The Ambassador, Series One, Episode Four: Cluster of Betrayals

This week on the Ambassador, the crisis strikes too close to home, as the Embassy is taken over and Jennifer is taken hostage by a grieving father. Knowing she cannot give in to terrorism, Harriet struggles to find the best way forward. And meanwhile, John struggles with his inability to rescue Jennifer.

About

The fourth episode of series one of The Ambassador, ‘Cluster of Betrayals’, aired on the 25th January 1998 on BBC One. It was filmed on location in Ireland, and was a production of Ecosse Films & Irish Screen. Written by Tim Prager and directed by Syd Macartney, it stars Pauline Collins as ‘Harriet Smith’, Denis Lawson as ‘John Stone’, Owen Roe as ‘Kevin Flaherty’, William Chubb as ‘Stephen Tyler’ and Alison McKenna as ‘Jennifer’. Additional guest stars this episode include Dominic Mafham as ‘Julian Wadham’, Sean McGinley as ‘Joseph O’Connor’ and Jim Norton as ‘Tom Harnett.’

Lawson fans will recognise McGinley for his guest-star performance as a grieving father in Lawson’s first New Tricks episode. He plays a similar role here, but with a very different context. (They also starred in Bleak House together.)

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD—currently in print from Simply Media as of 2016. Available digitally from Amazon in the United States—both series are included in Prime and are additionally available for purchase separately.

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The Ambassador, Series One, Episode Three: Nine Tenths of the Law

This week, Harriet gets personally involved with the case of a young English woman arrested for drugs smuggling, only to discover her son is mixed up in it as well. Walking a fine line between personal motivation and her ambassadorial duty, Harriet struggles to know what the truth is. And John gets himself mixed up in it along the way.

About

The third episode of series one of The Ambassador, ‘Nine Tenths of the Law’, aired on the 18th January 1998 on BBC One. It was filmed on location in Ireland, and was a production of Ecosse Films & Irish Screen. Written by Christopher Russell and directed by Ken Grieve, it stars Pauline Collins as ‘Harriet Smith’, Denis Lawson as ‘John Stone’, Owen Roe as ‘Kevin Flaherty’, William Chubb as ‘Stephen Tyler’ and Alison McKenna as ‘Jennifer’. Additional guest stars this episode include Dominic Mafham as ‘Julian Wadham’, Tim Matthews as ‘Nate Smith’, Martha Cope as ‘Emma’ and Pooky Quesnel as ‘Liz’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD—currently in print from Simply Media as of 2016. Available digitally from Amazon in the United States—both series are included in Prime and are additionally available for purchase separately.

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The Ambassador, Series One, Episode Two: Refuge

This week, there’s trouble brewing between Ireland and Saudi Arabia over the arrest of four young Irish nurses. While Harriet is counselled to stay out of it, she finds her judgement compromised when the wife of a top Saudi official visits the Embassy and asks for refuge. Faced between her principles and the good of British interests, Harriet tackles a tricky situation with grace.

Content warning: this episode deals with domestic violence and false allegations of the same. This review doesn’t dwell on those aspects of the episode, but doesn’t gloss over them either.

About

The second episode of series one of The Ambassador, ‘Refuge’, aired on the 11th January 1998 on BBC One. It was filmed on location in Ireland, and was a production of Ecosse Films & Irish Screen. Written by Tim Prager and directed by Patrick Lau, it stars Pauline Collins as ‘Harriet Smith’, Denis Lawson as ‘John Stone’, Owen Roe as ‘Kevin Flaherty’, William Chubb as ‘Stephen Tyler’ and Alison McKenna as ‘Jennifer’. Additional guest stars this episode include Tom Connolly as ‘Sam Smith’, Dominic Mafham as ‘Julian Wadham’, Hassani Shapi as ‘Badr Hashem’ and Jessica Turner as ‘Christine Hashem’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD—currently in print from Simply Media as of 2016. Available digitally from Amazon in the United States—both series are included in Prime and are additionally available for purchase separately.

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The Ambassador, Series One, Episode One: Innocent Passage

The Ambassador is a political thriller from the BBC, focusing on the newly appointed British Ambassador to Ireland. She has the unenviable job of trying to keep the peace between the two countries, with tensions still high from the Troubles. Denis Lawson plays her right-hand man John Stone, on hand to solve her every problem, no matter the skullduggery it takes. Engaging and politically savvy, The Ambassador is superbly acted and written, and is a truly wonderful hidden gem of a show.

About

The first episode of series one of The Ambassador, ‘Innocent Passage’, aired on the 4th January 1998 on BBC One. It was filmed on location in Ireland, and was a production of Ecosse Films & Irish Screen. Written by Russell Lewis (series creator) and directed by Patrick Lau, it stars Pauline Collins as ‘Harriet Smith’, Denis Lawson as ‘John Stone’, Owen Roe as ‘Kevin Flaherty’ and William Chubb as ‘Stephen Tyler’. Guest starring this episode is Terence Harvey as ‘Commander Bracken’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD—currently in print from Simply Media as of 2016. Available digitally from Amazon in the United States—both series are included in Prime and are additionally available for purchase separately.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode Six: The Big Break

In the last episode of the series, Kit goes for his big break: a BBC breakfast DJ slot. We also get to see the infamous outfit that has ensured that this series will never, ever be forgotten.

About

The sixth episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘The Big Break’, aired on the 14th of May 1984 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’. It also features Hilton McRae as ‘Hooper’. Lawson fans may recognise McRae, as he also stars in ‘The Justice Game’ and one episode of ‘New Tricks’ opposite Lawson. He’s also in Return of the Jedi as Arvel Crynyd / Green Leader, aka the pilot who flew their A-Wing into the bridge of a Star Destroyer.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode Five: Election Fever

Following the death of the local MP, Newtown is hit by Election Fever. Kit takes every advantage to catapult himself into the national spotlight, and we witness a piece of political satire which could air today and still be relevant.

About

The fifth episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘Election Fever’, aired on the 7th of May 1984 on ITV. Fittingly for such a politically-minded episode, this was three days after local elections were held in the UK. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode Four: P is for Positive

This week, Kit’s thinking positive, and wanting to make some changes. A positivity workshop seems like a great idea, but will it lead to unexpected consequences?

About

The fourth episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘P is for Positive’, aired on the 30th of April 1984 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’. Additional guest stars this episode include Debbi Blythe as ‘Sally Beamish’ and Joseph Marcell as ‘Constantine’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode Three: Bread and Circuses

This week, Radio Newtown faces declining listener figures, and Roland kickstarts some new programming attempts in order to boost them. Some of those ideas are more successful than others. And then Kit weighs in. All in all, no good can come of that.

About

The third episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘Bread and Circuses’, aired on the 16th of April 1984 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode Two: The New Broom

This week, Kit faces the fight of his life. His challenge? Convince Roland that he is not in fact a brazen con-man, and he deserves to keep his job. The only problem with that? Roland doesn’t believe a word that comes out his mouth. Things are about to get interesting.

About

The second episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘The New Broom’, aired on the 9th of April 1984 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’. Additional guest stars this episode include Debbi Blythe as ‘Sally Beamish’, Joseph Marcell as ‘Constantine’ and Maev Alexander as ‘Joanne Short’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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The Kit Curran Radio Show, Episode One: End of an Era

Oh, Kit Curran. Kit is the very definition of a problematic fave. He’s endlessly charming, but as the DVD case puts it: he’s a disk-jockey, flyboy, con-man, compulsive fibber, and worse! A little bit like the series itself, honestly. There’s some really delightful comedy, a few great political jabs, and some really quite excellent character work from the entire cast. It is also very of its time. Some of the jokes miss the mark, especially to a modern audience, and the laughter of the studio audience can be a little disconcerting. It’s still pretty watchable—if you can find a copy, which has got much easier recently—and certainly hasn’t aged as badly as some of its contemporaries.

This week, we’re looking at the very first episode, in which we meet all the delightful personalities that make up Radio Newtown, and set the stage for the comedy of errors that will ensue over the series.

About

The first episode of The Kit Curran Radio Show, ‘End of an Era’, aired on the 2nd of April 1984 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television and written by Andy Hamilton, it stars Denis Lawson as ‘Kit Curran’, Clive Merrison as ‘Damien Appleby’, Paul Brooke as ‘Les Toms’ and Brian Wilde as ‘Roland Simpson’.

Availability: Out on Region 2 DVD as of 2018. Be aware that the iTunes version is actually Series 2 mislabelled as Series 1. The watch quality of the DVD is better than these screencaps suggest—it’s certainly an improvement over the VHS rips of re-runs that were circling before it was released—but you can tell the footage hasn’t been best preserved.

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