Gideon's Way: The Complete Series [DVD]

I have memories of this series from my childhood but too young to remember very much. As a family we would watch Gideon's Way on television, in the days of all the family watching the same program together. Being too young to remember any episodes other than John Gregson was Commander Gideon & Alexander Davion played Detective Inspector David Keen. Watching the series now is like seeing it for the first time, the plots are very good. Interesting to see the locations in London as they were in 1964-1965. Another delight is seeing the various motor cars which bring back memories. A delight to watch.

I didn’t really remember this series when I started watching it, although I knew of it. I was surprised at how many of the stories that I remembered. There is a certain amount of suddenly resolving problems and finding key suspects/witnesses/evidence all of a sudden to resolve the story but that is the nature of adaptation of stories to fit a television time slot.The real marvel of this series is the high quality in the face of a punishing filming schedule. Filmed June 1964 - May 1965 on location and at Elstree Studios. Fifteen episodes 1 - 15 were filmed by December 1964, after which the cast and crew were allowed a week's break before filming on the second batch of eleven episodes 16 - 26 began on 11 January 1965. There was lots of location scenes and it would not have taken much to expand each episode into a full length feature film. I really like this series and I cannot really understand why ITC didn’t make a further seriesMy only gripe about this dvd set is that the episodes are not in broadcast order which was:1. State Vist2. The V Men3. The Firebug4. The Big Fix5. The Housekeeper6. The Ladykiller7. To Catch a Tiger8. Big Fih, Little Fish9. The White Rat10. How to Retire Without Really Working11. Subway to Revenge12. The Great Plane Robbery13. Gang War14. The Tin God15. The Alibi Man16. The Wall17. The Thin Red Line18. A Perfect Crime19. The Millionaire's Daughter20. Moran21. Boy With Gun22. Fall High, Fall Hard23. The Prowler24. The Reluctant Witness25. The Rhyme and the Reason26. The NightlifersThe other thing that is notable about this series is the number of actors in it who became big stars, you find yourself every now and again saying “Is that really...?” when you see John Hurt and Darren Nesbit or Donald Sutherland...

I'm delighted to add to everyone else's positive reviews of this black and white detective series from 1964-5. The format is not quite that of a conventional whodunnit/police investigation drama as we often see things from the point of view of the criminal early in the episode (cf. Columbo); this seems to me to inject a greater sense of realism and originality to the characters, especially as the villains become more desperate. There are some superb performances from well known tv actors of the era: among many others I would particularly single out Jack Hedley in the episode 'The Alibi Man', but there is also a glimpse of a young Donald Sutherland as a psychopathic kidnapper. Commander Gideon himself is a stolid but not one-sided character; his sidekick Chief Inspector Keen gets more of the action as the series develops. There are some weaker elements of course. Some of the early plots are a bit simple but they grow in complexity and excitement as the series grows in confidence. Too many people die in hospital at convenient moments, and Gideon and Keen drive to all parts of London much too quickly - usually to rescue a pretty young woman from certain death - even for the traffic-jam freer 1960s. I shall look forward to watching this all over again.

When I was a young teenager I use to rush round to my grandparents house to watch Gideon's Way. In those days not all of us could receive ITV.After 50 yrs. I can now enjoy this great series again. There is always a good plot/story. Wallow in the scenes of London in the early 1960's. I had forgotten what a gloomy, dark and often foggy place London was. See cameos of famous stars who were starting their careers then. George Cole stars in one episode. The list is countless of familiar faces from the sixties. Derren Nisbett, Mike Sarne, Michael Cashman, Nicola Pagett, Imogen Hassall, Alan Cuthbertson, Ronald Lacey, Ray Brooks, Findlay Currie and Raymond Huntley to name but a few.Great viewing, great nostalgia, and a great theme tune too.

Good solid characters, well acted and good storylines. A show with genuine police work and not shoot outs and flashy car chases like later cop shows. This show was often filmed on the streets of London, and in those days, most streets had very few parked cars on them. These were the good old days and thankfully we do not see police officers in flak jackets standing around on street corners holding weapons of war "to protect us".WTH happened?

Having bought all the old fuddy duddy shows from the 60s, including public eye, edgar wallace, the avengers and several others this seemed like a logical step. I never actually watched his one at the time but I remember my mother being glued to it back in 1965. I have watched the first episode and cannot wait to see the rest. Great to see the actors we know and love today starting out, no less than John Hurt himself playing a criminal on the run. This was London before it stumbled into the concrete wasteland we know today and the views of it are quite stunning.

Gideon's Way was a really well crafted TV crime series, made and set in the sixties. It was well written and well acted, entertaining without any gratuitous violence. John Gregson was superb in the title role - it's sad that he died so young at 55. If you're of a certain age (I became a teenager in the sixties) the nostalgia aspect is another plus. Life was SO different then! The DVD comes with an informative booklet, listing the actors, and describing the plot of each episode. Highly recommended.