The Ghost Squad (2005– )

Creator:

Tom Grieves

Stars:

Elaine Cassidy, Emma Fielding, Jonas Armstrong

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Elaine Cassidy	...	Detective Amy Harris (7 episodes, 2005)
Emma Fielding	...	Detective Superintendent Carole McKay (7 episodes, 2005)
Jonas Armstrong	...	Pete Maitland (7 episodes, 2005)

Storyline

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama

---

Details

Official Sites:

Channel 4 [uk] Company Pictures [uk]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 November 2005 (UK)

Box Office

Budget:

£6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Company Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (8 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Ghost Squad was an undercover unit formed to investigate police corruption. After complaints from police officers it was officially disbanded in 1998 but rumours of its existence continue.

User Reviews

Gritty, tense series

I think this has been, in the main, a good series if a little patchy and uneven. At times, it has shown the police service in an unflattering light (casual racism, corruption, violence), but also I think has tried to be even handed by showing what a challenging, and often thankless job, modern policing is. 'Ghost Squad' has managed to avoid some of the clichés of the usual cop shows by showing the darker side of policing, the embittered front line officers etc, and how hard it is to maintain one's poise/dignity in the face of unrelenting hostility and how hard it is to do good often in the face of opposition & cynicism from one's own colleagues.

I thought the series was at its best when the cases were less sensational, the third episode in particular where Amy investigated a typical gruff front line officer possibly involved in the disappearance of a young girl. As through most of the series, the plots twisted and turned, played with your expectations with Amy discovering the information at the same time as the audience so that often, we, like her, were no nearer the truth than she was. I expect that's why the POV of the series was mostly through her character.

I enjoyed the final feature length episode though I agree with the last comment that after all the twists and turns it really did not merit a feature length. I felt uncomfortable with Amy's revelation to Gus, the officer under investigation that she was working undercover and how her handler, Mackay did not seem at all interested in her welfare but in the outcome of the case. I feel this is where fiction parted company from reality. More interesting was how Pete, her colleague, and in love with Amy himself, tried to fabricate evidence after listening to Amy & Gus making love.

The final episode disappointed slightly with its ending - though it did avoid a pat ending and left us in doubt about Gus. Credit to C4 though. Even if 'Ghost Squad' was flawed, it was nonetheless an interesting variant on cop clichés. Earlier, I watched Jack Rosenthal's reworking of 'Ready When You are Mr McGill', the work of a fine writer for TV, but also an indictment of modern TV and TV drama. Sometimes it's better to fail with an interesting experiment than peddle the same tired old rope. Writers like Dennis Potter didn't always succeed, but at least they were given the opportunity.