99-1: The Complete Series
Rating: 4/5. Bottom line: Heavy on the grit and loaded with attitude. Cast: Leslie Grantham, Frances Tomelty, Robert Stephens, Malcolm Storry, Nadia Sawalha. Classification: 15. Number of discs: Two. Format: DVD. Run time: 700 mins. Language: English with no subtitle options. Heavy on the grit, and loaded with attitude, 99-1 features Leslie Grantham (Eastenders) as […]
Rating: 4/5.
Bottom line: Heavy on the grit and loaded with attitude.
Cast: Leslie Grantham, Frances Tomelty, Robert Stephens, Malcolm Storry, Nadia Sawalha.
Classification: 15.
Number of discs: Two.
Format: DVD.
Run time: 700 mins.
Language: English with no subtitle options.
Heavy on the grit, and loaded with attitude, 99-1 features Leslie Grantham (Eastenders) as Mick Raynor, a maverick undercover cop tasked with taking down some of the country’s most dangerous criminals.
Created by multi-award winning theatre and TV dramatist, Terry Johnson 99-1 is a curious beast: a ‘90s drama whose tone and texture is unashamedly that of a 1940s Noir.
Going undercover as a bent ex-copper, Mick Raynor (Grantham) walks a razor’s edge as he infiltrates the organised crime and high-level corruption that lurks beneath the surface of the British establishment. Intent on landing the big fish, he soon finds himself enmeshed in a web of violence, lies, and deceit.
Running to two seasons (of six and eight episodes a-piece) 99-1 is very much the classic British crime drama. Think The Sweeny with a less catchy theme tune and snappier dialogue and you’re there. Only Raynor’s targets are less pimps, druggies, and low-lives and more gangsters with knighthoods, and money-laundering MPs…. which would seem to make this a timely re-release.
Paula Hammond - Features Editor
