Hinterland/Series 1

DCI Tom Mathias is brand-new to the Aberystwyth police force, on the west central coast of Wales. He travels light, and lives in a trailer parked at an abandoned farmhouse. Tom is alone and unmarried, but as the season progresses we find out that he is missing someones, though we don't find out why in Series 1. "Hinterland" takes place in and around the city of Aberystwyth. The outlying area is called Y Gwyll, or the Hinterland, and that's where most of the action takes place. This a very rural & remote feeling series."Hinterland" is good mystery viewing, but it is definitely dour. The 1st and 4th episodes are actually a bit creepy. I would call the series more seriously-minded overall compared to "Shetland" and "Vera", and about on par with Iain Glen's "Jack Taylor" mysteries. A couple times a sequence gets too drawn out and a tad melodramatic. DI Rhys has an annoying habit of giving long anguished looks. But overall, this is good mystery viewing with interesting plots. There is some really excellent lighting of scenes and faces.Series 1 originally aired in October 2013 in Welsh. This Welsh production was filmed in full in both Welsh and English, which took extra time. Series 2 originally aired in January 2015 with 5 episodes. A series 3 is in production in early 2016.The DVD set gives you 398 minutes of mystery viewing. The show is presented in 16:9 aspect ratio and stereo. There are 10 Bonus Extras in the DVD set. They're described after the episodes they follow, as A-J. English subtitles are available on both the episodes and the Bonus Extras.Episodes:....Episode 1. "Devil's Bridge" Mathias hits the ground running in his new job, when he drives to meet DI Mared Rhys at a murder site on a Sunday, before he's even been into the office to introduce himself. There is carnage in the bathroom with the tub full of bloody water and a broken tooth on the floor. Instead of a body, though, they find a framed print of Sydney Vesper's "Salem" smashed on the floor. Rhys tells Mathias, "The devil's face is said to be hidden in the folds of the Welsh lady's shawl."....A. "The Myth Behind Episode 1" This is two pages to read on the screen, describing the legend behind this episode.....Episode 2. "Night Music" Idris Williams has a farmhouse with a cheerful blue-painted kitchen. That is he HAD a farmhouse, because he is found dead in his kitchen from a mighty blow to his head. Was it because of a photo Mathias finds in Idris' darkroom?....Episode 3. "Penwyllt" The village of Penwyllt, pronounced pen WIST, has seen better days. Twenty years ago the quarry owned by Tommy James closed, and he surrounded it with a chain link fence. That doesn't stop two amateur divers from breaking in to test the waters in the filled quarry. What they find is the body of a man wearing only his underwear.A character is described as a typical city kid: 'Thought the countryside was a playground. But it's not. It's where we live and work, and it's bloody hard."....Episode 4 "The Girl in the Water" Two boys lead their white pony across the knee-high grass of a marshy plain. And there, sitting calmly on the ground in a bright red party dress, a pretty girl gazes upon them. It takes a couple seconds to sink in. Her skin is gray and she is not moving. Someone has set her body up almost reverently.Odi et amo.I hate and I love.....B. "The Myth Behind Episode 4" Four written pages to read telling the story of "Blodeuwedd".....C. "Characters" (7 minutes) This bonus has excerpted scenes and clips of the actors talking about their characters. Commentators include Hannah Daniel (plays DC Sian Owen), Alex Harries (plays DC Lloyd Elis), Aneirin Hughes (plays Chief Superintendent Brian Prosser), Mali Harries (plays DI Mared Rhys) and Richard Harrington (plays DCI Tom Mathias). In the opening credits, Mathias is shown jogging. Harrington says, "I'm a runner myself, so is the character. Some real twisted irony here – the production company have stopped me running because I might hurt myself. But the amount of running I've been doing on screen is ridiculous."....D. "Design" (4 minutes) Commentators are Ed Talfan (producer) and Eryl Ellis (production designer). Their descriptions show that the show's overall feeling of almost oppressive dourness is by design. Talfen: "The precinct, the hinterland is dark and sinewy and ancient." Ellis continues, "It's very challenging from the point of view of the resonance of Hinterland. It's almost a state of mind... It's this past that keeps showing its face all the time in the scripts."....E. "Locations" (6 minutes) Commentators include Marc Evans (director episode 1), Rhys Powys (director episode 3), Gethin Scourtlerd (producer), Ed Thomas (executive producer). The whole series is filmed around the real Aberystwyth. Per Evans: "Within half an hour of Aberystwyth... you can be in such varied locations – stunning locations."....F. "Welsh/English" (5 minutes) Commentators include Ed Talfan, Ed Thomas, Richard Harrington, Mali Harries, Hannah Daniel, Marc Evans and Alex Harries. You know this was proudly filmed in Wales when you watch two beginnings of filming the same scene. First it will be filmed in English, and the director yells, "OK, let's do it in English." When they're done, he then says, "Okay, And [now we do] the Right."....G. "Welsh Show Reel" (4 minutes) This is like a promo, in Welsh with English subtitles.....H. "Ed Thomas Interview – The Episodes" (1 minute) Very short, probably a TV promo, also. Ed Thomas speaks in Welsh, with English subtitles.....I. "Ed Thomas Interview – The Genre" (1 minute) Also in Welsh, with English subtitles.....J. "Photo Gallery" (2 minutes) The photos were taken during shooting and rehearsals, and include scenery.Trivia: From watching the show, I think you pronounce Aberystwyth as ab er IST. From watching Mathias at work, you'd think it's a village. But including its suburbs, it has 16,000 people. And that's not including the 10,000 students who move in when the University is in session. It is a prettily coastal town which is a tourist destination.Happy Reader

**************** UPDATE, December 2, 2021 *************** YOU CAN NOW BUY THE COMPLETE SET OF ALL THE "HINTERLAND" SEASONS ON DVD IN NTSC (AMERICAN) FORMAT! IT IS AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE AT AMAZON.COM! SEARCH FOR: HINTERLAND THE COMPLETE SERIES!Thank you so much, Acorn, and thank you very much, too, Amazon! No wonder that Amazon is the biggest AND the best by far of all online shopping sites in the world! I'm ecstatic!*** Update, April 17, 2020:It is still impossible to buy Season 2 and Season 3, and that is thoroughly maddening! I have seen all three seasons with a Netflix trial subscription (the ONLY place available to someone in the United States), and ALL THREE SEASONS ARE INTERTWINED WITH EACH OTHER! It all comes to a dramatic, stunning climax only at the END of Season 3.But, if you're in the United States, you can only buy the DVD disks for Season 1, and you can't buy Season 2 or Season 3 on Amazon Prime Video, or on DVD disks, either! The only thing you can buy are disks that are made to play in Europe or Australia. You can't buy U. S.-compatible Season 2 and Season 3 disks even from Acorn, and Acorn is the production company that created "Hinterland" in the first place!This is so sad, because "Hinterland" is truly a first-class production and an almost a kind of unique masterpiece of plots, sub-plots, and interwoven other plots throughout ALL THREE OF THE SERIES. How I wish that Amazon would sell all of them on Prime -- I'd buy both Seasons 2 and 3 in a heartbeat! Please?!*** Update, Feb. 18, 2020:After watching Season 1 on the DVD set I bought, I searched all over for Season 2 and Season 3 in some way that I could watch them here in the USA. The only way I found to do this is on Netflix, and all three seasons are there -- but you cannot BUY them. This is highly disappointing because by the end of Season 3 I realized that "Hinterland" is perhaps the best TV series I have seen related to British drama since "Foyle's War". Honestly, it is every bit as good, and in some ways even better than the "Shetland" series -- and that is saying QUITE a lot! I can only hope that Acorn or SOMEBODY will make it possible to purchase "Hinterland" in some way that Americans can enjoy it always.Right now, although you can buy the Season 1, Region 1 DVD's here at Amazon, you cannot buy Region 1 DVD's for either Season 2 or Season 3... and that's a shame indeed.... ***I bought Season 1, and we LOVE it. If anything, it's even better than "Shetland", which is also wonderful. But, I cannot find any of the other "Hinterland" series on DVD, and Amazon does not sell it as an online video, either.This is CRAZY! Why can't we in the United States, with U. S.-formatted systems, buy the other seasons of "Hinterland"...?! :(

After watching the entirety of series 1, I get the impression that life in rural Wales is no different from life in the U.S.’s ‘poor south’. It’s all a bit hillbilly dismal apparently with everyone living lives filled with hopelessness, animosity, and resentment——although surprisingly without the prominent influences of meth and opioids in the crimes. I was hoping that series 2 would improve but everyone now seems even more miserable. I shall give up here; although for those into dark and deep-rooted crimes within insular communities, this may be right up your alley.

Love this series. Bought this to leave in our holiday cottage which is situated in the middle of most of the filming. I loved all the extras how they chose the locations, interviews with cast about their characters. Looking forward to the second series.

I originally watched this show on tv and there were no subtitles. The DVD has so much conversation in Welch with English subtitles it made it difficult to follow the story line (guess I'm a slow reader). I found the environment bleak and somewhat sad, however, the acting is excellent.

Top class Welsh production. Dark and mysterious. Have seen part one of series 2 in Welsh .... Wonderful.

Superb series. We want more.

Outstanding drama.