Danger UXB

I just saw it on video 20 years after first watching it on PBS. Great storytelling, great acting, great writing. John Hawkesworth made this well: he neither missed nor flubbed a detail, nor did he insert any improbable or cliched lines or angles. The actual stories themselves are simple enough: a few romances, comradery among the old boys, mateship among the men, a commanding idiot, the proverbial English eccentric ...

But hanging over all their heads - literally - is the Nazi Blitz and its delayed-fuse calling-cards in particular. The fuses kept changing, forcing the engineers to respond to them.

Hawkesworth didn't cop the "budget restraints" plea with "Danger UXB" like so many others would have done; he used what he could get to their fullest. He used the actual techniques used by EOD, RE, in exact detail, using real defused German bombs. I could almost feel the cold mud, a dull counter-part to the sheer terror.

Period pieces are 100% dependent on the details to give their full effect. A wrong uniform, a 50-star flag in the 1940s, an anachronistic hairstyle or remark or attitude gives it all away every time. Hawkesworth gives nothing away in "Danger UXB;" he neither exaggerates nor underplays anything, nor does he throw in a "portent of the future" or "meeting the historical figure."

As for the actors: superlatives won't do them justice. Talent abounds in well-written parts, great and small, with no room for star-tripping anywhere. Every role depends upon with whom they interact. About the only one I thought *may* have been short-shrifted was Maurice Röeves as Sgt. James; he seemed to be chomping on the bit to do more than bark orders, nurse the men or flip a coin through his fingers in a pub. Still, he was thoroughly believable as the backbone of Section 347.

So: I liked it.

For me, personally, this is one of those shows that will always be my favourite. Nowadays, such type of shows don't exist even remotely, as in these times in the name of making the show so called 'realistic', they make it either kind of too depressing or just into something really stupid! After all, a tv show or movie's one of the main purposes is to connect with the audience in the best way possible. For instance, this show has everything, it's realistic, i mean uncannily realistic, it has got humour, it has got romance, it's unpredictable and has really got an element of surprise to it, in short it has got everything, a show of this genre must have, but the difference in this show is that the way in which it has attempted to tell the story of these brave men has a certain charm and understanding to it, which the today's shows thoroughly lack( at least I feel that way)!! According to me, it deserves an even higher rating.. seriously!

Anthony Andrews stars in the 1979 series UXB (unexploded bombs). Andrews plays Brian Ash, a lieutenant assigned to a UXB unit during World War II.

If a bomb dropped but didn't explode, it was up to this unit to defuse it so it would no longer be a danger. Of course you had to be careful it didn't blow up in your face. Also there were delayed- fuse bombs set to go off later.

The show uses actual procedures, some of which were only experimental, that were applied to defuse these bombs. Initially these procedures were published, I gather, to boost morale, but the publication helped the Germans design bombs that would overcome the processes. Now the procedures, understandably, are classified.

Danger UXB is terrifying to watch at times, because you simply don't know if the bomb will go off or not. There are no guarantees that a character is going to live - like in real life.

What one is struck by watching this show is how archaic the methods were - huge, awkward machinery, and no protection for the soldier disarming the bomb.

The show stands out not only for its use of real German bombs and the details of the time, but for the real human stories that it tells, with no clichés. Ash is a good, principled man, but he's often scared right down to his socks.

The cast is uniformly excellent: Besides Andrews, Maurice Roeves, Kenneth Cranham, Iain Cuthbertsome, Deborah Watling, Gordon Kane, George Innes, and Judy Geeson, plus many others.

I am watching this on Netflix - if you didn't see it originally, see it now - it's fabulous.

Just finished viewing the 13 episode, 4 disk DVD set of "Danger UXB". Second time around--I saw the series many years ago on PBS.

All the performances are outstanding but, I would like to single out Maurice Röeves as Sergeant James. Why he did not win a best actor award for 1979 is beyond me. I checked his IMDb biography...no awards. Maurice Röeves uncompromising portrayal ranks, in my opinion, right up with George C. Scott's "Patton" for outstanding screen performances.

Rent (or buy) the 4 disk DVD set--well worth the 13 viewing hours. DVD picture and sound are very good. My only complaint about the DVD production--no closed captioning. The text is useful (to this mid-westerner) for understanding rapidly spoken dialogue.

Brian Ash leads his team, The Royal Engineer Tunnelling Company 97, who's job is to deal with the many unexploded bombs, the deadly UXB's.

It's forty four years since this Series was first went out, and I would argue it'd just as good now, as it was back then. This is one of the most consistently good shows you can possibly watch, every single episode, every single story is truly on point.

I can't think of many movies, or indeed any other shows that told this story, some of the bravest men imaginable. Imagine going to work day after day knowing one slip could be fatal.

It's not just about the UXB's, there are several personal stories told also, but at no time are they overdone or syrupy, they are starkly real.

Episodes range from very good to outstanding, you can't really put a pin between them, but Dead Letters and The Pier will have you on the edge of your seat.

As you'd expect there are many deaths, many unexpected deaths, they weren't afraid to write out many of the regulars, very brave writing.

Fantastic special effects, multiple explosions and action sequences, I didn't detect any chroma key or other such special effects, everything looks and feels authentic.

This series is worth your time.

9/10.