According to IMDB, the original version of this film was 94 minutes. When it was aired in the US on September 28, 2008, it lasted barely 83 minutes (subtracting the tacked-on intro with Alan Cumming, etc.). What was cut, and more importantly, why? MASTERPIECE has shown longer films than this.
shareThey DO cut things down so that they can fit in all those preview-commercials for other programs, along with the afore-mentioned intro. Personally, it makes me angry that they do this, and is not good for the reputation of Masterpiece and PBS. I've always appreciated being able to get great British dramas, mysteries, and other programs thru PBS/Masterpiece, but it's such a bummer that they would cut things out. I couldn't see this when it came on TV in the US, so I watched it on Youtube and I believe that the entire thing is there, so it must have been posted by someone in the UK.
FRED!!
"Are you a fan of delicious flavor?"
MASTERPIECE has been going downhill over the past few years. First they dropped MYSTERY! as a separate program. Then they started putting on programs that don't really fit the classic definition of what this show is all about. And now there's this hackwork going on.
There are many great BBC dramas that haven't even made it over here, and BBC America is an even worse culprit when it comes to a) not showing classy programs and b) hacking things to pieces.
So now I get most of my British shows on Netflix!