George Gently – Series One (2007 – 8/Acorn Media)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: B-
It has
been many years since Martin Shaw made an international splash with the Brian
Clemens-produced hit TV series The
Professionals, but he was a very successful character actor who could
easily do lead roles and passed on some leads that could have really set him up
(namely The Equalizer) yet in recent
years, has taken on more lead role TV like Judge
John Deed and now, George Gently. Comprising of three telefilms, George Gently – Series One almost
brings Shaw full circle.
Like Police Surgeon, the series that would
become The Avengers (putting Clemens
on the map), you have a lead character who gets involved in murder cases with
the live of his life killed in the middle of a crime. Here, instead of a mis-delivery of heroin, it
is a hit-and-run auto. It also happens
in the mid-1960s, around the same time as Police
Surgeon, but there is no direct connection.
I have to
admit that I had not seen Shaw in the years since The Professionals and vaguely remembered his work in his Adam
Dalgliesh telefilms or on Cranford,
so seeing an older, more somber Shaw playing this role was something impressive
to watch. The makers know they have an
ace in the hole with this great, enduring actor and that aspect of the show
works very well. The actual teleplays
derived from the Alan Hunter books are more ordinary police procedural type of
tales with some character study that makes the difference. I look forward to seeing where this series
goes next.
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is again on the soft side like too many of these
British TV productions have been of late, from Acorn or otherwise and the lack
of form or character does not help. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is once again a good, professional recording, but
nothing exceptional and all we get are talking heads. Text interviews with Shaw, Lee Ingleby &
writer/producer Peter Flannery and bio on Shaw are the only extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
