1/5 Disappointing
  by L. Speid
I realize that the film needed to be true to the lives that this group of individuals lived, but I was very disappointed in the content. I do feel that the description should have warned that it would not be suitable for family viewing. I also felt bored by the content and couldn't bring myself to watch the second DVD.

5/5 Fantastic
  by Victorian Lady (Northeastern Ohio)
This is a terrific series! The costumes and the actors are exceptional. My husband watched this story with me.
He is someone who loves your typical guy movie like "The Terminator". Trust me, when you can get someone like him watch this kind of series... it means it is a really a good one!

5/5 Aristocrats
  by Summer Hart (Arizona)
After just returning from Ireland for a 3 week driving trip around the entire country, I began researching Lord Edward Fitzgerald on the web, and came across "The Aristocrats" BBC film series. It is about his mother and her sisters, illegitimate descendants of King Charles(?) I think. I absolutly loved it! After reading so much Irish history from the Irish Catholic point of view,seeing the Michael Collins, IRA, statue in Dublin, and touring the political murals in Belfast, it was wonderful to look at the Aristocratic English viewpoint of a real family that led up to this son, Edward, who becomes a supporter of the Irish agaisnt the English. He has an English Aristocratic mother and an Irish wealthy Father, and is raised in Ireland. He has a "free thinking" tutor that marries his mother after the father dies.
Good love stories and good history, all in one. My Irish friend watched it and loved it, too!

3/5 Intriguing...Yet utlimately Dull
  by Meghan Sanchez (USA)
I thoroughly enjoy a good Period epic- and at the beginning I was very much intrigued by the premise of these Aristocratic sisters, yet the actors themselves quickly began to bore me. The dialogue became a bit tired- and most importantly you don't really develop much of a sense of connection with the main character Emily- She is narrating- and you do get to find out more of what she thinks and feels- but I was still bored with her. I struggled to care about what was going to happen next- it always seemed as if the sisters and their husbands were always trying to out do each other- maybe with the exception of Louisa and her husband. I know that is supposed to be the creator of the tension- but it ends up just becoming tedious. Also I felt that casting Alun Armstrong as Mr.Fox was totally odd. It's hard to imagine that a woman like Caroline would be taken with interest when seeing him the first time. I'm sorry- couldn't they have cast a better looking actor?? It does explain the way his and Caroline's children turn out. They are even more hideous than he is- although I don't know whether the casting director had that direct intent when he cast them as their children. But- apart from that qualm about casting-it really could have been a good film- it had beautiful costumes and settings and an air of authenticity- yet it never really picks up. It really comes back to the lack of good characters. They are just too one dimensional to really care about them. I agree with another of the reviewers that it is worth renting- but it is one of those series that I really don't care to ever see again now that I have seen it once.

5/5 If you like historical drama, you should watch
  by Beatrix Potter (St. Louis, MO)
Not 100% perfect, but still awesome. Anne Marie Duff from Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen plays one of the sisters. It's hard to sit down and watch just one episode. I highly recommend.