Starring:
Year of Release: 1995-1996
Rated: Not Rated
Approx. Running Time: 420 minutes
Format(s): DVD (3 disc set)
My Rating: 2 stars (Out of 5)
From Back Cover:
Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Blackadder) stars as Inspector Raymond Fowler, leader of a dedicatedly incompetent squad of keystone kops in a tiny British town.
Written by Ben Elton and starring Rowan Atkinson, The Thin Blue Line is one of the BBC's classic comedy shows. For the first time on DVD, all 14 episodes from Series 1 & 2 are available.
Episode Summary (from IMDb.com):
Season 1, Episode 1: "The Queen's Birthday Present"
The Queen's official birthday approaches as well as Raymond and Patricias' tenth anniversary. Fowler, not entirely surprisingly, forgets about the anniversary and creates a lot of tension in their relationship.
Season 1, Episode 2: "Fire and Terror"
Grim and the CID initiate a counter-terrorism operation, Fowler deals with mythomaniacs and Habib becomes attracted to a fireman.
Season 1, Episode 3: "Honey Trap"
Grim is planning a honey trap, trying to pressure the famous criminal Terry the Tank into confessing. Despite advising heavily against the idea, Fowler agrees to let Habib participate in the trap. Suspecting that something is going on between Habib and Fowler, Sergeant Dawkins takes action.
Season 1, Episode 4: "Rag Week"
When Rag Week begins, the Gasforth police deals with students' pranks and bank robbers.
Season 1, Episode 5: "Night Shift"
Fowler reluctantly agrees to let his son Bill stay with him and Patricia for a few days. When they hear Bill and his girlfriend making love Patricia has a crisis and demands that she and Raymond start visiting a sex therapist. Meanwhile, Grim initiates an all-out operation against organized crime.
Season 1, Episode 6: "Kids Today"
Fowler, Gladstone, Habib and Goody go camping with some juvenile criminals while Goody faces charges of assault for punching a skinhead who used racist language towards Habib.
Season 1, Episode 7: "Yuletide Spirit"
Christmas comes to Gasforth and Goody intends to try again with Habib by giving her some sexy underwear for Christmas. He also buys Fowler a puncture repair kit. Unfortunately, he mixes up the packages and gives Habib the puncture repair kit and Fowler the underwear. When Patricia finds the underwear in Fowler's office, she becomes overjoyed, believing he bought them for her. Meanwhile, the Gasforth Amateur Drama Soceity are performing "Peter Pan" and Fowler hopes for the role of Captain Hook instead of the crocodile as every other year. To everyones' surprise, Grim gets to play Hook.
Season 2, Episode 1: "Court in the Act"
Grim and Foyle frame a drug dealer by planting evidence at the scene and Goody, having found the "evidence", is to testify and is trained by Fowler to handle the pressure.
Season 2, Episode 2: "Ism Ism Ism"
The Gasford police has to arrest an illegal immigrant. Inspector Raymond C. Fowler first makes sure his officers get an elaborate brainstorming about tolerance and non-discrimination, a particularly sensitive subject for ethnic minority Constables Frank Gladstone (Jamaican origin) and Habib (Pakistani), so the hypothetical example is a Martian. Meanwhile shamelessly bigoted CID inspector Fowler fails to get accepted into a real masonic lodge, and pledges an absurd secret society instead.
Season 2, Episode 3: "Fly on the Wall"
The Gasforth PD are to be in a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Naturally, everyone wants to look good for the camera.
Season 2, Episode 4: "Alternative Culture"
CID plan a raid on a rave party. Meanwhile, Habib's drug-addicted little sister comes to Gasforth.
Season 2, Episode 5: "Come on You Blues"
Gasforth Football Club are to play in a qualification game for Premier League, and since this has attracted a lot of tourists and investors, Mayoress Wickham orders the police to make sure everything goes as planned.
Season 2, Episode 6: "Road Rage"
Patricia joins an environmentalist group, the Dongers, who are protesting against a bypass. Soon the rest of the Gasforth police are called in.
Season 2, Episode 7: "The Green Eyed Monster"
The promotion board will be visiting the Gasforth police station and Grim and Fowler are the most likely candidates. When Grim tells Fowler that they usually go for family men, Fowler proposes to Dawkins in a most unromantic way, causing her to break up with him.
My Comments:
I bought this set without ever having seen an episode. My hopes were high, not only does it star Rowan Atkinson - the man who was Blackadder and Mr. Bean - but it was created by Ben Elton, one of the writers of Blackadder. However, I was disapointed to find that this show - though it did give me the occasional chuckle - lacks the magic of those other shows and its constant usage of British slang often left me confused.
Go Back:
T
Not Rated (MPAA)
2 Stars
1995 (Year of Release)
1996 (Year of Release)
Television
Main Index