Game, Set, and Match (1988– ) User Reviews

It's amazing how frequently I think of this series

[shrinkrapt-1 · 10/10 · 18 October 2009]

I agree with everyone who says that this series was the best of the 'spy' genre. My husband and I were captivated by it when it first aired in the US and watched every episode. I tried at that time to purchase the series (I did tape all of it) but was told by WGBH that it was not available. I even considered writing to Ian Holm to see if he might have a copy! Like others, I purchased and read the Deighton series (in part to understand the complicated plot.) If the original version ever comes available on DVD, I'll be among the first in line to snap up a copy. Ian Holm's portrayal of the vulnerable but courageous Bernard Samson was amazing. (He is always amazing.)

A masterpiece, withdrawn

[wd-8 · 10/10 · 30 April 2007]

An excellent series, masterfully acted and directed, but unloved (I am told) by Mr Deighton and withdrawn by him after a single presentation. It is now only viewable in private collections, and via the British Film Institute at special request. Very unfortunate, as Ian Holm's nuanced portrayal of the weary-but-determined Bernard Samson is superb; one of his very best performances. The supporting cast, including the young Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Fraser, are superb. With Mel Martin playing the conflicted and traitorous wife, and Michael Degen as the mercurial Werner, the story positively simmers with the tragic and fateful personal consequences of the great game.

Outline of basic plot w/out spoiler & outline star Ian Holm's style.

[jcrodden · 10/10 · 2 August 1999]

Based on the novels of the same name by Len Deighton this 13-hour mini-series aired once on PBS in the US in 1988 and I believe the same in the UK. It stars Ian Holm and I believe it is filmed story-telling at its best. The story is of British spy Bernard Samson played by Holm and it picks up while he is a desk-bound spy in London Central Intelligence assigned there five years earlier after losing his nerve in his dealings in West and East Berlin. There is a mole in London headquarters passing secrets to Moscow. Bernard must become a field agent once more and go back into East Berlin and bring out the one man who can identify the mole in London. Identifying the leak is dealt with in the first few hours of the film. The identity of the mole is a shocker and the story escalates from there into a maze of mystery, cloak and dagger, international locales and very brilliant acting by an excellent cast.

This is not a Bond flick. But the phrase "I'm not a spy but I know what I like." seems to apply. The film seems to be realistic in its portrayal of the spy world showing some ordinary office politics and the tedium of stakeouts. But if you like detail in your stories you'll find enough action to satisfy. And due to length and attention to detail it is true to the Deighton novels. It may seem like a shrug of the shoulders today as the Wall is down and Germany united. I've wondered if the Wall coming down a bare few months after airing in the US kept it from being re-aired - just a suspicion. I have heard that Deighton was unhappy with it and was able to keep it from being shown again. But the film highlights so well the sweaty paranoia of being in East Berlin when you could feel the tap on the shoulder at any time even if you were a citizen let alone a spy from the west. It captures the cold war paranoia from both sides of the wall.

(If anyone knows another time and place in the past or especially in the future that it will air please share the knowledge.) At 13 hours of viewing it is not, I admit, for the impatient. This may be a moot point because I believe it is OOP or perhaps never available other than for those foresighted enough to have taped a keeper copy at home. If there is a source for this please share the information.

Ian Holm has had a successful and varied career in both stage and screen for many years. I do not think it would be out of place, however, to say that he has received much more attention and accolades in the past several years because of certain roles he has defined or perhaps redefined (his King Lear on stage and television is one example). There are certainly people that know more about his career than I do (search the web) but for me Ian Holm was one of those actors that you knew for years before you knew his name. ("Oh, look honey. It's that.guy!") I believe it was Kenneth Branagh who described Holm's style as "Anything you can do I can do less of." But he is not minimalist. He merely (!) eliminates the superfluous in the performance. If his character called for outrageous excess I have no doubt he would supply it. But only just enough.if you see what I mean.

Highly recommend to anyone who can find a copy.

A Great Dramatization of Deighton's Great Spy Thriller

[deaflove · 5 April 2004]

This made for television movie, based on the three books Game, Set, Match, by Len Deighton, is one of the best spy dramas ever produced. Ian Holm is brilliant in his portrayal of the stoic but cunning Bernard Samson. If you are a Deighton fan, as well you should be, this is certainly the best adaptation of his work ever to appear in this media since Michael Caine starred in The Ipcress File and Funeral In Berlin. If you like spy thrillers, this a collector's item. It is certainly on par with "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and one can only hope that it will be made available on DVD. I'll keep my fingers crossed that such wisdom will strike those who own the copyright!

A great talent gone.

[jcrodden · 10/10 · 19 June 2020]

This mini-series where I first became familiar with the name of Ian Holm and marvelled at the talent he brought to all his roles. A great talent lost. Brilliant in this work and all others. Thank you Sir Ian.

ITV attempts Tinker, Tailor...and the results are complex, flawed but worthwhile

[stephen-lambe · 8/10 · 19 June 2017]

I am a big fan of Len Deighton and his Bernard Sampson books. However Sampson is not George Smiley - his characterisation - and that of many of the other characters in the novels - are less oblique and layered than Le Carre's main protagonists. That doesn't make them worse - it just means that Deighton's CIS is less old boys club, and more a traditional office, with it's petty politics, one-upmanship and illicit affairs, while Sampson himself is part class-warrior and part action hero - and always an unreliable narrator.

The problem with this excellent - if flawed - series is that the producers seemed to want to cash in on the success of the Guinness Smiley's by making everything as arch as possible, with the plot buried in half-explained conversations and it's melancholic string-quartet soundtrack.

Had they presented Sampson as just one notch more James Bond, the series might have won higher viewing figures, but no - they made everything as enigmatic possible.

That said, the plot largely mirrors the books except an extended and added Polish-based sequence at the start of Berlin Game. Sampson is superbly played by Ian Holm as an older and more cerebral figure than the books, but equally bitter. It's not just in the casting, he's written that way, making Holm a perfect choice for the script, but not for the Sampson in the books. Holm is superb, but whether his is "right", depends on your perspective. For Deighton, he isn't. But this Sampson "works" in the context of the adaptation.

Spoiler. Fans of the next 6 books will note that a sequence in Mexico Set - where what appears to be a visit from Fiona him incognito is played out as Sampson perceives in it at the time, not as the events actually happened when revisited in Spy Sinker (yet to be written when the series was made).

As for the casting, there are hits and misses. Holm, as discussed, is superb, as are the statuesque Mel Martin as Fiona and Michael Culver as a beautifully oily Dicky Cruyer. Anthony Bate is just too British to play the (admittedly anglophile) Brett Renssalaer and Eva Ebner is far from the Frau Hennig of the novels. However, most of the cast give excellent performances.

Overall, this is a well done, and well made adaptation that failed at the first hurdle by being just a touch to oblique for its own good. A very worthy effort, though, and certainly worthj spending time on.

Excellent, even if not exactly true to the books

[william-swarbrick · 10/10 · 8 April 2011]

I saw this series, or most of it, when it was broadcast originally. I managed to obtain a 'bootleg' copy of it a while back and have just finished watching it again. A real delight.

It does not correspond exactly to Len Deighton's trilogy (actually there are nine books in the trilogy, together with a 'prequel', 'Winter') as Fiona, in the books, is an even more complex character, a triple agent. To do the complete series of books full justice would take a film series of around 30+ hours long, a colossal undertaking.

However, taken on its own merits, the TV series is one of the best espionage thrillers that I have ever seen on the screen, equally as good as the BBC George Smiley adaptations. Watching it today is like going back to another world, a world that is thankfully gone. If the series ever comes out in an official DVD version, which I hope it does, I will be one of the first people to buy it.

I have been a fan of Deighton since the mid 1960s, and very much miss not having a new work of his every year. However I can always re-read them, and occasionally re-watch Game, Set & Match as well as the Michael Caine film adaptations.

Reasons for no reissue

[tjprice-1 · 10/10 · 9 February 2009]

This series got me into Deighton's writing and the genre when I was younger and I love this presentation of the story. I would however disagree with the above comment. From what I have read in the past, it is not Holm's performance that lead Deighton to refuse to have the series released but the butchering that all three books received in the translation to the screen. A great example of this is the rewrite of the boarder crossing that ended Samson's field career. The scene is not in the book, the character who dies in the minefield was never in any of the books and the crossing in Sinker was from East Germany to West Germany, not the Polish frontier. This whole storyline is cloth. The changes in Set similarly damage the integrity of the story. My perspective on Holm's performance was that he portrayed the disorientation of Samson during his wife's defection excellently and I believe comported himself well in portraying the aging field agent desperately trying to bridge the class divide. Samson both pays for his father's idealism and suffers due to its influence on his life. As Clevemore comments, had he gotten himself an education he would have probably been running the department. I think the true loss of performance is due to physical appearance more than anything. Holm is diminutive when compared to the Samson of the book - a physically impressive man capable of using his size to impose a presence.

Holm's Samson is the genuine article

[mlodge-2 · 10/10 · 19 September 2010]

Intelligence agents like Bernie Samson are not towering hulks or finely chiselled slabs of beef. They look like ordinary humdrum office staff or factory workers; who can pass in a crowd, stand on an hour unnoticed on a station platform, be stopped for their papers and not give off a vibe of trained violence. Tradecraft, not muscle, is what gets you by on the street, although Bernie can handle himself when it's called for. Eric Stinnes needed the Stasi behind him as part of his impressive 'chi'; without it he would have looked more like a pained, neurotic artist.

As regards Mr Deighton's view of the filmed realisation of his novel, he must be in an exclusive minority of writers who can afford stand by and not have a prize asset come to market; and, even rarer, be content to see it go out 'samizdat' to the hungry viewers, rather than admit that - on the one - the public begs to differ. Not sure that this withholding of permission will always be the case.

For the record, I don't think that there is a dud performance in the whole series, and the music and lighting - which nobody has yet mentioned, is particularly good. In summary, the series is a insightful depiction of Britain (and it's neuroses) at a certain time - a fitting pendant to Le Carre's Smiley Trilogy (but not so cannily marketed, eh guys?).

Superb, riveting

[scott s-2 · 10/10 · 8 August 2023]

This absolutely fantastic limited run series is spellbinding, wonderfully acted, beautifully filmed.

My parents taped it for me, and I'm glad they did! I've only been able to see the film a few times, and the tape has been lost.

My understanding Len Deighton envisioned the lead as tall and blonde, not short and brunette, as Ian Holmes was, and he blocked its release.

What a shame! I can remember bits and pieces of the fim so vividly! I have to confess I would never had heard of Len Deighton except for this brilliant series!

If Mr. Deighton can take pity on the world, he will (finally) have this re-released.

If Len Deighton Hated It Who Am I To Argue?

[aramis-112-804880 · 6/10 · 7 June 2022]

"Game, Set and Match" is based on the first trilogy (of 3 trilogies of novels) concerning the career of spy Bernie Samson (Ian Holm, supported by a mostly top-drawer cast).

Author Len Deighton apparently didn't like it (how many authors do like adaptations of their novels?) For one thing, Holm (one of my favorite actors) was miscast. In the books he's described as "tall" yet here Holm is shorter than his wife. But Holm's performance is so good (if a little too hangdog) it's hard to fault him.

I can't delve too deeply into describing the story without spoilers, and it's awfully complex. I've read all three novels twice (and the subsequent trilogies) so I knew the story going in. But I only found this series in 2022 online. It's difficult to get one's hands on. Apparently Deighton disliked it so much he bought the rights to it for suppression. Now he's gone maybe his estate will lighten up.

What did Deighton hate about it? I don't know, but I can make some guesses.

The series deviated from the books rarely. In one place characters have a discussion about a mythical American missile program called Star Wars. Actually, it was only called that in mockery by its enemies. I admit I was one then and I was wrong.

It was actually "The Strategic Defense Initiative" and it was designed to fire from satellites only at incoming missiles from the USSR. Since it takes up so much air time in this show I feel free to discuss it. The anti-American left, which probably wanted to see their fellow Americans die in a Soviet nuclear strike, tried to shut it down.

However, in the 1990s Soviet politicians and high-ranking military officials claimed the SDI actually did the USSR in. The US has a free-market economy and the USSR had unworkable "planned" Socialistic economies, so the US could build it while the USSR could not (cf the E. G. Marshall narrated documentary "Messengers from Moscow"). It spelled the end of the USSR only a few years after "Game, Set and Match" aired.

Pardon me for what seems to be a tangent but it's discussed extensively in an episode or two under its mendacious "Star wars" name and since it's the major deviation from the first three books in the Bernard Samson saga I wonder if the screenwriters' high hat discussion of something they clearly don't understand is one reason Deighton took against the program? As an author myself who has had stories adapted for radio, I can see where, if I were trying to be accurate and some clown horned in on my work like that I'd be furious.

Then again, Deighton, who wrote the books first-hand from Samson's POV, has called him an unreliable narrator. That's a difficult thing to depict on TV.

Anyway, the series "Game, Set and Match" is mostly good. Kudos to Gottfried John, who went on to make such a delightful impression as a Putin type in the Bond movie "Goldeneye."

But it's Ian Holm who carries the story, as Samson carries the novel's. It's too bad the show tanked as it would have been nice to see the second trilogy done, since it turns the first three books on their heads.

Of course, the great thing about seeing this show thirty years after it aired is knowing that ordinary people one day went out and started dismantling the Berlin Wall with hand tools. East Germany and its Stasi fell like the Nazis and their Gestapo, only without a war. It's one of the most wonderful things that happened in my lifetime. Then the rollback on Iron Curtain countries and the utter collapse of the USSR into wall-like rubble. Hoo-ray! Making Cold War yarns like these, and Checkpoint Charlie, as much period pieces as the Napoleonic Wars.

Nevertheless, though some of the same cast and crew appear, anyone hoping to see Deighton done as well as Alec Guinness' version of Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" will be disappointed. It's too bad, since Deighton is the better writer.

very well-made espionage series

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 15 April 2021]

"Game, Set and Match" is quite an enjoyable and well-made series about international intrigue and espionage. The acting is good and there is no lack of memorable backgrounds and striking locations. (The budget must have been considerable.) For instance, there's a fine evocation of a Cold War-era Berlin rent apart by tremendous geopolitical rivalries.

The plot, too, is good. In the past I wrote a small review for another work in which I suggested that an espionage movie (or, in this case, espionage series) should ressemble a successful striptease, meaning that it should be an artful combination of baring and covering, displaying and fleeing, promising and denying. Judged by this criterion the series certainly delivers, by providing an intricate and ingenious intrigue complete with clever clues and red herrings.

"Game, Set and Match" is also an exploration of the various kinds of betrayal and infidelity people inflict upon each other, ranging all the way from adultery within a marriage to treason against king and country, on a national level. Here the deceit, cruelty and turmoil to be found in the private sphere feed into the deceit, cruelty and turmoil to be found in the public sphere, and vice versa.

The series' tone, however, is not unrelenting grim. There are touches of satire and humour, for instance in the description of the many labyrinthine and internecine battles which blight our protagonist's working life. Part of this description sticks reasonably close to reality ; another part consists of a comical exaggeration, as in a funhouse mirror, of the various quarrels and tensions to be found in everyday office life. Many a viewer will be reminded of business meetings on themes like "How to Defeat the Opposition", with the Opposition consisting of some rival service or department within one's own organisation. And even within the very same service there's room for plotting and intrigue ; just watch what happens, say, when two or three colleagues compete for the same promotion...

Suspenseful, addictive stuff that encourages binge-watching on a grand scale.

A botched production through the awful miscasting of the protagonist

[pryan-56097 · 2/10 · 26 September 2016]

It is clear to me that Deighton could not have accepted such a serious miscasting for Bernard Samson by the otherwise excellent actor Ian Holm. The character is supposed to be at least six feet tall, around 13 stones in weight and in his early forties. Holm is so out of place in that regard that he rivals the miscasting of Tom Cruise as the Jack Reacher character. No doubt there will be those who claim that such physical disparity between the character and the performer is irrelevant. However, it is fundamental in this case. It appears to be a given that producers and directors are happy to play with central components of novels in their conversion to on screen versions. We saw this with the otherwise entertaining new version of Tinker, Tailor, but it is completely unnecessary and is usually damaging to the end result.

Simply the best....

[crogers-5 · 23 March 2004]

Like many of the other viewers, I was lucky enough to tape this when it originally played. Until now, I have been mystified as to why it has never (a) been re-run or (b) never put on VHS or DVD. The film was expertly acted and simply the most realistic film ever of its genre. It captured the essense of the times and the places in which it was filmed. It is a true disservice to past and potential viewers that this creation is not available except to those who have the old tapes that will eventually crumble into disuse. Considering some of the lesser efforts that Len Deighton produced later on, I cannot understand why he would object to this magnificent portrayal of Bernard Samson et al.

Want to Buy

[jvalo · 10/10 · 30 October 2007]

I watched the presentation of this on PBS in the U.S. when it originally aired in 1988 (?). Assuming the miniseries was available on DVD I purchased first editions of all three books last year. Since then I have been searching for the series on internet movie sites. Today I found this web site. I will give up the search.

I too would like to buy this complete - 26 episodes - miniseries. After buying the DVDs I would read each book, then watch the episodes for that book. That is what I did with John LeCarre's Karla trilogy and Larry McMurty's Texas ranger trilogy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for great books or book series that became very good TV miniseries - or movie series - that are now available on DVD?

As Good as It Gets

[erawlinsnyc · 27 January 2003]

Others have done an excellent job summarising this fine mini-series, so I won't bother going into details. I did want to mention that, on a BBS devoted to Len Deighton's work, it was mentioned (although not independently verified) that it was indeed Deighton who kept the series from going to tape (or any other subsequent medium) because of his displeasure with its realisation (stupid temperamental writers!).

It was only by chance that I learned about the series the morning of the day the first episode was to air (unlike one of the other reviewers, I knew Ian Holm very well, first from Alien, and I just happened to notice his picture in the paper in an article previewing the series). I had the foresight to tape it, but missed getting the post-first-episode interview with Ian Holm (tape ran out), which I kick myself for to this very day.

I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that this series NEEDS to be on DVD, but until Deighton dies, this probably won't happen (and I am completely mystified as to what it was he objected to - the series brought every one of the characters to vivid, realistic life, was incredibly (though not slavishly) true to the books, and so enthralled me that I went out and bought all of Deighton's spy novels, even though I'd never read one before). Until then, those of us with tapes will continue to set aside 13 hours every year or so to enjoy this incredibly well-produced, well-acted, and well-told story, hoping each year as the tapes slowly corrode that Deighton will have a change (or massive infarction) of heart and let us have this series in all its glory on DVD...

My comments express my delight for this TV series and wish for it to be released on DVD

[armadillo-1 · 17 September 2002]

This TV series is one of the most brilliant I ever seen. It compares, if not exceeds "Tinker Salior Soldier Spy" and "Smiley's People" (John Le Carre, please forgive me). To this day I do not understand why it has not been released on DVD or at least VHS, DVD would be preferable due to the skillful photography and editing. I would love to see this released.

An espionage movie of the highest quality

[Roger Callan · 6 January 2002]

For those who love the spy movie this is a joy. Settle down for two or three evenings viewing and follow the detailed and fascinating plot. Watch this alongside so many current movies which treat the viewer as incapable of following anything that is not a simple tale. If there is anyone out there who has the means of arranging the series to DVD PLEASE DO, it would be a real thrill for many fans

Fantastic series worthy of a re-release

[mikeutopia · 8 October 2002]

I have never tired of watching this excellent series since it was first aired back in the eighties. I had the foresight to tape every episode and always try to watch as much of it as I can when it's good old entertainment I'm looking for. Great settings - Mexico, Berlin. For historical value its great to see all the scenes filmed in the vicinity of the Berlin Wall when cold war tension was high. The perfomances of all the actors bring Deighton's characters to life - Bernie, Werner, Fiona, Dickie etc. are all portrayed very well.

Game set match DVD

[hillaryathome · 19 July 2011]

I have a friend who has all 7 DVDs of it. It was made in Australia from Tapes of the series. I understand it took many months to compile it all But I saw it and it was great. So nice to see it after so many Years. They did change the plot - that's why Deighten was so unhappy with it, Even though it was beautifully done. Ian Holm was born to play Bernard Sampson I don't know if there's any interest in obtaining the DVDs but they do exist Something this good just can't disappear. Call me sentimental-I miss the cold war Simply because I love the books. So, if anyone is interested in getting a copy let me know and I'll Forward request to my friend. He doesn't want to do anything illegal, He just loves Deighten

Unforgettable Series

[jgreenb2 · 1 June 2001]

Like the previous reviewer, I have seen this series only once at it's original airing -- I've hoped in vain to find it on tape or DVD since! After I saw this series I read Deighton's Game, Set, Match trilogy and that made me realize that it was Ian Holm's portrayal of Bernard Sampson that made this special.

Most spy thrillers feature loners of one kind or another. These people live lives where duplicity is their stock and trade. You can't really have a family hanging around if you're going to try to fool all of the people of all of the time -- I mean your family has seen it all! So spy heros are usually disconnected from normal human relationships. Some are as cartoonish as James Bond (can you even *imagine* what Bond's mother would be like?). Some are as rich and textured as George Smiley. But invariably, these are men apart.

Not Bernard Sampson. Bernard is one of us. Not only does he have family, he has family TROUBLE. His beautiful wife Fiona has just defected to the East Germans. When you're a British agent that is seriously embarrassing. And she was a spoiled rich girl from a better class and much more money. Her father is big in the establishment, of course he really blames Bernard. Why not? Bernard is not from the right kind of family after all. He grew up in Berlin of all places and he never had the sort of money that breeds good manners and gets you into the right school.

Bernard's messy marital problems are just what his simpering, bureaucratic boss Dickie needs to make sure that Bernard's career doesn't rise to threaten his own. And it would if Dickie couldn't find a way to keep him down, because Bernard is the last true professional at MI6. He knows the spy game from beginning to end. From the messy killings to the scary skull-duggery to the boring stakeouts he lives this life in a way that his nicer superiors can only imagine. And perhaps they sense it because they don't trust him at all.

And under it all Bernard keeps going. He is a dedicated father. He STILL loves Fiona (she has a strange way of showing up suddenly for parental visits). And he knows that he'll never have the career that others may enjoy but he still can't refuse to do the work when he knows that no one else can.

On paper, in the Deighton books, Bernard is an interesting variant on the classic British spymaster. Portrayed by Ian Holm he's hauntingly real. Even now, some 13 years after seeing the series I can still see his craggy face and his tired walk. The terrible betrayal of his wife sits on his shoulders like the weight of the world. But his eyes were like cold metal probes. He was always the one who saw the most, understood the most. And because he was also the only real pro, he was the one left to do the dirty work.

A Fontana's series

[nelsy58 · 26 August 2005]

It has been quite awhile since I saw this series - 1987 or 1988 when I lived in the USA. It was on PBS MYSTERY and no other TV series has captured my attention - and admiration - as this ten art series did. Thought I had the story all worked out until the last series of course. made me read the second trilogy - Hook, Line and Sinker (there are place names to it as well but I forget them. I here Mr D bought the copyright to the all the films - pity. Never seen a better mystery since. Sir Ian was a wonderfully confused Bernard and the various other characters from his wife, his girlfriend, Silas, whomever were all played out exceptionally well. Locations - or so it appeared were bang-on as well. The Smiley series is great (the Sir Alec for sure), this ranks just as good at a minimum.

Game, Set and Match - back on our screen??

[deightondossier · 11 April 2009]

Readers of this threat might light to know that there was first word surfacing in March 2009, through Deighton's publishers and marketing people, that as part of the 80th birthday year re-issues of his books, there was the idea of a re-filming of the Game, Set and Match books by ITV; not reshowing the 1988 series, but re-shooting it. No more details than that, but it's a sign. Though how they'd do the filming without a Berlin Wall or East Berlin in site would be interesting. Still, we live in hope.

I featured this on my blog, which links to my Deighton Dossier fansite, if anyone wants to go there for more details.

one of the best

[terrythrasher · 8 November 2005]

this i well remember. it was later . some years later that it has become a cult favorite. Deighton may not have like it( the movie) but i felt it was one of the great adaptation

a classic. a great movie that parallels the book . am willing also along with many others, i see, willing to paid for it. It will require Granda TV to release it in DVD or some enterprising person. the suspense builds and leaves many questions. Much better than the shoot em up mindless prater that comes out now. A number of fans are waiting for the go - ahead to buy a DVD. it will be a instant best seller. It is better than Soldier, Sailer...etc..

Post 12-07-05

i have obtained the DVD of it .now available. the sound is excellent , better than the original. video is acceptable. three years later . i actually pulled out the DVD last night and started watching it again. strange as i have gotten use to high def and this is plain DVD. the sound is terrific and the nuance is far superior to anything on the market.

i am taking bids and if anyone is near Baltimore or Washington you are welcome to preview for the quality i stated. email me with bids . obviously no copies of this can be made as i suspect that is against the law.

A complete rating of 10 for the 1/2 I did see!!

[gauthi06 · 18 September 2006]

If this is the same series I've been looking for on DVD that played on CBC way back I would like to know if someone has the WHOLE series. I remember when it finished the ending seemed quite strange in that it didn't seem "finished" and there were a lot of outstanding questions. I contacted CBC at the time whereby I was informed that the series was actually 26 episodes long but they had only purchased 13 of them. If anyone knows where I can get hold of the complete series I would appreciate it. I watched it faithfully for the 13 weeks it was on and it was the most captivating spy/espionage program I've ever watched!! If it ever played again I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good suspense movie. The only negative thing I could say was hard to keep all the characters straight with the 1 week breaks.