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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Mystery > Detective > British TV > Shadow Squad (1957 – 1959 Series plus Skyport/PAL/Region 2/Two/Network U.K. DVD)

Shadow Squad (1957 – 1959 Series plus Skyport/PAL/Region 2/Two/Network U.K. DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C     Episodes: C+

 

 

PLEASE NOTE:  This DVD is only available in the U.K. from our friends at Network U.K. and can be ordered from them at the website address links provided below at the end of the review or at finer retailers.  This is in the Region Two/2/PAL format and can only be operated on machines capable of playing back Region 2/PAL discs.

 

 

I am ever amazed at the neglect that can take place with the archives of feature films, but TV tends to suffer more, especially in England.  Shadow Squad was a detective drama George Moon as Ginger Smart, Peter Williams (Bridge Of The River Kwai) as Don Carter and Rex Garner as Vic Steele, who forms his own agency when he gets sick of regulation in regular anti-crime work.  179 half-hour shows were made, but only 4 (yes, four) have survived and they are two-part stories included here on this new DVD release from Network U.K. leading the  release of priceless shows that time has seem to have forgotten.

 

It is a smart, fun show with some humor that is not just another boring police procedural when the characters had some character.  The Steele character eventually disappeared as does happen on some of these shows, but I can see why the series was a hit despite aging a bit.  However, we will never know if these were the best episodes, but it was certainly good for its time and worth a look.

 

Skyport was a spin-off series that ran from 1959 – 1960 and has 52 half-hour shows.  So how many episodes survived?  Only one!  Yes, one.  Terrible.  However, the episode that has survived is The Spanish Girl, which just happens to have Gerald Harper a few years before his great spy series Adam Adamant Lives!, Gazette and its spin-off, Hadleigh, all of which we have reviewed elsewhere on this site.  In this show, the title young lady is lost at the airport where the show takes place and it becomes the basis of many questions on why she is there and how did she get there to begin with.  George Moon’s Ginger Smart was carried over from the first series.  Even Edward Woodward was on this show for a time.

 

All in all, a nice look at some key British thriller TV found again.  Hope some other episodes turn up somewhere down the line, but at least we now have these to see.

 

 

The 1.33 X 1 black & white image on all the shows are 16mm film prints of what looks like PAL analog tapings of the time, possibly even kinescopes of live broadcasts, but they have some print damage and detail can be limited as expected.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono in all cases is also a generation down and has its share of distortion throughout each show, even with rough patches, but can sound good at times.

 

 

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

 

http://www.networkdvd.net/

 

or

 

www.networkdvd.co.uk

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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