Paradise Postponed / Titmuss Regained

These two British miniseries written by John Mortimer, better known as the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, have something of the flavor of Anthony Trollope. Paradise Postponed, aired in 1986, is a saga of interconnected families spanning three decades (over 11 episodes running nearly 10 hours) that begins with a quarrel over the will of a socialist-minded churchman who leaves his considerable fortune not to his two sons (one a haughty screenwriter, the other an easygoing doctor) but to a once-poor neighbor boy who has risen through ambition and cunning to the post of minister in a Conservative government. Flashbacks reveal the history of the many personages involved, while the contemporary scenes follow the legal case, with numerous digressions into politics and romance. The finale boasts a satisfying twist, even if the revelation about the dead man's motivation itself isn't especially surprising. The 1991 sequel, Titmuss Regained, which deals with the minister's late-life romance and his difficulties with an ambitious subordinate, is a much more compact affair, comprising only three 50-minute episodes. Throughout, Mortimer's dialogue sparkles, and the cast includes such veterans as Michael Hordern as the churchman, Colin Blakely as the cranky local doctor, and Richard Vernon as a befuddled local aristocrat, as well as Zoë Wanamaker as the minister's wife and Kristin Scott Thomas as the woman he falls in love with. Paradise Postponed and Titmuss Regained aren't classics, but they offer a pleasant way to while away a dozen hours or so. DVD extras include a text bio of Mortimer and cast filmographies. Recommended. (F. Swietek)