Waste Land
- Episode aired Nov 14, 1970
- 44m
A Policeman goes missing in strange circumstances, his colleagues and members of the public search for him using clues from his past.A Policeman goes missing in strange circumstances, his colleagues and members of the public search for him using clues from his past.A Policeman goes missing in strange circumstances, his colleagues and members of the public search for him using clues from his past.
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- TriviaThis is the earliest episode produced in colour that still exists in the BBC archives. One factor that may have helped its survival is that it was made entirely on film - there were no studio scenes recorded on videotape.
- Quotes
Sgt. George Dixon: Good evening, all. You know, you can work with a man, talk with him, eat with him - and yet still know nothing about him. And you think afterwards, perhaps, in one of those moments he was trying to find an opening to tell you. The right word, the right phrase, might have led to that opening. But it never happened. So, most of us remain ignorant of one another. It can happen in offices, factories, shipyards, docks ... or the police force.
I have hazy memories of watching a one off celebratory repeat of a colour edition of Dixon in the 1980s. It was the usual shot on videotape studio bound effort with Jack Warner looking very ancient.
So Waste Land from 1970 is a revelation. A colour episode shot entirely on film. Slightly experimental in the way it has been directed, like it was a drama documentary and a bleak one at that.
It really does seem that the series was prepared to try out new things and be reinvented. We are just never going to know because of so many lost episodes.
This one likely to have survived because it was filmed on grainy 16mm.
A police constable has gone missing. His panda car is found in an abandoned dock area. PC Norman was on the night shift. His wife is worried.
The rest of the police force are out looking for him. Knocking on doors in nearby houses. Some housewives are talking to the camera.
Everyone wonders what PC Norman was doing in such a desolate area. It seems he was once attacked by a gang, hit on the head. They were never caught.
PC Norman moved to Dock Green, he had a hunch the gang were from the area. Was he operating on the own to catch these guys?
Andy Norman meets a woman who knew PC Norman. She is shocked to discover that he has gone missing. It seems they hanged out together. Not something you would want to mention to his wife.
The police want her house key, so they can check that he is not hiding out there or being held there. That bit did look strange, asking the woman for her keys when they had probable cause for a search.
Shot entirely on location, Dixon is not shown much here. When a message of a finding is broadcast on the police radio. Dixon quickly shuts it off, so Mrs Norman does not hear anything further.
I was left wondering what the rest of the episodes in the 1970 series was like. Alas this is the sole survivor.
- Prismark10
- Apr 6, 2024