Oct 30, 2019
Special Branch: Dinner Date (2.2, Thames, 1970)
"Is Selby important?"
"Mmm? Very."
"Then why didn't you just quietly fly him back?"
"That was the idea."
"But something went wrong?"
"Oh, not really, just the odd little complication, that's all."
#special branch#Special branch rewatch#dinner date#classic tv#1970#derren nesbitt#Fulton mackay#Morris Perry#Keith Washington#Sandra Bryant#Frederick jaeger#john bailey#David Hargreaves#Arnold diamond#john rolfe#Otto diamant#Arthur Cox#Jan conrad#Alfred Hoffman#Carol Haddon#George markstein#William g. Stewart#If the first episode was a simple standalone to ease us back into the new series then episode two hits the ground running and working hard#To remind us where we have come from and where we might be going. Bryant is back as mysterious Soviet agent Christine Morris and several#Of the bigger events of s. 1 are name checked (Troika and the spy exchange in particular). The relationship between Jordan and Christine#Continues to develop and we get a decent bit of east German spymanship into the bargain. A very satisfying episode polished off by a great#Guest turn by perennial favourite Jaeger as the most huggable secret policeman in cold War Europe. Elsewhere Christine silently judges#Jordan's taste in colourful clothing and Mackay gets one of the best lines yet: when accused by Moxon of being 'unromantic' he snaps back#Simply 'I'm from Glasgow!'. The tangled mystery of what exactly is going on could maybe be tightened a bit but a lot of great parts add up#To a fairly superior whole I'm happy to say. More like this I hope.
