Guardian Angel

Dempsey and Makepeace was meant to be a replacement for The Professionals.

Having debuted in 1985. It was all over by the end of 1986 after the third series was broadcast.

This was the final episode and it was directed by Michael Brandon.

It has an arty beginning where Makepeace fears that Dempsey will be killed in action.

In fact Dempsey leaves the force and immediately gets a job at the Natural History Museum.

Dempsey gets a lead about a gangster called Daish that Makepeace was after for some time.

Daish plans a job where he plans to double cross his fellow underworld gangsters.

Dempsey gets a new partner Joyce Hargreaves (Kate O'Mara) who makes a mistake as she has been desk bound for some years.

There are some well known actors here. Richard Johnson, Don Henderson, Damien Thomas. O'Mara could had been a welcome addition to the cast.

It is just a shame that the show does not go out with all guns blazing. Maybe the series already run out of juice by the third series.

It's a real shame that Dempsey & Makepeace (by the way, how many times was the nickname "Makepeace" actually used in the show?) was cancelled after just three seasons of only 10 episodes each. It could and should have gone on longer.

Season 3 offers several changes from the preceding ones. There are a lot less big action pieces, far fewer shootings, and a generally a lot more restraint. This is probably due to a combination of budget cuts and the effect of campaigns against TV violence. The same thing happened in several UK and US productions of the era. But even with the toning down of the violence and explosions, D&M has been a great watch, sending me into fits of nostalgia over my childhood and mid-80s London. I saw it on its initial broadcast but had forgotten all the storylines.

The makers of the show must have received feedback indicating that Dempsey's attitude towards Makepeace during the first two seasons was a real turn-off, because the Dempsey of season 3 is really a new man. No more of the constant sexist remarks and cringey come-ons. He treats Makepeace with the due respect, both as a woman and a partner. It makes their interactions much more enjoyable.

So yeah, I suspect that season 3 won't rank highly with the adrenaline junkies out there, who will probably find it too sedate, but I like it a lot. And I'm glad to, for once, have seen a detective series from the 70s or 80s that went out with its quality still high. Most of the others I've been watching over the past few years had suffered a qualitative nosedive well before they reached their ends.

Fearing that Dempsey will get killed, Makepeace resigns from the force and Katie O'Mara takes her place, however she isn't Makepeace - this is a fitting end to a solid series where the duo express their feelings for each other. Sad that the series came to an end after 3 seasons, but it ended in a fulfilling way. As for the action, there's not much, except for the ending at the London Docks.

Finally caught up with this final episode in August 2020 when ITV4 broadcast the whole run on consecutive weekdays. It was hard to believe that only 30 episodes were ever made - and broadcast, in three series, between the start of 1985 and the end of 1986.

What a lovely trip back to 1980s London. This series was made by "Avengers Mark One Productions", who also brought us "The Professionals".

Good relationship building with the "attraction of opposites" trope on full display. Very evocative to see London's former Docklands area (including the actual demolition of a few derelict buildings included in the storylines (the "just get away in time in a helicopter before the building blows" trope was wheeled out a few times - a fitting homage to the old docks)..

This final episode of series three (i.e. "the last ever episode") maintain the standards. You can stop the ironing when the spooky music presages action/threat, whilst the drummer certainly earned his/her fee for accompanying the action scenes. Some predictability (the "baddie" gets into an ancient Jaguar, so you know it will either blow up or end up underwater (I do not regard this as a spoiler - it's entirely predictable across the series).

Escapist, entertaining , filmed-in-the-moment British TV cop series, probably serving up some ideas for "Life on Mars" some two decades later.

Worth watching on free TV and enjoyable; probably not worth buying the DVD set.