Dempsey And Makepeace: Series 1 Box Set (3 Discs)

When it debuted back in January of 1985 this culture clash of American/British policing methods between tough brash New York city street wise cop James Dempsey and aristocratic, well educated Harriet 'Harry' Makepeace was a refreshingly unique take on the standard British detective drama series. Now over two decades since its initial transmission the series, for me at least, seems as captivatingly enjoyable especially when released in snazzy attractive packaging as featured in the 2006 Network DVD releases. Looking beyond the pleasing blue tinged slip cover (replete with brief story synopsis, writer/director credits and transmission dates) I love the beautifully rendered paintings of the three lead stars one for each of the discs in this first season. With a three/three/four split the first disc features the "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" feature length pilot which like the subsequent second story features an audio commentary featuring the series leads. Disc one also features an approx twenty minutes documentary where Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber share their thoughts about working on the series. There are some good stories on offer however I was surprised how some of these programs underran, "Makepeace, Not War" being the worst offender, barely scraping forty-five minutes... you can imagine the amount of excessive advert 'padding' that ITV/satellite channels have to do to fill out the allotted hour long transmission time.

The 80`s entertained us with many a cop show. My favourite by a mile was Dempsey and Makepeace. Hey, no one ever thought of male/female partners before did they, which makes this have the added sexual tension between them. also the fact that Dempsey is a brash American and Makepeace is a posh Brit really brings the clash of cultures together.

"Dempsey and Makepeace" was a strange beast, a kind of hybrid of romantic comedy and action-filled British cop show. The interest of the show lay in the interaction and culture clash between Michael Brandon's brash American cop and Glynis Barber's uppercrust English policewoman. The two leads are quite enjoyable to watch in their roles and some of their banter is genuinely funny. The format of the show could have worked very well. Unfortunately, the show suffers from a series of plots whcih are extremely dull and predictable.

Some of the action is impressively staged, even though most of the episodes are severely underplotted. The final episode of the season, "Judgement", is the best. Makepeace's best friend is murdered on a train, leaving her emotionally drained. Dempsey genuinely wants to help, but his brash, insensitive manner upsets her even more. This is a far more interesting, character driven story than the others.

The picture quality is slightly grainy but pretty good nonetheless.