#version control

UK Initial Broadcast version: What went out over the airwaves when the episode premiered. In most cases this does not differ from other UK versions of the episode. However, certain pieces of music—such as Dean Martin’s song Sway in the S2E3 episode of the same title—were so expensive to license that the production was only able to afford the original song for that first broadcast. Repeats had to make do with a substitute piece of music composed to replace the original.  In the case of Sway, the replacement piece was at least specifically commissioned and written for the episode. It was not purchased as a generic composition from a production music library, which is usually what happen in this situation.

This version is only available if you recorded it at the time or know someone who did.

UK Version (Repeats and DVDs): The UK Repeats and DVDs are the definitive versions. Nothing is cut from the original broadcast and they have the soundtrack from the original broadcast—with a few exceptions, like the one mentioned above.

International Version with Cuts (PBS Masterpiece Theater version, both streaming and some DVDs): This version is what I would consider the “worst” option. First, each episode is cut for length by 5 to 8 minutes so that it will fit into the PBS time slot. Second, this version also uses the international version of the soundtrack. Most of the classical music from the UK version remains the same. However, most of the popular music (i.e. Rolling Stones, Kinks, Velvet Underground, etc.) was too expensive to license internationally and was replaced with generic production music. It’s a standard practice in the industry because music licensing is incredibly complicated and pricey, but it still sucks.

International Full-Length Version (Amazon Streaming, iTunes, etc.): These are at least the complete episode. None of the content is cut. The current exception to this may be S9, which is still only available on Amazon via the PBS streaming service. However, at this point, I’m not sure if PBS made the usual cuts to S9. For all other seasons, however, I know for sure that the version on Amazon is complete. It does, however, have the international and not the UK soundtrack.

Other stuff:

If you are looking to purchase physical DVDs, it’s important to be aware of 1) which version you want and 2) which version you can actually access. Most of the DVDs for sale in the US will only play in US DVD players and most for sale in the UK will only play in UK DVD players. If you want to be able to play DVDs from anywhere, you need to purchase a region-free DVD player. 

Even then, however, you need to be careful about which version of the show is on any given DVD set. In the US, at least, it can be very difficult to tell from the packaging or purchasing information whether or not a particular set is the full-length version or the one with cuts. The good news is that most of the DVDs are full-length. The bad news is that there are a few sets that are not and I haven’t gone through one-by-one to identify which ones those are—so just be careful.

As far as I know, the DVDs for sale in the US all have the international soundtrack. If you want to hear the UK soundtrack, you’ll have to get that region-free DVD player and the UK versions.