McDonald & Dodds - Season 1 - DVD

Content: They couldn't be more different: The young, tough DCI McDonald (Tala Gouveia) from London, who always has a tablet with her during investigations and doesn't shy away from very frank words, and the older Sergeant Dodds (Jason Watkins), who still comes to the crime scene quite old-fashioned with a pad and pen and seems rather shy and taciturn after years at a desk. McDonald is less than charmed when the unassuming partner is assigned to her side. When Dobbs makes a glaring mistake in their first case together, a murder in the home of one of Bath's most respected citizens, McDonald is not at all averse to her superior's request that she persuade Dobbs to take early retirement, as he no longer fits the modern image of the police force. But she soon realizes that behind the pale, timid façade lies a brilliant mind that is sure to solve many a tricky case....

"McDonald & Dodds" begins like quite classic, conventional crime fiction. The structure of the cases has been seen many times before, as has the element of mismatched partners who don't quite like each other at first, but then become an inseparable unit - precisely because of their differences. The series implements the familiar elements very well and entertainingly. But in view of the enormous mass of similar series, it needs more to stand out from the crowd. This is where the series scores with atmospheric locations of the southern English city of Bath, which is dominated by 18th century architecture. It's atmospheric and exudes a special flair from the moment you first see it. But is that enough as the only unique selling point?

Of course not. But there is, after all, the titular investigator duo. And here it must be said that the makers have shown a good hand with the scripts as well as with the cast. Lauren McDonald and Dodds are wonderfully drawn and are brought to life extremely charmingly. The tough McDonald in particular could have easily come across as arrogant and aloof. But some wonderful dialogue and acting by Tala Gouveia make it extremely easy to quickly take the cop to heart. And character mime Jason Watkins also perfectly succeeds in making Dodds approachable and endearing despite his crankiness. It's a lot of fun to watch the two of them. Even though the first season only contains two feature-length episodes, by the end of the second episode the two characters have already taken on their own special characters that really leave you wanting more.

"McDonald & Dodds" may not be reinventing the wheel. But the series does an excellent job of proving that even the old familiar can still be presented in a fresh and, most importantly, extremely entertaining way. If you like British crime series with mismatched investigator duos, you should not miss this latest contribution to the popular genre. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture convinces with powerful, but absolutely natural-looking colors and a good overall sharpness, which comes especially in the outdoor scenes fully to bear. Significant blurring cannot be discerned, nor can smudging or other obvious weaknesses. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix isn't particularly spectacular, but does its job perfectly satisfactorily. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, there are about ten minutes of interviews about the first two episodes of the series and how they were made. Not a lot, but not uninteresting either. Good!

Conclusion: "McDonald & Dodds" is classic crime entertainment that stands out from the crowd in the genre because of the mismatched but utterly charming duo, wonderfully played by Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins, and the atmospheric images of Bath. The first two cases McDonald and Dodds have to solve don't offer any nail-biting suspense, but they do provide extremely good entertainment, which makes this technically well-realized DVD absolutely recommendable on balance!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp