It's impossible to recreate the blithely crude humor of Reginald Hill's Dalziel on television, but Warren Clarke (who played one of the "droogs" in A Clockwork Orange nearly 40 years ago) comes as close as possible, and the contrast with the educated, more by-the-book Pascoe is well played.

I remembered this series from when it was broadcast on A&E ca. 2000-2001, and a year or two ago, I found an old VHS tape where I had recorded one of the programs for later viewing. It held up extremely well, and I was reminded what a fine series it was, featuring intriguing plots, witty dialogue, and interesting characters.

I became interested in finding it among the dozens of BBC series that are sold in the U.S., but to no avail. It simply wasn't available, and even more surprisingly, it wasn't even out on DVD in the UK.

By now, the first two series have been released on DVD in the UK and the third in continental Europe. In either case, you need a region-free DVD player, after which you can order from anywhere in the world.

I'm not sure what's holding things up, seeing that practically every other TV series ever made has been released on DVD, but at least those of us who have region-free players and can order from Amazon UK are in good shape.