Sandbaggers. Best Spy TV series of all time?
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- #FormerNetworkExec #CallMeChato #britbox
This video cannot be monetized because I'm using whole chunks of the show. I love this show so much. If you want to drop some coin in the comments I'll leave that to you.
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This video cannot be monetized because I'm using whole chunks of the show. I love this show so much. I can't tell if they'll let anyone leave a tip in the comment jar.
I cant find a tip jar. Do you have paypal I can tip to?
A great TV show.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Written by John LeCarre and starring Alec Guinness. Cold war spying at its best. Trust me. 👍
@@karantov1 Yes, but don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Very kind of you to ask.
You certainly earned my subscription with this one.
This shows what can be done with good writing and no budget. No CGI, no car chases and no large explosions.
Hey, there was a "car chase" in S01 E02. 🙂
The plane blowing up was two explosions.
When you deconstruct a great British series like this I can finally understand why I enjoy such great writing. Being English I grew up watching such programs with my parents and also figured that this was proper "entertainment". I don't even understand what they are selling us these days.
Mostly childrens level writing with big budgets.
Seeing so many white people in London didn't trigger you? I'm shocked.
I've loved this series for years. Thanks for making others aware of this show!
My feelings exactly. The best spy series no one has ever heard of.
Yup , fully agree. Often watch the series on DVD as I've never seen it repeated on terrestrial TV.
@@oldfella3919 The whole thing is on UA-cam.
The Prisoner, The Sandbaggers, Colditz, Secret Army, Wish Me Luck ... so many great British tv series from the 70s and 80s.
I watched in the early 80s. Great series. Rewatched it recently. Still great.
Good grief! It's like a different world. Where TV was well written and intelligent.
My favourite show of all time. It just reeks of authenticity. I watch my box set every year and never tire of it. I always love seeing the opperations room. The nervous tension when they are awaiting news of an operation and the bursts of frantic activity.
I watched (taped) this show on CBC in the early eighties on saturday night. Watched it on Sunday mornings with coffee. Waited for 20 years and finally got the complete DVD set. I keep watching it. There is no character quite like Neil Burnside in TV history. Like you said, the action is quick (and sometimes a bit amateurish) but it is over and shows what is going on. Writing, acting and characters were superb. It's no wonder I can't watch modern tv - I keep comparing it to real show like the Sandbaggers.
this is a very literate presentation I will hope you do more of these.
agreed
The way your presenting this, I feels like I'm getting a free Master class in film.
Simply the best! Absolutely. There has never been anything even close produced since.
Have the complete series on DVD. Fell in love with it when it got repeated here in UK in the 80s. Genuine craft in the writing all the way through.
You know just how good the writing is, when it’s those long coversations between Burnside and Sir Geoffrey that are so memorable.
One of my favorite shows of all time.
Halfway through I was suddenly struck by how strange it was to be watching this... in the best way! An admiring, thorough analysis of how the dryest, most restrained (and with some national pride I also note, most British) drama from another era is still clearly stunningly good-- sitting alongside comedy skits and smackdowns of KurtzTrek. What a brilliantly varied channel you have. If you ever want to do something similar again, I'm all for it-- maybe for a favourite sitcom, stressing how efficient brilliance in structure and character writing is done in comedy. Another personal favourite, as clearly this show is for you. We talk a lot about how TV from other eras was great, but it's almost never got into like this. Bravo :)
Lonen had his own show in the mid 80's - Harry's Game. Also good one (and the soundtrack... legendary)
The Sandbaggers always felt like the logical evolution of Callan.
Both series told decent espionage stories and had good characters.
And they always wrapped up with a trademark British downbeat ending.
It's hard to think of many spy shows I like better, apart from the Le Carre adaptations. Or The Americans.
Thanks for putting these up!
One of my all-time favourite shows.
An absolutely brilliant series. What happens in the Berlin episode comes as a shock!
Now do the Prisoner, please!
Yes, Prisoner please!
"Be seeing you." and a salute (even if the hand's position is wrong)? It's obvious how Chato feels about The Prisoner
Yes, an excellent series - one of my all time favourites. Great acting, great characters and great storylines that are totally believable. I must have watched all the series at least three times.
One of my all-time favourite series!
The brits really wrote some proper corkers back during the 70's and 80's. Both drama and comedy.
After watching a couple of episodes I am reminded just how well the brits were able to to take good writing, talented actors and limited budgets, and still produce top-notch television entertainment. The pinnacle of which was the BBC adaptation of I, Claudius; still one of the finest dramas ever made for television.
I watch it every ten years. Just watched it. Awesome!
Otherwise known by the Cambridge footlights as I Clavdivs, pronouncing the V shaped U as a V, daft actors. Still, I must be as daft as them cos it still makes me laugh saying it to myself...
A toss-up between I Claudius and The Sandbaggers. Tough choice.
@@paulperano9236 No choice!
It's an excellent show, discovered it a few years back when I was looking for other stuff with Roy Marsden in (loved him in the PD James Mysteries as Adam Dalgliesh too). ;)
A perfect example of great writing making a great show that didn't have a great budget.
God bless you for this! One of my all-time favorite shows, the writing and acting is impeccable, so many memorable characters (many of them doomed), and the underlying "no one is safe" sense that runs through the series makes the suspense excruciating at times. I know exactly what "shocking" episode you're talking about, too.
I will note that I re-watched "The Sandbaggers" recently with my son, for the first time in probably a dozen years, and found it wasn't as consistently perfect as I remembered the first three times I watched it. There's one actual clunker in season three, a real anti-Soviet Union propaganda assault, and a few episodes felt more standard than I recalled. But at least half the episodes (out of 20) are pretty much flawless, including the pilot you show here, which may be the best entry in the series. Personally, i like the one where Willie and the female agent are returning to the UK after an exhausting assignment and the plane gets hijacked; like a lot of the episodes, it has a long buildup and then short, nasty, decisive violence.
Is "The Sandbaggers" better than Ralph Smart & Patrick McGoohan's "Danger Man"? I would argue that I could easily find 20 episodes of that 1960s ITC spy series equal to "The Sandbaggers," and then at least another dozen atop it. But, then again, Ralph Smart wasn't so on the money they had to make him disappear and declare him dead. Creator/Showrunner Ian Mackintosh & his girlfriend were on a small private plane that disappeared over the Gulf of Alaska mid-way through his writing of Season 3 (which explains that one clunker, too; it sounds like it was written by the State Deparatment!). Not sure if you're aware, but right before departing, Mackintosh sent a postcard to his mother from a small airport that was an abandoned United States Air Force base, and signed it "Live, Ian," not "Love, Ian," which his mom claims he had never done before. There's also the curious coincidence that his plane happened to crash in the one extremely small area that was not covered by either U.S. or Soviet radar.
I know from my time living on Big Island Hawaii, which is the #1 destination for people placed in America's witness protection program, that there's a decent amount of people who we've been told are dead but aren't. They disappear, go off radar, create new lives. We know from an interview with Ray Lonnen (Willie) that the reason there's only six episodes in Season Two of "The Sandbaggers" when the others have seven is because one episode got flagged and removed forever due to Mackintosh exposing sensitive national secrets. That's the type of guy who gets made an offer you don't refuse: Disappear in comfort or Die. Not saying it happened, but I am saying that they never found a trace of the allegedly crashed private plane. Who knows? Not me.
Excellent precis of events. Not to mention how his home was burgled despite the latest high security tech. The cast never believed he was dead, but taken. And what happened to The Ops Room Sandbaggers website? A story where the plot thickened......
Many thanks for a great review of a greatly underrated show. Cheers from England.
Her blocking with the camera pan at 11:30 was amazing.
I love Burnside. Ruthless character. But totally committed to British security. Very little 'action' but when it happens (as on the plane) it's brilliantly done, is over in minutes and almost comes as a shock.
Amazing how far we’ve fallen with entertainment. Writers now are all flashy baubles and preachy.
'luckily Willy doesn't get his willy blown off'🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Excellent writers workshop.
Discovered TSB recently and am enjoying it enormously. Great dialogue.
Only discovered the sandbaggers very recently. Which is utterly unbelievable as I am 53 and lived in the British Isles all my life and cannot fathom how I missed this series. That aside, agreed, absolutely fantastic, the best.
I am so delighted you are covering this show! Always felt this was one of the best and nothing else has quite measured up. Thank you! When Marsden went on to play Dalgliesh I was thrilled.
I used to watch this show as a teen and I loved it. I had forgotten about this show until seeing this video
I used to watch this show on PBS. It was excellent.
I actually watched this when it came out on PBS and was completely blown away. Better than anything that came before, and has not been really matched since.
Thank goodness we have people like you, Mr Chato. And thank you, for the master class.
I just adore this show. I was 14 when this airs in the U.K. and even at that age I was hooked. Over the years I did think about it and occasionally wondered if I could find it only to come across it on here. If only they could make TV like this I may decide to watch tv again.
I can’t say enough of the writing, it’s outstanding, it’s like crack without the consequences.
Grey men like this kept us safe in our beds
Brilliant series, sorely missed.
Love The Sandbaggers !
I remember my dad watching this. I was only 9 or 10 at the time so I was too young to appreciate it.
A 43 minute Chato video?!?! Christmas came early this year…
I used to love this show. Typical great British spy/police serial. Thanks for reminding me about it.
Oh that's why i never saw any more episodes. Thank you.
"The Sandbaggers" was a very dry British spy series, IMO, but it was very well written. I totally forgot about this series until Chato brought it up, and I instantly remembered the "Norwegian mission". I remember good stories and seem to get amnesia on bad ones.
Thanks for this! This is like a script writing seminar!
This and Callen were my favourite dramas
Wow that was the best show I’ve watched all year
(2023)
I love this kind of thing.❤ I’m definitely going to hunt this one down. It’s a shame we’re at the point where “production value” has replaced actual writing.
Just watched the first episode of this in a random rec on yt. Magnificent show. This period in Brit TV is magnificent. I, Claudius, Shadow of the Tower, now this.
Thank you Paul, never heard of this show as a Brit who grew up in the 80's I feel like I have missed something special. This is what I truly love about good British TV of the period, strong drama based writing with weight and heft acted and directed with a sense of focus, allowing the actors voices be the musical score of the show.... admittedly this is down to budgetary constraints but the theatrical tradition and education made that possible, including blocking of the the actors to make multi cam studio shooting easy as possible so there was a consistent geography of framing of actors to minimise crossing the line and also avoiding blocking a master shot...
I've never heard of this show, now I want it all!!!
Loved the wide plaid tie on the American. Brit spy drama... the best
I have to agree with you, though I never like to say "the best", the greatest" etc. But yeah, I feel that way too, and glad you put this out! The show was broadcast late on Sundays on PBS in the 1980s, but at the time, it was too "above my head", dry, and subtle for me to understand as a kid. Fast forward to several years ago, and I decided to try watching an episode from the beginning. Talk about binge wtahcing!!!! The brilliance of the story arcs, the acting, the gritty realism, the "win some / lose some", the budgetary constraints of the department, the political infighting. Wow!!! The casting was exceptional. Ray Lonnen was underrated as an actor, and would have made a fantasitc James Bond, in my opinion. He has the rugged good looks, the somewhat tactiturn personality, and his voice actually reminds me of Daniel Craig. And Bob Sherman was great too as Jeff Ross. I loved the irony that Burnside LOVES eating at McDonald's, while the American Ross considers it inedible. That is part of its brillance....none of the stereotypes. Yes, this is just an amazing series!!!!!
Clever, smart, interesting and very well worth a watch... if you can find it. A show where very little seems to happen, but suddenly the hour is up and you're left waiting until next week for the next episode.
Danger UXB was another cracking show of the time.
The Professionals was also a belter at the time... but that hasn't aged very well.
Well done Chato, I thought there were only a few of us English folk who had heard of it, let alone enjoyed it.
Thanks for highlighting this. I enjoy spy stuff from this era and this country.
Started watching this on my phone. Pause for now and wait till I can see it on the TV at home.
This format of active analysis is an intriguing direction. Might be nice to show off some other shows you like on occasion. 😀
I've heard of this series, but haven't watched it myself. I'm actually impressed. The sharp dialogue, the good pacing and build-up of tension and intrigue, I was genuinely gripped. I like it in the same vein as a good courtroom drama. It's the subtleties of the conversations that pull you along, wondering what will go wrong and how it'll be resolved. Top notch stuff.
Thanks. I envisioned this active analysis as a totally new way to do things like this. I take it you felt it worked?
@@CallMeChato I did, indeed.
I tend to watch a lot of video essays that make points without showing the broader context for why something is good. Even a short 15-20 second clip excised from a 42 minute programme loses some impact when you're otherwise just _told_ how great the show is, instead of being _shown and explaining_ this reasoning in real time.
It's like the difference between being told how amazing a grounded aeroplane is to see in the sky and what it does versus actually seeing it _in motion,_ while having the interesting technical info fed to you when it's relevant. This is what I feel you've done here, if that makes sense.
There's maybe a couple of other UA-camrs, besides yourself, I've seen do this well and it is very effective. I never felt the need to skip ahead, or speed anything up on my end, I was always engaged. You edited the video so that it focused on what was important and it made your commentary all the stronger. In conclusion, I highly encourage doing more of this.
😁
@@DoctorInk20 Thanks so much. It takes a long time and I’m still figuring out the technique.
@Call me Chato Seems to be going well so far. Carry on, good sir! Great things await! 😉
@CallMeChato I'd love to see you do another British drama of the time. The Sweeney. It was the polar opposite of this being flash, brash, and full of violence.
Not only to compare it to this but to American cop shows of the time.
Enjoyed your analysis of this program! The Sandbaggers just showed up on my Utube & I was hooked....since I'm a senior citizen,with much time on my hands,I wound up quite badly hooked & binge watched until my eyes were scratchy & barely able to focus during several late night sessions! Was tremendously unhappy when I ran out of episodes......if there had been more I would still be watching! Enjoyed your program enough to realize that I can watch the whole series again & enjoy it as much as the first viewing! Good job Sir.....
Excellent series and excellent decoupage of its grammar. For cold war fanatics like myself, this series is a landmark along with John leCarre's two adaptations of 79 and 82 "Tinker, taylor, soldier, spy" and "Smiley's people". If you make a video about them I'll be a very happy spy.
This was a good show. Someone suggested that it was a much more accurate depiction of cold war spies than any Bond film. It's a shame they didn't continue, it was brilliant.
Your narration helped me to catch a thing or two I missed when watching the pilot. Especially the humor. Thanks!
Bloody hell, you remember this gem!
42 minutes of Chato? Is it my birthday?
Thank you for your commitment to good storytelling.
Thank you Paul, it was refreshing to actually being told of a clever and interesting British TV show outside Doctor Who and Yes Minister (neither a drama mind you).
I have no english ancestry nor connection to the UK (except for living in Australia and having travelled to London on a commission to paint a fresco at one of my former clients' appartment situated across the Harrods store, very fancy!).
Nevertheless, I love shows that try to depict the "British way" of doing things!
Fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! loved loved loved it
Yes, yes, yes! And Richard Vernon, as always, makes the whole thing better.
Thanks for putting me onto this gem of a show. As im a Brit, this was fairly easy for me to pick up on dvd and Im so glad I did.
My all time favorite spy show...well done
Yay glad you like our British series ...when we used to make great TV.....try Callan ..and I know you love The Prisoner...these " old " series are very prescient ...and great watching..
Callan was also good.
I stumbled across The Sandbaggers and was delighted to watch the whole series (Harry the Hatchet). A very anti-Bond type spy story, and far more realistic than the vast majority of spy stories, which no doubt means that it wouldn't have had much appeal to an American audience raised on The Man from UNCLE and the like. Yes, I get that many people would find the dialogue heavy and 'insider' viewpoint not gripping or exciting, but those of us who don't mind having to think while being entertained. Sorry to hear the creator died, I could have watched a lot more of this show.
Thanks, Chato! This sounds like a fantastic show. This is very much up my alley.
Along with Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, and Smiley's People.
Top notch acting and beleivable subject.
I love this show too. I imported the Network DVD. Crackling tension filled scenes over cups of tea, as people discuss the assassination of an operative in the same breath as complaining about the stationary budget.
Brilliant series. This and Callan are fantastic examples of cold war down and dirty spy thrillers.
I dimly remember my family being crazy about this show when I was too young for much except cartoons. It looks excellent.
Thank you so much for bringing this show to our attention. Your in depth review of S01 E01 really sold me on watching this show.
I did a search on UA-cam and found most (possibly all) of the episodes. For some, the quality of the video looks like it came from a 3rd generation video tape copy, but it is good enough to follow the story. The audio is perfect.
I just finished watching S01 E02. Wow! When I watched S01 E01, a little of the suspenseful edge had been taken off due to your extensive analysis of that episode. So with S01 E02, I got the full impact.
Seriously, thank you for bringing this show to our attention.
Thank you for bringing this series to my attention. It looks like an excellent example of how technology has ruined the electronic broadcast of intellectual property. Just because you can, does not mean it is real. Writing trumps special effects, unless you cannot read. Good luck to us all.
*Edit*
I don't know if I could have appreciated this before I was 40. Then again, I might be the oldest Peter Pan to ever dream.
This is great. This is exactly what we need. Examples and a mentor to talk about what works and what does not, but in this mat3k fashion. Great job
Chato, YES the Sandbaggers TV series was great! I remember watching this show I think it appeared on PBS. Finally Chato something I care about.
I bought the complete set of these for my Mom who was into this Spy or Espionage stuff and she was amazed at the stark hard reality with very little glitz and silliness you often find with Spy TV or Movies - Myself I just like the late 70's scenes of the city of cars joggers cloths
This is great stuff, I do find it frustrating that I can't articulate why I like a show or cannot. Highlighting the many story efficiencies that I am not conscious of is neat.
Spies are my second favorite genre.
"Three days of the Condor" is a masterpiece.
"Endless rounds whizzing"...
I remember watching this back in the day and it was compulsive viewing if a little slow! Some good actors and writers...
I'm sold! I'm going to seek that series on a special pirate ship.
I'd heard of the Sandbaggers but for some reason I've never gotten around to seeing it. After watching your dissection of the first episode I will definitely be seeking it out. Reminds me a lot of Tinker Tailor & Smileys People, not so much the plot but the sharp no nonsense dialogue and plotting that gives the audience enough credit to pick out just how much detail is packed into every scene.
I know this type of video might not get as many views as it deserves but I appreciate you put out content like this anyway just for the love of good television.
Thanks.
Yes Chato, 'The Sandbaggers' was a great series. The late Ray Lonnen was also in another superb mini series, 'Harry's Game' (1982). Thank you for your marvellous channel.
Thanks so much.
I haven't seen this show in decades. British TV in the 60s and 70s had awesome shows. The writers were of a generation that had endured WW2 both in the field or on the home front, so had experiences to draw on. Today's writers live in the Twitter bubble and the limited real life experiences. Their only struggles seems to be deciding if they are Arthur, Martha or a toaster and enduring the trauma when their fave mango pumpkin unicorn flake latte is out of stock 😕
I discovered this series in the early 2000's. Every character is well realized and multilayered. The plots are intriguing and complicated, almost byzantine at times. Even with the series' abrupt ending with Series 2, it's the best TV show dealing with espionage I've ever seen. A close second to this was the later MR. PALFREY OF WESTMINSTER, which looked at British espionage from a different perspective, closer to MI5 than MI6.
It’s unfortunate you can’t get this monetized because I love this! I’m watching the series currently but I’d love to see each episode get a similar treatment from you. I know you generally don’t do blow-by-blow reviews but this was great and very unlike so many other per-scene reviews, mostly because it’s an obscure British show from the 70s, lol. Anyhow, I know it’s unlikely but I’d love to see more. Thanks for doing this one and helping me find a great show!
I love what you're doing with this review. Sort of a university level class on how to present a play. I'm afraid I missed the Sandbaggers when it first aired. I'll have to look it up. There were so many great teleplays in this vein in the late 70-80. Riley, King of Spys, Alec Guinness' Tinker, Tailer... and so on. This sort of story telling is lost I fear on current audiences who don't have the patience to sit and be entertained. Blame UA-cam Shorts and ever improving CGI that encourages the audience to suspend belief until they believe the unbelievable.
a few months ago i was telling friends about Sandbaggers in contrast to the current pile of star wars shows. one of them actually found all of Sandbaggers online. i should follow-up and see what they thought of it.
Still watching! It’s brilliant, just like back in the day when you were channel hopping and dropped in a program and just couldn’t turn it off. That happened to me with Twelve Angry Men and Seven Days in May.
Thanks for the memory, There were a few of this vintage. What the hell happened to TV
I lived that show ..and the ending was amazing!