User reviews

I'm somewhat ambivalent towards police dramas these days. But this is a great mix of 24-style camera-work, psychological drama, internal politics, and a really good grasp of emotional interplay and game-play - seems to be written by blokes as well, which I found surprising - you look at similar BBC affairs in recent years, and they are remarkably two-dimensional. Here, you care about the core characters, because they care. Anyway, give it a try - if you like intelligently scripted, cat-and-mouse, but psychologically gripping and intellectually fulfilling drama, you can't go wrong here. I found it a bit disturbing that such a squad DID exist, but no longer does because it wasn't appreciated internally. That's sort of the point, surely. Still - only going by the tag-line - sure the reality is as duplicitously complex as the series!

I really enjoyed this 8 part series, largely due to the lead character's convincing evolution from episode to episode. It is not light stuff, and the good cop bad cop plots tackle serious issues of law enforcement ethics and the slippery morality of undercover "internal affairs" cops. Though the lead good cop, played by Elaine Cassidy, succeeds in most of her missions, the result is rarely satisfying to the character or the audience, as tragically flawed cops get caught in traps and slippery career-minded superiors operate behind the scenes. Cassidy is quite good, creating a character who progresses from gung-ho righteousness to grim determination; she is both manipulated and manipulating.

In some ways, the blurry morality and internal affairs theme reminds me of The Shield. For an American who doesn't watch a whole lot of British cop TV, it also provided an interesting insight into police work on that side of the pond. Unfortunately, the photography and editing can be distractingly bad, and yet the excellent acting and thought provoking perspective on police ethics more than make up for technical shortcomings. Kudos especially to Cassidy, who has proved herself an astonishingly versatile actress in recent years.

I started watching this show on youtube.com after becoming a fan of Elaine Cassidy. I fell in love with the show right away. I was looking around for the DVD, but it isn't available in region 1 as far as I can tell. It looks like you can preorder the 10 disc DVD from Amazon.co.uk (region 2), although some sites will tell you that it isn't going to be made available on DVD. Anyway, I am a fan of the show and was really sad to learn that it had been cancelled after only one season. I think that the producers gave up on it way too soon. I think they should have waited to see if more people became familiar with it come the second season. I am certain that the ratings would have improved had people actually watched it. I live in the US and liken their cancellation of the show to the cancellation of Alias or 24 after only the first season. I would most definitely watch it if it were to return to TV. I just think the producers should know what viewers think and so I am sharing my 2 cents.

Thanks.

It was one of the best series I have watched in a while. It is of such a compelling high standard but with an interesting twist in the last episode, which brings in the human element. The story line was quite different and shown a different part of policing otherwise never seen before. Dramas from the UK always impress me with the great scenery, even if it is in the middle of London. The cast of Elaine Cassidy as Detective Amy Harris,

Emma Fielding Detective Superintendent, Jonas Armstrong as the support detective was well cast and scripted, however I felt that the casting of 'Amy' as such a young detective may be unrealistic, but maybe thats part of the cover.

very enjoyable

It is really hard to give a series a 10 because no one is perfect. So, the best I could come up with is I found the shaky camera technique (which was downright annoying on NYPD Blue) unnecessary.

The acting, writing, production, direction, etc all get 10s. Warning: this show is so intense at times that you miss the subtleties, and so subtle at times that you miss the intensity.

The potential is there, but it is unrealized. There is way too much emphasis on Elaine Cassidy's character. From the very first episode her character is smarter than everyone else and ALWAYS angry about something. There is great storyline potential in other characters. Jonas Armstrong who is a tremendous actor is underutilized. I love the plotline, but way too much of the same thing. Elaine Cassidy seems to play the same sullen character in whatever show she is in.

'Between the Lines' was one of the outstanding British television drams of the 1990s, the story of a police investigations unit. 'The Cops' was another excellent series, with its gritty, cinema-verite portrait of life on the force. 'The Ghost Squad', Channel Four's new drama, is an heir to both those series, with a premise similar to the former's, but put together in the style of the latter. And some senses, this is more of a handicap than a blessing, as the police drama is such a staple of the schedules that it's very hard for a program to appear fresh. The hand held camera work, the quick inter-cutting of scenes, the stock characters (most notably, the bitch of a boss who may or may not be trustworthy): it's all been seen before. Additionally, 'The Ghost Squad', whose investigators work undercover, sometimes seems to strain credibility. The requirements placed upon its officers seem immense, and to generate the story lines, they always have to get more personally involved in a case than is altogether desirable (or, more to the point, likely).

But 'The Ghost Squad' does also have some distinguishing characteristics of its own. By focusing on a single officer, it retains a claustrophobic feel throughout: in general, we know what she knows, nothing more. In the lead role, Elaine Cassidy is superb, and in general the acting is good, although both her boss and partner seem a little young for their roles (surely such sensitive missions would be handled by people a little more senior?). Even if at times, the world portrayed seems just that bit more intense than reality ever is, this is still top quality drama, intelligently structured, fast moving, and impeccably executed. It surely deserved better than a late night slot and the minimal publicity it received.

I think this has been, in the main, a good series if a little patchy and uneven. At times, it has shown the police service in an unflattering light (casual racism, corruption, violence), but also I think has tried to be even handed by showing what a challenging, and often thankless job, modern policing is. 'Ghost Squad' has managed to avoid some of the clichés of the usual cop shows by showing the darker side of policing, the embittered front line officers etc, and how hard it is to maintain one's poise/dignity in the face of unrelenting hostility and how hard it is to do good often in the face of opposition & cynicism from one's own colleagues.

I thought the series was at its best when the cases were less sensational, the third episode in particular where Amy investigated a typical gruff front line officer possibly involved in the disappearance of a young girl. As through most of the series, the plots twisted and turned, played with your expectations with Amy discovering the information at the same time as the audience so that often, we, like her, were no nearer the truth than she was. I expect that's why the POV of the series was mostly through her character.

I enjoyed the final feature length episode though I agree with the last comment that after all the twists and turns it really did not merit a feature length. I felt uncomfortable with Amy's revelation to Gus, the officer under investigation that she was working undercover and how her handler, Mackay did not seem at all interested in her welfare but in the outcome of the case. I feel this is where fiction parted company from reality. More interesting was how Pete, her colleague, and in love with Amy himself, tried to fabricate evidence after listening to Amy & Gus making love.

The final episode disappointed slightly with its ending - though it did avoid a pat ending and left us in doubt about Gus. Credit to C4 though. Even if 'Ghost Squad' was flawed, it was nonetheless an interesting variant on cop clichés. Earlier, I watched Jack Rosenthal's reworking of 'Ready When You are Mr McGill', the work of a fine writer for TV, but also an indictment of modern TV and TV drama. Sometimes it's better to fail with an interesting experiment than peddle the same tired old rope. Writers like Dennis Potter didn't always succeed, but at least they were given the opportunity.

In the first episode we follow a police complaints division investigation into brutality accusations at a police station. The drama is shown from the point of view of Amy, a young female officer who's 'collar' is murdered in an interview room. As she tries to clear her name during the 'lock-down' no-one can be trusted, and the division between right and wrong blurs remarkably. This is a well made TV drama that shows off the talents of Elaine Cassidy well. My only gripe is that the makers had the chance to break the mould for this kind of drama and chose not to do so. Too many drama series produced today make use of the narrative style of showing things from the viewpoint of a single central character; it has become a writers cliché. The obvious conclusion of the first episode was that Amy was going to join the undercover squad after showing her mettle; she gave such a strong performance right from the outset that it became a foregone conclusion. How much more intriguing (and difficult) it would have been had they used the tension created during an internal investigation by showing it from the point of view of the people it affected, moving on to a new investigation and new central character each week.

I was a bit disappointed with this series (I haven't seen the last two episodes though). Most stories were simply too smug relying on the obvious dilemma the theme suggests... and the cinematic means as well as the narrative were always quite pretentious without being convincing, leaving loose ends all around. The distracting look of it, jump cuts and hand-held, "different" to a fault, could not hide the lack of quality in the storytelling.

The acting was quite good though - and that made the episodes worthwhile, above all those less "spectacular" subject-wise -, Elaine Cassidy being a standout as usual. I think she is internationally one of the finest actresses around.

I saw the trailers for GHOST SQUAD a couple of times on Channel 4 but never got round to seeing it mainly because I got turned off by cop dramas in the 1990s sometime when that was the only type of show they seemed to be making in Britain and I guess that my gut instinct of the show was that it seemed like a pitch that got sidelined when reality TV replaced cop shows as the staple diet of British television at the turn of the century

For some reason I found myself watching the penultimate episode last week and was fairly impressed . Okay I don't want to over praise it by describing GHOST SQUAD as must see television but as one hour of gritty British television it does the job nicely . It's kind of like BETWEEN THE LINES without the chain smoking and bed hopping: Drugs that have been going missing from a police station have been finding their way on to the streets again and Amy Harris an agent from the ultra secretive anti police corruption " ghost squad " has to find out who's the corrupt cop behind it . It was compelling enough for me to make a point of watching the final episode tonight which was feature length but I was slightly disappointed . The plot itself was fine which featured a cop being murdered by a black gang on an estate and Harris being told to find out if a black Detective Inspector who grew up on the estate has been giving the gang inside info and covering up for them . The reason it disappointed was simply down to the fact that there wasn't enough plot to last two hours and therefore it has a bit too many twists and turns and red herrings to work successfully . It would have worked much better as a hour long drama

Anything that made me dislike the style of the series ? Just one - The camera work which has far too many irritating jump cuts and for some reason the screen is almost always filled with a close up on a characters face but it's not the directing of GHOST SQUAD which will be its failing but the format . The producers of BETWEEN THE LINES changed the whole style of the series almost certainly because they realised that plots featuring corrupt cops is very limited so I doubt if GHOST SQUAD will be lasting longer than a second series which is no criticism of its quality but a reflection of how many plots people can think up without running out of ideas