The Riff Raff Element: The Complete Series

This was such a brilliant series at the time, and I have searched year in and year out for it on DVD but must have taken my eye off the ball because it finally appeared in 2017. Cannot imagine why they didn't release it sooner. It is so beautifully observed and combines tender pathos with real fun, very realistically-drawn characters alongside very amusing caricatures. So pleased to be able to make its acquaintance all over again.

Series comes with English subtitles.

A nice class drama (and much more than that implies) with a good ensemble cast. Very downbeat ending though.

Brilliant present

I can faithfully give this 5/5 having first watched this over twenty years ago and never forgotten it. Why on earth it has taken this long to release on DVD I will never know and as far as I know its never been repeated on the BBC - I mean there's only so many Fools and Horses episodes you can watch.This is writer Debbie Horsfield at her absolute best, and as a beautiful insight into the British class system it both makes you laugh and like the best comedy, has serious overtones. The casting is spot on, the acting delightful (Celia Imrie in particular) and the opening credits and music should have had an award all of its own.If you enjoy quality tv this is a must - one wonders how many other gems are hidden away that need to be brought out of the dark.

Firstly, it's great to see this BAFTA nominated 1990s series finally released on DVD. I cannot believe it has taken so long, or why it has never even been repeated.I have to say that the first series is a triumph. The second...significantly less so. This is, I find, a common failing with the writer Debbie Horsfield, who has recently concluded her Poldark adaptation at the BBC. Horsfield first came to prominence in the late 1980s with her series Making Out. That was a brilliant show, but by series three she really 'jumped the shark'. She makes the same mistake here with The Riff Raff Element (although for 'jump the shark' perhaps we should say 'had a UFO landing', yup, that genuinely happens in an episode from series two!) To be fair to Horsfield, I fear that the situation was forced upon her during the break between series as three cast members left the production. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I don't think I'm breaking much by saying two of them; Brenda Bruce and Con O'Neill. In the second series she introduces two new additions to the show, one of which is clearly Con O'Neill's character in all but name. But the biggest blow comes from the fact that one integral cast member is not (and indeed could not) be replaced. This is a huge loss to the series and its effects impair not only just where the series was clearly going, but also reduces one previously significant character to the ranks of a walk-on.It doesn't help either that series two, and the series on the whole, ends on an inconclusive, disappointing note. I imagine that Horsfield had intended a third series, but the powers that be had other ideas. I can't say I blame them; what started out so promising ended so disappointingly, but it would have been nice for Horsfield to have had the opportunity to right it and get the show back on course somehow. Oh well.That said, Horsfield's writing and characterisation is often a joy, specifically of course in the first series, but even the second one has some highpoints. The acting is first class throughout, with one of the greatest ensembles put together for British TV, the stories engaging and the score from Tony McAnaney (Spender) is an absolute delight. I also really love the detail put into the opening and closing credits, something you simply do not see in these days of squeezed out, ultra-fast closing titles that are made for a continuity announcer to waffle over.My advice is to buy it, watch both series but on rewatches, just stick to the first series and consider what might have been.

I saw this series over a score of years ago and never forgot it. This is a must-have Christmas prezzie for all the people I have told over the years how good it was, -- and who only thought it must have been a figment of my imagination. . . . .

Great service. Very happy