The Critic 1779 comedy by William Brinsley Sheridan, 1982 TV production, Topaz AI Enhanced

The Critic: or, a Tragedy Rehearsed by Richard Brinsley Sheridan premiered at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in 1779. This 1982 BBC TV Play of the Month production has a stellar cast but is not commercially available. During the early 80’s when this was made the BBC would routinely reuse video tapes or just lose them even though this content was publicly funded via a compulsory annual license fee paid by all UK TV owners. Not sure if the master for this still exists. This a poor domestic VHS recording significantly enhanced using the Topaz deep learning based video enhancer (Artemis LQv10 model). As far as I know this is the best version available but please comment if you know of a better one. As well as consummate performers like Alan Badel (Sir Fretful Plagiary) this production also features Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music plus some of the finest baroque vocalists of the era. Even though the original 1779 script is used, the players bring it wonderfully to life. Vastly well as Sheridan would have said and very funny. Another baroque video enhancement here , this time from a PAL DVD source.