The memory was better

Dempsey And Makepeace - The Complete First Series [1985]

Funny how your memory plays tricks. In 1984, I watched the pilot for Dempsey and Makepeace and thought it was fab. Over dinner, now that my DVD of series one has arrived (as predicted—sooner than the Amazon US order that was placed earlier), I have to say the première episode, written by Ranald Graham, has more holes and cheese moments in the plot than I remembered.
   It was also pretty obvious where London was masquerading as New York: my, how Docklands has changed.
   It was in desperate need of good direction which series producer Tony Wharmby failed to give.
   Graham has written some duffers in his time—the Sweeney! movie had the right amount of action but it made as much sense as Ian Macaskill reading the weather (did anyone understand him?)—and D&M’s first outing was so weak it was a surprise that a series was green-lighted.
   At a guess, British viewers on LWT were mourning the demise of The Professionals and with no real competition, the series was indeed green-lighted for three seasons.
   No wonder the Brandons said they could not understand the plot, in an earlier video I posted here. And they were in it.
   Audiences did deserve better, after the higher production values of The Professionals.
   I still have a few of the 1985–6 episodes on video cassette, which were better than the pilot. Let’s hope it gets better. I have not seen these first series ones since 1984; then the politically correct camp intervened and got Dempsey and Makepeace pulled for TV violence (yet The ‘A’-Team continued). It only re-emerged in New Zealand in 1990 at a later hour—five years after the original UK airing of the second and third series. TVNZ would have been fuming over lost ad revenue.
   A few bonuses on the DVD: an interview with Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber, and commentary over the first two episodes by them. The pilot was shown with the bumps inserted. Missing were subtitles.
   I would have watched more but Life on Mars was starting.