Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

"As Time Goes By" is the gentle, funny story of Jean Pargetter and Lionel Hardcastle, two people who used to be in love in the early fifties. When Lionel went off to fight in the Korean War, the two lost touch. They meet again 38 years later, quite by accident, and what is at first an awkward friendship slowly morphs into a warm romance. "You Must Remember This" is a retrospective one hour episode which originally aired in the UK in August, 2002. The final season had just finished airing, and this 'look back' was thought of as a good way to send-off the series. It doesn't, for the most part, disappoint. Many of the series' highlights are shown, and it all makes for nice, sentimental viewing. The set-up for "You Must Remember This" is that Jean & Lionel are now alone in their Holland Park house (daughter Judith has married and moved out, and lodger Sandy has left for Canada with her fiance). It is suggested that Lionel write a book about his life/romance since being re-introduced to Jean at the beginning of the series. We see the couple going about their day, discussing their life together, and this of course segues into flashbacks from previous episodes. A good cross-section of clips are used, and things are covered such as: Jean & Lionel's first tentative steps when they were re-starting their romance, their first adult kiss on the banks of a river, the moment when Lionel proposes to Jean, the time when they both decide to dance to a waltz in the kitchen of a meeting hall, and of course the marriage of Judith & Alistair. There were a few moments from the series which were not included, that I wish would have been, but overall I have no real qualms with the retrospective. Bonus episodes are included on this DVD version of "You Must Remember This", including the one where Lionel finds the long-lost letter which he sent to Jean while he was in Korea. It is one of the best episodes of the series. I love "As Time Goes By". There are very few TV series that I can say that about - less than I can count on one hand - but this is one of them. The writing is always impeccable, the acting superb, and the stories warm and funny. This retrospective does a wonderful job of capturing everything that made this series such a viewing pleasure. It is a must for anyone's "As Time Goes By" collection.