As a firm believer that good content can overcome low production budget, I only winced a little at the obviously rubber body part and less than believable reptiles in "Mad Hatter's Holiday."

After all, the fun in this series is Alan Dobie's dry commentary on Victorian society and poor Constable Thackeray's suffering as he does all of the scut work while Sergeant Cribb deducts his way to the conclusion. It is great fun to watch Cribb sit and eat a hearty meal (with some very Victorian touches) while his table companion loses his appetite under Cribb's comments and questions, all done with the utmost politeness.

"A Case of Spirits" which deals with another Victorian fad--table turning or spiritualism-- is also fun as Cribb and Thackeray are given a case that starts with the theft of a painting of an undraped nude and a vase worth thirty guineas, both occurring after the appearance of a new trance medium at private sittings at the respective houses. Then a murder occurs under seemingly impossible circumstances and secrets start to surface as Cribb looks into their proper Victorian lives.

The dialogue and the characters from Lovesey's novels as brought to life by the cast in this series can make me forget a lot of rubber body parts.

I've waited for years for the Cribb series to appear. This is about half of the episodes made by Granada. Cribb is the ultimate down-to-earth policeman with the perfect assistant in Constable Thackery. I hope the next set doesn't take as long as the first one.