Review of Taggart (Vol. 35): A Fistful Of Chips

Introduction

Taggart is one of the UK`s longest running serious Police drama, set in Glasgow and originally starring the dour Glaswegian Mark McManus as Taggart, he sadly died, but the series lived on with his sidekicks taking centre stage investigating murders etc in the Strathclyde area.

I used to watch Taggart religiously when I was younger, but until volumes 34 and 35 dropped through my letterbox courtesy of DVD Review, I haven`t actually seen the series since McManus passed away, so I was interested to see how this series coped without an "irreplaceable" lead actor.

Volume 35 "A Fistful of Chips" tells the story of an investigation into the killing of a young woman, which leads the Police to a microchip factory. Complications arise when a Police colleague is implicated with the Glasgow underworld.

Video

The video is presented in 4:3 full-frame, and as with Volume 34, is rather disappointing to say the least given how crisp Taggart looks on the television. The image is quite low resolution and suffers from excessive grain and poor contrast at times, leading to an overly dark picture. Other problems include fuzzy edges of objects in some shots and a lack of focus.

Visually, Taggart was always memorable for the location filming in Glasgow and this is no exception, shot in housing estates and around the River Clyde. As ever, the production values are high and the program always looks very authentic.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, which unfortunately the usual practice for UK television dramas which make it onto DVD. Consequently Maggie Bell`s memorable theme song "No Mean City" doesn`t benefit from a 5.1 channel remix, however, the sound is more than adequate despite sounding a little flat.

The dialogue is clear and understandable, and the score adds nicely to the drama and tension.

Features

The only "extra" accessible from the main menu is "cast and credits" which actually just plays the end credits from the series - what a con, this is not an extra!

Conclusion

As I said in my review of Volume 34, despite the loss of Mark McManus, Taggart is still a top-notch crime series that is still amongst the best "serious" Police dramas made in the UK. The cast is excellent and the series benefits from excellent use of locations in the Glasgow area.

"A Fistful of Chips" features the usual amount of plot twists and turns, intrigue and action, and the manages to maintain interest over the entire two hours and twenty minute running time. As ever the supporting cast are all excellent and this is solid drama which will appeal to fans of the series and genre.

The video is disappointing, surely a modern television series should have been crisp and fresh on DVD not dark and grainy. The sound is average, and the "extra" is nothing of the sort.

In summary, a good series with mediocre presentation.