Kingdom: Season 1 (2007)

Peter Kingdom (Stephen Fry), an experienced solicitor, and his young associate, Lyle (Karl Davies), try to do right by their clients in this charming ITV series. Kingdom, whose name is as fanciful as Hugh Laurie's House, runs a cozy practice in Norfolk (Fry and Laurie last appeared on ITV in Jeeves & Wooster). His other office mates include Gloria (Celia Imrie), his receptionist, and Millie, his tiny terrier. In the pilot, he's still dealing with the disappearance of his brother, Simon, when his mentally unbalanced sister, Beatrice (MI-5's Hermione Norris in an occasionally grating performance), comes to stay with him just as he and Lyle are sorting out the affairs of a wealthy woman who leaves her sons nothing but debts and a few childlike drawings, which provide a clue to her missing fortune. When he isn't working on cases involving custody disputes and insurance cls, Kingdom gathers clues about Simon, who used a false name and congregated with shady characters. For advice, he turns to his aunt, Auriel (Emma Thompson's mother, Phyllida Law). Though he sometimes treats his junior partner like an errand boy, the irrepressible Lyle flirts with clients and swims in their pools, but he always comes through in a clinch. Unlike his boss, who enjoys living in a town where "life is decent and heartfelt," Lyle longs to move to the big city. Between his fear of heights, Kingdom's aversion to coriander, and Sidney Snell (Tony Slattery), the unkempt local who keeps soliciting their services, Kingdom shares some of the same strengths and weaknesses as ITV cousin Doc Martin. If the quirks threaten to get the best of it, the central characters always prove amiable company. This set comes complete with an episode of Behind the Series, which offers ins into all six episodes. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Factory sealed DVD.