Review of Van Der Valk: Series 1 Part 1 Of 4

Introduction

Nicholas Freeling`s series of detective novels featuring Amsterdam-based sleuth Van Der Valk were brought to the screen by Thames Television in 1972. The series is probably best remembered for Jack Trombey`s theme music "Eye Level" which provided the Simon Park Orchestra with a four-week number one hit in September 1973.

Van Der Valk provided the late actor Barry Foster with what was probably his best (or certainly best-known) role, which he played with the typical moodiness of tv coppers of the day. With the exception of his role as the murderer in Hitchcock`s "Frenzy" (1972) and a cameo as a frustrated fighter pilot instructor in "Battle Of Britain" (1969), there are few major film and television appearances of note in the career of this charismatic actor to compare with his Dutch detective.

Disc One features the episodes "One Herring`s Not Enough", Destroying Angel" and "Blue Notes".

Although the four discs released are described as "series one", they are in actual fact (or according to tv historian Dave Rogers) series one and two, produced in 1972-3, the first six episodes on discs one and two comprising series one and the seven episodes on discs three and four comprising series two.

Video

The first two seasons, made in 1972 and 1973, were produced on studio videotape and location film, which makes for a jarring change in image quality between formats. Curiously, the videotape interiors suffer more from artefacts than the location shots. This was not a problem for the third season (1977), which was made on film by Thames` offshoot responsible for "The Sweeney" and "Minder", Euston Films.

Technically, these transfers are of acceptable quality. The source material is not in the best state it might be in due to its age (and the fact it is on videotape). This means focus is soft, contrast is high and highlights tend to flare badly. Curiously there seems to be more grain in the videotape sections (which should have no "noise" in them) than the filmed location material. As with the "Minder" releases, Fremantle have chosen to licence the material to Clear Vision, whose own logo on the disc shows an alarming level of compression artefacting that does not carry through to the programme material, fortunately.

Audio

Sound on the discs is only mono, as you would expect from a tv show of this era.

Features

Extras are minimal, with no HOH subtitles, short textual episode descriptions. The "photo gallery" consists of six freeze-frames from the episodes on the disc and there`s a static menuing system.

Conclusion

Made at a time when the foreign sales market was paramount at other ITV franchises such as Lew Grade`s ATV/ITC, it is surprising that only six hour-long episodes were produced in the first season, where a typical ITC season was the standard US season of 24-26 episodes. This shows Van Der Valk was made with only the UK market in mind.

Some of the production team for Van Der Valk also worked on thick-ear series "Special Branch", "The Sweeney" and "Minder". Familiar faces popping up in the episodes include "The Good Life"`s Paul Eddington, "Grange Hill"`s Michael Sheard and the ever dependable Geoffrey Bayldon. Throughout Season One, Van Der Valk is assisted by Kroon, played by Hammer discovery Michael Latimer and is answerable to Nigel Stock as his superior Samson (cue Delilah joke).