However, being homegrown meant it did has some disadvantages. On the plus side, the special effects were good, Chloe Annett was amusing as Holly Turner and the stories were watchable. Unfortunately, the BBCs rule for putting ex-soap stars into everything they make really held Crime Traveller back. Sue Johnstone (of Brookside) played her part on auto-pilot, which is a shame as she is a noteable actress. The biggest tragedy was casting the god-awful Michael French in the lead. Uncharismatic, blunt and as wooded as the cast of Thunderbirds, French was the worst possible choice.

As for the disc itself; beware. 2-discs per set does not make any sense. Ok, the episodes are 60 minutes each, but you can fit four hours on a single DVD disc, so why are there four discs instead of two?

Considering this show was cancelled after only one series and was not held in much regard, Revelation Films are certainly expecting a lot.

One for fans only.

The lack of extras is a crime
Review date: 2003-05-23 Rating: 4 out of 10

'Crime Traveller' was the role that Michael French took upon leaving 'Eastenders'. The premise of a policeman who could travel back in time to solve crime was quite a neat idea. However the writer Anthony Horowitz put so many rules in place governing what the characters could and couldn't do when they time travelled that he limited the situations he could explore.
The extras on the disc consist mainly of material prepared for the press release of the series in 1997, text interviews and CV's for all the main cast and a synopsis of the first four episodes. Some trailers for other Revelation DVD's are also included but 'Terrahawks' looks very poor and 'The Tomorrow People' is just an edit of the title sequence with additinal shots spliced in.
It would have been nice to have a commentry from the writer Anthony Horowitz or the Producer Brian Eastman on where they think the show went wrong. Or some discussion of the long casting process that went on for almost a year, and a view of some of the audition tapes. That would have been fascinating and a good insight into the development of the series.
Instead we are left with a text heavy, dated package of extras where there was room for much more.

Crime Traveller
Review date: 2003-05-17 Rating: 8 out of 10

A good light-hearted bit of detective fiction with a twist. Slightly predictable, but nevertheless an enjoyable 50 minutes per episode! Well worth buying.

Short-lived, underrated gem.
Review date: 2003-05-15 Rating: 8 out of 10

I find it hard to understand why this programme is disliked. When the release of this DVD was announced in the sci-fi magazine SFX recently, its letters page was filled with abuse for this short-lived time-travelling vehicle for Michael French from the summer of 1997.
To me the series, written and created by Anthony Horowitz (brainchild of The Vanishing Man from the same year and, more recently, Murder in Mind), is inventive and well-scripted. And, although the critics failed to mourn its passing after its one series of ten episodes, the viewing figures were exceptionally good (an average of 10 million).

It has a strong central premise. And there is a good sense of pace in each episode, as Holly and Jeff race to get back to their time machine before The Loop of Infinity traps them forever.
The best example of the series on this disk is "Revenge of the Chronology Protection Hypothesis" where Holly travels back eleven hours in order to pre-empt a gun attack on Jeff who lies critically ill. A lot of fun comes from Holly's trying to avoid her past self, and Slade himself (pre-injury).

Admittedly some of the supporting characters (eg. Morris) are cartoon-like (and sometimes it's surprising the villains don't carry bags marked 'SWAG'). But this doesn't spoil what, for me, is one of the most enjoyable adventure series of recent years.

The disk is only let down by below-average presentation from Revelation. The typo errors in the biogs are irritating, and the packaging is uninspiring. But this is still worth getting.

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