#Propaganda or action nonsense (as it became) but which here is treated with nuance and some degree of objectivity. Here we have an early

[thisbluespirit]

#The more I watch the more I remember how much I liked this show first time round. Or rather how much I liked this first series#(or these first nine episodes at least). It's a layered and thoughtful look at an aspect of policing that could have been as pure#Propaganda or action nonsense (as it became) but which here is treated with nuance and some degree of objectivity. Here we have an early#TV drama on illegal immigration and what's most notable is the sympathetic depiction of the refugees and perhaps even more#Surprisingly that most of the British characters are shown to be sympathetic in their attitudes to (even the coastguard forces involved in#A roundup of recent arrivals). A thoughtful and slightly sad script from the ever reliable Preston but perhaps inevitably there are one or#Two instances of racist language. Also (and the bar really shouldn't be this low but that's old TV for you) props to the team for not#Casting white actors in makeup to play poc. I'm enjoying Nesbitt's performance immensely this time around: it's an unusually naturalistic#Turn quite at odds with what you might expect from the lead in a series about hard bitten coppers

Oh, yes, I remember this one being very interesting and one of the best episodes, definitely.  It is such a shame they decided to suddenly become a proto buddy-cop show, because what they started out with was really promising.  And had Jennifer Wilson in.  I mean, given old TV, she probably just got a better offer halfway through, but still.  (These 9 episodes made me aware of more post-1945 history that I hadn’t really known about than any other single thing, and I appreciated that, because our education system still acts as if history proper stopped in 1945 and after that we just had themed decades.)

Special Branch: The Promised Land (1.3, Thames, 1969)

"You know, Eden, people like you frighten me. Y'actually think you're doing right."

"While people like you, Mr. Rushmer, feed on lost causes."