Reviews & Ratings for
"Kavanagh QC" More at IMDbPro »

13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
British drama at its best, 9 August 2004
Author: Chris Wroblewski from Roxby Downs, Australia

This series is adult British drama at its best. Kavanagh is a lawyer magnificently portrayed by John Thaw and surrounded by a multitude of interesting characters. It never ceases to amaze me that this type of program is able to attract perfect believable actors for even the smallest roles. Many of the cases are thought provoking and the only one I didn't like was the American set "In God We Trust" which came across as well as US programs do when they portray UK situations! The only negative is that some of the video work when light is poor looks rather grainy. This might look good in some situations, but not in the court-rooms. This is a minor criticism. I thoroughly commend the series.

8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Terrific Series, 10 December 2004
Author: martyfrommiami (martyfrommiami@webtv.net) from Florida, USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I agree with Chris from Australia re this series -- it is outstanding, intelligent TV (the kind no longer produced in the USA.)

John Thaw is absolutely magnificent in the title role; his quiet, but incisive courtroom style is the kind I'd want from a lawyer representing me.

This series was certainly a counterpoint to that other great British TV series "Rumpole of the Bailey" in the way it portrays their legal system; Rumpole plays it for laughs, with the judges as incompetent boobs; Kavanagh plays it straight. Both top-notch series, but polar opposites.

As with Chris, the only one of the shows I didn't enjoy was the final one in which Kavanagh flies to my home state of Florida and meets up with a prejudiced Governor and court system.

Besides, was it really necessary for the producers to end the series (in that same show) on such a downbeat note by having Kavanagh's wife Lizzie reveal to him that she has inoperable cancer?

Otherwise...first rate series TV.

10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
It's wonderful to have John Thaw back after Morse!, 26 March 2001
Author: mullitover2 (mullitover2@yahoo.com) from Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Kavanagh Q C gives us a glimpse of Inspector Morse, if he had become a barrister rather than a Chief Inspector,found love rather than solitude,and had hailed from Sargent Lewis's neck of the woods rather than Cambridge. This sort of television should be the norm, not a rare exception.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Another Good Series with John Thaw, 27 April 2009

Author: gpeevers from Canada

Kavanagh Q.C. is a British Series about a barrister with the designation of Queen's Counsel (hence the title) which stars John Thaw, Thaw is likely best known to most for the "Inspector Morse" series or "The Sweeney". In both of these other two series Thaw played police officers although decidedly different ones. With Kavanagh we again have another character very different than either Morse or Jack Regan.

I found it somewhat refreshing to see a series both for Thaw and of this type where the lead character has a home life and a family. I find it unfortunate that later in the series they decided to curtail this approach which I thought brought a nice balance to the series.

Overall the series has a few flaws including some supporting characters that are thinly developed or caricatured (although the performances are by and large good) and the writing fails to give us many memorable courtroom moments. But I found that it was counterbalanced by a well developed lead character (with a strong performance from Thaw) as well as some interesting subject manner and social commentary. Another reason I found this intriguing is because the courtroom drama on TV still hasn't as overdone as other genres, and this was the only example I have seen from Britain.

This is also another British series with some very good guest stars including a young Ewan McGregor in the first episode.

Unfortunately not all the episodes of the series have been released on DVD for Region 1. Hopefully this will be rectified at some point in the future.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
The best and most underrated legal drama around!, 10 February 2009

Author: TheLittleSongbird from United Kingdom

The only reason why I didn't give this a 10, is because I still think that Morse is John Thaw's best role. But I just want to say, he is absolutely magnificent here. Like Morse, Thaw put a bit of himself into the character, which is always very appealing. The episodes aren't complicated, not like Judge John Deed, and there have been a great flow of British actors like Larry Lamb, Ewen McGregor, Tom Courtenay, Stuart Laing and Richard Pasco. ( who was also in the saddest Inspector Morse, dead On time)The music is beautiful, and it also boosted the careers of Shakespearean actress Lisa Harrow, Eastenders'Cliff Parissi and Anna Chancellor, who all brought a brief but pleasing shine to the drama. And a vast majority of the courtroom scenes are just mesmorising, thanks to Thaw and the scripts, which are of exceptional quality. If anything, I wish it lasted longer, but Thaw died before they could do another series. 9/10. Bethany Cox

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