20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, available now

Thirty years after his last encounter, Ash discovers his destiny hasn’t yet been fulfilled…

Bruce Campbell has called Ash Williams the role of a lifetime, and the thirty episodes in the three seasons of the Starz spin-off give him ample opportunity to showcase all the facets of his acting that those who’ve seen him in everything from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr to Burn Notice have come to appreciate. It’s a role he’s been playing for nearly 40 years – more often off than on – and he takes every chance he’s given to deliver some great one-liners as well as revel in the gore that’s inherent to the franchise. (If you think Evil Dead has been toned down for television, think again!)

The other advantage of ten hours per season, rather than the 85 or so minutes per film, is that the world around Ash can be expanded, and we get to meet plenty of oddball characters throughout the three seasons. Genre fans will instantly recognise Lucy Lawless and Lee Majors (as well as – inevitably – Ted Raimi!) with both Lawless and Majors’ characters showing new sides to Ash.

Each season comes with commentaries – all the seasons include Campbell and Lawless alongside other actors as well as directors and producers – and they’re as insightful as they are funny, demonstrating both the pitfalls and the fun of producing this sort of show on a TV budget. Inside the World features are short (and I mean short – two minutes or so) pieces on each episode, while season 2 gets the best extras with looks at everything from puppets to cars.

Verdict: Brought to a proper closure at the right time (season 3 occasionally feels a little “been there, done that”) this is a great demonstration of how to do horror on the small screen. 8/10

Paul Simpson