The Ghost Squad (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	386:12 (Case: 389)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Laxton Charles Palmer Daniel Percival
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Ben Bartlett

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, + drug use
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    'The Ghost Squad was an undercover unit formed to investigate police corruption. After complaints from police officers it was officially disbanded in 1998 but rumours of its existence continue...'

    Some of the best cop shows ever made have come out of the UK, including such classics as the Prime Suspect series, Cracker and Hamish Macbeth. This one is definitely in that class despite being much less well known. It was recently shown on the ABC here in Australia some time after its original showing in the UK in late 2005.

    The series of 8 episodes follows the career of Amy Harris (Elaine Cassidy), a young policewoman who goes from normal beat cop to an undercover corruption investigator during a fantastic opening episode. It focuses on the effects of this change on her life over the course of the various cases she works on. She is recruited by Detective Chief Superintendent Carol McKay (Emma Fielding) into the Ghost Squad and partnered up with another more experienced undercover agent Pete Maitland (Jonas Armstrong from Robin Hood). This series has great, three-dimensional characters who are exceptionally well written. It shows the complex and confusing life of an undercover cop, working amongst other cops they are investigating, to great effect. This is a tense, intelligent and gritty police drama that breaks away from just being a typical police procedural drama due to its excellent writing and the superb acting of Elaine Cassidy who is phenomenally good as the tough and determined Amy Harris. Another great feature of the writing is that the people being investigated in each episode are very different and their guilt or innocence is rarely clear-cut even at the end of the episode. Stylistically, the show uses lots of close-ups especially in the opening episode to create a feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia which would be consistent with the life of a cop going undercover amongst other cops.

    At this stage, no second season has been made or is planned, which is a great shame.

    The eight episodes (spread over two dual layer discs) are as follows:

1. London - Amy brings in a prisoner and leaves him in an interview room. When she returns she finds him dying, covered in blood. The station immediately gets locked down by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Amy is the main suspect.
2. Humberside - Amy is part of a police undercover team investigating an Albanian sex worker trafficking ring. Amy gets in a bit too deep.
3. West Yorkshire - Amy is assigned to investigate a Sergeant who is accused of being sexist, drunk and violent. A gang of teen girls are causing trouble on a local estate.
4. Scottish Borders - The body of a murdered girl is found in a forest. A high-flying female Chief Superintendent is investigating with her team. Amy is assigned to check her out to ensure she is clean.
5. Greater Manchester - There is a broad daylight gangland style killing and witnesses are pulling out due to intimidation. One of the witness protection cops must be bent.
6. Nottingham Shire - A young policewoman seems to be taking bribes. She works in community involvement and Amy is assigned to her case.
7. London Part 1 - A Police car on a council estate gets a rock thrown through its window. A Policeman the follows youths who did it and ends up getting killed by the gang. The DI responsible for the area is accused of being bent. Amy gets very conflicted about this case.
8. London Part 2 - Continuation of previous episode and a great end to the series.

    Highly Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good without being spectacular.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was good. There was some light grain from time to time.

    The colour was very good with no major issues to report.

    There was some edge enhancement here and there but no other noticeable artefacts.

    There are English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired, which were clear, easy to read and positioned onscreen to match the speaker.

    The layer changes were not noticeable.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand although some accents were a little difficult to decipher. There was no problem with audio sync.

    The music consists mostly of the tense theme which is used sometimes during the show. There is little incidental music.

    The surround speakers were not used.

     The subwoofer added some bass to the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu design is simple, still and silent but does allow for episode and scene selection.

    I cannot find any evidence that this series has been released in other regions.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall