Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective

An underrated British gem from a time when we had no film industry. A good script and a top British cast including two national treasures Maureen Lipman and stalwart Bernard Cribbins in a rare leading role) with some great comedic moments including visual gags that stand this out from the pilot if the TV series. Bill Maynard's dodgy Welsh accent is a bit off-putting but an all-around great film that saw several of an elderly cast in their final roles. The only shame is that it took more than 20 years to turn Leslie Thomas's stories into a TV series. The film is hard to find (I saw it on retro channel Talking Pictures TV some 40 years after its release but still stands up well despite a few comments which would not be acceptable today). Unlike the TV series Bernard doesn't have a St. Bernard but he does have the Dulux dog named Kitty.

Now available on DVD, many more people have a chance to view this lost classic of British TV.

A belting story about a cold case file, a young girl's disappearance is reopened by 'The Last Detective' anyone would give a decent case to, played by Bernard Cribbins.

The story opens on the 'North West Frontier'... of London with Cribbins tackling yet another dirty police job, breaking into a besieged flat with a dustbin on his head for protection.

We soon warm to this robust and human policeman and we discover that he gets all the nasty jobs because his bosses think he's the last detective anyone in their right mind would assign to a murder case.

Then by a seeming twist of fate, a seemingly nondescript case involving a recently deceased officer is 'given' to him and through it he unfolds a mystery from long ago, aged witnesses lead him where no one has been before, to clues no one has bothered to follow and to a startling conclusion.

A good cast and a fine script, a haunting score underpins the action and the nice unexpected twist in the tale brings a brilliant end to a riveting piece of storytelling.

I can still whistle the theme tune even after so long.

See it. If you can find a copy. Whistle with me.

Though it does have the odd comedic line or two, this is the only time I recall Bernard Cribbins ever trying to tackle something that required him to speak the word "pants" in anything like a sexual context. He plays a detective constable who is assigned a tough criminal case but soon finds himself embroiled in a fifteen year old cold one involving the disappearance of a young girl. His nickname is "Dangerous" and he spends much of the next two hours - at no small risk to himself - trying to piece together what did happen to that young girl (as well as trying to nail his official quarry too). Bill Maynard - again more noted for his comedy parts - works quite well as his pal "Mod" and there is an additional smattering of familiar faces across the quite enjoyable and characterful mystery adventure. It's a bit too long, maybe we could lose twenty minutes of establishment scenes at the top of the film, but this is quite a fun drama that I rather surprisingly enjoyed.

Leslie Thomas created a character of Dangerous Davies, and penned four novels around his exploits. There were two spin offs featuring DC Davies, this movie and the TV series.

As yet I have not read any of the original Thomas novels so unfortunately, I can't really judge just how close the different incarnations comes to Thomas visions for the character.

The nearest I had got to the character was on the box with Peter Davison, portraying the eponymous sleuth.

Tonight the movie popped up on the Talking Pictures TV channel and I simply, couldn't resist watching it just to see what it was like.

Bernard Cribbins is really ideal as Dangerous Davies, his portrayal gives a somewhat different perspective to the character.

After seeing the TV portrayal it's interesting for me to compare the settings around DC Davies, the different characters in his personal and work lives. On TV Davies has to contend with work colleagues and we see, the reasons why they treat him as a pariah.

Which is really the whole baggage that he has to carry around with him, the rational for his moniker of Dangerous.

The stories in each TV Episode are resolved within it, so they are tightly scripted and well put together.

The film differs from the TV Series in the marked way, that whilst DC Davies obviously works in a police station. We never really get to see any of his immediate work colleagues, either Detective Sergeant or Inspector. So we don't really get to see why he has acquired his moniker, it's only ever mentioned obliquely relative to him.

The film format enables more time to develop a story than the TV Series allows, and this movie's plot is interesting and reasonably involved.

Really the only extra characters that are in both film and TV incarnations, are Mod and Dangerous's his ex wife. The ex spouse doesn't really seem to feature all that much, she certainly isn't as central as in the TV programme.

Mod Lewis is ably personified by Bill Maynard and it was great to be able, to see him in something more substantive than I had seen him in.

Brilliant film. Love it. Definitely NOT dated - except that there's no swearing or sex. If the lack of these dates a film then perhaps you can call it dated but then in that case I'd call that a major advantage, because this one needs none of that. It's a story of a old unsolved murder, and a much maligned detective who is generally treated like rubbish but who comes through in the end. For any of us who struggle for what we think is right but only get stomped on or ignored or ridiculed, this is a wonderful film.

Bernard Cribbins is perfect casting. Anyone else would have made a hash of it. You need vulnerability for this role and he literally oozes vulnerability. Yet he knows that a young girls disappearance is really her murder and if the crime is 15 years old, that doesn't change anything. People are important - even 15 years later. Something that many mothers and fathers of missing children certainly know.

I'd like to think that there are people out there like Dangerous Davies doing their best against the odds. I'm not so sure of it though. But while this film exists it gives you hope.