![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Interesting one, this. Produced in 1959, The Four Just Men was a TV series that took its title (but not a whole lot else!) from a book by Edgar Wallace. It was a half hour weekly show, in which four crusading friends battled crime and corruption in some of the world's biggest cities. The four stars took it in turns as the lead, so didn't actually work together, a format that allowed a fair bit of variety from week to week. Anyways, I bring it up as I just found an episode on YouTube, starring Judi Dench. She plays the girlfriend of a young engineering student, who has discovered dastardly corruption on a huge dam-building project in Surrey Italy. Cue dashing Italian 'Just Man' Ricco Poccari, hurrying to the rescue!
I especially enjoy the portrayal of Italy as a country where everybody speaks with an English accent, except for Poccari! Incidentally, the uploader is presumably a particular fan of Judi Dench, as they've also put up a 1963 episode of Z-Cars that features her. It's pretty good. You can amuse yourself watching her play a (teenage!) tearaway, giving a pre-beard (and therefore pre-shouty) Brian Blessed a hard time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAsuJ_bfTPM
I've seen very little of Z-Cars over the years, but so far have always found it entertaining. Definitely recommended as worth investigating, and highly reminiscent of The Bill back when it was still good. But in black and white, obviously. And live!
I especially enjoy the portrayal of Italy as a country where everybody speaks with an English accent, except for Poccari! Incidentally, the uploader is presumably a particular fan of Judi Dench, as they've also put up a 1963 episode of Z-Cars that features her. It's pretty good. You can amuse yourself watching her play a (teenage!) tearaway, giving a pre-beard (and therefore pre-shouty) Brian Blessed a hard time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAsuJ_bfTPM
I've seen very little of Z-Cars over the years, but so far have always found it entertaining. Definitely recommended as worth investigating, and highly reminiscent of The Bill back when it was still good. But in black and white, obviously. And live!