Customer Reviews
Hadleigh - Not Badly - By: R. Fitzgerald, 13 Jan 2008 
This was a programme that was clearly successful as it ran for four series & yet it has been somewhat overlooked; probably because as good as it was when it was originally broadcast it was deemed average compared with other dramas being broadcast at the time. Even Adam Adamant Lives, the programme that made Gerald Harper a household name, gets talked about while Hadleigh has virtually been forgotten.
On watching the first series, I found it most enjoyable. Gerald Harper is resplendentin his role as Lord of the Manor, Man of The People & all round Good Egg. His character is far from believable of course, but TV has always had fantastical larger than life characters which were accepted as long as they entertained & Hadleigh does just this.
It has a jazzy theme tune, some fine supporting performances & a diverse range of well written scripts. There are occasions where reality is temporarily suspended, such as Hadleigh choosing to become a navvyin order to convince his down to earth fiancée that he could rough it. But these contrived moments are balanced with some intriguing moments, none more than when he tries to infiltrate a scam being pulled by a selection of local antique dealers.
Considering that this was produced by Yorkshire TV, who had a fraction of the resources of their London counterparts at Thames & LWT, the only blemishes on what is a quite polished presentation is the sight of some minor wobbling of sets, some split second sightings of some overhanging microphonesin a few scenes & the test cards looking like well worn beer mats. But this adds to the charm of the era, & it is a nice nostalgic touch that each episode on the DVD has the full sequence from the intro from Yorkshire TV to the slides prior to & after each commercial break before culminatingin the Yorkshire TV logo at the end.
It's not a classic by any means, but it is still fun & with more to offer than the mediocrity that passes for family TV drama today. It's definitely worth a look, especially if you're a nostalgia freak like me. Should the remaining series be released on DVD, I for one would be interestedin acquiring them.
Classy Hadleigh - By: S. Holland, 16 Feb 2007 There were 53 episodes of Hadleigh made between 1969 & 1975 tracking the life of the rich squire of the manor James Hadleigh. Here the first 13 contain some really good episodes with varied plot lines but the series suffers from two poor ones (10 & 11) before returning to quality at the end. Gerald Harper was a highly underated actor & unlike most multiple series programmes Hadleigh improved with each run. The third & fourth series were by far the best. The first eight episodes arein black & white & the restin colour but it is well worth seeing even if the title music dates it. Can't wait for series 3 & 4 but somehow I doubt they will be produced as there probably aren't sufficient fans to make this a big seller.
