I have watched a few retro 80s shows recently (Ashes To Ashes and It's A Sin) so it is good to catch up with a show actually made in the era.
I watched the four episode in an omnibus (over 3 hours long) so I am not sure where each instalment started.
I can't believe this ran for 14 years and I never saw an episode.
It's great to see the 80s for real and actors looking somewhat younger!
The cars of the day bring back so many memories (not a German car in site and Nissan hadn't been invented yet -loving the Datsun!) and the sound of stilettos on the pavement reminds me of kicking out time in my 80s youth even if the heels in question weren't the obligatory white in colour.
Kim Thomson was in a few things around this time and I always found her most fanciable.
By today's standards, the story is a bit prolonged but this was made by the unfashionable TVS whom wouldn't have had the funds for car chases and fight scenes so make up for it with wordy speeches but some good humour too.
Only 11 more series to go
Ruth Rendell Mysteries (TV Series)
Wolf to the Slaughter: Part One (1987)
User Reviews
Review this title3 Reviews
It's a decent, if slow start.
Sleepin_Dragon15 May 2024
DCI Wexford investigates the sudden disappearance of Anne Margolis, who's left behind her dependent brother, Rupert. Why did she go to a party with three thousand pounds in her handbag?
It's a little slow to start, but it's absorbing enough, it's a production that takes me straight back to my childhood, I genuinely love the 80's, it's so comforting.
Considering it's the very first episode, it establishes the two lead characters very well, we learn that Mike is a very strict puritan, short on patience and goodwill, and his boss, a little quieter, but very smart, a good family man.
Rupert is overdone, I like Nicholas Gecks, but this isn't one of his better performances.
There are plenty of familiar faces, good performances from Donald Hewlett and Rentaghost's Hal Dyer.
Always good to see Robert Reynolds, he made some very fine performances around this time, Miss Marple etc, but why did he disappear from acting at such a young age, a very striking guy.
They'd get sharper as time went on, both in terms of visuals and pace. Solid enough though.
6/10.
It's a little slow to start, but it's absorbing enough, it's a production that takes me straight back to my childhood, I genuinely love the 80's, it's so comforting.
Considering it's the very first episode, it establishes the two lead characters very well, we learn that Mike is a very strict puritan, short on patience and goodwill, and his boss, a little quieter, but very smart, a good family man.
Rupert is overdone, I like Nicholas Gecks, but this isn't one of his better performances.
There are plenty of familiar faces, good performances from Donald Hewlett and Rentaghost's Hal Dyer.
Always good to see Robert Reynolds, he made some very fine performances around this time, Miss Marple etc, but why did he disappear from acting at such a young age, a very striking guy.
They'd get sharper as time went on, both in terms of visuals and pace. Solid enough though.
6/10.
Wolf to the Slaughter: Part One
Prismark101 March 2021
I never watched the Inspector Wexford mysteries when they were originally broadcast on ITV.
It must have been popular as the show lasted for 13 years.
Going by the first story Wolf to the Slaughter. I dodged a bullet.
The episode has eccentric artist Rupert Margolis walking into a police station asking where he could find a new cleaner. Then muttering something about his socialite sister disappearing after she went to a party.
Wexford takes an interest because he received an anonymous note which says a woman called Ann has been killed.
The first episode crawled at a snail's pace. Too much focus on Margolis's eccentricities which quickly became tiresome. DI Burnden must have the patience of a saint to put up with him without getting cross.
Shot on video, it looked a little cheap, a bit uninspired, even amateurish when you can hear the clicking of all those heels when someone is walking.
It must have been popular as the show lasted for 13 years.
Going by the first story Wolf to the Slaughter. I dodged a bullet.
The episode has eccentric artist Rupert Margolis walking into a police station asking where he could find a new cleaner. Then muttering something about his socialite sister disappearing after she went to a party.
Wexford takes an interest because he received an anonymous note which says a woman called Ann has been killed.
The first episode crawled at a snail's pace. Too much focus on Margolis's eccentricities which quickly became tiresome. DI Burnden must have the patience of a saint to put up with him without getting cross.
Shot on video, it looked a little cheap, a bit uninspired, even amateurish when you can hear the clicking of all those heels when someone is walking.
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