Oliver's Travels

Oh, how glorious to find a TV miniseries that's delightfully grownup! (That it's also charming, erudite, and witty is simply icing on the cake.) Laid-off professor of comparative religion Oliver (the late rumpled, scrumptious Alan Bates), a fan of wordplay and jazz, teams up with vivacious (and suspended) policewoman Diane (a lovely Sinéad Cusack) to find the enigmatic master crossword-puzzle creator "Aristotle," a journey that takes them across the gorgeous English countryside to Scotland and the Orkney Islands, through landscapes steeped in history and legend. The mystery expands to include murder, scandal, and corrupt law enforcement, and Oliver and Diane of course fall in love, but their relationship is an achingly romantic one in which the meeting of the minds is as sexy as hell. Oliver lists for Diane the "worldly goods" he brings to the relationship: "a little house in South Wales full of books, records, and compact discs." Anyone who finds that to be a wonderful recommendation for a man will adore this five-episode 1995 PBS Mystery! entry, which is thoroughly modern on the surface--what with a helicopter attack and clues obtained via computer hacking--but harkens back to the sophisticated romantic comedies of the 1930s and '40s as well (and the combination couldn't be more delicious). Presented in a double-disc boxed set (with no more than cast filmographies by way of extras), this is highly recommended. (M. Johanson)