Oline Cogdill

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Honest. Acorn Media. DVD, 6 episodes, 2 discs. 281 minutes, plus bonus interviews. Blu-ray and DVD, $39.99


No one would mistake the Carters of being the typical TV family.

Each one, from the parents to the four children to the grandfather, is somehow involved with a few illegal enterprises.

They curse at each other, they get mad at each other and they irritate each other.

But there is real love among the Carters and their family bonds, no matter how odd, are tight.

The Carters are indeed a family of crooks and their attempts to go straight comprise the often hilarious and sometimes touching British comedy-drama series Honest.

honest_bbc2The six-part Honest, which aired in Great Britain in 2008, is a remake of Outrageous Fortune, a New Zealand series. It is now available on DVD from Acorn Media.

Crisp writing and realistic dialogue enhance Honest. But Honest’s best assets are its believable characters whose flaws keep us interested. They curse at each other, get mad but, in the end, they are a family that sticks together.

Honest is a fun romp with a family you’d like to have dinner with, as long as you watch your wallet.

Honest begins with patriarch Mack Carter, played by Danny Webb (Alien 3), being sent to prison for four years for stealing a car.

He, and the family, expected he would receive only six months but Mack is a repeat offender, a multiple repeat offender. And there is the little matter of that stolen car being used in a robbery.

That leaves it up to Mack’s wife Lindsay, played by Amanda Redman (New Tricks, Sexy Beast) to hold together the family and try to make a living. Tired of the police showing up nearly every day, Lindsay makes the bold proclamation that the family will go straight.

That is pretty near impossible.

Oh, they try.

honest_bbc5Lindsay holds down two jobs. The others give the illusion of being honest, but they really excel at low-level crime.

Son Vin is a perpetual screw up who somehow manages to come out ahead. Vin’s twin brother, Taylor, is the family’s golden boy and an attorney, whose family may be his biggest client. But Taylor got his high-level job by pretending to be a minority. The twins are played by Matthew McNulty.

Bubble-headed Laura Haddock plays daughter Kacie who is obsessed with becoming the new Naomi Campbell. Lianna (Eleanor Wyld) is the smart daughter, but she is blackmailing her school’s headmistress so she can skip school. Lianna wants to be a filmmaker and has a little scheme on the side; she also is a good little pickpocket.

And grandfather Norman Carter, played by Michael Byrne (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) is an old-time safe cracker who is feigning Alzheimer’s because he’s lonely.

Honest’s six episodes are highly entertaining, an excellent way to fend off the onslaught of summer reruns.

PHOTOS: Top, Amanda Redman with Danny Webb; center, Michael Byrne and Eleanor Wyld; bottom, Amanda Redman. Photos courtesy of Acorn Media.

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