The Casual Vacancy DVD

The Casual Vacancy DVD

Cast: Sir Michael Gambon, Julia McKenzie, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: M
Running Time: 180 minutes

J.K. Rolwing, HBO and the BBC combine to produce, The Casual Vacancy, a dark and dramatic three-part mini-series starring Sir Michael Gambon, Julia McKenzie, Keeley Hawes and Rory Kinnear and based on the novel by J.K. Rowling.

Pagford is a quaint, picturesque town in the Cotswolds, a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. Behind the pretty facade, however, is a town at war: rich vs poor; parents vs. children; wives vs. husbands; and teachers vs. pupils.

As Pagford Parish Council prepares for a vote on what will become of Sweetlove House - a town institution and community cewntre serving poorer residents - chairman Howard Mollison and his wife, Shirley, who want to turn it into a tourist-destination spa, look to neutralise the threat of everyman council member Barry, a solicitor and defender of the current Sweetlove House mission. When Barry's sudden death leaves a 'casual vacancy' on the council, the race to fill his seat, and detemine the fat of Sweetlove, stirs up drama amongst residents.

While Howard and Shirley push their submissive son, Miles, to run for election, Barry's friend and doctor, Parminder, rallies behind reluctant school headmaster Colin, while Barry's bullying half-brother, Simon, looks to capitalize on the family tragedy.

Elsewhere, Terri, Barry's former neighbor and a struggling meth addict, finds it hard to stay clean, while her troubled daughter, Krystal takes a drastic measures to help. Later, Simon's teenage son, Andrew, aka Arf looks to expose the hypocrisy in Pagford by bringing his Uncle Barry back from the dead.

The Casual Vacancy DVD
RRP: $29.95