[narfstar]

My wife and I recently watched the last three seasons of Doc Martin what a series. We are now watching the Netflix series with Arnold Swartzenager and enjoying it a lot.

[The Australian Panther]

I just found this little gem on YouTube.
Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective - starring Bernard Cribbins (1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgcqPpAsmGs

I have the boxed set of the more recent series

broadcast on ITV between 7 February 2003 and 31 May 2007, starring Peter Davison as the title character, Detective Constable "Dangerous Davies" 

but I didn't know that this version with  Bernard Cribbins existed.

Enjoy!

[The Australian Panther]

Adam West!
When an actor plays an 'iconic' part, you delude yourself that you know that person. This delusion lasts until you find the actor playing a very different character. Then you realize that you that actor is portraying a character you know and he/she is not that character. 
Here is Adam West in an almost unknown pilot playing Doc Holiday.   
The Forsaken Westerns - Adam West - The Frontier World of Doc Holiday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-uxoUz7aB0
A revelation. Also sobering to realize that had this had the go-ahead, he likely would never have played Batman.
Cheers!
 

[profh0011]

It's fun to watch unsold pilots.  Sometimes, they're better than shows that got on the air.  In the old days, you never got to see them.  By comparison, in the 70s, they started doing 90-minute or 2-hour pilots and running them as movies to judge audience reaction.  Often, I'd get hooked on shows, never having seen the pilots until years later, after the shows were cancelled!

Among the really good ones I've seen of late on Youtube...

MANDRAKE (way better than the earlier serial or the later TV movie)
NERO WOLFE (Kurt Kaznar & William Shatner!)
HERCULE POIROT

And then there's SPACE POLICE, available on "The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson" DVD set, and entire collection of unsold pilots.  Most, I can see why they failed to sell.  This was by far the BEST damned thing on there, better than some of his series that got on the air.  In this case, 8 YEARS later, he took 2 more stabs at it, and the 3rd time, it finally made it as SPACE PRECINCT-- which became my #1 FAVORITE thing Anderson ever did.  It's sad the earlier pilot didn't make it, but, as good as it was, the later version was WAYYYY better!

[Robb_K]

My wife and I recently watched the last three seasons of Doc Martin what a series. We are now watching the Netflix series with Arnold Swartzenager and enjoying it a lot.

I like that series, too.  Very well done.  Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz are both quite good, and the Doctor is a very interesting character, with his mild, but functional, autism, which causes him to be uncomfortable socially, which leads to many funny or sad scenes.  I think that many viewers can identify with that situation, as they know well, or have met a person or several, with that problem.

[paw broon]

The Martin Clunes Doc Martin is great entertainment.
We have been watching - re-watching - The Chelsea Detective. I'm not sure if it's been on tv outside of the UK:-
https://www.cozycrimemystery.com/news/movies-tv/the-chelsea-detective/
Also, Whitstable Pearl, with Frances Barber:-
https://uk.acorn.tv/whitstablepearl/
Frances Barber also appears in The Chelsea Detective, as does Alex Kingston in 1 episode.
Much grittier is Cooper and Fry:-
https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/cooperandfry-c5detectivedrama-firstlook
I hope some of you will be able to track down these shows.

[paw broon]

Then there's Shakespeare and Hathaway:-
https://www.cozycrimemystery.com/news/movies-tv/shakespeare-and-hathaway/
Regular re-runs on British tv, but, more importantly, season 5 is coming along in 2026.
Really good fun.
Episodes available on BBC:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b09trrn9/shakespeare-hathaway-private-investigators

[paw broon]

Then there's Shakespeare and Hathaway:-
https://www.cozycrimemystery.com/news/movies-tv/shakespeare-and-hathaway/
Regular re-runs on British tv, but, more importantly, season 5 is coming along in 2026.
Really good fun.
Episodes available on BBC:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b09trrn9/shakespeare-hathaway-private-investigators