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06.10.09

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Phaedra

The Invisibles: Series 1

Two discs; Acorn Media; $39.99

By Michael S. Gant


In this genial BBC series from 2008, two retired jewel thieves—Maurice (Anthony Stewart Head) and Syd (Warren Clarke)—unretire from the easy life in Spain. Back in England, they reluctantly take up their old trade of breaking and entering. A younger local man who knows their reputation horns in on the action. Naturally, time has passed these cat burglars by, and their jobs often go astray. The primary humor comes from the Mutt and Jeff teaming of Head (forever etched in our hearts as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Clarke (a British TV veteran). A master safecracker, Maurice plays straight man to Syd's bumbles and stumbles. The gag wears thin, partially because Head really seems still too young for all the old-guy jokes. The overly jaunty faux-'70s caper music doesn't help. It is nice, however, to see Jenny Agutter (as Maurice's practical, long-suffering wife) still working, almost 40 years after she made such an impression as the teenage girl stranded in the Outback in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout. This set contains six one-hour episodes.


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