What TV Have You Seen?

[MrBarlow]

The Thin Blue Line: Season 1

The Queen's Birthday Present
The Queen's official birthday is coming up, Inspector Fowler is starting a collection and forgetting about his own anniversary to Sergeant Dawkins.

Fire and Terror
D.I Grim of C.I.D. initiate a counter-terrorism unit, Fowler has to deal with someone phoning up claiming to be Al Capone. Officer Habib is attracted to a fireman who may be attracted to someone else in the police station.

Honey Trap
Officer Habib is loaned to C.I.D for a honey trap operation, while discussing it with Inspector Fowler, translation is lost when Sergeant Dawkins over hears.

Rag Week
It's rag week for the police station who get pranked on by the students of the local college students who hold up a bank, or that's what Fowler thinks the robbers are.

Night Shift
Fowler lets his son Billy stay with him, Sergeant Dawkins feels she and Fowler should see a sex therapist. Grim tries to initiate a operation on organised crime that doesn't end well for him.

Kids Today
Grim and C.I.D team try to arrest some teens for a rave only to discover Fowler, Gladstone. Habib and Goody have taken them on a camping trip to straighten them out. Goody is under investigation for a assault on a teen who used racial slurs toward Habib.

Another classic comedy headed by Rowan Atkinson as a straight by the book Inspector who likes to do things by the book. James Dreyfus plays the chocolate muncher whimpish Goody who actually mans up. Rudolph Walker plays P.C. Gladstone who tries to take police work seriously with his methods of talking and Mina Anwar plays WPC Habib who can't keep a straight face at times while Fowler talks seriously and Serena Evans as Sergeant Dawkins who seems very sex deprived. David haig plays D.I. Grim who has big plans and ideas on how to tackle crime but gets no results. When this first aired in the 90s it was funny and still today made me laugh even more.

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[MrBarlow]

The Thin Blue Line: Season 2.

Court In The Act
Grim plans to raid a drug den, Goody finds the drugs, Fowler tends to toughen Goody up by role playing as a barrister.

Ism Ism Ism
The Mayoress of Gasforth seeks Fowler's help to arrest a illegal immigrant who's visa's coming to a end. Dawkins has footage of a man beating up a woman in a flat and faces a tough decision and seeks Fowler's help with the matter.

Fly On The Wall
Gasforth police is the center of attention for a television documentary and everyone wants to shine until a elderly gentleman comes in with a gun, Grim wants to make the arrest on camera.

Alternative Culture
Grim plans a operation to raid on a illegal rave, but finds out some old coppers know all the old tricks.

Come on You Blues
Gasforth are in the premier league, the Mayoress plans a small celebration with some dignitaries but the players don't turn up, Dawkins, Fowler and Grim know why they haven't appeared, they arrested the players.

Road Rage
Plans to take down a part of the countryside trees to make way for a new bypass, protesters have set up by the area, Fowler and his team are called in, but they get a shock to see Dawkins part of the protest.

The Green Eyed Monster
The promotion board are to visit Gasforth, Grim and Fowler are up for the promotion, Grim mentions they mostly go for family men. Fowler proposes to Dawkins very unromatically, she breaks up with him and he tries to win her back. Will Grim get his moment to shine?

I thought there was more than two seasons but after this season it was cancelled so basically it's left on a cliffhanger. All the original stars return except Kevin Allen who played D.C Kray is now replaced by Mark Addy playing D.C. Boyle. Inspector Fowler introduces each episode sat behind his desk and trying to be serious. The laughs still come even from Goody who is still trying to win over WPC Habib and fails constantly.

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[MrBarlow]

Death In Paradise: Season 1.

Arriving in Paradise
D.I. Richard Poole arrives at a Caribbean Island to investigate a colleagues death, dealing with heat, sand and a mysterious woman.

Wicked Wedding Night
Slowly adjusting to life with his colleagues, Fidel, Dwayne and Camille, Richard deals with the death of a bride on her big day with 6 suspects in the light.

Predicting Murder
A voodoo priestess tells Dwayne she will be dead shortly and to look for a man with a face scar. The woman turns up dead in a classroom that belongs to a science teacher with a face scar. Poole goes back to a missing person case to get the answers.

Missing a Body?
A woman walks into the police station confessing to murdering her husband, only thing is the body has disappeared. Poole is reluctant to charge her.

Spot the Difference
While dealing with a prisoner transfer, Poole is cuffed to the prisoner and dies due to a stabbing on the ferry, and the team try to find who would want the prisoner dead and turns out half the island wanted the man dead due to being a scammer.

An Unhelpful Aid
Poole is struck with a tropical fever, Dwayne and Fidel try to solve the case of a dead diver and have to contend with Poole's irritating replacement.

Music of Murder
A Reggae music band pan to make a comeback and the lead singer is found dead, Poole and his team try to find who done it and motive. Camille discovers Poole is afraid of snakes and makes fun of him.

Amongst Us
A woman is found dead in her home with coins beside her and in her mouth but Dwayne's police badge is found at the crime scene. Poole is given news that he may be able to return back home to England.

I will admit I am not a fan of Ben Miller but in this he is good as a out of sorts detective who still manages to crack a case using out of date methods with no crime lab. There is some good drama mixed in with some comedy and a small lizard that seems to pop up every no and again that seems to be Poole's new room mate.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect.

After a girl is found dead, DCI Shefford takes charge and finds evidence of a suspect from a previous case, just before conviction he passes away. DCI Jane Tennison is brought in to take charge and tries to get a conviction and deal with sexism, and information withheld from the team.

Never really paid much attention to these when they were on T.V. Dame Helen Mirren is brilliant as the no nonsense Tennison who basically starts from scratch and has to put up with the sexism in the work place. This is a programe where Helen manages to keep her clothes on and let's Zoe Wanamaker flash her chest off.

Tom Bell plays the D.S. who doesn't like to be told what to do by a woman and leads the crew of Craig Fairbrass, Jack Ellis, Andrew Tiernan on a crusade of trying to prove police work is no place for a woman. This was well written and can have it's good tense moments right up to the end, and even I uttered the C@?t at the end.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect 2.

Tennison is pulled from a training course after a body is found in a garden in a Asian community, joined by her team as DS Bob Oswald who is Tennison's lover have to put aside their differences to solve the case.

Dame Helen Mirren returns as Tennison who doesn't need to prove herself being the tough female officer but tries to overcome a tense working atmosphere by working with a on/off lover and find out who murdered a young girl. Colin Solmon plays Oswald who seems determined to crack the case and come over career obstacles. This one did seem a bit rough with the racism, with the "N" word being said a lot and few other racial slurs being said. This one did seem to drag on a bit but still entertaining.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect 3.

After a body is found burned in a flat, Tennison is assigned to the vice squad to head up the investigation and discovers a peadophile ring that may be connected to a advice center and a link to the police.

This two part series is quite dark and can be uncomfortable due to the nature of the story but is well crafted with good acting and careful direction. David Thewlis plays the "spotter" at train stations looking to pick up young lonely boys for a ring that is in operation and is able to give a great. Peter Capaldi plays Vernon/Vera who is caught in the crossfire of dropping suttle hints and tries to protect the young ones. Tom Bell Returns as Sgt Otley who was never a fan of Tennison but shows he has a good team spirit and a heart.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect: The Lost Child.

A woman is found on her kitchen floor beaten and her baby abducted, Tennison takes charge of the case and tries to deal with her own personnel problems.

This is part of season 4 but instead of being a two part series, this is made into a T.V movie that does have a good decent pace from start to finish, like the previous series, this can be upsetting which a man talks about child abuse, there is no graphic details but the way Robert Glenister's character discusses it can hit a soft spot with some people. Lynda La Plante wasn't involved in this as a writer but Paul Billing was brought on board and able to create a story that is every parent's nightmare and add in a good twist.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect: Inner Circles.

Tennison on loan to another division, is called to a house that has been burgled and a body is found in auto-erotic asphyxiation. Tennison dig deeper into the victims's background and finds there was a scam that went wrong that leads to a local government.

This seemed like a straight forward case for Tennison and like every episode it goes down a different route and throws in one or two curve balls, it does show how manipulative some women can be to get what they want from those that are weaker and able to get a result. The acting is decent with one or two characters that you can tell they are pricks and need a got battering but then Karma can come back in a good way.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect: The Scent Of Darkness.

A body of a woman is found dead, Tennison links the murder to previous murders and a person was arrested and incarcerated and starts to doubt whether or not she arrested the correct person.

As usual Tennison joining a team of males who seem to hate women in authority and does have the tone of sexism. Here she is shacked up in a relationship with a character from a previous episode, how they got together is a mystery. Stuart Wilson did have a good small role but now seems to more prominent role and tries to give advice from his professional point of view. There is some good twists and turns on how this was played out with with a familiar character name trying to prove his innocence.

[MrBarlow]

Prime Suspect: Errors Of Judgement.

After a fatal shootout on a housing estate, Tennison joins the team and thinks it's a drug deal gone wrong until she meets Clive Norton known as "The Street" a up and coming crime boss of the area. With little help to go on, Tennison discovers there may be a leak in the department.

This series goes back to being a two part and is quite tense, Steven Macintosh plays the wannabe crimelord of the area with some good fashion sense in mind and seem to be quite threatening behavior tone when he speaks but even Tennison doesn't back down. Every department she works in Jane seems to be uncovering leaks or cover up and still manages to break through the barriers and show superiority.