Zodiac

I should put my cards - not Tarot ones - on the table and confess that my father create this show and wrote three of the six episodes.It is not a show which left him with fond memories. Nevertheless, on watching this recently I enjoyed it. There is a nice balance between light comedy and darker drama. The videotape studio stricture adds a claustrophobic atmosphere. Rodgers and Hempel offer a flirtatious rapport which is fun. The inspector's dress sense is tastelessly 1970s, but deliberately so. The gem episode is Sting, Sting Scorpio based in the Lanes in Brighton where Robert Powell plays a chilling, cold killer. The series feels more like stage plays recorded for TV. Rodgers is mid-point between the wonderful dramatic actor seen in Man in a Suitcase in the 60s and the chubby charm of Fresh Fields in the 80s.

Despite the other negative reviews concerning this programme, it was one of my favourites that year. I well remember this as being a very gentle comedy/drama, and (again contrary to other comments) considered that the chemistry between the two principal leads worked excellently well. The subtle humour and banter between Rodgers and Hempel made it one of those "will they won't they" scenarios, very much akin to the Steed/Peel coupling in the 1960's Avengers. Certainly for 1974 it was a great tonic and wonderful relief from the grim reality of that year of the Heath Government. A great pity there were no more than the original six episodes. However six was probably the right number and I suspect that more would have meant less, so to speak. Nevertheless I would dearly enjoy seeing them all again, they have truly vanished without trace and there are, for example, no listings at all on ebay from amateur recordists. Indeed, even Wikipedia makes no mention of the series under Anton Rodgers - maybe he was also disappointed and wished to remove any connection with it? Nevertheless, Zodiac has one fan - me!

A brilliant piece of historical TV, you'll learn a lot about the 70s watching this. Aside from that Anouska and Anton are marvelously entertaining.

He's a policeman. She's an astrologer. Together they solve crimes, using astrology. The show plays this perfectly straight, and it's usually just shrewd psychological insights into the behaviour of different star-signs. I thought it was great fun but you should probably factor that I fancy Anouska Hempel. And my star-sign.

Detective David Gradley teams up with astrologist Esther Jones, in order to solve an array of crimes.

Such a shame that this show lasted only six episodes, when you compare it to a lot of content from the era, this was wonderfully entertaining, original, and pretty refreshing.

Every episode presents a unique, unusual story, the running thread being astrology, we see Gradley's scepticism challenged by the beautiful, but remarkably talented Esther.

Favourite episode of the lot has to be Saturn's Rewards, that one is so interesting, but every single one of them offers something.

Anouska Hempel and Anton Rodgers are a wonderful duo, they combined incredibly well, and brought out the best in one another.

A great guest cast appear here, including Michele Dotrice, Peter Egan, Michael Gambon, and an awesome performance from Peter Vaughan.

The usual production values of the seventies, I think it looks great, marvellous fashions and cars, and in the first episode, you'll get a glimpse of what they thought the future may look like.

A shame a second series didn't follow, I urge you to get hold of a copy of the DVD, it's well worth seeing.

8/10.