Customer Reviews

Mr Palfrey of Westminster

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you like watching a spy catch a spy; here's a set to own. It's created in mid 1980s when British spies used floppy disc drives, VHS tape, audiotape, and dial phones. Mr. Palfrey (Alec McCowen-'Travels with My Aunt','Victoria & Albert') is a spy-buster. A hunter of spies within. He's slick & effective--Westminster's ace. The spy activity is believable--not Hollywood super-hero, super-tech, super-action style. Palfrey was a bit stuffy in the 1st season (episodes 1-4) but eventually the dialogue gave him some quick wit adding sprinklings of humor amid the intrigue. Call it 4 1/2 stars, if you must, for age, but it's better than most 21st century spy films.

10 episodes, each about 50 minutes. SUBTITLES have been added for those who like using them. Plenty of British stars join the series as guests.

Series 1-Episode 1 ONCE YOUR CARD IS MARKED
Palfrey's surprise new boss is female, known only as the Coordinator (Caroline Blakiston-"The Forsyte Saga","Wives and Daughters","Scoop"). Palfrey must find and secure a diplomat, Mr. Springer, believed spying for Soviets. A spy or scapegoat?

1-2 THE HONEYPOT AND THE BEES
Air Vice Marshal Conyers (Richard Johnson-"The Robinsons"), defense official, & a young Czech girl disappear. The Coordinator assumes there's a supreme security risk.

1-3 THE DEFECTOR
Palfrey cautions the Coordinator about announcing a Russian author's, Volkov (Julian Glover-"The Young Victoria","Wish Me Luck") defection. Is it just a trap since the KGB gets involved? Also Yelena (Deborah Grant-"Bergerac","Crown Prosecutor"), a Russian acquaintance of Palfrey gets into the scene.

1-4 A PRESENT FROM LEIPZIG
A Russian 13th Century icon is found by the Coordinator even though never reported stolen. Why? And why is an E. German visiting a Brit industrialist?

Series 2-Episode 1 FREEDOM FROM LONGING
Blair (regular, Clive Wood-"London's Burning","Press Gang") is called in to help investigate Martina (Estelle Kohler-"The Main Chance"), a Czech woman with who he once had an affair. Is she a Russian spy? Palfrey questions Blair's involvement. Martina's breasts get exposed for a few seconds, the only reason for the box warning.

2-2 RETURN TO SENDER
Returning after defection to the Soviets, spy Rupert Styles (Leslie Phillips- "Chancer","Ruth Rendell Mysteries") is assigned to Palfrey for silencing. As always, Palfrey has his own way of doing things. Nikolai Baliev (Clive Francis-"Poldark","Sense and Sensibility","Lipstick on Your Collar")is involved. Excellent episode.

2-3 MUSIC OF A DEAD PROPHET
Palfrey is assigned to sabotage a book publication revealing a 1950's Iranian assassination. Of course it's a gov-cover-up. What to do?

2-4 OFFICIAL SECRET
Palfrey is to stop a past government man from telling the media that there are continuing double agents at work in Britain. Yelena is a defector under state protection. McNair (David Quilter-"Grange Hill","Lilies") is responsible for her safety. There is an omelet-size bit of romance.

2-5 SPYGAME
Palfrey's trailing a space engineer, Madison (David Baxt-"We'll Meet Again")that the CIA believes is spying for the Soviets. A computer connected "Star Wars" battle game leads to clues and suspects.

2-6 THE BAITED TRAP
Coordinator is tipped off by a Soviet that there is a double-agent, namely Bob Sanding (Jim Norton-"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas","Nanny"). Palfrey is assigned to check it out, even though palfrey is wary. Nikolai (2-2) rekindles contact with Coordinator, for what ends?

I apologize for the review length. There is a lot of spy story in this set.

This is a rather low-key spy/counter espionage series, but very enjoyable. No gun fights or bloody battles, just a thoughtful approach and success. We enjoyed it very much and look forward to more of Mr. Palfrey.

The acting in this show is spot on when it comes to the way things really are often in spying. Sure they are adventurous spy games but for many of them it's not so glamorous at all. Mr. P has a digny office and a boss that reminds me of maggie thatcher. The cases are realistic and unlike a field operative in a foriegn land there is little action to be had. The show moves slowly just like reality often. The plots are reallife too. Thames was a company that made shows for itv which was the bbc's main competition for many decades. Thames and all brit tv was shot on video tape and that's the case here. This continued until the late 80's when it all went to film finally.
The show is very slow and each story plods on as it would in real life at least in 1984-86. They technology is of that time and so are the cold war worries. It's interesting to remember that the terrible cold war would be over in 7 years only! Noone in 1986 could see this happening! These type of spy stories are very much real ones that had played out over and over through the decades and for people to complain about how slow they were shows that they have no REAL KNOWLEDGE of spycraft. Sure they were some gunfights and big operations but mostly men ran little ops trying to ensare the other side. A good case of this is the story of the defecting author. IS he for real?
and obviously even if he isn't it's not a huge victory for the soviets to plant a man who will later return and say the west sucks. But that is how things really were back then! Each little op was such a thing. Of course at the time of this show it was only just revealed about the evil american turncoat who was working for the soviets for money. The people who died because of him were all soviets too. In such a world of spying even little victories of any kind were tried. THis show has a bureacrat for it's lead! that's not usually done. But fans of action films or high drama who can't take slow plodding spy work , which is most of it usually , may want to avoid this one.

I'd never heard of this series before. I was pleasantly pleased. It held my interest and is non violent.

Every So Often You Watch Something New That Is So Well Written and So Well Acted By Everyone
In All Of The Ten Episodes//Each Episode Is A Gem/The Director Knew What He Was Doing With The Pacing/I Still Can't Get Over How Great This Series Was///I Don't Know Why They Only Did 10 Episodes//I Could Have Watched Another 90 Episodes/I Wonder Why Only Ten/By The Way I am So Glad That They Added Closed Caption(Subtitles)If Anyone Of You Who Like Spy Dramas// Then
you Will Find Mr.Palfrey Completely Fresh And This Is Really Something To Watch//
Stanley Cooper Jupiter Florida
zoundz@bellsouth.net

Excellent. If you like spy stories; don't miss this. Complex stories with unexpected endings. Intelligent plot and interesting characters. No action, just a very good plot.

This was an excellent series with a total of ten shows, released in 1984 and aired by PBS in the U.S. in the late 80s. They only ran the shows one time. Too bad! It was the last series written by George Markstein of Danger Man/Secret Agent fame. The situation is of a very small department under the indirect control of an unnamed English female prime minister (hmmmm, who could that be?). This department tackles Mission Impossible-style tasks that cannot be carried out by official means, but they do it with a staff of three (Mr. Palfrey, his secretary and his side-kick, Blair) and no high-tech gizmos or budget. How do they do it? Their "dirty tricks" are way more tricky than dirty. Both their subjects and their audience are taken on a ride, often with a surprise ending. My favorite episode was "Return to Sender" about a Russian double-agent who has decided he wants to return home. Mr. Palfrey assignment is to stop by any means necessary. Just when you think you're going to witness the agent's demise, the team's mastery of psychology saves the day.

This is a low budget mystery non-thriller. On the positive side, there's no sex or violence. Indeed, there isn't much action to speak of at all. The plots involve little more than the tedious succession of characters that, at the end, turn out to be someone else. Try reconstructing the plot after you've seen it crash into its inevitably boring climax.

The photography is wretched, with many face shots almost into the nostrils and lots of traffic scenes to pad out the required time. A little white spot appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen for several minutes at a time. I don't blame the photographers for that, however. That would require ingenuity.

The hero is barely more than a faceless bureaucrat, his sidekick might be a zombie (and how about that wig!), and the comic relief focuses on an office worker who doesn't work much! Music? Was there any? The directing is strictly on the amateur side. In short, save your money or watch Frost, Morse, and Gently over again.

I like British minsteries, but cannot recommend this series. It is long winded and slow and very crude. Don't waste your money!