Buried Treasure

This was John Thaw's last role before he sadly passed away, so this is very special to me. The story, while a tiny bit predictable, runs on a parallel with Goodnight Mister Tom, a grumpy widower, reluctantly taking care of a child and ending up loving them. In this case, it is about Harry Jenkins, whose estranged daughter has died, and he has to take care of her daughter, who wants to know her father. As usual, the direction and camera-work is beautiful, the script is funny and touching and the acting consistently superb. Although I felt a sense of reluctance in his character, John Thaw is wholly convincing as Harry, who like Tom goes through a change of heart. Dominique Jackson is amusing and cute, might I add, as his granddaughter Saffron, and kudos to everyone else as well. There were some truly moving scenes, especially the ending, where I saw a side to John Thaw that I never noticed. Well recommended, 9.5/10. Bethany Cox

I must admit that I enjoyed this movie, but then again I have always been a fan of John Thaw.

The plot is fairly straight forward and includes all the usual 'good cop, bad cop' conflicts required: old man, 7 year old daughter; white man, black (almost) son-in-law etc.

The outcome is predictable, but the acting is quiet frankly superb - and not just John Thaw. So if it does show on a TV screen near you, I recommend spending a couple of hours in John Thaw's company.

After a death in the family, harry (john thaw) must look after his own granddaughter saffie (dominique jackson). But of course, he's blustering and complaining when things don't go well. Lots of bumps along the way. And when they finally track down saffie's dad luke, he's not too sure he wants any part of this new surprise family. Can they all work it out so everybody gets along? It's all very well done, but so predictable. A couple times, the captions didn't match what they said, so i thinks some things have been dubbed over. It's pretty good. Directed by adrian shergold. Story by peter bowker, who has won a couple bafta awards for his television work. Sadly, john thaw died just a couple months after this was released.

I watched this with expectations that it may be good due to the reviews here. However I found it a little hackneyed and predictable. John Thaw has never really appealed to me as an actor. I watched a couple of Morse episodes which were OK but nothing out of the ordinary in spite of it's "much-loved" tag. I always hated The Sweeney and was never drawn to any other Thaw projects. I just found the relationship between Thaw's character and Saffron unbelievable-in fact I found Saffron unbelievable as a 9-10 year old girl. The scenes that took place in the few days after the death of the child's mother were particularly unconvincing - people just do not behave like that. Of course this was a drama and it was what it was - a couple of hours entertainment. I certainly would not recommend it to anyone as a programme to watch as a priority. All that said everyone in this acquitted themselves fairly well in acting terms, so no brickbats for that.

Whilst I can see the point of a previous comment: "Best Loved" is a tag that is used far too often, John thaw will always have a place in my heart. He brought so much character to many of his roles......Again, I must agree with the previous comment: The Sweeney for me was awful, way over the top...or maybe it just hasn't aged well. He was most generous in that he insisted Denis Waterman was given more "lines" as he acknowledged his contribution. Being out of the UK I was a late-comer to Kavanagh QC, & I initially watched it with some reluctance, however,I was converted, the stories were always first-rate, with many amusing-side plots, usually involving the hapless Jeremy. I guess I will continue to watch anything with John Thaw in....if only to remember how much pleasure he gave to millions....world-wide. Along with Pete Postlethwaite: He was truly one of Britains best actors. (And not a Hollywood Blockbuster between them.)