Fraud Squad - The Complete Second Series

Description

A highly popular police procedural drama from the turn of the '70s and notable as one of the earliest British television dramas to feature a female detective in a leading role Fraud Squad features the work of Detective Inspector Gamble and his aide, Detective Sergeant Vicky Hicks: Metropolitan officers on the trail of the con-men and fraudsters who operate at all levels of society.Featuring guest appearances by Richard Vernon, George Baker, Dandy Nichols and Maigret star Rupert Davies among others, this second series showcases a further 13 episodes in which Gamble and Hicks hunt down the sharks and sometimes the minnows inhabiting the murky world of international fraud. Originally made in colour, only two episodes still exist in this state the remaining eleven are brand-new transfers from the monochrome telerecordings made for overseas sales. Review: Brillaint! - This is an amazing series - I have brought both series One and Two boxed sets now – that went out in the late 1960’s/early 70’s as made by then ATV that during the time they must have first aired on TV, I somehow missed them. The basic premise as defined by the title sort of gives the game away as two police officers, Detective Inspector Gamble played by Patrick O’Connell and Detective Sergeant Hicks played by Joanna Van Gyseghem, run the fraud section of their, unnamed, local police force which in turn is overseen by their boss Superintendent Proud played by Ralph Nossek and together they sort out the villains and bring them to justice during the just under an hour episodes. Out of the two sets, there are two in colour (Series Two) with the others being in black and white but being in this format they do add a certain something to the proceedings plus the transfers are of a decent quality and overall very crisp - I have seen a lot worse! . These episodes after nearly fifty years (reviewed July 2019) still hold up well story line-wise and I don’t think it would take much to ‘update’ them for production even today (but this is my humble opinion) as the writing is so good plot-wise in each instance and I can’t relate to any of them as being weak in content and a credit to the writers, with names that are also connected with other projects in the intervening years since this production started and ended. Do I have any gripes? - well, yes I would love to have seen more series of this production but sadly it only went to two series it seems but for all that still very watchable today and it must rate as the only series where the lead role (DI Gamble) drove a MGB Roadster sports car as opposed to a ‘normal’ plain, unmarked police car but interestingly, for the car anoraks, the one featured in Series One has a personal number plate.. A brilliant series that while it may be dated, shows with good acting and writing, entertainment is still available nearly fifty years on - how many made today will be ‘doing the rounds’ in the next fifty years?. Overall a very entertaining series, both of them. Bring on the cup of tea and the ginger biscuits and let 'em roll again!! Review: They don’t make them like this anymore - Loved the whole series