TV Gold

Just before they folded and taking advantage of their ‘closing down’ half price promotion I managed to quickly nab three titles, one of which is the third season of “Spender” and looking over this three disc set its understandable why originally it was priced more than the preceding six part second season. As you can see from these screen captures (http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z152/saraht1102/Spender-SeasonThree-menu.jpg & http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z152/saraht1102/Spender-SeasonThree-sceneselection.jpg) you’ve got menu and (fifteen) scene selection options on offer, there’s a copyright notice when the discs load up plus you won’t find any ‘on screen’ channel idents present plus there’s a slight momentary silent dip at the end to cover up the obligatory announcer telling ‘what’s coming up next’. Anyway although I’m a bit stretched at the moment let’s have an occasion ‘new viewer’ dip into this third season ‘six pack’…

03 : 01 – “The More Things Change”
written by Jimmy Nail / Directed by Ian Knox
Well this season opener begins round the kitchen table at Spender’s ex-wife to find that she and Eric are to get married however just one small problem – she and our series lead are not official divorced. Down at the local court it’s a typical scene for Stick and his mate Spud with the two men up before the judge whom is ready to pass down sentence. For Philip Andrew Tate (aka Spud) this is a custodial sentence of fifteen months in prison whilst Kenneth Walter Oakley (Stick) is given twelve months however due to surprisingly written character defence, no doubt forged by Spender, this is suspended for two years. After leaving the court building Stick offers his grateful thanks to his mate sitting out in his trademark black Ford Sierra Cosworth saloon car. You’d have thought Stick would have learnt his lesson from this and on the face of it his interaction with shady character Sidney beginning at a local public house with the individual believing that he is onto a sure thing has you wondering if Stick has gone back to his old ways. The pair visit a blonde haired strange eyed artist played with an unnerving detached aspect by actor Stravan Rodgers whom has some connection with the scheme they are involved in. Basically Stick with his business partner Eileen are seemingly selling legal jewellery from a respectable source although I, like Spender, are less than convinced as to whether this is strictly true. We next catch up with our longhaired series lead joining his daughter on a bicycle ride down by the canal. Their time together is cut short when under a nearby bridge Spender spots a woman being mugged and leaving the bike he then chases the assailant on foot. The pursuit takes them across a stepping stone crossing where Spender looses his step and falls in the water. His boss, Gillespie is quick on the scene and we learn that there have been four attacks in the area in the past six months. Spender’s mate Keith Moreland retains his keen interest in playing music and we find him strumming away on a guitar in his recording studio. He is joined by Spender with him telling his friend of finding a bootleg tape of his material on sale from a man at the train station and asks if the unorthodox police officer could look into the matter on his behalf. Slipping down to the station he follows the man concerned onto a train and then a bus out into the countryside which the bootleg tape salesman rides to a deserted farmhouse near Alston. Hot on his heels Spender enters the property, goes down into the basement and amongst a mass of recording/duplicating equipment, he confronts the individual about the bootleg operation. However before he gets to flash his Police identification, Victor, a large bald headed giant, steps into the room and the two men grapple in a wrestling struggle whilst the bootleg tape man sets fire to the basement room. We next see Spender stepping off the train, the left sleeve of his expensive suit jacket missing. Basically this first Third Season offering certainly lives up to previous established character dynamics without taking too many risks with the format of the series. “The More Things Change” is great if fairly unremarkable dramatic entertainment which doesn’t mentally challenge the viewer too much about disparate dramatic investigate plot threads.

Another infrequent episode thoughts offering from me here...

03 : 02 – “Kid”
written by Val McLane / Directed by Ian Knox
A windswept North Shields vista finds our series lead and his two daughters enjoying a day trip to a ruined castle. Whilst there the elder of the two girls standing close to the cliff edge spots along the front two youngsters beating up a third individual and begins to wave frantically to get Spender to come and intervene. It is too late for him to come to investigate as the victim of this physical assault backs away from his assailants and falls over the cliff face down to the rocks below. The youngster is a fifteen-year-old boy called Jason Bamford and Spender becomes involved in the investigation of finding the two individuals involved in the assault. Spender also has to deal with a naturally vengeful ex-army father whom is obviously keen to hand out his own personal form of justice to the perpetrators of his son’s injuries. The trail eventually leads to the Ellerson Trust, a seemingly reputable charitable organisation that is being corrupted primarily by Armstrong, a tall, overbearing unscrupulous individual whom is exploiting the children whom contact them looking for help and shelter. The two youngsters involved in the assault on Jason are seen talking with Armstrong whom suggests that it best if they quickly disappear from sight until the resulting investigation dies down. The public face of the Ellerson Trust is the immaculately groomed, well-educated Norman Ellison, played by a grey and white bow tie wearing Rodney Bewes whom, it later transpires is also acting dishonestly. Spender’s investigation potentially could be hampered when his boss Gillespie informs him that he is actually on the steering committee of the Ellerson Trust however the shaven headed superior says that he should proceed irrespective of this information and that their private conversation (again on a deserted windswept riverside vista) never took place. Thankfully Jason Bamford returns to consciousness in hospital however the two youngsters seen beating him up on the cliff top pay a visit leading to Spender giving chase through the corridors. However exiting the building a car comes round the corner too fast and knocks down the girl. We learn that the 16-year-old was identified as Jennifer Pickles and naturally the grief of being involved in this senseless loss of life leads to an assemblance of guilt for our series lead. Both Stick and more directly Gillespie attempt to placate Spender but our shaggy haired sergeant is inconsolable about the death of the young girl. As usual the series offers an element of humour to offset the more serious aspects of the central premise. In this instance Stick, whilst covertly investigating the Ellerson Trust is obviously mistaken for a homeless vagrant and offered food from out of the back of the organisations mobile café van. This story attempts to begin in an entirely serious and sombre way by having Spender’s deskbound police colleague Dan maintaining a nighttime surveillance of an allotment but it later transpires that this is merely to protect some potentially prize-winning vegetables. Towards the end of the story Dan and his friend attempt to awards ceremony and not only are they disconsolate that they did not win but a rank outsider comes in and takes the big prize. “Kid” is definitely a well constructed, dramatically engaging premise suitably offset with occasion moments of comedy and character development making for a satisfying slice of British television drama.

Something I've been meaning to come back to but keep seeming to get distracted at present...

03 : 03 – “Puck”
written by Jimmy Nail / Directed by Suri Krishnamma
We open with Dan investigating a disturbance down at the local sport centre however his interest is diverted away from the central ice rink by his hearing a intense argument in the cloakroom between one of the players and a visiting member of the public. This individual turns out to be one Tommy Thornton, an underworld gangster that Gillespie would like Spender to investigate and attempt to uncover some arrest worthy dirt on him. The player concerned is a twenty-four year old French Canadian called Paul Duchenyne whom has transferred from Alaska to the local Newcastle team known as the ‘Cardinals’. Basically “Puck” is a tale of Thornton’s attempt to fix matches by saying that he will expose Duchenyne’s homosexuality to the press unless he does not do what he wants. Spender and Dan spend a late night staking out Thornton’s place and its surprising not just to the usually desk bound police officer when, out of the darkness, the trademark orange VW Beetle trundles by with Stick passing over a twilight hour pizza delivery. Where on earth can this likeable rouge find a pizza at this time of night to which Spender replies ‘Just don’t ask!’ We see Spender and Stick attend an ice hockey match to which our series lead’s ‘technical advisor’ is amazed that it’s so violent. Spender just replies, with typical dour wit, ‘Well it’s not holiday on ice!’ Evidently there is a considerable falling out between Tommy Thornton and his wife Janet regarding his intention to suddenly move her and their ten year old son Paul to France. Janet storms out taking the youngster with her. Spender tracks her down and having surrendered to his charms their conversation is suddenly interrupted by the shattering of glass as the windows of her first floor apartment block come under attack from some of Tommy’s vengeful associates. After this Spender suggests that Janet and Paul find safe lodgings at his place, somewhere that Thornton won’t be able to find. This is just the beginning of a romantic relationship between the two of them which continues for the rest of this third season and into the subsequent feature length Christmas special. Again this is another instance where you’ll find characters, in this instance Janet and her gangster husband Tommy conversing briefly in French which for someone like me whom does not speak the language can be rather irksome. Naturally the hostile situation between Thornton and ice hockey player Duchenyne is resolved and I thought it worth noting the rather atypical final scene surroundings of this story, set in an isolated lighthouse, set off the coast, on the other end of a low tide footpath.

Been revisiting the entire three seasons of Spender over the past ten weeks on Thursday evenings so the series is still pretty fresh in my mind. Some thoughts about another story follows...

03 : 04 – “Bad Company”
written by Stan Hey / Directed by Suri Krishnamma
The opening shot of this fourth episode has a great aerial footage shot, no doubt taken from a helicopter, passing over a large reservoir before we see a lone white Ford Cortina saloon car heading along a country track towards an isolated farmhouse. The car stops in front of the dwelling, the driver gets out and with shotgun in one hand and a rucksack in another enters the property. We switch back to a city centre residence where a dressing gown attired Gillespie sits in his armchair, glass in hand, as he answers with seeming ease the questions posed by the presenter of the Mastermind quiz show being shown on his television. His attention is momentarily diverted by a telephone call but when he picks it up there is no one there. We next find him receiving a suspicious package at the office and then later his checking under his car for any possible bomb that might have been planted. Gillespie’s shady past is key to this particular episode and feeling that he is being watched leads to his meeting with Spender in the public locale of a pub (where as it turns out, quite appropriately, the U2 song ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ is playing) and later in a casino. Mainly this is to warn off Spender from continuing a relationship with Janet Thornton by showing photographs taken by the Regional Crime Squad of their late night liaison at the beginning of the program. Shortly after this Gillespie mysteriously goes missing leading to Spender beginning an investigation into his boss’s murky past. As well as finding out his date of birth (9th April 1949) Spender also learns that there is a gap of two years (1984-1986) in his work history that cannot be explained. It later transpires that Gillespie and three other men served at that time in Ulster, Northern Ireland. Two of the others are now dead however the third, a man known as Terry Gifford, is clearly still harbouring a grudge with potential humiliation and murder on his mind towards his former colleague. Gillespie later wakes up to find that he is tied up and prisoner of Gifford at the isolated farmhouse and to avoid any investigation into his disappearance is made to make a telephone call to the Police headquarters. A message reaches Spender indicating that Gillespie was by his father’s bedside in hospital in intensive care however he’d previously been told that his boss’s dad was dead. Now aside from the main premise of this story you’ve also got Stick and his lady friend sharing a quiet evening meal together to celebrate their new working partnership selling honest jewellery. There is also, beginning with the invite delivered by his two daughters in an isolated waterfront spot, Spender’s ex wife planning to marry her new boyfriend the teacher Eric. Obviously Spender hopes to attend but in typical style his complicated life presents an obstacle as to why he cannot attend on time, in this instance returning his battered and bruised boss back to his home. A gritty disturbing tale which rather typifies the brutish uncompromising secretive stance of Gillespie enlivened with occasional lighthearted moments and some marvellously evocative appealing incidental music on offer make for a challenging piece of television entertainment.

Was very busy yesterday with lots of things to do so only had chance to put something together for the penultimate episode of this third season which goes like this...

03 : 05 – “Best Friends”
written by Niall Leonard / Directed by Ian Knox
we being this fifth episode with Dan out walking his two bown and white spaniel dogs late one evening. He crosses the road to his car with one of them and with it safely in the back of the vehicle his attention turns to the other. He calls to it to hurry along but just then, out of the night air, a stolen car races along the road and just as the dog begins to cross it is tragically run down. Naturally a very sad, upsetting start to this episode which is conveyed brilliantly by the actor portraying Dan Boyd. Elsewhere Gillespie orders Spender to investigate the nefarious activities of Samuel Harper, an ex con whom had completed a four year prison term in 1989 for receiving stolen cars. Spender first encounters Harper at a Longbenton moto-x race venue where our long haired reclusive Police Sergeant poses as a prospective motorbike customer interested in participating in off road racing. It’s interesting to note that Harper is played by John McCardle, an actor better known for playing Billy Corkhill in the long running Channel 4 soap opera ‘Brookside’. it’s certainly vaguely amusing watching Spender enter the moto-x race where he falls foul of an unscrupulous blonde haired fellow competitor whom takes pleasure in knocking our series lead off his mount and into the extremely muddy race track conditions. Spender’s friend Keith Moreland is working in the recording studio when Sally Prince, a Newcastle Echo reporter calls to conduct an interview. Although, as it soon becomes evident to Spender, she has not properly researched her interviewee she does eventually find an unscrupulous angle to her eventual story due to Keith’s involvement with his current lady friend, Emily Goodman. Keith asks Spender to look into her background and it transpires that not only does she not have a motorbike licence but that her birthday is the 1st of December 1977 making her, at the time of this episode, only fifteen years old. Naturally Keith finishes the relationship but not before Sally Prince has used this revelation to further her reporting career. Now regarding the stolen car racket and Dan takes inspiration from Spender when he uses a Vauxhall Calibra hire car to track down the robbers. He hides under a rug in the back seat of the vehicle, leaving the keys in the ignition and sure enough the thieves take the vehicle. The situation is complicated when at the moment they find him there Spender is also present still posing as a prospective motorbike customer. With quick thinking on Spender’s part he and Dan quickly make their escape on a motorbike and this leads to a climatic and exciting fast paced ride through a scrapyard chased by the crooks. Initially we see Stick playing poker with other nefarious characters in a public house back room however when luck smiles on our likeable rogue his opponent is only able to offer up a skinny greyhound called ‘Bessy’ in payment for the game. It is certainly a heartwarming moment when ultimately this dog is offered to Dan whom I’m sure will give the animal a worthy home. Stick himself is attempting to carve a more respectable living in this episode when we see him owning a shop and legally selling jewellery. However the first time that he opens his first customers are two stocking clad gunmen intent on robbing the premises. there is an amusing twist to this when it transpires that the thieves are a former friend and his accomplice and the three of them spend time reminising about the good times they had together. Stick’s lady friend and co-partner in the legal jewellery selling business finds Stick and his friend fast asleep the next morning with empty beer bottles… and an shop empty of merchandise, it appears that the accomplice of Stick’s friend wasn’t as trusting. Certainly a pleasing story which blends excitement and humour in equal measure.

03 : 06 – “Retreat”
written by Stan Hey / Directed by Ian Knox
The central premise of this story focuses on the allegations of corruption of businessman Ken Moran through his construction company Moran Properties. We see a failed attempt to bring him to justice through a court appearance with the prosecution case collapsing through lack of evidence. With smarmy self-effacing charm he emerges from the court building and gloats over Gillespie’s failure with a typically smug persona. Naturally it is up to Spender to attempt to dig up some dirt on this character and this leads to him posing as an inmate in prison so as to share a cell with former council worker Cunningham (played by Timothy Spall) whom could provide valuable insight into Moran. Meanwhile Gillespie has the one possible prosecution witness in a future legal case, Moran’s accountant Giles Templeton guarded at his home by what seems like a fairly excessive amount of uniformed Police officers. Aside from the central investigation Spender is distracted by his ex wife Francis whom contacts him regarding her thinking of leaving her schoolteacher husband Eric. Naturally our series lead is puzzled by this as it seems relatively soon after her marriage. We later have a first meeting between Francis and Spender’s current love interest Janet. There are more problems for Stick with our likeable series rouge falling fowl of the guys whom he leased the shop where he attempted to conduct his jewellery business from. In the dead of night whilst he lies in bed with his lady friend/business partner Eileen two men come looking for him equipped with sledgehammers. Unable to locate him they then proceed to inflict their rage on his orange VW Beetle and having pulverised all of its body panels and smashed the windows they finish off by snapping off the radio aerial. Eventually the pair do catch up with him in a back alley and bundle him into a waiting transit van. Then out on a country lane they throw him out of the back and leave him to walk back to town barefoot saying that they are giving him two days to pay them what he owes otherwise they will return to take it out on his guts. Eventually as night begins to fall Stick approaches a large country house where he rings the bell hoping to use their phone to call for a cab. Imagine his astonishment when a robe wearing, shaven headed man answers the door and beckons him in. Once inside he is amazed to discover that he has happened upon a Buddhist retreat! He spends an uncomfortable night lying on a thin mat on the floor before being woken at 6.00am for morning prayers with Stick believing that ‘this place is worse than prison!’ He talks with other occupants including a broad Yorkshire accented individual whom shows him the stomach scar he has, gained from a violent altercation involving a ten inch butcher knife. Eventually Stick is convinced of the benefits of following the Buddhist faith and we later see him, sitting crossed legged on the floor of the apartment he shares with Spender, his head shaved and chanting away merrily to himself. The two debt collecting figures return once more with the intent to make good on their previous threat however they are mollified by the totally ambiliviant pacifist stance that Stick has adopted. Thankfully before any injuries are inflicted on Stick Spender arrives and swiftly despatches of the unwelcome visitors. Now regarding the Ken Moran investigation a new more robust prosecution case is eventually lodged and a successful conviction seems likely by the end of the story. However it is the final phase of the story which is undoubtedly the most gut-wrenching and shocking which starts off innocently enough with Spender and his ex wife Francis in a restaurant taking about their future relationship. Through his associates Moran seeks revenge against Spender, something that our series lead learns from a phone call from Gillespie. The shocking realisation of what this means (and please excuse the major plot spoiler here!) leads to him rushing out of the restaurant towards his parked car which suddenly explodes and we are lead to believe that Francis was inside when this happened. As a viewer you could wonder was it activated by the key or was it a timer? If it was the latter then perhaps Francis did not reach the vehicle. Whatever the outcome this is an astonishingly dramatic, highly effective way to breathlessly end the third season and infact the series itself. For me it’s been a great ride through all of the episodes of ‘Spender’, certainly a series that is long overdue for an official (possibly extras loaded) DVD release. Come on 2 Entertain why don’t you have a look at this???