Special Branch (TV Series) Entente Cordiale (1974) User Reviews

Entente Cordiale

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 14 June 2021]

A look at Anglo French relations.

Haggerty is being investigated by internal affairs for killing a Frenchman in a raid.

Meanwhile Craven's French/Algerian ex wife Claudia returns. She has some information about a right wing French group.

It seems both Claudia and the death of the Frenchman are linked. She was working for him.

Craven is concerned when she disappears and no one else seems to be too bothered to look for her.

Haggerty has his work cut out by the internal affairs man who seems to out to get him.

An episodes' that fleshes out Craven as he still feels responsible for Claudia. Although he might be being used by her with her own political motivations.

At one point Craven tells Haggerty that they will make a dynamic pair down at the labour exchange.

It is left to Strand to politically manipulate a sensible solution to keep everyone happy, apart from the internal affairs guy.

Haggerty kills his first villain.

[joegarbled-79482 · 9/10 · 14 April 2024]

This fairly unusual episode of "Special Branch" has something for all fans of the series as it begins with Haggerty (Patrick Mower) shooting a man, in self defence and thus landing himself in hot water with a particularly odious officer from A10, the internal investigation branch.

Meanwhile, Alan Craven (George Sewell) finds his ex-wife (played by the gorgeous Dora Reisser) on his door step, uninvited and unwanted. However, when he finds that she is truly scared for her life, he can't resist riding in on his white steed to rescue her. What he doesn't know is that Strand (Paul Eddington) and his political puppeteers have an interest in both the dead man and the ex-Mrs Craven as they're suspected of being involved in terrorism in connection with France and Algerian independance.

Haggerty and Craven pretty much ignore protocol, Craven points out that HE is the perfect man to find his missing ex-wife and Haggerty pretty much tells the odious A10 man to go and do one. It was telling that the A10 officer threatens to "break" Haggerty the next time he got into trouble and he feels SURE that he WILL get into trouble again. It's a sad pointer that the series could've gone on, with Sewell and Mower, there was plenty of life left yet.

Morris Perry who used to play "Moxon" in "Special Branch" was born to play the oily man upon high whose political intrigues would frustrate law and order and allow someone to "get away with it" because it suited a few politicians. Paul Eddington, best known for his comedy acting did a fine job as "Strand", just as believable as Perry was.

In George Sewell, Patrick Mower, Dora Reisser and Gary Files. We get four actors from Gerry Anderson World meeting up, Sewell (SHADO's Colonel Alec Freeman) roughing up Files (Spectrum's Captain Magenta) in a scene that showed that Craven was a lot like Jack Regan of "The Sweeney" where George Carter pointed out that Jack could be a bit free with his fists at times. Mower played a Moonbase Alpha geologist in the episode "All That Glisters" and Dora Reisser played one of the whip wielding Mistresses in the "Space 1999" episode "The Devil's Planet".

A solid 9/10.