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Post by Arthur Pringle on Nov 15, 2019 22:19:27 GMT
Watching tonight's episode the painting on the wall looked very familiar, though I can't think which show I've seen it in, could well be another Thames show The Sweeney. Anyone else recognise it?
I searched 'painting with horses' & it came up, it's called 'Free As The Wind' & was painted by August Albo.
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Post by Charles Bronson on Nov 16, 2019 13:05:15 GMT
I know I'm late with this as the Hazell series has already started but I will have try and catch a full episode myself. I saw a few minutes of it last night and there was a bit more serious action going on than I'd have thought. I will watch out for the next episode. I remember it being on TV years ago but I never watched a single episode. As Steve Austin said it's got to be better than the garbage they're making these days.
Charles.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Nov 16, 2019 14:31:48 GMT
I think it would've been a better show had it not spent so much time on Hazell's love life, I think making a lead character a ladies man just distracts from things rather than adding to them. Characters like Hazell are supposed to be losers, we know they're not going to be lucky in love, so why waste time on love scenes? And it's hard to write these kind of scenes without them looking & sounding cliched- it's always about the man's work coming into conflict with the woman's needs & the woman giving up on him or if the man does have a stable relationship the wife is just hovering in the background.
I think that's why in some series you don't see character's wives at all ( Arthur Daley, Capt Mainwaring ), because it's so hard to make scenes between man & wife look interesting. It's only sitcoms that give man & wife equal screen time, it just doesn't work in drama because there needs to be conflict.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on Nov 16, 2019 14:48:28 GMT
An interesting difference in Series Two compared with Series One is the fact that James Hazell appears to have given up smoking! Vi
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Hazell
Nov 16, 2019 15:57:12 GMT
Post by Cartman on Nov 16, 2019 15:57:12 GMT
This is one of those programmes I just never watched at all. Will try a bit on you tube
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Nov 18, 2019 18:45:17 GMT
Having watched the second episode I've decided to bail
It's just not my cup of tea.
It seems to lack a real identity - is it humour, grit, about a private eye, about a lad about town etc?
Episode 2 had a really odd mix of murder (which the police seemed happy to ignore after a cursory investigation), debt collecting, family, and oddball humour. Choc Minty is surely the most implausible cop ever.
I know I liked it at the time but it has not aged well in my opinion.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Nov 19, 2019 9:23:22 GMT
Give it one more go Clarence, it may be worth it.
I've stated numerous times that I was sceptical about Life On Mars and that after the first two episodes I was still unsure but from the third episode I was hooked.
I can't guarantee it but give it just one more go.
Sam.
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Nov 19, 2019 12:52:50 GMT
Ah, go on then Sam. One more. I haven't touched the series link yet - and there are aspects of it that I like, not least Nicholas Ball who is a likeable screen presence. I'm just not convinced by the writing or direction (yet).
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Post by Kenny Dalglish 1979 on Nov 23, 2019 17:28:28 GMT
This series needed more of a harsh Sweeney/Philip Marlowe/Mike Hammer feel with Euston Films producing which is what Nicholas Ball actually wanted to give it more authenticity. Writers like Roger Marshall, Brian Clemens (always very effective at mixing action with humour), Ranald Graham, Michael J. Bird and Don Houghton could have pepped it up.
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Lord Emsworth
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Nov 24, 2019 14:42:19 GMT
This series needed more of a harsh Sweeney/Philip Marlowe/Mike Hammer feel with Euston Films producing which is what Nicholas Ball actually wanted to give it more authenticity. Writers like Roger Marshall, Brian Clemens (always very effective at mixing action with humour), Ranald Graham, Michael J. Bird and Don Houghton could have pepped it up. That's certainly been my experience too (so far) Kenny
It's a series which doesn't really have an identity. It's got the gritty urban London locations but doesn't feel as convincing as The Sweeney, partly through their choice of doing the internal shots in a brightly lit studio but primarily because the scripts are a curious mix of private eye, mystery, procedural and odd bits of humour. Even the opening credits are confusing, using a James Bond sexy woman type image and a sort of PI type theme which seems at odds with the content.
I really like Nicholas Ball but can't help feeling he's a bit miscast in Hazell and perhaps a different actor could have helped created a different vibe.
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