The Ghost Squad

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

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 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.

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.

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