The Grand

1997

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1
7.5| NR| en| More Info
Released: 04 April 1997 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

The Grand is a British television drama series first broadcast on ITV in 1997–1998. It was written by Russell T Davies and set in a hotel in Manchester in the 1920s. There are two series: eight episodes in the first series were broadcast from 4 April 1997 to 23 May 1997 and ten in the second series from 30 January 1998 to 3 April 1998. All 18 episodes were written by Russell T Davies. The cast included Susan Hampshire, Julia St. John, Tim Healy, Michael Siberry, Stephen Moyer and Mark McGann. The two series were novelised by Catrin Collier, under the pen name Katherine Hardy.

Genre

Drama

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The Grand Audience Reviews

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
katiebee09 Let me begin by saying the series never blew me away, but hooked me enough to see what happened through the end. During both seasons, I wasn't crazy about all the acting or how many episodes ended dramatically and began the next with all the excitement missing and momentum stalled out. I have to say though, Season 1 was much more composed and enjoyable than Season 2. One of the biggest issue was changing not one, but two actors playing roles of main characters. I literally had to replay the first part when they replace Stephen to figure out who the new guy was. Then, just as I was accepting the reality that they really had replaced Stephen, a new Ruth popped onto the screen! I literally groaned/grimaced/screamed in frustration. As the audience, I felt wronged to lose two actors in a span of seconds. Neither work for the roles, and it seems the characters are different people and less likable. Ruth was beyond irritating with her ridiculous trembling and sniveling all the time.There were some interesting plot twists, some great actors and roles, and fantastic sets and costumes. Certain roles are entirely believable and very well done.Overall, if you want to enjoy this show, watch the first season and quit while you're ahead. Season 2 goes a bit haywire for my taste in both plot, writing, and acting.
drarthurwells This series centers on the people involved in a high class hotel: the family who runs it, the staff who work there, and the guests. The setting is Manchester, England, in 1920 and thereafter.There are 18 episodes. I enjoyed it more as the episodes progressed, and increasingly came to appreciate it as special toward the end and to its conclusion. I recommend the viewer stick with it for at list 6 episodes, before rendering judgment on the whole series.This production is first class in all respects: storyline, acting, dress and settings, musical accompaniment, etc. The plots of each episode are quite compelling, while underlying themes that develop in twists and turns across the plots are engrossing. Some very powerful drama is therein presented. If you like psychologically valid human relationship drama this should be of interest.I rank it in the top 10 percent of movies or series I have seen (many thousands).
chuffnobbler Nothing particularly unique, fresh or new happens in The Grand, but it succeeds because it constantly surprises and turns expectations on their heads. Russell T Davies, that genius writer, is always good at catching the viewer out, and the show's greatest successes are delivered by deft overturning of what we think is going to happen next.Casting Susan Hampshire as a prostitute? Straightaway, that's brilliant. I expected the whole series to involve Miss Harkness at risk of being caught out, struggling to keep one step ahead of propriety ... but in Russell T Davies's hands, all of that is blown away. By episode three, her trade is an open secret. This is why RTD is one of Britain's most successful TV writers, and I am not.Series One thrives on the aspiring, go-getting maid Monica. Several gobsmacking twists on the trot lead Monica's story to an appalling conclusion: gang rape, murder in self defence, execution. Well done, Mr Davies.It all falls apart in series two. Head transplants are always tricky to pull off in ongoing TV series, but The Grand fails in giving two key characters head AND personality transplants. The impossibly handsome, tormented Stephen becomes ten years younger and infinitely wetter. Outspoken, bitter Ruth becomes a shivering, febrile mess. These two changes are a huge failing and, with the Bannerman family granny forgotten between series, and with John and Sarah Bannerman (the irreplaceable Julia St John) written out after a couple of episodes, major driving forces are lost. Series two is very different from series one, and much weaker. Sure, there are still great episodes (Monica's revenge, Clive's dilemma), but these individual story lines are divorced from the main ongoing stories.As is the way of these things, the Below Stairs characters are always the most interesting. While the Above Stairs characters worry about business deals and all of that old nonsense, there is a real sense that life below stairs is tough, cruel, bitter and horrible.The Grand, at its best, really is "grand". Cliché-busting, surprising, and full of memorable characters and situations. The problem with the majority of series two is that those memorable characters aren't quite as memorable as they used to be, which handicaps the story from the very beginning.
clairelouise-ridgway I really liked the series and the characters. it shows what Manchester was like after the war the people who lived there. there are two brothers the older brother has control of the hotel while the other brother seems put out a bit. but is determind to get his own way and try and take over, the son rerurning from the war helps out.. and some of the staff want bigger things. miss harkness comes to stay at the hotel even though she is, from down London.. the series looks at the people at the hotel owners and staff etc.. I can't understand why some of the Americans dislike the series probably because they cannot understand the language, but at least the UK and come up with a lovely series..