Sergeant Cribb – The Horizontal Witness
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: B-
Yet another solid older detective drama, Sergeant Cribb
ran on British TV from 1981 – 1982 and logged 14 episodes that ran about 50
minutes each. BFS has issued six shows
in their Horizontal Witness set and they all hold up very well. The title show (5/4/80, episode 5) and Something
Old, Something New (5/19/80, episode 7) come form the first season, while The
Last Trumpet (4/5/81), The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (4/12/81), Choir
That Wouldn’t Sing (4/19/81) and Murder Old Boy (5/3/81) are four
episodes (2 – 5) in a row from the second season.
They are all well written, well acted, well cast and even
have more to do with the personal stories and drama than mystery, but not in a
way that is detrimental to the show or the mysteries. Alan Dobie is really good in the title role and the show is very
leisurely in the way it takes its time to tell its story in a way that creates
an atmosphere that British TV used to be capable of all the time. Cribb has to take on the cases and the
establishment to get anything done, but with a subtlety that always makes the
show compelling. Simply known as Cribb
elsewhere, it is a good time to rediscover the series in this solid three DVD
set.
The 1.33 X 1 image is a mix of film and PAL videotape,
aging well enough and looking good here in decent transfers. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also not bad
and the extras are all text, including trivia, cast filmographies and bio and bibliography
info on author Peter Lovesey.
- Nicholas Sheffo
