Regan (1974)

Regan, The Sweeny Pilot - 1974

Last night I watched this pilot episode of Sweeny and it was a pleasantly surprise. I was worried it would be too dated, too seventies, but it seems not to have aged. I will now get the rest of the shows. I have to admit I watched a downloaded version and it would probably make more sense to buy a complete DVD set than pick off episodes one by one.

My review : (4 stars) The first real gritty TV cop show on British TV. Definitely a cop show and not a detective series. Lots of action and the Ford motors seem to be in the thick of many shots, something we got to see in many other cop shows right up until Life on Mars. John Thaw and Dennis Waterman put in good performances and they were well supported by the other actors. Garfield Morgan played their ambitious boss and Lee Montague the villain. Also look out for Don Henderson (Bulman) in a bit part playing a minder. Why watch Life on Mars when you can watch the real thing.

Details : 1974 pilot for The Sweeny made by Euston Films (Thames TV).

Features : Yes

Discs : 1

Lewis Series 1 & 2

Lewis - 2006-8

I guess these are too recent to be retro, but they are interesting in a couple of ways. Lewis shows that a good idea and good acting can give a successful follow up to a finished popular TV series like Morse, and that British detective shows, still following on the basics that Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie used in their novels, can compete with the more modern thrillers and US cop shows.

My review : (4 stars) With John Thaw gone and his likeable Geordie sergeant now an inspector, the success of the show was always going to be who they could pair Kevin Whately with. They could have used a heavy brutal cop to work with him but the writer was inspired to have a skinny, awkward, high-church, Cambridge graduate played by Laurence Fox. As the series progresses you can see where this character is being fine-tuned. His height and awkwardness are being highlighted by making his trousers and jacket sleeves slightly short. It's all very clever and enjoyable.

Details : 2006-2008 UK Police Detective Series. Series one 4 episodes (includes the pilot) and series two 4 episodes.

Features : No

Print quality : Very Good

Discs : Series One 4 discs and Series Two Discs

Sub-Titles: Yes, English

A Very British Coup

A Very British Coup - 1988

If you like political thrillers you will like this. In America they would call it a made for TV movie but that makes it sound cheap and nasty. Let's go with Wikipedia's "television adaption of Chris Mullin's 1982 novel" instead. Amazon has the time as 148 minutes so get comfortable before you start. It's a bit expensive on Amazon for the amount of TV you are buying but this is a case of "never mind the width, feel the quality".

My review : (5 stars) Great performances from Ray McAnally playing the working class left wing prime minister and Alec MacNaughton playing the upper class security chief determined to undermine him. I guess it is at times a working class hero fantasy, but why not enjoy it as we can't seem to get that from today's Labour Party. Look out for the very beautiful Kika Markham.

Details : 1988 political thriller made for the Channel 4 and 148 minutes long.

Features : No

Print quality : Good

Discs : 1

Murphy's Law - A Cult Classic?

Murphy's Law Series 1 to 5

I suspect that Murphy's Law has the makings of cult classic like Callan or The Prisoner. It didn't last as long as it should have and through the various series we see the main character's personality change. It was dropped by BBC because it wasn't competing well enough with ITV's Doc Martin which had the same time slot. Surely a wiser answer would have been to find a different time slot. My one complaint is that Murphy must have been the UK's best know undercover cop which leaves a hole in the story line as best known and undercover don't really go together;-) Something that does confuse me is how come this BBC show is published in DVD format by ITV Video? BTW keep an eye on the Amazon price for the complete five series as I have seen it down at around £20 in the past although as I write thie it is up over £30.

My review : (5 stars) James Nesbitt plays the role of Tommy Murphy very well. The character changes from the first two series to the last three quite a bit. In the beginning he has a certain lovable rogue about him, telling jokes and even singing. The later series are far more gritty and on par some of the more psychological thrillers like Wire in the Blood. How much this was to do with the stiff competition it was facing on ITV I don't know. The pilot was shown in 2001 and the series were screened from 2003 through to 2007.

From Series 2 onwards the programs have been edited from 60 to 50 minutes. I never saw the originals but this editing doesn't seem to have done any harm.

Details : 2001-2007 police drama series made for the BBC. 5 Series were made altogether.

Series 1: 4 x 90 minute episodes plus the pilot.
Series 2: 6 x 50 minute episodes.
Series 3: 6 x 50 minute episodes.
Series 4: 3 x 50 minute episodes in a serial format.
Series 4: 3 x 50 minute episodes in a serial format.

Features : No

Print quality : Very Good

Sub-titles : Yes

Discs : 9

Celebrity Stalkers

Following on from the last post it does seem at times like I'm being stalked by actors who show up in more than one program within a few days. Watching the 1992 Morse series 6 we had quite a few.

A young Sean Bean as a crook in Absolute Conviction a day after seeing him in an episode of Sharpe.

Alum Armstrong who we have been following in New Tricks showed up as another policeman in Happy Families.

The real winner though was Michael Kitchen. We are used to him as Foyle in Foyle's War but over a few days we had him as crook in the Morse episode The Death of Self, again as a crook in the very first, 1994, Pie in the Sky and in a Agatha Christie radio play.

Young Faces

I enjoy seeing known faces pop up in programs before they really found fame. Two recently were Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) in a 1992 Morse episode called Happy Families. Now I begin to see the resemblance between him and Boris Johnson - in fact I wondering if he is playing that role as well.

The second was even more unlikely. Peter Sallis is in the 1971 4th episode of Budgie series 1. He is even wearing the same clothes as he did later in Last of the Summer Wine, and he is playing a Northerner. (In fact according to Wikipedia he is a Londoner.)

If it seems too good to be true then...

Like many I use Amazon's "save for later" button in the shopping cart. It means if I'm in a hurry I can go through about 15 programs I keep there and pull a couple out, put them back into the cart and check out. Here in Thailand I know there is a good chance the customs will tax them if the value goes over £30 or so.

I have some DVD sets that are above this magic number so I will leave them until I know someone is coming out from the UK. Amazon tells you when you log into your shopping cart if anything has changed in price so it was a pleasant surprise to see the 15 DVD collection of Sharpe drop from £35 to under £18. I checked out with this last night, pleased with myself.

This morning I had an email from Amazon saying it was a mistake and as per their policy the order was now cancelled. Ah well, that's life, but I would have thought it would do their customer relationship no harm at all if they let these go through. I would have been a fan for sure. Below is their email.

Dear Customer,

We are writing to inform you that the price for 'Sharpe - The Complete Series (15 Disc Box Set)'(ASIN B000A2U5GW) was displayed incorrectly at the time you placed the above referenced order.

Despite our best efforts, with the millions of items available on our website, pricing errors can occasionally occur. In our Pricing and Availability Policy (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1040614), we state that where an item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will cancel the order and notify you of that cancellation.

All affected orders have now been cancelled. If you still wish to purchase this item, please place a new order online which will be charged at the correct price, when we dispatch it to you. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this error, and rest assured that we will continue to make every effort to maintain the accuracy of all prices on our site.

We look forward to serving you again in the future.
Warmest regards,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.co.uk

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