Production
The first two series were shot mainly in a studio on videotape with filmed location inserts; a standard method of the time but one which suffered from jarring differences in picture quality between interior and exterior scenes. [1] The location scenes of some episodes were shot on outside broadcast cameras, leading to smoother transitions between location and studio work for those episodes. Series 1 and 2 starred Derren Nesbitt as Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jordan, working for Detective Superintendent Eden (Wensley Pithey) and subsequently Det. Supt. Inman (Fulton Mackay). The episodes featuring Eden (the first nine of Series 1) were recorded in black-and-white, while all subsequent episodes were recorded on colour videotape.
The show was revamped in 1973 after Thames Television's Euston Films subsidiary took over production using film, which allowed for a less studio-based series. [1] Euston Films had pioneered the technique of shooting action and adventure series entirely on location using 16 mm film, for a more gritty and realistic look. These episodes starred George Sewell as DCI Alan Craven and Roger Rowland as DS Bill North. In series 3 episode 2, Patrick Mower debuted as Craven's colleague and often antagonist, DCI Tom Haggerty. By the 1974 series Bill North had been axed, having had a nervous breakdown, though he returned for one episode later in the run as a Detective Inspector in CID.
Representing the Ministry in the first two series was Moxon, and later Strand, who appeared in the fourth series. Played by Morris Perry and Paul Eddington respectively, Moxon and Strand were similar: supercilious civil servants who kept an unwanted eye on the detectives and their budgets. They sometimes manipulated them in order to pursue obscure matters of state, such as in the first series episode "Reliable Sources", where Moxon connives to have Eden sidelined into a Home Office working party role.
The theme music for series 1 was by Norman Kay. For series 2, 3 and 4 it was by Robert Sharples under the pseudonym Robert Earley. [2]
The 1973/74 series of this police drama is notable for being the first production by Euston Films, later responsible for such series as The Sweeney and Minder . [3] The influence on The Sweeney is clear, although the rough-and-tumble nature of that show is fairly lacking in Special Branch.
Both Sewell and Mower later starred as villains in The Sweeney, while Sweeney star Dennis Waterman appeared in the 1974 Special Branch episode "Stand and Deliver" as a criminal. [4] Perry appeared occasionally in a role similar to Moxon as the political and manipulative Detective Superintendent Maynon. Mower later went on to star in the 1977–78 BBC police series Target . [5]
The 1973 and 1974 series have been released on Region Two DVD by Network, and both sets include an episode from the original Thames TV series. The 1969 series was released as a four-disc DVD set by Network in January 2007, and the 1970 series was released as a Website Exclusive in November 2007. All four series were released on DVD by Network in 2008, in a 16-disc box-set featuring all 53 episodes. The 1973 series was released on Region One DVD by Acorn, which labelled it "set one".
As with the later The Sweeney, the on-screen offices of Special Branch were located in Hammersmith.
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