40 years on it looks very 'gentle' and reassuring. The British police are as flawed and corrupt as any other worldwide service. I grew up watching 'Kojak' and 'Starsky and Hutch' which was very exciting for a child!
Omg!!!!! I watched this every week as a kid and this is the only episode i actually remember in detail. I found it SOOOO creeepy and macabre back then .... But over the years i realized how sweet and sad it was. I cant believe its here! Thank you do much! Me and my brother learned the phono alphabet because of JB!
I remember watching these as a kid with my mum on Saturday nights. Well written stories and great acting were all you needed to make great tv. The 70s and 80s were the golden era of British tv.
A golden era full stop. I think we we're lucky to grow up without the internet. I grew up near where these were filmed. I love spotting the places I remember as they were when I was a kid.
Such a wonderfully humane way to end this tragic stoey--both the Inspector and Sargent putting their jobs on the line to facilitate a most suitable denouement for this endearing elderly couple.
Hard to believe this series was created by the same creator of The Sweeney (Ian Kennedy Martin) as the pace is completely different. Stephanie Turner also played George Carter's (short-lived) wife in The Sweeney.
I've had that same thought. People that I love and care about being buried out there in the cold. I know they can't feel anything anymore; but it still bothers me. Especially on days like this - it was minus 8 last night, and now it's 13.
That's "drama" 30 years ago intended to be broadcast before the watershed. It's not just the lack of action - or violence - but also the slow pace. These days what this episode covers in 49 minutes could possibly have been covered in 9. But then the fast paced modern stuff isn't always great; I rather like this laid back attitude. And sociologically it's also interesting to see not just the differences in dramatic presentation but also in policing.
I love this show, sure it's slower, but probably more to life. Wonderful, no swearing (I turn many shows off because I don't see the need to swear). There are many good shows that are more exciting and without foul language!! Non are American though, they can't make a show without some expletives!!
A lot of people who should know better imagine the police procedural TV shows of the 60s, 70s and 80s as cosy and anodyne. They weren't. The crimes and situatons depicted were the same, but back then they couldn't show the gruesome effects, rapes, decaying dead bodies etc. That couldn't be shown on BBC1 at 8pm. All they had was a cutaway, a meaningful look and some pointed dialogue. That doesn't mean they were ignoring the issues.
??? This is from 1981. Mass unemployment and misery (remember boys from the black stuff?), riots, violence, football hooliganism, strikes, the economy in deep recession. Constant threat of nuclear war. As the historian Dominic Sandbrook said, 1981 was a year of "unparalleled gloom". The world had very much gone to hell in a hand cart in 1981. We certainly have problems now, but let's not reinvent the past, eh?
This need a visiting "subtle" American lawman, a Sherriff from Utah, on a one year visit. He's armed with either a .44 Magnum or a .454. His "vehicle's a 1970 DODGE with either a 440 or a HEMI.
The registration number "1 CP" would nowadays be very expensive and certainly worth more than the car it is on in this episode...no matter how much of a classic Mercedes-Benz it is...! 😉👍
Interestingly, the "Halifax" registration 1 CP on the Mercedes was merely the programme-makers' invention at the time of filming, never having been issued in real life. The producers clearly did their homework as although the town (Hartley) was fictional, the series was filmed in the Halifax area as well as a few other locations in West Yorkshire. The police Escort sports a real Halifax registration, SCP551T, the car maybe having been sourced locally. The real 1 CP registration does now exist, but only since 1992 when DVLA issued it for one of their number plate auctions. It sold for £13,000 then but would certainly attract over £100,000 nowadays...
I was enjoying watching these but they have started breaking each episode in to five seperate parts. Its completely a mess trying to find all the parts now. So ive stopped watching it altogether and moved onto something else to watch. Such a pity this was done, totally ruined it
