The Plane Makers – Volume One (1963/Network U.K./PAL Region 2 DVD Import Set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C     Episodes: B-

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Two/2 PAL format software and can be only be ordered from our friends at Network U.K. at the website address provided at the end of the review.

 

 

It amazes me when episodes of any TV show are lost, especially when the show was a hit (Callan, Adam Adamant Lives!), popular and so talked about that you hear about it even if you never saw it.  One such show is The Plane Makers, a hit that ran for three seasons about a British airplane manufacturer, dealing with its internal affairs, production ideas, problems and future.  It also led to a continuance as another hit series, The Power Game.  This Volume One DVD set has the only surviving episode of the first season with half of the episodes from the second.

 

Though the first season offered 16 hour-long shows only pilot episode Don’t Worry About Me remains and is included on the first DVD.  It stars no less than Colin Blakely as the lead and leans a little more towards the manufacturing taking place at the company in the show, but whether the show remained that way in its debut season is unknown.  No text or scripts (in PDF form would not have hurt), but Blakely left by the second season.

 

That leaves us picking up with Patrick Wymark as the new lead, John Wilder, a designer and executive putting all of his money, reputation and future on the line for a new airplane called The Sovereign.  However, he wants to test it early and there are a few people who would like to see him fail.  The result is a show that is not a soap opera or action series, but a smart drama with very smart writing and a fine cast that also includes Robert Urquhart, Reginald Marsh, Jack Watling and Norma Ronald.  Patrick Magee, Patricia Haines and Jeremy Burnham turn up among the many guest cast.

 

By being as thorough about the boardroom as the workshop, the show leaves nothing up for grabs and the set-up flushes out the best possibilities for storytelling.  Wilfred Greatorex created the show and wrote some of its key teleplays.  It also reminds us of a time when making things in industrial production (especially without sending it overseas) was a great, celebrated thing that it was assumed would always be there.  You would not see this show getting made today, sadly, but The Plane Makers is top rate classic TV (British or otherwise) that deserves rediscovery and is at least a minor classic.

 

 

The 1.33 X 1 black and white image was produced on reel-to-reel analog PAL videotape and has the flaws expected with that format, but once you get used to the problems, this is still very watchable.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono also shows its age with more distortion than expected and sometimes dialogue that is hard to hear, but the audio has survived as well as can be expected, though maybe using PCM would have helped.  While the theme is almost military in nature, there is a “groovy” jazz counterpiece used for commercial breaks that is one of the best in TV history that you have to hear to believe.  The only extras are two stills sections of stills from the show that also include its launch, promo/publicity stills and behind the scenes images.  All are monochrome except for a model of the airplane.

 

 

As noted above, you can order this DVD import set exclusively from Network U.K. at:

 

http://www.networkdvd.net/

 

or

 

www.networkdvd.co.uk

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo