TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
George Gently - BBC Series
RRP: £24.99
Our Price: £18.74 (subject to change)
Thoughtful, well acted, great sort - brilliant
Review date: 2008-09-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
By far the best new detective series that has been on BBC for a very long time. Martin Shaw plays George Gently with perfect understatement. Great storylines, wonderful acting, a real sense of nostalgia. Can't wait for the DVD.
Similar Products
- New Tricks : Complete BBC Series 5
- A Touch Of Frost - Series 14 [2008]
- The Tudors: Complete Series 2 [2008]
- Spooks - Series 7 [2008]
- Spooks: Code 9 (BBC Series) [2008]
Reviews
Intelligent and entertaining detective series. More Dock Green than Sweeney
Review date: 2008-07-14 Rating: 8 out of 10
The BBC is great at producing thoughtful costume dramas and in many ways George Gently is as much an historical period piece as it is a carefully crafted detective series.
The action is set in 1964 in Northumberland, where a top-shot London detective, George Gently, has relocated to head up the CID for the whole area. If you imagine Inspector Morse or Barnaby of Midsummer but set back in the mid-1960s then you'll get the flavour of the series.
It's an interesting time to place a police procedural drama: the permissive society was kicking off in London and Liverpool but the rural north-east was only just feeling the ripples of the permissive society. George Gently's world represents the cross-over between the generation who fought in WW2, and the young lads who would create a social revolution. His sergeant is a youngblood; keen, a bit over impressed with his own importance; in need to reminding that his warrant card does not 'entitle you to be rude'.
Gently represents the last of the Dixon of Dock Green generation and he fights a low-key battle against the brutality of the sweeney-style policing which would dominate the 1970s and 80s. Many of the themes which were laid on with a trowel in Life on Mars are re-visited here, but they are done with subtlety and a hint of nostalgic affection. Gently is also an interesting character in his own right, and there is a fascination in watching his personal history be revealed.
None of this would be any cop at all if the plots were rubbish, but happily the puzzles unfold in an almost-believable manner. Many TV mystery series tend to pile on the incredible coincidences until the viewers' sense of disbelief comes crashing back to earth, but Gently seems to be more grounded in the actual nuts and bolts of criminal investigation.
The series also benefits from sharp scripting and some excellent acting from Martin Shaw -- now playing exactly the opposite character to youthful Doyle from his day in CI5!
There are some hiccups and mis-steps (some of swearing is modern-American, not 1960s Northumberland), and while the streets are populated with the right kind of cars and well-disguised sets (even down to old style road signs), they are also ridiculously clean and well kept. Sometimes it's a bit like watching All Creatures Great and Small...
But overall, George Gently adds up to thoughtful, mature entertainment. It's not particularly pulse-raising but it the mysteries kept us guessing (wrongly...) for most of the show. Definitely worth catching a couple of epiosdes to see if you like the style: we'd buy the series to watch again at our leisure.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Phil Davis
Richard Armitage
Lee Ingleby
Martin Shaw
Creators:
Martin Shaw (Primary Contributor)
Phil Davis (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
EAN: 5036193096297
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2009-06-01
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Language: English (Unknown)