The first time I went to England I took in all of the common tourist sites, Windsor Palace, the British Museum, Hampton Court, and Westminster Abbey.   Hands down the most impressive, entertaining, and awe-inspiring site that I saw was the Tower of London.  This castle sitting in the heart of London has been standing for over 900 years and has played a part in much of England's history.  In 2001 Channel Four Television made an eight part documentary on this important stronghold simply entitled The Tower, which has just made its way to the US on DVD.  While there the documentary covers all of the most well known stories about the Tower, it was a fairly superficial examination and didn't manage to delve into any story with much detail.

The earliest section of the group of buildings which are officially known as Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London was constructed in 1078 by William the Conqueror as a castle and fortress.  He had taken over London and wanted an imposing site to let the citizens know who was now ruling them, so he had what is now known as the White Tower built.  This structure would be one of the tallest peaks on the London skyline for centuries.

Over the years the complex was added to and it eventually came to consist of two rings of building surrounding the White Tower and a moat (now drained.)  This made the Tower a very secure site, and from 1303 to this day it is the home of the Crown Jewels.

Of course it didn't take long to realize that if it was that hard to get in, it would be equally hard to escape.  The Tower has also served as a prison to some of the most famous, and infamous, people in English history.

The series covers all of these great historical events.  The show demonstrates how hard it would be to have stormed the Tower in medieval times and then explains how a mob of peasants was able to do just that.  It covers the important prisoners who were held there, from King John II of France to Queen Anne Boleyn and later her daughter who would one day rule as Queen Elizabeth I.  The more gruesome aspects of the Tower are examine too, with time devoted to the executions and torture that took place within the castle walls.

While there were several interesting stories related in this series, it came across as history-lite.  They rarely went into the background story, political ramifications, or results of the events that took place in the Tower.  With eight hour long (with commercials) episodes, that isn't too much to expect.

The story of Guy Fawkes is a good example of this.  They mention that he tried to blow up Parliament while the King was visiting, thereby killing many of the members of the English government, but they don't explain why.  They mention that he was tortured until he revealed his accomplices, but they never discuss the validity of the confession.  Was there any evidence that the people he named really were involved, or did he just name some enemies to stop the torture?  The way he and his comrades were hanged, taken down before they were dead, and then drawn and quartered was discussed, but they didn't mention that Fawkes himself 'cheated' the executioners by jumping off the scaffolding after the noose was put on.  He broke his neck and died instantly.

They also spend a lot of time on seemingly irrelevant matters.  The final episode spends most of its time dealing with the ceremony that is preformed when the newest Constable of the Tower was sworn in.  While it was nice to see, they spent way too much time on it.  There were other examples of this too.  In one episode the lion's share of the time is devoted to tracking down a person who may have been executed at the Tower.  Based on some medieval documents, a relative tries to prove that his ancestor was held and killed at the Tower though no record of the event exists in Tower documents.  The documentary shows the man traveling to various experts to see what they can tell him about his relative and the letter.  Only at the end is it revealed that the manuscript is a forgery, and that the date on it is seven years before the battle it discusses.  Why show us all of that if it turns out to be a fake?

There were some worthwhile sections to the show however.  Seeing the royal jeweler polish the Crown Jewels was interesting, as was the episode that that examined the Yeoman Warders and what their lives were like.  It is just too bad that they didn't cut out some of the fat from the series and examine their subject a little more closely.
 

These eight episodes come on two DVDs which are housed in a single width keepcase with an extra leaf for the second disc.

Audio:

The stereo soundtrack was a little below average.  The dialog was muddled in a few sections and the sometimes it was hard to make out what the people were saying.  Luckily there wasn't any problem with the narration done by Sean Pertwee (son of Jon Pertwee from Doctor Who fame).  His voice was always clear and deep and was a nice fit for the subject matter.  Unfortunately, there were no subtitles.  This would have helped out in those places were the audio wasn't up to par.

Video:

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 color image was good but not great.  The image was generally clear and bright though there wasn't as much detail as there could have been.  The colors were fine, but some of the dungeon scenes were a bit murky.  On the digital side, aliasing and macro blocking were both present though they were never distracting.

Extras:

Unfortunately there are no extras.  It would have been nice if they included .pdf files of some of the documents and images that were shown during the series, and it's a shame they aren't included.

Final Thoughts:

While I did learn some things from this document, the hour long Beefeater tour at the Tower itself covers much of the same material in a much more entertaining fashion, and in much less time.  This documentary is much too superficial and only grazes the surface of the rich English history that the Tower was part of.  Anglophile will most likely enjoy this, but there's not much replay value.  Make it a rental.