superb...............................
williamsgwynfa
[Highly rated reviewer]
, 02/07/2008
this dvd is superb. James Bolam, Alun Armstrong and Denis Waterman play three retired CID officers, who are recalled from retirement, to investigate long standing unsolved murders. Their boss and the only serving police officer, is Sandra Pullman played by Amanda Redmond.
Each of the three male stars has a distinct personality. The most reliable of the three, is Jack Halford (played by James Bolam) who was once Sandra Pullman's boss. Jack Halford was also the most senior of the three, and has the strange habit of talking to his wife's grave, which is in his back garden. Halford who apart from this habit, appears to be the most sensible of the three, also has a ruthless side which appears when needed.
Dennis Waterman plays Gerry Standing, with three ex -wives and daughters - Paula, Emily, Caitlin and Amelia, who he calls 'The Coven'. The impression given is that Gerry Standing, was not above bending the rules to catch a criminal, or above taking the odd backhander. Unlike the other two, Gerry has not accepted that he is getting old, and when the other two show him their various pills for blood pressuire, heart and depression etc, the only pills he has are viagra.
The last of the trio is Brian Lane played by Alun Armstrong. Brian Lane is a recovered alcoholic, and suffers from various mental health problems. He is also known as Memory Lane, because of his photographic knowledge of Police Officers, criminals and crime. Unlike the other two who are always smartly dressed, Brian is normally dressed in a scruffy tracksuit. His wife Esther played by Susan Jameson struggles to cope with his demanding behaviour, and eccentricities.
The trio are controlled and kept on track, just about, by Sandra Pullman, a high flying police woman played by Amanda Redmond. Sandra is split between defending her team from her bosses, and her frustation and irritation at some of their 'old school habits'.
The episodes in this series 4 are:
Casualty - The future of the team is threatened and without having that to deal with, Sandra has to take drastic measures to prevent Jack from exacting revenge against the man who killed his wife Mary. Sandra also has the added benefit of trying to keep Jack’s actions from shady new recruit DCI Karen Hardwick while working on a 10-year-old murder case.
God's Waiting Room - Sandra's private and professional worlds become intertwined when her mother has a fall and goes into a care home - but the establishment is revealed to be a scene of a suspicious death a year earlier.
Ducking And Diving - When an armoured van is discovered at the bottom of a lake, the team makes a link with the murder of a women 17 years ago.
Nine Lives - A family feud erupts when a rich and lonely old woman, Dorothy Hepple, is found dead in her home.
Dorothy leaves all her money and property to her beloved cats, rather than her nephew, Harry, and niece, Caroline. Her body lay undiscovered for two weeks and the cause of death is undetermined, but the fact that her cats were deliberately locked in the house, forcing them to start eating their owner's remains and any evidence, makes Jack suspicious.
There appears to have been no love lost between the late Ms Hepple and her neighbour, Tim Cuswell. Meanwhile her carer, Dale , seems to have been devoted to her, his motives are questionable.
When the last of Dorothy's feline beneficiaries dies, her estate suddenly comes up for grabs. With no shortage of people laying claim to the estate, the team decides to reopen the investigation into Dorothy's death.
Powerhouse - The team reinvestigates the 1950s murder of a young wages clerk at Battersea Power Station.
Richard Dunne was hanged for Frederick Tully's murder, but his granddaughter, Hannah, is waging a campaign to have Dunne posthumously pardoned.
The discovery of a suitcase containing used fivers in the attic of the Tully home sheds new light on the case, revealing a possible blackmail plot.
A trace on the used fivers reveals that they should have been destroyed in the Battersea Power Station furnaces back in the 1950s, but were actually being saved by Douglas Murray, a friend of Tully's.
It also becomes clear that the Battersea furnaces were being used to destroy other sensitive documents as well as used bank notes.
When the team discovers a classified document relating to a massacre of civilians carried out by the British Army in Kenya, they uncover a blackmail plot spanning more than 50 years.
Buried Treasure - When Brian's dog finds a body, it prompts two people to confess to murder. It turns out that the body is over 600 years old, so Sandra, Jack, Brian and Gerry must discover why the pair took responsibility for a crime they couldn't possibly have committed and if they are the perpetrators of other killings.
Elsewhere, Strickland is rather keen for them to solve an even more tricky mystery that is closer to home.
Father's Pride - When a camera and film belonging to a photographic lab assistant murdered in 1987 are found in a Soho pub toilet, the team reopen a 20-year-old case.
Elsewhere, Gerry is less than happy when his daughter Emily joins the team and looks to Sandra as a role model.
Big Topped - Strickland has the team look into the death of a circus magician called The Great Miraculob, on the behest of a woman named Christy Berlin who has recently discovered that The Great Miraculob was her biological father, and wishes to know what happened to him. Strickland's motives, however, prove questionable.
Meanwhile, Sandra's mother has a stroke and a she discovers a secret about her father that she was never meant to know, and that could tear the team apart.
well worth renting out.
7 out of 8 people found this review helpful
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