The Sandbaggers

[PGage]

Amazon pushed this to me this weekend, by way of Brit Bix I think, and I inhaled the three short seasons (series). Shocked I had not heard of it before, as a little googling reveals it is highly regarded in the UK, has been run several times on PBS, and seems to clearly be a bit of an inspiration to one of my favorite shows of all time (and which I just rewatched for the 5th time earlier this summer) Spooks (MI5).

I wonder if Adam, or anyone else who may be familiar with the show, know how it played originally in the late 1970s? These were the Carter years in the US, and the transition from the Labor government of James Callaghan to the ultra Tory government of Margaret Thatacher in the UK. The show reads as partly a love letter to Thatcherism, but it does seem several cuts above propaganda because it’s Thatcherite hero in MI6,  Burnside (who by my reading of twilight Cold War history was proven to be pretty much dead wrong), while being lionized in characterization is also shown to be flawed and mistaken in some of his judgements and schemes. But I can’t tell if he was seen at the time as a flawed and often misguided hero, whose antagonists were better than he gave them credit for being, and often right where he was wrong, or was the show catching an early Thatcher wave that saw itself as preaching the Gospel?

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[Adam Bowie]

Indeed, I do know it, and I have a DVD boxset of The Sandbaggers stored away. That said, I've only watched it once, probably around 15 years ago now, so perhaps it's time for me to revisit it.

It was made by Yorkshire TV for the ITV network, and as was the style at the time for most UK dramas, location work was shot on film, but studio work was shot on video tape. I think in many viewers' eyes, that lowered its "quality" a bit, but it was highly regarded and Roy Marsden is excellent. He would go on to star as Det Inspector Adam Dalgleish in Anglia TV's adaptation of PD James' detective novels in which he played an erudite detective - a sort of precursor to Morse. (Note the Dalgleish novels have been revisited in more recent times).

I think The Sandbaggers isn't as well remembered because a year after its 1978 debut, the Alec Guinness version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came out and that was really a high water mark for cold war spy stories of the era. It was a co-pro and so was fully shot on film. It was based on John Le Carré's highly regarded novels and of course it starred Guinness, who was a massive star appearing in everything from Ealing comedies through to Doctor Zhivago and Bridge on the River Kwai. And of course, most recently at that point, Star Wars. Plus, big movie stars didn't do TV at that time, so getting him to make Tinker Tailor, and then afterwards Smiley's People, was a massive coup.

I guess that you've seen both of those, but if not, do find them. They both remain for me some of my favourite dramas from the 70s and 80s, and it annoys me sometimes that people think that TV didn't do serious stuff really well until The Sopranos. They've been restored for Blu Ray so the HD versions look fantastic. And also check out 1987's A Perfect Spy which is also excellent, based on Le Carré's most autobiographical novel.

Adam

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[PGage]

I am a huge Le Carre fan, and have watched the BBC’s TTSS and SP several times (plus a Perfect Soy, and everything else that has come out on film Community ). I thought I had read all the books, but they seem to keep coming out with more titles. The source material and execution are superior to Sandbaggers, but that is no shame, as the Smiley stories are about as good as it gets in that genre. and Smiley is probably an even more direct influence on “Spooks” than Sandbaggers too. Still, so delighted to have discovered it.

I did notice the difference between the look of the main studio action and the location shots, but that kind of added to the retro charm. 

I will keep an eye out for Marsden’s Dalgleish. I saw and enjoyed Bertie Carvel’s version on Acorn.

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[Adam Bowie]

Funnily enough I was at a screening of Blakes 7 at the British Film Institute at the weekend. There's a sparkling new Blu Ray of series 1 coming out soon, and they were showing that off - two of the only three original stars still surviving were in attendance. But the person in charge of the restoration spoke about the standards of the time. Basically it was on location filming on 16mm and very occasionally 35mm film. Then back to the studio for the recording blocks for that. It was normal to have one 2-3 hour recording session in a studio with multi-cameras for a single episode of a drama. The actors rehearsed ahead of time and then did it on the night. Union rules meant that times were tight. This was how Doctor Who of the era was shot too - but also the case for many other dramas right through until the mid-80s. Then the sets would be struck in that studio and the next night something else was recorded in the same place -- a sitcom or anything. Standing sets for a show in production were an anathema.  Of course, the UK didn't make 20-something episode long seasons. Only the soaps got permanent sets.

As far as British spy series of the era go, a couple of others to look out for are Reilly Ace of Spies starring a very young Sam Neill. It's all set in the early 20th century against the backdrop of WWI and the Russian revolution. It was made by Euston Films, part of Thames Television. That was a prestige piece and was all shot on film, with loads of now familiar people in the cast. Many episodes were directed by Martin Campbell who went on to make several Bond films amongst others, and they were written by Troy Kennedy Martin. He'd made The Sweeney for Thames before - a British hard hitting action TV series starring John (Inspector Morse) Thaw. Campbell and Martin would go on to make Edge of Darkness for the BBC which is spy-adjacent and one of my all-time favourites. It has nuclear power, Gaia/James Lovelock and Thatcherism as its themes. Great stuff.

A much harder to find series is Game, Set and Match from Granada TV (also part of ITV). This flopped in the UK despite being held as being excellent. It's based on a series of Len Deighton spy novels, but sadly has never really had a proper release post its original 1988 broadcast. Ian (Bilbo Baggins/Alien) Holm stars in it.

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[PGage]

Brit Box has now been pushing Ace of Spies to me. I wasn’t sure about it, but based on this will try it out - thanks.

Amazon is also pushing me to The Avengers, and I watched a few of the first Rigg episodes (Season 4!). That led me to Wikipedia, which said I think that, as was common at the time, in early seasons the entire dialogue track was recorded by the actors separately.

And, as it happens, I am currently in the middle of reading Deighton’s Game Trilogy (now on “Mexico Set”), set in roughly the same period as Sandbaggers, and hope to do the next two trilogies, after watching the three Michael Caine film adaptations of his earlier novels. I will make an effort to see if I can find and stream the Granada TV adaptations. Thanks!

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[Adam Bowie]

Funnily enough, Amazon was pointing me towards Blu Rays of Diana Rigg-era series of The Avengers in their Prime Day sale only today too! 

Season 4 of The Avengers is the best season! Black and white but they now had some money from the US to shoot the whole thing on 35mm. Really off the wall ideas, and enough budget to see them through. I don't know that the entire thing had dialogue re-recorded, but they certainly used doubles on location to get in and out of cars etc. Season 5 they went colour, but before UK TV or indeed ITV had. That was because ABC in the US needed them in colour now. 

It looks like poor-ish quality versions of the Game, Set and Match series can be found on YouTube. I suspect that they were sourced from someone's VHS tapes. But they might be the best versions out there. (I do know where ITV's archive is kept. I visited it once and the original film reels will be in there somwhere... https://www.flickr.com/photos/adambowie/albums/72157714006180941/with/49809195977)

Adam

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