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mariocki · 5 years

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Special Branch: The Kazmirov Affair (1.5, Thames, 1969)

"Then we come to chapter fourteen. Then the style changes. The message changes. These twenty-five pages advocate the overthrow of the Soviet system by force, and its replacement by Western democracy. Did you notice that? Did you recognise its significance?"

"It's a work of fiction!"

"Fiction or not, in the Soviet Union it's counter-revolution! You know as well as I do that Kazmirov committed treason if he just wrote it, never mind sending it to the West to be published."

#special branch #Special branch rewatch #The kazmirov affair #1969 #classic tv #Wensley pithey #derren nesbitt #Keith Washington #john bailey #Patricia Lawrence #ray smith #David Garth #Gerald sim #Edward Burnham #Athene fielding #John cobner #Jane hilary #Ros drinkwater #Emanuel Litvinoff #Mike vardy #A funny one this. It has the bones of a really interesting episode as Jordan investigates whether a manuscript purported to be by a great #Russian writer is actually a forgery aimed at discrediting him behind the iron curtain. A great guest cast adds to the promise and this #Really seems to be going somewhere.. Until suddenly it isn't. It's a recurring element in a lot of old TV (especially the more naturalistic #Stuff like this) that episodescan end abruptly or even unsatisfyingly and I'm only just remembering that SB was a repeat offender on this #Score. Even so this feels spectacularly abrubt; the episode simply ends with almost nothing resolved (was the manuscript a forgery? Is #Kazmirov still alive? What did John Bailey do that he is so ashamed of? Did Burnham go to the press?). Who knows!#I suppose it's more realistic and reflective of the actual nature of police work: sometimes the case just stalls or is dropped for #Reasons of politics or outside influence. Realistic or not its slightly grating.

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