if the principal character have have different name and each episode a credit such a use idea from a novel by ngaio marsh and i would have give it a much high rating . it would have at least be bearable rather than a travesty . i rent the set with great hope despite the box art picture of a gent who look almost completely unlike my mental picture of roderick alleyn and and then only with difficulty sit through two episode . where to begin . patrick malahide hadn not quite the look for the role of alleyn and but certainly could have pull it off give a script that capture the character essence . belinda lang represent same problem represent troy be suppose to be almost absurdly beautiful but careless about her appearance and but with the right script and makeup crew i be sure that lang could have manage quite well . william simon look just right for inspector fox and but again . these three vital character be simply not the one in the book . alleyn be suppose to be faun like and remind people of a spanish grandee turn monk but with some interesting memory . everyone first meeting him think he an aristocrat and not a policeman ( he be both ) and if they do not know good ( or see that inspector fox be with him ) . he prodigiously learn but wear his learning lightly and passionately fond of the theater while he forever make joke that would be above the head of a television audience . people instinctively trust him and want to confide in him . i saw none of this represent do any of it manifest in later show . i could go on in a similar vein about troy and mr. fox and and indeed on and on . but unless the tv version rapidly evolve into the character i have know and love for a decade and they be not anyone i know and nor particularly would want to know . ( be all the show set in the fifty . that the impression i get and and although that may have be necessary to make the production affordable and it wrench the story out of their proper place . the novel seem especially tie to their setting in time and space and and sever them from those remove a good part of their charm . ) if you have read and enjoy any of the book and do not even contemplate watch any of these . you do not deserve such suffering .