Just watched the DVD and would highly recommend it. There should have been more made. A shame really as it could have run for a few years. Mr Thaw is at his very best and the co-stars were from The Sweeney era. Mitch is a journalist who cares about what and who he writes about. Some of the stories are about the harsh times of the early eighties when i grew up. This tackles both racial issues, political and extremist issues which were in the headlines all the time, plus the strikes which had an impact on the consumer purchasing a newspaper. Worth watching and buying from e-bay or amazon. John Thaw is sadly missed by all his fans including myself.
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rickjones197324 October 2008
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Anything starring John Thaw is always worth looking out for, and you can say the same for Mitch. Sure it's not among Thaw's best work but it's still very good and it is a shame that it is as undervalued as it is, if remembered correctly it was pretty obscure when he was alive. Mitch doesn't see Thaw at his best but he is still great in the role, which is testament as to how fine an actor he was and how many good performances he did. The cast support him more than reliably too, if you liked the support casting in something like The Sweeney then you will like the cast here too. The dialogue is written very thoughtfully and there is plenty of entertainment to be had as well, while the stories are well paced, are compelling and easy to follow if somewhat toned-down-Sweeney-style(which is in no way a bad thing, I love The Sweeney). Edgy topics(like the death of a child) are also dealt with in Mitch, and Mitch handles them with intelligence and in no way watered-down or overwrought. For example there's the death of a child and that issue is done in a way that wrenches the gut, another example is the race relations, something that could have easily been offensive or one-sided(considering that the series revolves around a reporter, and we all know what the media is like now) and it was neither in Mitch, instead it was incredibly truthful and painfully so. The characters are well-written and engaging, although only Mitch is really, really interesting, and all the episodes are directed strongly. The opening music and the music in general while somewhat of the time is very fitting with the tone Mitch adopts. There is very little wrong with Mitch at all, though a couple of episodes could have been more rounded off and while I liked the gritty look of the series and the fashions are interesting the production values at times do feel very 1970s. These are minor personal complaints though compared to how well Mitch did turn out to be, much of it is very very good and more people should see it. 8/10 Bethany Cox