Van der Valk

I first saw it when I visited Britain in 1977. I was intrigued by the anomaly (to me) of a British TV show about a Dutch police detective. I enjoyed it and continued to watch it every time I visited Britain, which was often as I had gotten a job requiring it. Some of the actors spoke with British accents while others spoke with Dutch accents, but that was no big deal. After all, aren't we the country that gave the world Robin Hood with an American accent? The only thing that really bothered me was that it apparently never got on American TV, at least not that I knew. It would be great if BBC America were to broadcast the reruns. Barry Foster was a great actor, perfectly cast. I suppose it didn't make it "across the pond" because he used brains instead of brawn and guns, and we already had Lt. Columbo.

I think I must have seen a few episodes as reruns in the late seventies,always after News at Ten. After a recent visit to Amsterdam I remembered the original and wanted to see it again so bought the box set. Barry Foster is very good and was clearly a fine actor. He has some really good scenes that exploits to the full Filmed in Amsterdam in colour you get to see the sights. The plots are complex and some scenes may seem a little laboured by modern standards but the show really holds up well against Wallender, Montalbano etc. If there is a production company out there looking for the next European detective they couldn't do much better than resurrect one of the originals, Commissaris Piet van der Valk and pay tribute to the excellent Barry Foster who made the part.

TV drama based around the daily "Goings On" at an Amsterdam police station . The show's musical theme was called "Eye Level" . Written by Dutch composer Jack Trombey and performed by England's Simon Park Orchestra, the track went on to become a major Top 40 hit in the early 1970s and eventually sold in excess of a million copies world wide.

Years ago, when there were excellent TV channels, they used to make 60 minute episodes ... And Van Der Valk was one of the best made by Thames Television. It was filmed in Holland, and I mean even the interiors ! So a considerable expense was involved with crews, actors etc unlike cheap sets of today's. Excellent acting, script, theme music and plots ... what more can one ask for !

I saw this British TV series a few times on PBS and I loved it. I love the theme song as well. It features Barry Foster as a detective in Amsterdam (it's all in English) investigating various crimes. One I remember is some Yugoslavs were ripped off by a tractor salesman who dies, and they are the suspects.