Z-Cars: Pressure Review

So here we are, the very last episode of Z-Cars. The show was going into decline as some people felt it was outdated, just like Dixon of Dock Green, the show Z-Cars was trying to replace which actually ended two years previously. One good thing I noticed at the start, they brought back the original title music which is always great to hear but the sequence itself isn't but that's just a minor fault, nothing to cry home about. What's great about this episode in particular is that they brought back some of the original cast back, but not all as you know them which is nice to see the show go in a high note by celebrating it with the returning cast. The story however is a strange one.

First thing we see in this episode is an arrival of a local worker who likes to think of himself as a poet in Liverpool airport, drunk and full of money and is going back to his family in a work deprived Newtown, put simply it doesn't end well with him being stabbed towards the end of the episode by the person who took his wife, surprisingly he doesn't appear to die which is good as it doesn't turn into a clichéd murder investigation, what this has to do with the police is anyone's guess though as he only had one brush with the law earlier on in the episode and no-one reports the stabbing towards the end. It does show a realistic approach on a work deprived Britain in the late 70's just before Margaret Thatcher's rein as Prime Minister which does date this episode.

The main issue in this episode is that Newtown is at risk of being blown up sky high from a gas leak, that is not a joke as most of the people in the episode complain about the gas and Inspector Lynch investigates how serious this is, this is the point where we see the special appearances of the original cast members although they don't return as their original characters sadly which would have been a good thing. I must admit, I did sort of expect Newtown to blow up given the way the episode was building up but luckily I was wrong. The really strange part involves a defence advisor from the army checking the area for possible threats and making defences for the police station, I'm kind of lost as to what this has to do with the rest of the episode and feels very out of place and just strange.

The most down to earth part of the episode is when Lynch investigates a boy who has lost his mother and brother, this is where is feels more like a basic episode of Z-Cars and ends with the boy being reunited with his brother which ends in a speech by Lynch about kids growing up in rough areas like Newtown. Lastly is a more interesting case of police corruption investigated by DCS John Watt once again played by Frank Windsor which sadly only gets touched on, it could have been better if they focused on that more than the motherless boy investigation.

This has to be one of the more eventful episode I have seen and they have made a good effort to bring some of the original cast members back which shows that quiet a bit of effort went in for this final episode. I just find that some of the plots are a bit over the top for a Z-Cars episode, one thing I didn't mention earlier is that the police patrols are not named Zed-Victor 1 and 2 any more which I find a bit sad. In the end is is a good final episode and it is good for the show to end on a high note.

Z-Cars: Breakage Review

This shows the start of a changeover for the show, it's in colour, it's got a new title sequence and music, personally I don't like the new music, it basically shows that they were really trying to make it more modern and up to date, I'm not saying that they should not go with the times it's just a preference that I prefer the original title music. From what episodes I have seen, they also seem less focused on the Z-Car squads themselves and focus more on the investigations of promoted DC Skinner (Played by Ian Cullen).

This first part of this story is about DC Skinner investigating theft of property (Just like the previous story I reviewed, but more interesting this time) from someone called "George T. Wood" (Played by Porridge's Fulton Mackay), a character who is mysterious as we are not sure whether to believe his story or not as he talks vaguely, saying that he is travelling, living in doss houses, we are not even sure if that is his real name because at the end, he goes to another doss house under the name of Wilfred Miller which was taken from DS Wilf Miller (Played by Geoffrey Whitehead), sure enough though, "George" did have some money stolen and got the money back but it does make me wonder who he really is and what are his real plans?

The second part is a lot more dramatic and even surprised me at one point, it's about Skinner investigating someone on the roof on an industrial estate that looks as if he may about to commit suicide, the person (Who we don't know the name of by the way as he never says his name) is obviously disturbed as we see him cry one minute and laugh the next so it's obvious he has mental problems, so as a precautionary measure PC Quilley (Played by Douglas Fielding) takes a ladder around the building and tries to stop the person with his increasingly aggressive behaviour as Skinner tries to talk to him, now this is the part that surprised me, PC Quilley tries to apprehend the person but falls through a window and is in serious condition at the end, this does go to show that the writers of Z-Cars are not afraid to have some proper dramatic moments which is very impressive and in some ways memorable. This is a very good representation of a decent episode of Z-Cars in the 1970's.

Z-Cars: A Lot of Fuss for Fifteen Quid Review

We now move into a lesser known era of Z-Cars following from the first era and a two year break, we move onto the second era which lasted to the end of the show in 1978. With this new era there was also a new cast, for the purpose of this review I shall only focus on the cast of this particular episode and not the whole era.

This story was split up into two twenty five minute episodes which lasted for a short period in the show and to be honest, it doesn't suit the format of the show which is better suited to it's fifty minute format in which the show will return to. The policemen who have taken the steering wheel of Z-Victor 1 at this particular point in the series are acting legends Bernard Holley (Who plays PC Newcombe) and Ian Cullen (Who Plays PC Skinner). The story is about a woman who has had £15 stolen from her, if that sounds mundane to you then you are not alone as PC Skinner thinks it's a waste of time which does go to show that life as a police officer is not all about stopping armed robberies and solving murders, PC Newcombe puts it into perspective saying that £15 is a lot of money for some people which does put up a decent argument especially since back then, £15 can mean a lot of money to some people.

PC Newcombe seems to be the more sensible optimist of the pair but doesn't like to deal with situations like this, the same with PC Skinner but he has a less than optimistic approach. Both are not afraid to show how they feel and there is a sense of envy towards DI Goss (Played by Derek Waring) as PC Skinner heard that he may be promoted to CID, this would be perhaps the most interesting part of the story, even more interesting than the crime they investigate. An interesting observation I have noticed about the show, the characters do feel well constructed, they have a back story, they seem believable and it helps a lot with some great actors playing the characters in this case it's Bernard Holley and Ian Cullen who do a fine job playing PC Newcombe and PC Skinner respectively.

You may realise that I'm not reviewing the plot that much, put simply the plot is paper thin which goes in a roundabout way in that the victim does not press any charges towards the person who stole the £15 in the end, it does make me wonder why they don't get the victim into trouble for what appears to be wasting police time in the end. That does not mean that the thief is going away free as her son tells the police what happened in the end, there does seem to be a hint that the thief may have problems with the way she was acting as well. Full marks go for the scenes with Bernard Holley and Ian Cullen as they both play great, interesting characters that don't feel clichéd and two dimensional. The only negative part is that the plot is basic for a Z-Cars episode, it's not the most thrilling or suspenseful of episodes I have seen.

In the end, that really is a lot of fuss for £15.

Z-Cars: Friday Night Review

Whilst everyone is out going to clubs and having a good time in general on Friday night, the night shift kicks in for our Policemen and it is far from a good night...

What we see from these episodes is that they are mainly focused on one pair of Police officers with appearances from the other regulars, in this case this episode is mainly focused on Steele and Lynch with Steele investigating a motorcycle accident followed by Lynch and a Traffic Warden who already has had a bad day by cleaning the remains of a child off the road, this episode does not hold back on the grim tone. The situation is a tragic one where a brother and sister are killed by a drunk driver, so now Steel and Lynch have to inform their mother of her loss, this episode gets darker by the minute yet strangely there are lighter parts set in the canteen where the officers try to get some dinner, it does feel strange but balances the tone of the episode.

At this point, Steele and Lynch find a very drunk person with a sober friend accidentally breaking a window, the drunk man thought he was practising discus, it's pretty good drunk acting as it makes a nice change from the more violent drunks you would normally see. They arrive at the motorcycle victims house with Steele aided by the sober friend of the drunk to break the news to the mother. One of the benefits of these episodes is that they don't play any tragic music over the scenes so it has a more of a realism feel to it and it works well in scenes like this one.

We move on to two other sub-plots in this episode, one is a failed attempt of arson and the other is the Traffic Warden following a stolen van and ending up in an accident herself, I do feel very sorry for her, first was a dead child, then a dead brother and sister and then ending up in a ditch knocked out, she must feel unlucky at the end of the day, luckily PC Wier and Fancy Smith arrive on the scene and recover her so there are no more deaths in this episode (Thank god), eventually the criminals in the van do get caught in the end.

We move on to the final part of Friday Night, the failed arson attempt by old Grampa who I'm guessing is well known to everyone in the Newtown area as he is under the delusion that someone told him to set fire to the gas station, but he forgot his matches which are used by the officers in the station so he goes to the pub to get some, which ends up in a bar room brawl by a member of Grampa's family who is also drunk (Looks as if nearly everybody is drunk in Newtown on Friday Night), of course the arson attempt failed and it sounds as though Grampa is known for this kind of behaviour in the area as I said earlier.

So in conclusion, it's quiet a good episode if a very grim one, it does show that Z-Cars is a cut above the other Police dramas they were making at the time so if anyone has a chance to watch this show, this would be one of the episodes worth watching.

Z-Cars: Four of a Kind Review

This is how it all started, the episode that was the beginning of a prestigious police drama that took the crime genre to a new level. The series started off with the search for four policemen to assemble a team split into two patrolling the streets of Newtown in cars codenamed Zed-Victor 1 and Zed-Victor 2, best known as Z-Cars.

The idea behind this was from the death of a policeman whilst on duty which automatically tells us that this show is not going to be like Dixon of Dock Green, same with the policemen in this series as they are not all squeaky clean friendly bobbies at the end of the street types, they are more realistic and we do see into their personal lives as well which does feel slightly like a 1960's kitchen sink drama but it works, for example we see into the family life of PC Bob Steele (Played by Jeremy Kemp) which shows that he doesn't have a good relationship with his wife and implies that their arguments go over the top with injuries his wife shows to PC Bert Lynch (Played by James Ellis) who sympathises with her.

So far we have been introduced to the first two policemen the series will focus on, now for the last two. The next is PC Jock Weir (Played by Joseph Brady) who has the least screen time as the character is also a rugby player who is in a bit of a state when we see him so we have not much of an idea what the character is like. Last but not least we are introduced to PC "Fancy" Smith (Played by Brian Blessed) in which is perhaps  the fun part of the episode when a bar room brawl starts out and Fancy just stays outside in good comedic timing, not sure if it's meant for a bit of light heartedness or not since most of the episode has a dark tone to it.

The two officers that assemble this team are DCI Charlie Barlow (Played by Stratford Johns) and DS John Watt (Played by Frank Windsor) both brilliantly played as they are the main focus of the episode and it's interesting to hear their recommendations with a less than welcome reception from their superiors which show that they don't pick any ordinary policemen for the team. So for a first episode it works really well, the actors are great and the characters do have a depth to them.

I do think that this is going to be one interesting series to review, if that's any sign that I will review more episodes then yes, it is.

Z-Cars 50th Anniversary

I must admit I'm surprised that very few people talk about this well remembered series and at it's 50th anniversary year, there has been no special events or repeats of the show which is a shame as it's actually a decent show to watch but it seems the BBC has no interest in showing this to a new audience either by repeats or releasing it on DVD.

This show is unique as it started a new wave of police drama shows which took on a more gritty feel compared to the likes of Dixon of Dock Green which was a much lighter tone of police drama. Z-Cars was a show that starred the likes of such famous actors like Brian Blessed, Bernard Holley, Ian Cullen and John Challis to name a few throughout the run of the show. The show was about the work of mobile police units patrolling the streets of the fictional town of Newtown in Merseyside. The series started in 1962 and ended in 1978, the show also had a spin off called Softly, Softly which had two of the original cast in.

So for it's 50th anniversary, I'm going to try to review at least one episode of the series, I say try because it is near impossible to try and find any episodes around and if I do find one, it will most likely be from the Brian Blessed era as I have had no luck at all in finding any episodes of the later seasons to watch, I do know that not all the episodes survive but with about half the entire run of the show surviving but there must be a few around that I can watch?

Unlikely but interesting Doctor Who Spin Offs

After watching Tomb of the Cybermen, a thought had occurred to me: What potential yet unlikely Doctor Who spin off shows could there be? Here are a few ideas:

Peter Haydon: Adventures of a Cautious Archaeologist

There are a lot of potential spin off series from the entire crew of archaeologists from the Tomb of the Cybermen, but I have never seen a more cautious archaeologist than Peter Haydon, you could argue that Viner was more cautious, but he did end up as a paranoid wreck when he was killed whereas Haydon was worried for the safety of everybody else, including the Doctor and his companions which I find a bit odd, he did stick out early on when they are about to discover the Tomb entrance as he didn't look to be part of the group. does Haydon have a secret agenda? Sadly since he was killed at the end of the first episode, we will never find out, it's odd that everybody was shocked when he was killed yet almost totally ignored when he was alive. Maybe Big Finish could make a prequel series?

Carry On Meddling

It would be a fun idea to have a meddling Monk spin off, a comedic Carry On like spin off featuring the likes of Sid James and Kenneth Williams and the odd guest appearance from William Hartnell just to show it's not all death and destruction in the Doctor Who universe and it could be classed as a sort of official Carry On/Doctor Who crossover since there are a lot of actors who have been in both series it sounds like a marriage made in heaven.

Thals: War of the Daleks

I'm surprised that neither the BBC or Big Finish had ever thought of a Thal spin off following on from Planet of the Daleks, mind you they may have but the Terry Nation estate probably stopped it. The Thals in Planet of the Daleks were very well developed character wise is seems such a shame they were never followed on into a series of their own. It could have been popular since it would have primarily involved Thals fighting Daleks, lots of Daleks.

Ace

If the Sarah Jane Adventures continued, they would have seen the return of Ace (According to DWM) which would have been brilliant but sadly it never happened and yet it feels as if Steven Moffat has forgotten about poor Ace, we never see her depart (But you can read it, it's not a pleasant departure but she does return) and all we know is that she runs a charity called A Charitable Earth (ACE) which is a far cry from the Dalek killing marine which was described in the New Adventures novels. Let's face it, Ace, Bazooka and Daleks makes a good spin off.