The Mad Death: The Complete Series [DVD]

Saw this many years ago when first on tv. Love stuff made in that era. Richard Heffer plays similar role to that of Jimmy Garland in Survivors. Somebody reviewing criticised this, but it certainly stands the test of time. Interesting in Shopping Centre spotted many names now gone!. Being a cat dad , loved all the kitties!. Brilliant. If you liked Survivors, this is recommended

If this is the kind of thing that you're looking for, this is exactly the thing that you're looking for.Based on the novel by a different Nigel Slater than cooks food on television, the 3 part miniseries has dated, in part due to some transient clothing and hairstyle trends and in part to the natural visible manifestations of entropy, it is, nonetheless, an absolute treat if you have delightful horrifying memories of public safety ads if you're of a certain age, or are proficient in searching for film clips on your home computer. It has that quality through its entirety.A great companion piece to Threads and The Changes. Genuinely chilling in places. Bereft of a booklet containing information or any bonus features as it is, it is what it is. Deadly.

I was shown this DVD while looking up the DVDs of Threads and after finding a trailer on Youtube, I was sold on a shot of what looked very much like a fox puppet smearing foam over a man's car window.So as far as I could see, this DVD was released in May 2018 by Simply Media (the same lovely people that put out the recent Threads Remastered DVD the month before), and for a programme that first aired in 1983, it was the first physical home video release (it was on the BBC store once before).The DVD itself has all three episodes of the mini-series and an acknowledgement that the video quality was not going to be the best because of the age of the film. As expected, the video quality is rather grainy, but one thing I didn't expect at all was that in one scene, there are some rather strange jump cut errors that weren't apparently on the original broadcast (Simply are apparently aware of this). While it's great that a show like this is now on DVD, I've given this a 4/5 because of the video quality, the cut error I mentioned and the lack of any extras.The programme itself is about an outbreak of rabies in Scotland, caused by a woman who thought she could get away with smuggling her pet cat - which got bitten by a rabid fox beforehand - from France to Glasgow. The cat goes on to scratch a dog on the nose, and get its head literally handed to by another fox. This fox is soon picked up by a naive American visitor who wanted to surprise his wife with it, but it all soon backfires when the fox makes a foamy turn.Then the rabies virus begins to take hold on not only this American, but on a woman and a girl elsewhere, and soon the region begins to panic. Except for one reclusive woman who just happens to have a stately home full of dogs and cats, and allows her ignorance of the outbreak to inflame the situation with disastrous results.Overall, it's a good DVD title to have if you like your 80s BBC thrillers, but it has room for improvement.

I enjoyed re-watching this 3 part serial that I first saw in 1985 when it was repeated. I'd forgotten most of it so found it just as scary. I love Richard Heffer in this. He is a great actor

Saw this when it was aired ,in the 80's.It is about rabies getting into the UK , and the consequences of people being reckless.Okay , so it's a bit dated , but has plenty of suspense and action.My 17yr old son loved it.

Me and my family really enjoyed this series from the 80's about the rabies outbreak in Scotland a lady from Paris sneaks her cat into Scotland but what she doesn't know is her cat got rabies and so the story unfolds.

This series describes a very serious crisis in the UK, when the Rabies penetrates the UK by a French girl with her infected cat who enters the UK. This series was very excited. I watched this series in 1983 on the Dutch broadcasting.

You can kind of age someone by the big health scare they remember. In the 80's, it was AIDS, in the 70's it was rabies. Badly-made public information films, and that iconic poster with the Tales from the Crypt skull seemed to jump out everywhere, and with good reason. The Mad Death was one of the bleakest, most spine-chilling BBC miniseries of them all, a terrifying examination of what might happen if rabies had ever broken out in the UK. It's stood the test of time, the first episode when we see the disease claim the first human victim is still horrifying. There's a bit to not like- some of the acting is wooden, the love triangle is unnecessary, and set in the highlands of Scotland, there's been a trick missed in sending a message that this could happen in your back yard. Strangely, the most memorable characters aren't the principal ones- the caddish, paranoid lord of the manor, the bumbling PR man, the curmugeonly old minister and the completely dotty old dear who takes in stray animals. Yet, the scare factor makes it worth a 4. You're kept guessing by the open-ended conclusion, and little snippets which make you wonder if someone else has managed to infect themselves. The DVD is a little disappointing, as the series is all you get. No documentary added, or rubbish public information films, or cast interviews (at least three have since died, in fairness). But all things considered, great bit of 80's nostalgia..

Cannot watch this as it’s a British DVD