Ths Sandbaggers

The Sandbaggers was a British TV show that first aired in the late 70's starring Roy Marsden as SIS Director of Operations Neil Burnside. SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6) is equivalent to the CIA (while MI5 is more like the FBI, but without the power of arrest).

The Sandbaggers and the Tinker Tailor/Smiley's People mini-series with Alec Guiness were probably the two best and most intelligently plotted spy shows ever produced. Both featured superb characterizations and brilliant acting.

While Smiley had greater depth and veracity, The Sandbaggers was the more entertaining of the two, eschewing the typical action style for more cerebral plotting involving Whitehall maneuvering and the interplay of the characters. The special effects were laughable and character continuity from one episode to the next was sometimes lacking (and nobody gave a damn about Belinda) but despite it all, it was a great show and I highly recommended it.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• sandbaggers
• roy
• marsden
• neil
• burnside

[JasonPotapoff]

What do you mean when you said: "character continuity from one episode to the next was sometimes lacking". I didn't notice any character continuity problems.

[HenryOrientJnr]

One minute Burnside is all gung-ho to personally assassinate an African dictator and the next he won't even approve divers to check out the hull of the Karaganda. One week he is by-the-book; the next he throws the book out the window. This is a script problem, not an acting problem, and Roy Marsden should be commended for always making Burnside seem totally believable no matter which way the script, for dramatic purposes, is leaning.

[normandeplume]

Best spy series ever made, bar none.

[kalevraa]

that was one great tale. the effing brits know how to write one, how to act it, and how to make even a 30-seconds-screen-time extra human and interesting. no pre-chewed fast food here, either, no black-and-white morality. for some reason, brits have always excelled portraying the many shades of gray. could be the disgusting british weather...

[akatwitch]

@HenryOrientJnr As stated in "Decision By Committee", Burnside demands absolute loyalty from his agents, and in return does everything in his power to protect them from unnecessary risks.

That fanaticism drives him to refuse use of the SPT on circumstantial evidence, just as it drives him to campaign to personally assassinate the African dictator (to avenge the Sandbagger the dictator brutally murdered, as well as to further his career and maybe protect Willie if the job goes badly.)

[kirid23]

nooo...i was an avid watcher at the time! I was totally in love with Roy Marsden.:-))

[fongchaynun]

A classic, brilliantly acted and utterly believable. Notwithstanding the amateurish special effects, this was the truly best spy series nobody ever saw. Proof that you don't need a big budget to make great entertainment.

[EyeLean5280]

There is a reason why Burnside favored some interventions and not others.

I'm not going to give it away. Go back and watch the series again. His deepest decision-making motives are iterated over time by several of the characters.

There certainly is plenty of continuity - you'll see.

[EyeLean5280]

Agreed. Burnside was the most complex TV character ever written at the time (and for a long while after - maybe ever).

If you watch the series a few times very carefully, you'll see there's nothing about him that does not make sense, although a lot of clues to his thoughts and motivations are subtle.

[Phaedrax2]

Anybody got any information on an old TV series featuring Roy Marsden called 'Inside Story'? Have been unable to track it down.

[Phaedrax2]

The writer showed the many different sides to Neil Burnside's character, I don't think it was lack of continuity. Great stuff and great acting.

[Phaedrax2]

I agree completely with what you say about Roy Marsden's portayal of Burnside - he is so believeable.

I have recently purchased the whole series and I am hooked! I am in the process of watching it all over again, as I find the plots very complicated, one has to really concentrate on what is being said.

A fabulous series, what shame the writer's life was cut short. Pity someone else didn't continue it though. Love the music too.