Review for Callan: Wet Job

Unfortunately for me, I don't have much knowledge of 'Callan'. I don't remember it airing, either in its monochrome or colour incarnations. I have never seen the 'feature film' spin-off either, though as a self-confessed archive TV fan is has often been on my radar. Network have released both the monochrome and colour years as separate box sets and if comments on reputable archive TV sites (like 'The Mausoleum Club' for example) are anything to go by, then it's a series well worth investing in.


So why is 'Callan - Wet Job' exactly that - a damp squib of a movie, rarely raising the tension levels above 'eyebrow raising'? And as a TV movie running in at barely 80 minutes, why didn't Network just do the decent thing for enthusiasts and completists and add it as an extra on the 'Colour Years' set?

Who knows. But maybe they figured there would be a decent enough market amongst fans for even this mediocre effort.


Woodward is fine of course. He's always a high quality turn. It's just that the story is so turgid, and the characters surrounding Callan so bland, and the video-taped picture so colourless. It really isn't worth a look for anyone but the most hardened of fans.


Broadcast in 1981, a decade after the series ended, this so-called 're-union' movie was scripted by the original series creator himself (James Mitchell) so should have been much better than it was. I can't imagine that it achieved anything other than casting a dull shadow over what is considered one of the finest 'spy' genre series ever broadcast in the UK.


'Callan - Wet job' sees Callan as a retired antiques dealer, co-habiting with sometime girlfriend, hobnobbing with the dreary middle-classes - until he is forced back into duty. The plot that follows is played out with minimum thrills.


For my money, I think I'd wait it out for the forthcoming 'Callan' megaset ('The Definitive Collection') which is due to come out in October and which will have all four seasons of the original series as well as the original 'Armchair Theatre'pilot play, 'A Magnum for Schneider', a new documentary and a book on the series by Andrew Pixley and…yep, you guessed it, 'Callan Wet Job' rightfully relegated to the position of post-script curio.

One for absolute 'Callanistas' or 'Callan-heads' only!