish accents and customs that come through in the Series. I loved the humor and the characters. I loved the strong loyalties of the characters for their town and for each other--especially the steadfast loyalty of Hamish's right-hand man. Of keen interest through the series is a love triangle with a dramatic resolution and double climax. I appreciated the character development, which was pretty good for a short-lived series of only 3 seasons. (Perhaps the best compliment is that I DEARLY wish it could have been longer, but Robert Carlyle, the actor playing the title character, was clearly off to bigger and better things.)In fact, my ONLY criticisms are for what was left OUT of the DVD set. There is no way to turn captions on from the DVD. The Scottish accents are pretty thick to unaccustomed American ears, and those who have trouble hearing accents will miss large amounts of dialogue. However, if your TV has a Closed Captioning setting, there ARE CC codes within the signal itself, so this defect can be gotten around by turning on Closed Captioning from your TV's settings. My only MAJOR criticism though, is of the DISC SET and NOT of the series itself. An episode, "West Coast Story," which should have been Season 1, episode 4, was left out of the first season's discs. (What were they THINKING?!!) I would normally have wanted to deduct about 1/2 a star for the CC difficulty and TWO stars for the missing episode but I couldn't bear to give it less than 4 stars because I enjoyed the series SO much. The series itself would get a solid 5 stars from me.I heartily recommend this series. As soon as I am able, I plan to dive into M.C. Beaton's books which inspired it.

This is an excellent series set in the Highlands of Scotland in a fictional village called Lochdubh (pronounced loch-du). Don't expect this to be another British detective series a la Frost or Inspector Morse/Lewis genre. Think more the US show Northern Exposure transplanted to the Highlands with eccentric characters centering on the local constable and beautiful scenery. There are a few mysteries, but that's not the point of the show. Just outstanding and highly recommended. We watched a season a night straight through and didn't tire of it.Now a word about closed captioning. I hesitated on buying this DVD series for over a year under the impression there was no closed captioning or it wasn't possible to get it working. (Subtitles are turned on with the DVD player, but this series does not have subtitles.)I finally figured out the issue, got the DVDs and the closed captioning works perfectly. But you have to connect your DVD player in a particular way. Let me elaborate:1. Your DVD player MUST be connected via component video or composite video (including audio) (see for example, component cable  Mediabridge RCA Component Video Cable with Audio - (6 Feet) . (At least I know these will work. There may be other possibilities.) You CANNOT use an HDMI connection to view it. (It can have the HDMI connection in place as well as one of the videos, but you must use the video connection to view the closed captioning.) (HDMI works fine with subtitles since they come from the DVD player itself.)2. You must put your DVD player on normal or interlaced mode if you have a choice. You cannot use progressive mode in any fashion. If you cannot turn off progressive mode, you won't be able to see the captions. Some DVD players have a button, others have to use the setup menus. Read the manual for your player.3. Turn on closed captioning on your TV (CC1 works fine). It must be on, not just when sound is muted.This procedure works fine for me, but until I had everything in line, nothing was visible. Turning off progressive mode was the final key to getting captions visible. This will work for any DVDs that have closed captions (e.g.,  Monarch of the Glen: Complete Series 1  or  Heat of the Sun Boxed Set (Private Lives / Hide in Plain Sight / The Sport of Kings) ).

I've never been one for allowing reviews to determine what I buy or don't buy, I buy because I found something interesting in something, it's the same with this meloncholy series about Highland village life, I've never read the books, so I can't make a comparison, I just enjoyed the series. I've liked Robert Carlyle for many years, more because he brings a sense of realism to the characters he plays, none more so than Hamish Macbeth. It's not the complete 20 episode series, West Coast Story is missing from series one, but it's been so long since I've seen this endearing series, it doesn't really matter. It's an acquired taste, for fans of the series. Five stars...

I am so glad I am not the only one to have noticed there is 1 episode missing from the collection.There were 20 episodes in total and the set has 19 of these.The episode that's missing is from the first series, episode 4 (West Coast Story).

Sorry, Hamish Macbeth is not really my cup of tea.......the series cannot quite make up its mind what it's trying to do, some episodes are quite good, but some are just too dark for me, black humour I guess.Enjoyed Agatha Raisin more, no black humour, thought we would give Hamish a try........

These are quirky, clever stories set in the beautiful highlands of Scotland. Robert Carlyle's interpretation of Hamish is superb, his dog is adorable, and all the villagers who play their roles contribute to fascinating, often funny, often suspenseful - especially the one where the woman is standing on a live mine and Hamish has to figure out how to rescue her!! - and always gripping. My husband and I love these series, and are thrilled to now own them.

Very funny and at times poignant. A stellar cast bring the quirky and off-beat characters to life. One reviewer complains that the stories bear no resemblance to the original Beaton books, but I think the clue lies in the introduction to each episode. “Based on characters created by M C Beaton” and written by Daniel Boyle, Anthony Mingella and others. Worth every penny.