Tran-Atlantic Talent - The Sandbaggers - Naughty Angus


Bi-continenal Telly stars

Every spring the American television networks trot out their new program selections for the following fall at a series of events known as "upfronts". These gatherings allow advertisers to get a look at the upcoming schedules and , using some arcane formula combining one part economics, one part marketing and five parts voodoo, to determine where they'll place their bets for best getting their message across to the punters.

This year, as every year, there's a smattering for UK bred telly talent attempting to jump the Atlantic and land in the hearts of the American viewing public. It's not usually a pretty site as Gabriel Byrne, James Dreyfuss and Alfred Molina, who have all had recent high profile failures, can attest. Even Python's like John Cleese and Eric Idle find nothing but failure in their stabs at primetime. Here's this fall's fresh meat...

CBS:

Alfred Molina: In the wake of an early second season cancellation for his Ladies Man series Molina is back with Bram and Alice where he plays an author reunited with his long lost daughter.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies) surfaces in Without a Trace a missing persons crime drama from the folks who brought us CSI.

ABC:

John Hannah (McCallum, The Mummy) costars in Meds, a San Francisco based medical drama.

Angus MacFadyen materializes in the new age-y, X-Files-ish Miracles.

Fox:

Alexei Sayle (The Young Ones) turns up in Keen Eddie, a mid season replacement candidate that is actually set in blighty which might help. Julian Rhind-Tutt (Clocking Off) and Colin Salmon (Prime Suspect) also appear.

The Grubs is the latest attempt to port a successful UK series to our airwaves, this time with character actor Randy Quaid in the lead. The original UK series The Grimleys starred glam rocker Noddy Holder.

 

The Sandbaggers on DVD

Somehow a pair of Sandbaggers DVD sets slipped totally under my radar. BFS have released The Sandbaggers collection Set1:

  • First Principles
  • A Proper Function of Government
  • Is Your Journey Really Necessary?
  • The Most Suitable Person
  • Always Glad to Help
  • A Feasible Solution
  • Special Relationship

and The Sandbaggers Collection Set 2

  • Decision by Committee
  • A Question of Loyalty
  • It Couldn't Happen Here
  • Operation Kingmaker
  • At All Costs
  • Enough of Ghosts

The series is every bit as good as I remember it, though the DVD transfer doesn't look much better than when I first watched it on UHF. Still the quality of the series, featuring consistently top drawer performance from Roy Marsden and razor sharp scripts, shines through.

 "The words pot, kettle, smug, git, good and kicking all come to mind."

The copyright of the article Tran-Atlantic Talent - The Sandbaggers - Naughty Angus in British Television is owned by Hunter Peters. Permission to republish Tran-Atlantic Talent - The Sandbaggers - Naughty Angus in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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