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Strangers - The Complete Series 1 [1978]
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RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £7.93 (subject to change)
The long-lost Strangers finally come home!
Review date: 2007-04-09 Rating: 6 out of 10
Although ostensibly a spin-off from Granada's successful 1976/77 crime thriller "The XYY Man" (which has also mysteriously lain locked away in the vaults until recently), "Strangers" was a belated attempt by northern broadcaster Granada to muscle in on the cop show genre...
Contemporary series such as "The Sweeney", "The New Avengers" and "The Professionals" found favour with viewers through their pacey direction and action. Yet this first season of "Strangers" is a surprisingly laid-back affair. It clearly lacked the budget, production values and directorial panache of these other shows. So what has it got going for it?...
Essentially these early stories are character-driven. The interaction - in turns pithy and light-hearted - between the leads is what propels the narrative. Of particular note is Det-Con Linda Doran, a woman ahead of her time, pressing on with her police career, unafraid to get stuck in, jousting with the villains and commanding respect from most of her male peers, particularly Det-Con Willis. Frances Tomelty shines in the role, somehow imbuing it with real flair and yet utter naturalness - she is a joy to behold... and, to be honest, the best reason to catch this set...
The other cast members don't disappoint, though. Derek Blanch and John Ronane are solid and likeable as Willis and Det-Sgt Singer respectively. David Hargreaves nicely underplays the ineffectual Det-Insp Rainbow. Lastly, of course, the much-missed Don Henderson as Det-Sgt Bulman, gruff but sympathetic and ever-so-slightly eccentric.... traits the actor would build upon as the series progressed through its five years.
The plots in these early episodes are pretty standard fare, with the team investigating jewel thieves, fraud in the horse-racing fraternity, the suspicious death of a local journalist and a town councillor suspected of accepting bribes. Each story demonstrates the logical methodology of good old-fashioned, competent police detective work.
Anyone expecting a rival to "The Sweeney" is going to be disappointed -you'll have to wait until the third season until the action, comedy and eccentricity really start to kick in! What we have for the moment is a series finding its feet and establishing its characters. In some ways the evolution of "Strangers" mirrors that of "The Avengers".
The presentation across the DVDs is acceptable. There has been no restoration work performed and some of the filmed sequences show their age. In the main this is not a problem but the opening Granada logo and title sequence look quite battered on a few of the episodes - I can only assume they have been sourced from transmission copies (indeed the episode "Briscoe" suspiciously runs to around four minutes shorter than the others - although Network's packaging claims all episodes are complete). Those scenes shot on videotape exhibit faint vertical colour banding but are otherwise mostly free of flaws. Sound quality is fine throughout.
Similar Products
- The XYY Man - The Complete Series
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Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Dennis Blanch
Mark McManus
Fiona Mollison
Don Henderson
John Ronane
Creators:
Don Henderson (Primary Contributor)
John Ronane (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626259440
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-02-26
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 350 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1978-06-05
Language: English (Original Language)