Inspector Fowler - The Complete Series - DVD

Content: In the small town of Gasforth near London, the world is still in order. That it stays that way is ensured by Inspector Raymond Fowler (Rowan Atkinson), a policeman of the old school, who can quote every paragraph from the law book and also meticulously adheres to it, but who seems to be somehow stuck in the past not only with his views. This causes a lot of chaos at the police station, which regularly drives detective Derek Grim (David Haig) to the brink of a nervous breakdown. The fact that the other colleagues Bob Kray (Kevin Allen), Maggie Habib (Minar Anwar), Frank Gladstone (Rudolph Walker), Kevin Goody (James Dreyfus) and Patricia Dawkins (Serena Evans) are not exactly real model cops makes things no easier. And then there's the fact that Fowler has been involved with Dawkins for ten years and she's suffering from his increasing sexual disinterest. And even though crime is really rare in Gasforth, there's never a dull moment at the police station...

Inspector Fowler reunited the Blackadder dream team of writer Ben Elton and leading man Rowan Atkinson in 1995. For Atkinson, the series was of particular importance as a follow-up project to Mr Bean, wanting to present his audience with something as far removed as possible from the (almost) entirely wordless cult character. The result was an amusing ensemble comedy that took aim at everyday police life in a small English town with ambiguous wordplay, a little slapstick and a pinch of social comedy. Even though the success of Mr. Bean could not be repeated and after two short seasons it was already over again, Inspector Fowler has also achieved a certain cult status over the years. And now you can finally see why in Germany on DVD.

The series is staged in a very classic comedy style. The characters are overdrawn stereotypes, which are very amusing just by exposing their all too human weaknesses. The humor comes primarily from amusing misunderstandings and unintentionally raunchy dialogue, the bite of which is, however, a little lost in the German dubbed version. Those who are fluent in English should therefore definitely select the even much funnier original English audio on the DVD.

What speaks to the quality of the series is that it still works really well, even after almost two decades. True, some aspects of the production seem a little antiquated and some of the gags feel richly dusty. But overall, the 14 episodes of the two seasons still provide a lot of really good laughs, for which, in addition to Rowan Atkinson, James Dreyfus in particular is responsible with his completely over-the-top portrayal of the dorky P.C. Goody. Inspector Fowler may not be a great comedy classic, but it is a lot of fun. And therefore applies to all Rowan Atkinson fans and lovers of classic Britcoms quite clearly: absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The picture is in the original 4:3 TV format. And also otherwise the technical realization of the DVD the age of the series is quite noticeable. But although there are a few minor points deducted in the area of image sharpness and occasionally minor dirt can be detected, the picture quality is still on a good level for a TV comedy. The same applies to the stereo sound, which does its job - the well intelligible reproduction of the amusing dialogue - absolutely satisfactory. Good!

Extras: Unfortunately, there is no bonus material.

Conclusion:Rowan Atkinson's rather short-lived series Inspector Fowler is not as funny as Mr. Bean and not quite as clever as Blackadder. Still, the comedy series penned by Ben Elton offers enough wit and bite to still be eminently entertaining nearly twenty years later. Especially in the original English version, which thanks to this DVD release can now also be enjoyed in Germany, many of the jokes still click and thus provide almost seven extremely entertaining hours. The non-existent extras are not really a negative factor. For lovers of classic Britcoms absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp