Van Der Valk

[Truckosaurus]

I see ITV has remade vd Valk.

The opening episode was somewhat slow paced.

I have, of course, nowhere better to go next Sunday so I'll tune in again to see if it improves.

Marc Warren is surely the shortest rozzer in all of Holland.

[i4got]

Same theme tune?

[Pericoloso]

i4got said:

Same theme tune?

Only just audible ,same tune but different.

I quite enjoyed this ,will keep watching.

[TurnedEmo]

Disappointed at how they toned down the theme tune.

But overall, I enjoyed it.

A cloggy detective with a cockney accent is a bit weird, though.

[cuprabob]

I enjoyed it

[SS2.]

It seemed stretched to fill 2 hours which made it lack any real pace.

As a result, there were many times when I found myself more interested in the backdrops of Amsterdam than the plot itself.

We'll give it the benefit of the doubt and watch again next week in the hope the tempo might be upped a little.

[tangerine_sedge]

I quite enjoyed it, but the plot was a little cliched and I'd 'guessed' the 'murderer' by the halfway point :


(1) the background story was about politics, therefore the rule of tv detectives means that the crime wasn't politically motivated.

(2) as soon as VdV spent the night with the barmaid woman, then the 'Morse femme fatale' rule was triggered.


Still, Amsterdam is pretty and it was good Sunday night viewing.

[Rumblestripe]

I didn't know if I fancied it. But found myself in front of the "Idiot's Lantern" when it started, and watched it through. I did enjoy it (I just walk out on anything that drops below my boredom threshold nowadays) I didn't guess the killer, to be honest I didn't try, but at least when the killer was unveiled it made sense without a long involved explanation from the Super Dick.

Will watch again. The new Morse (perhaps but will need better stories than this to take that mantle)?

[shaunsmith]

Required more of the old outstanding theme tune.
Tiny bit at the beginning wasn’t enough.
Waited 2 hours in anticipation hoping for a new rendition during the credits or the old one would have been great.....
.

[Smollet]

I fell asleep

[majordad]

Good but not the old Van der Valk.

Definitely should have kept the old tune.

[CooperD]

I thought it was good but I do like the original programme starring Barry Foster. I have all the episodes in a dvd box set so might revisit them again soon. It would also have been good to have the original theme tune as well.

[gareth_r]

CooperD said:

I thought it was good but I do like the original programme starring Barry Foster. I have all the episodes in a dvd box set so might revisit them again soon. It would also have been good to have the original theme tune as well.

Talking Pictures TV is currently broadcasting the old series.

[Pesty]

Pericoloso said:

i4got said:

Same theme tune?

Only just audible ,same tune but different.

I quite enjoyed this ,will keep watching.

Ha that’s silly. The only thing I remember about the show was the tune. I remember it perfectly.

They should have used it.

[Rumblestripe]

Pesty said:

Pericoloso said:

i4got said:

Same theme tune?

Only just audible ,same tune but different.

I quite enjoyed this ,will keep watching.

Ha that’s silly. The only thing I remember about the show was the tune. I remember it perfectly.

They should have used it.

Not sure why the Theme Tune is so important? I'm sure it will be on spotify if it's a need you want to scratch. I rather liked what they did with the tune just putting little hints of the old theme into the new one, subtle and it made you go "AHA!" in a Partridge fashion when you heard it. Oddly my wife couldn't remember the original tune but even my tuneless aproximation was enough to remind her!

[toastyhamster]

Eye Level? Bloody hell my Mum had the 7" single! I don't think I ever watched an episode.

[Europa1]

Rumblestripe said:

Not sure why the Theme Tune is so important? I'm sure it will be on spotify if it's a need you want to scratch. I rather liked what they did with the tune just putting little hints of the old theme into the new one, subtle and it made you go "AHA!" in a Partridge fashion when you heard it. Oddly my wife couldn't remember the original tune but even my tuneless aproximation was enough to remind her!

I guess because for the original series, it was quite an event - it was an 'orchestral' piece that got to number 1 in the 'hit parade", which was unusual (and probably still is) - for a TV theme tune to be performed on Top Of The Pops is, to my mind (and failing memory, although I get the occasional Nick \Berry flashback) a real rarity.

[MXRod]

Watched the original Friday,
The only good thing that was good was the theme tune . Remembering the program was made In the seventies, awful closeups ,wooden acting . Wafer thin plot.
Perhaps the remake was not that bad after all

[irocfan]

We enjoyed it tbh - however it was VdV in the same way that the 'new Puma' is a suitable replacement for the Puma.

[Derek Smith]

I liked it. The lack of an historic tune is of no consequence to me. Like James Bond openings, all it needed was a hint, just a homage, and then forget it.

It seems silly to judge it against the previous one. It's what it is. That said, the production values are higher.

I'll watch the second with my wife and see how that develops. I like the lead. He's good in everything I've seen him in. I thought he did very well in State of Play, the brilliant series and not the flawed Russell Crowe remake. But he sort of went off anything big for a while. I hope this puts him where he deserves to be.

Mind you, the SoP series had a brilliant script and terrific actors. Even the bit part ones were quality. If you haven't seen the State of Play series, it's worth digging out. I bought it by mistake, thinking it was the film, and my wife and I sat through all six hours of it in two evenings.