Danger UXB

I rembered this series on its first transmission in 1979.Many viewers at that time would remember the blitz first hand.I purchased the dvd some years ago,and it has had a recent airing on TPTV. Just as good as ever.Marvellous to see Kathleen Harrison in one of her last roles.It it feels so authentic and gives an idea of the science involved without it ever becoming dull.

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.

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.

A magnificent achievement in British film-making, portraying the bomb-defusing activities and private lives of the men in this extraordinarily dangerous branch of the service in World War Two England. The acting is superb, attention to detail meticulous, casting perfect, scenes totally realistic, pacing perfect, and there's a wonderful balance of tension, romance, humour, and tragedy. I saw this series on TV in Bermuda in 1985, recently (2006) viewed the programmes again - still as marvellous today, maybe even more so as the production values have more than stood the test of time. How the person who rated this series "6" arrived at that figure completely escapes me! Highest recommendation.

I watched this programme when it was first broadcast. I'd not seen it in 40 years until Talking Pictures started showing it again recently. I wondered how well it would stand up now. I wasn't disappointed, it is exceptional. If you get a chance to watch it from the beginning, don't miss it. Drama at its very best.