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I love the first seven seasons of Shetland. Jimmy Perez and company are a great set of characters. The plots, inspired by the books of Ann Cleeves, are excellent.

Unfortunately the new characters staring with season eight are not as compelling. Season eight was pretty good, but this season, nine, is not. It's confusing and manipulative.

I wouldn't think of giving away any spoilers, so I won't. It's tempting. Suffice it to say there are many intriguing subplots and threads. Some are well developed and plausible, the best being the thread with Annie Betts as mathematician. As we approached the final episode, we were struggling to remember all the characters. The final episode is a huge let-down.

It's not the acting or the production values. It's the silly threads, most of which are left hanging like an old worn macrame. Really, this series is not worth your while.

A nice mystery with an unexpected ending (but aren't they always?). Good acting, good direction, lovely scenes, and classic English small-town setting.

The plot involves three women, ages around 40 - 65, who become involved as amateur sleuths in a series of murders. The leader is Judith, a retired archaeologist who lives in a classic old mansion bequeathed to her by her great aunt. The other two are a vicar's wife and a dog walker.

The police officer in charge of the investigation is also a women, due to a recent retirement or similar change of personnel (frankly I forget exactly). That opens up the well-used plot twist of the new "guy" trying to prove herself. It also makes it slightly more probable that the police would actively enlist the services of the three amateurs. Slightly. But in real life? It's not going to happen. This is one weakness of the plot.

Another is the basic improbability of it all. I won't go into any more detail, as I don't want to reveal any spoilers.

The other big weakness is the heavy-handed "women in charge" aspect. It becomes almost a political tract.

Too bad. The basic idea could have been handled a lot better with these good actors and lovely sets.

I didn't want to review each episode one-by-one -- that would take too much effort. So this will sum up the whole series.

It's magnificent! Three years and fifty-two episodes, every one of which is well-written, acted, and directed. Sure, some are better than others, but in its totality there is almost nothing like it - - only the original "Upstairs Downstairs" can challenge it. The more recent "Downton Abbey" is definitely inferior. The much more recent "Seaside Hotel" has a lighter tone but covers some of the same ground, with fewer episodes and not quite so many compelling characters.

The main family, having five children, was well suited to the story of a middle class family living through six years of war. We feel for all of them. Five of the young men go off to war with various results. All are realistic. We care about the struggles of the men and those left behind. We see how the "other half" lives via Sefton Briggs. We see the reactions of in-laws and friends. But in the end it is Edwin who is the main character.

To modern viewers (2023 and later) the filming quality may be an issue. Yes, it looks dated. No HDTV here. But the quality of the story more than makes up for that.

Minor criticisms: Tony and Robert are not as fully fleshed out as the others. Some of the dialog seems a bit unrealistic to me, as I can't imagine saying such revealing things to siblings. But that's just me.

A great strength is that many of the people who filmed this and wrote it lived through WWII. That brings an authenticity that later generations can never have. Almost every episode is absorbing.

Now, I'm an American, not a Brit. Ignoring that, there is another big appealing aspect for me in "A Family at War". I'm in this movie. No, not literally, but I am the newborn baby near the end. That's my cohort, and these people are my parents and grandparents. This series is like reliving their lives.

This is great history wonderfully told.