Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70598 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 630 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Harrowing, funny, and immediately addictive, the 1979 British television series Danger UXB stars Anthony Andrews as Army Lieutenant Brian Ash, an engineering student whose excitement about his rapid commission as an officer during World War II is tempered by his unenviable post with a bomb disposal unit. Assigned to a fatality-heavy team that defuses unexploded German bombs scattered throughout London during the blitz, Ash faces down his terror and eventually becomes the closest thing to an expert one can be dismantling sometimes booby-trapped ordnance. In doing so, he earns the respect of his superiors as well as from the enlisted men working under him, and his protracted survival is nothing short of miraculous considering the tragic number of friends and colleagues Ash loses.

There is a dark side, however. The longer Ash sticks with his unit, the more obsessive he becomes about his responsibility to keep London safe. Meanwhile, his nerves grow frayed and his morale collapses. Ash's desperate romance with a married woman (Judy Geeson) provides him little to hold onto, and when a true crisis ambushes his spirit toward the end, one can't be sure if he's headed for the scrap heap of permanent casualties. Based on the recollections of an actual wartime bomb disposer, Danger UXB was created by John Hawkesworth, who later produced (and wrote many episodes for) the fantastic Sherlock Holmes TV series starring Jeremy Brett. Despite many tense moments in Danger UXB's 13 episodes--one is always expecting a bomb to blow away a favorite character--the show is also graced by great humor (Ash's crew sometimes bring to mind Sergeant Bilko's hustlers) and a warm, likable cast. Andrews himself, perhaps, has never been better. This boxed set includes a History Channel documentary, "Bomb Squad." --Tom Keogh

Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Unseen Behind The Scenes Footage
Photo Gallery
Interviews

Synopsis
This intense TV series follows a British EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) unit on various missions during the Second World War. Anthony Andrews stars as Lieutenant Brian Ash, one of the soldiers who must diffuse German aerial bombs that have not exploded--and may be fitted with booby traps. This box set includes all 13 episodes of the series.

Customer Reviews

Danger UXB (ABD4256) - Wonderful Tension-Filled Drama
Thirteen uncut episodes with a total running time of just over eleven hours on four discs, plus a fifth disc of extras I will mention later.

This series which was made by Euston Films (The Sweeney, Minder, Special Branch, etc.) comes to DVD in a nice package. It originally ran from 8th January 1979 to 2nd April 1979, and is presented here in 16x9 anamorphic widescreen. Picture quality is great considering this went out 25 years ago! The box for the set is well-designed and attractive, although I must admit that it could have been even better if a booklet had been included. If you have the 'Secret Army' box set you will know what I mean. Still, for the price Danger UXB is fantastic value.

People in the know comment on how accurate this show was with regard to London during the war, uniforms, dialogue, and how attempts are made to render the unexploded bombs safe. Also, the timeline during the thirteen episodes appears to have been followed with an eye to fact, and events during the war sometimes allow you to pinpoint the actual month and year. All of the realism, together with a wonderful story and superb acting make this a special series. I watched it all within four days, and as with anything this excellent you never want it to end. One thing though, for all the research and accuracy that went into this I had to smile when a jacket was placed over a blast victim's head without even first checking for a pulse!

Romance! Anthony Andrews and Judy Geeson make a great couple during their on/off relationship, and Deborah Watling is really sexy as Norma. Humour! There is loads of risque dialogue and swearing throughout the series mainly in the mess room/barracks which helps add to the authenticity. Tension! You can feel your pulse quickening when the bomb disposal unit go into action, especially as regular cast members suddenly experience the dreaded jacket over the head treatment.

The extra disc consists of five films. Three British public information films about UXBs, a short American commentary on the Blitz, and the longest is an American training film about UXBs (not a 'True Story Documentary' as advertised on the box). Still, these are quite interesting.

Personally, I have learnt a great deal watching this series, and it really is a bargain. I thoroughly recommend it.

Behind the scenes soldiering
Cracking drama, based on fact, from the late 70's.
Tells the story of the unexploded bombs dropped on the UK during the Second World War and the men that defused them. A little known fact is that many bombs were dropped with the intention that they would remain unexploded until touched or after a pre-set time delay. This strategy adopted by the Germans was designed to bring maximum disruption to an area after the air raid was over.
The defusing of these bombs became a strategic battle between the German fuse designers and the British inventors tasked with finding methods to make the bombs safe. There was no volunteering for bomb disposal, you were posted to it no questions asked.
The period set designs are spot on and the acting good. I have read the Danger UXB book that accompanied the Channel 4 documentary series (early 2000's) and I have to say that the chronology of events in the drama follow the actual 'as it happened' events closely.
The episode about the 'Butterfly' bomb is set in a small country town, when in actual fact the real event happened in Grimsby. There was a war time 'D' notice posted on Grimsby that effectively shut the town down for a week. Not a word was released in the press and so the Germans had no idea of the disrupted effect these bombs had. They were not tried again in the UK.

This series make for a watchable drama based on very real modern history events, without the gushing hollywood treatment that HBO in the USA would apply it. Pitty it hasn't been re-run on TV, although I think UK Gold have the rights.

A real good series

British drama at its best
This has to one of the forgotten jewels of British television.

It follows the exploits of a group of Royal Engineers who are charged with defusing unexploded German bombs in London from the Blitz of 1940 through to the preparations for D-Day. While Anthony Andrews is excellent as the the young newly-commissioned lieutenant who slowly matures into a determined officer, the show is an example of ensemble acting at its finest. All the actors, who play the sappers, the officers, the women who try to share their lives, and the ordinary people on the street, capture a true sense of community on screen. Each story builds on the previous one and all are told with a degree of both restraint and yet almost unbearable emotion, that typifies British drama at its best. One shudders at the thought at how Hollywood would have handled a show like this. The production values on the DVD are excellent, with wide-screen format and a wonderful bonus disc containing a number of war-time documentaries about the bombing of London.

Highly recommended.