tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post8477122724467616999..comments2024-03-25T22:59:30.053+00:00Comments on Desperate Reader: Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm - Gil NorthDesperate Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-76100281180742660502016-09-10T18:14:34.382+01:002016-09-10T18:14:34.382+01:00I am glad you'd like to see Sergeant Cluff on ...I am glad you'd like to see Sergeant Cluff on the small screen. The BBC may have wiped the series as it did with so many dramas and comedies. Television in the Sixties and Seventies was perhaps more of a writer's medium than it is today. I am thinking of Z Cars, Softly Softly and Rising Damp, to name just three major titles. You can watch these on DVD, of course, as well as the original black and white Sherlock Holmes, starring the late Douglas Wilmer. I also enjoy watching the box set of Barry Foster as Van Der Valk, the Dutch detective, based on the wonderfully idiosyncratic novels of Nicolas Freeling. Public Eye, starring Alfred Burke as a down-at-heel private investigator, was filmed around Birmingham and Brighton, and stands up well on DVD. So do the episodes of Callan, starring Edward Woodword, about a professional assassin employed by British intelligence. Always I return to Joan Hickson's beautifully judged portrayal of Miss Marples; these are all in colour. The past is a safe place to be as Ian McEwan says, but I do keep informed about our world today. I have just finished watching a compelling DVD documentary about Noam Chomsky, one of my favourite writers, called Manufacturing Consent - strongly recommended.<br />JACK.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-72162126480860429722016-09-10T11:40:40.834+01:002016-09-10T11:40:40.834+01:00Hi James, thank you for your comments and for all ...Hi James, thank you for your comments and for all the information. I'd really like to see the TV version of Cluff, maybe with the books coming out again they'll resurface.Desperate Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-36860880453413175082016-09-10T09:44:05.834+01:002016-09-10T09:44:05.834+01:00How nice to see that Cluff is tramping the streets...How nice to see that Cluff is tramping the streets of Gunnershaw again with his ever loyal, ever watchful, dog. The novels were originally published by Penguin Crime. Do you know they made a television series about Cluff, starring Leslie Sands? This was in the Sixties when television was still black and white. Sands was a burly, bull-shouldered actor and as Yorkshire as rugby league and millstone grit. The BBC haven't reissued the series as a DVD the way they did with the black and white Dr Findlay's Casebook (filmed around Callander, Perthsire). Sands appears as a fork-tongued Labour politician in Ken Loach's brilliant drama about the General Strike, Days of Hope, which you can find in a Ken Loach DVD box set. Sands did much theatre work in London; he had a major role in a David Mercer play, After Haggerty. I am as it happens called Haggerty, and I am a Glaswegian who believes in the Union and who enjoys travelling in the UK. I enjoy Desperate Reader because you are refreshingly honest about your eclectic taste. You never pretend to be anyone other than you are, and you love literature.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-54060301861366374512016-09-04T16:01:53.103+01:002016-09-04T16:01:53.103+01:00I really enjoyed it, it was tremendously atmospher...I really enjoyed it, it was tremendously atmospheric! Desperate Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8011557877105021955.post-27590691907129237712016-09-04T03:16:06.773+01:002016-09-04T03:16:06.773+01:00Thanks. This sounds great to me.Thanks. This sounds great to me.Nanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15547916206007733970noreply@blogger.com