The Paradise

I normally avoid what I call "modern" costume-dramas like the plague, no "Downtons" or "Candlefords" in our house, but having read the source novel by Emile Zola (one of the rare novels my wife and I both enjoyed reading) and believing then that it had continued relevance in today's shopping mall, hypermarket, bigger-is-better consumer society, I was persuaded to tune in.

I'm rather glad I did, as, while I can easily see the soap suds gathering around the fringes, still Zola's story-telling skills shine through. I can't remember enough about the novel to place the appropriate episodes depicted here, although some of course were of modern invention, still I felt as a whole, the series maintained consistency, continuity and credibility throughout.

It's well acted with, in the lead roles, Emun Elliot as the charismatic retail supremo Moray (Mouret, in the original French) and Joanna Vanderham as the initially demure but fast developing shop-girl-in-a-hurry Denise, while the rest of cast support well, with the possible exception of Sarah Lancashire, who overplays the starchy department manageress, Miss Audrey.

I would carp at the sets which seem to be have been done on the cheap, you hardly get the impression that the store is large at all and as for the exteriors, it appears the BBC could only be bothered to dress up one section of the street outside the shop, giving an air of budget-cuts to proceedings.

Nevertheless, this was easy-to-watch family entertainment, which I'm pleased to see has been commissioned for a second series. We'll be watching.

I've never been one for 'period' or costume drama but I quite enjoyed the two episodes I've seen so far.

I don't understand the "distinctly cardboard-looking Victorian Street" comment in one of the reviews. Really? It looked real enough to me and judging by the ___location feature on this site it was.

There are loads of streets like that in the UK. I can think of a few in Bristol alone.

I mistakenly watched the second episode before the first and I was quite surprised to see two or three characters behaving quite differently between the two episodes for no apparent reason.

Other than that, just relax and enjoy it. Or not watch it just to pick out perceived flaws.

Sometimes I think I know where this story is going and it suddenly takes a turn not expected.

At first glance many of the situations and characters seem so common or typical. As the story goes along the characters develop rich persona's and quirks of their own. Some of them need work but it's small criticism. Despite it's period setting, the feel is very contemporary and the writing style, sharp for period pieces. Still it's good for young and old. I don't often warm to these period pieces with women in long dresses and lace and the class differences being used as reason for conflict. Paradise seems to give equal standing to all its characters, regardless of class, and invents interesting back stories for so many of them. The sets and scenery and costume are good but not outstanding. The quality comes from the concept and the well written script.

When they cancelled Lark Rise to Candleford, the BBC promised us that it was to "make room for other dramas". So far, I haven't seen anything worth watching, until The Paradise came on. It has the same gentle feel that Lark Rise did, and the same idea of having pride in the work you do. It is really nice to have a TV show which is not obsessed with having nude scenes in it, or using swear words at every turn, but rather concentrating on a good script, and a storyline that makes you want to know what is going to happen next. Some of the characters do feel like they need to find themselves a little bit, but since this is the first series, I think that they can easily be forgiven for that! This is definitely a show to watch, especially if you were a fan of Lark Rise to Candleford.

If you come to this series having first read Zola's book, you'll be greatly disappointed. There are few touch points between the two, and the entire spirit is different as well. What they do have very much in common is the theme of big business relentlessly and irreversibly destroying small business.

That said, I enjoyed this series. Denise is suitably innocent and pure, Moray is single-minded and lecherous, and the introduced character of Jonas is malevolent. Yes, the whole show has Victorian melodrama stamped all over it, but that doesn't make it any less compelling.

Given the ending of series 1, I can't imagine what series 2 will be like.