I bought this and also another bouquet on video some years ago for purely sentimental reasons and because i loved the haunting music and picture of a young girl running which reminded myself of me as a child in the opening credits .I also have a memory of watching this as i babysat my nephew,it says everything about the time it was made i was 15 at the time and at an age where i was captivated by the manson family exploits . However 34 years on i much prefer to watch another bouquet as the performances seem so much more natural , the original series seems wooden and at times cringworthy even for its middle class setting, although one has to say the domestic violence scenes between pru and gavin are still shocking even for these times , the way manson appears to be in love with his daughter is so strong that its almost repulsive and you long for someone to actually accuse him , esp his wife and her 2 beleaguered twin boys . All things considered though i wouldn't be without these 2 series for there trip down memory lane .

I agree with Siobhan Rouse -Disturbingly convincing.Although the first reviewer makes some salient points regarding the writer's complacency towards the violence during Prue and Gavin's marriage. Even in the follow up series: 'Another Bouquet', you have Gavin once again confessing to hitting another woman. The response (from Cass-his mother in law, a supposedly academic woman) is a sigh and an 'oh no.. I haven't got time for this'. Hardly the appropriate response to a wife beater.However, this was an enjoyable drama and does hold its head way above 'soap opera' performances. I remember watching this when I was about 8, but many of the scenes had stuck in my memory; so just goes to show the power of TV, even then. I agree that the script was, for the best part, over written, and I longed for a character who didn't speak in that text book upper middle class accent. Surely even the Mansons crossed paths with the 'common people'. The Oedipus element of the drama made the series in my opinion. I have no idea how I wasn't completely screwed up after watching both of these series. What an amoral lot! Definitely worth buying the DVD.

This was the very first TV drama I'd ever seen. I remember watching it on TV as my marriage disintegrated about me. so, now, whenever I see or hear a reference to this TV series, I get a huge "flashback"reminding me of all the things I lived thru' back then. And isn't this a nostalgic series? I must admit, that even though 70's TV is generally horrific( esp. American sitcoms) British TV managed to "hold its own". This means you (one) can watch "BOUQUET OF BARBED WIRE" without cringing. I'd welcome comments from like-minded viewers of old Brit-Drama series. Cheers( and to see Susan Penhaligon in Emmerdale in Australia, thanks to Austar/ cable TV is brill...!!) and looking forward to hearing from you "watching re-runs of "A GOOD LIFE" is almost "heaven on a stick", n'est-ce-pas?

This TV series exposed the sexual tensions behind an apparently normal British middle class family. Mother and daughter enjoying being knocked about by their lovers. The mother having an affair with the surgeon saving the life of her husband. The series was a big thing at the time, and began the requirement to have more & more spicy story lines.