Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50432 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-15
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 350 minutes

Synopsis
Features the complete episodes from the second series of the television drama which follows the fortunes of a team of British Secret Service agents.

Customer Reviews

The Best Spy Series Ever?
Other, more knowledgable reviewers than I have described "The Sandbaggers" as the best spy series ever shown on television. I would say that these dramas paint a dark and disturbing portrait of the security services, the political establishment and of us, the general public, who tamely accept the media reports and explanations of politicians as fact so that we don't have to think too hard about what's really happening in the world.

There are no heros, no good guys and there is no glamour in these superbly written scripts that twist and turn to deliver a stomach churning surprise at the end of every episode. This series is better, in my view than series one as the writer, Ian Macintosh, himself a former security service employee who died in mysterious circumstances after completing the third series, really gets into his stride and leaves the viewer incredulous at the depth cynicism and deparvity of the those who have the power over the lives of ordinary people. Yet the question the viewer is always left with is "what would I have done". The most chilling answer is that I would probably have done the same. I hope not.

Superb spy drama for the thinking viewer
Sandbaggers is a treasure of television, brought back to life by the DVD re-issue. It's intelligent espionage from the late 1970s, so set against a cold war background when Britain and her allies are in a deadly battle against the KGB. But instead of being full of flashy action a la modern thrillers like 24 or Alias, it is based in the harsh reality of running the Special Section of the Secret Service.

And it is brilliant.

The sets are typically cheap wonky 1970s Brit TV stuff; the quality of film is variable, archive footage of airports regularly appears, the 'foreign' action inevitably takes place in the quarry where they shot Dr Who or some council estate dressed to look like East Berlin.

None of that matters.

The scripting and acting are superb. The characters are thoroughly fleshed out so they are completely believable, and you just know when the main man is going to do something horribly wrong... again!

You need to watch Series 1 first, to make any sense out of Series 2. The two dovetail together beautifully; even the opening shot of S2 pays homage to the horrific events at the end of S1.
The first season was brutal and shocking in places, but even though the second series is a little less ferocious it is every bit as compelling. Even the 'lighthearted' epsiode contains a tight plot and a moral dilemma.

You can depend on very little in the world of the Sandbaggers. Central characters are flawed and they make mistakes. They can be killed or ruined. And the series ends with a wonderful cliff-hanger which leaves the viewer desperate to get into the third (and final) season...

There are only 20 episodes of Sandbaggers. Treasure them!

Carry On, Sandbaggers!
I can add little to other reviews or to my own reviews of the 1st and 3rd DVD issues, also available. Suffice to say that anyone who misses The Sandbaggers has missed out. You do need to see Series 1 before this Series 2, as another reviewer already commented: Series 1 gives the main characters and the general setup (although the plastic case does contain a synopsis called, twee or what!? an Operational Briefing!).

Once you get used to the methods and personnel, this is a greatly entetaining watch, which takes you inside its world, as with all good or great drama, despite the fact that, sometimes, the dialogue is a kind of alphabet soup, as in
"Well, if their D-G comes to "C" or to D.Int with a problem about the CIA or FBI, D.Ops will find himself giving SIS a headache for the FCO" etc...(!)

Recommended, all the same.