Ballykissangel Episode #1.1

The start of something great
Another reviewer has compared BALLYKISSANGEL to NORTHERN EXPOSURE, and there's certainly some truth to that. An outsider arrives in a small town. He quickly finds himself squeezed by the pressure of the local financial overlord, the town conscience, a group of occasionally odd individuals, and his own feelings for an unattainable woman. And, just when the the transplanted hero gets REALLY interesting, the actor playing him decides to "pursue other interests", leaving the show's producers to scramble in another lead actor.

Only, unlike NORTHERN EXPOSURE, BallyK's inhabitants are a bit more realistic than Cicely's. You won't find radio announcers making catapult art, insane hypochondriacs badgering hermit chefs, or waitresses breaking into chronic song. Rather, BallyK is peopled by characters who present us with humor derived from their very ordinary humanity.

In truth, after the departure of Stephen Tompkinson and Dervla Kirwan, that humanity becomes a little too ordinary,...

Father Peter Clifford arrives in BallyK as the new curate
WARNING! If you have never seen an episode of "Ballykissangel" and are starting from the beginning like I did today, be aware that on the second disc there is a special feature that looks back on the making of the show. It includes several spoilers including what would have to be the biggest spoiler of them all. So if you want to get all the way through to Series Three and not have things ruined for you then skip the "On the Ballykissangel Trail" featurette so what happened to me does not happen to you.

"Ballykissangel" is about young Father Peter Clifford (Stephen Tompkinson) who has come from England to the Irish town of Ballykissangel (Baile Coisc Aingeal) to be the curate at the local parish. You would think that the problem is going to be that the young priest is English, but it turns out to be his way of thinking and not his country of origin that shakes things up in town:

Episode 1, "Trying to Connect You" (Written by Kieran Prendiville, First aired...

The print is amazing
When I first saw this on video, I was astonished at the quality of the print. When I saw BALLYKISSANGEL on the BBC America channel, the prints had a certain foggy quality to it, as if one was looking through a slightly fogged up window. This was nonexistant on the video version. The video print was so clear and different that it looked like watching a theatrical film instead of a British TV show.

Being a big fan of the show, I generally wanted to get BALLYKISSANGEL when it was released on tape. It is a very entertaining show about the going-ons of a small Irish village. Although it may resemble a normal drama, don't let that fool you. It possesses an atmosphere of oddball humor. Despite the realistic trappings, anything unusual, from an automatic confessional to wooden sheep, may occur in this town. It's NORTHERN EXPOSURE in Ireland. Volume one features the pilot episode, introducing Father Peter Clifford (DROP THE DEAD DONKEYS' Stephen Tompkinson) as the arriving priest...

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