When I recall Dempsey and Makepeace the first thing that comes to mind is that in nearly every episode, some crook would fall off a building rather than be arrested. The second thing is the time Makepeace wore a white T-shirt with the slogan 'Make peace, not war'. This is partly because Dempsey got to rip it off of her but more so because the Rainbow Toys Action Figure that came out at the time had on the very same shirt. Toy Dempsey meanwhile was wearing a denim outfit.
Watching it again on DVD with IMDb updates in mind, I'm struck by the fact that there aren't that many people falling off things after all and the T-shirt episode is one of the most plot-hole ridden episodes of the first series. Of course the entire series was pretty high concept to begin with. Dempsey is the proverbial NY cop who always acts like he's in a movie and Makepeace being an upper class daughter to the dotty Lord Winfield. Both of them were clichés in their own way, something their relatively normal co-workers at M.I.10 would often point out. However, this episode is completely OTT from the start. The leader of a gang of drug dealers is a black widow with a thick veil who goes by the name of Merle. Now anyone who's seen the start of Thunderball will know where this is going. Needless to say, the following paragraphs are filled with spoilers.
Dempsey takes the place of an American hit-man named Schwartz after the man is intercepted at the airport. This is what Dempsey does all the time. Just a few episodes earlier, he posed as an American pilot. There is also a subplot involving the drug dealer's contact, Lei Shan, wanting her own personal revenge on Schwartz for killing her brother. Although this seems promising for a moment, it is soon sidetracked and rather forgettably resolved near the end. It there's one difference between this British cop show and it's American counterparts is that there seems to be too much plot crammed into every episode. Usually D&M will start of investigating one crime, only to stumble upon something bigger and completely different along the way.
Meanwhile, Makepeace gets a stolen T-shirt (yes, that one) from one of her endless supply of London based contracts. Foolishly, she puts it on immediately and goes to investigate the warehouse where it was stolen from. She's surprised to find Dempsey/Schwartz there, as well as Merle (who's face we have now seen and it is most definitely mannish). Merle has just finished explaining how the shirts are laced with heroin and how much they're worth. Therefore, Makepeace has to be bumped off right there and then. But she manages to escape and Dempsey, rather than having one of Merle's men go after her, says he'll get rid of her himself.
Obviously this entire story was written around the concept of Dempsey being undercover and having to assassinate Makepeace. Therefore the entire 'did he really shoot her or didn't he' part of the story is drawn out for as long as possible. They even go as far as having Spikings, the head of S.I.10, visit Makepeace's father to tell him the bad news (however this scene is mostly played out for laughs owing to Lord Winfield's character). Of course we all knew Makepeace would never get killed in the middle of a series and Spikings takes her to his flat for safekeeping. Here the screenplay starts making one far fetched leap after another. First off all Dempsey has managed to break into Spikings garage to find out if Makepeace is alive or not. This is still kind of in character. But when he returns to the villain's mansion he finds Makepeace has somehow crept into his room as well. She claims to have simply climbed up the drainpipe. Never mind the fact that Spiking forbade her to interfere or that she's supposed to be dead. She hasn't even bothered to disguise her very recognizable bleached blonde bob.
Naturaly the next day is the day of the big drug exchange. So, apparently D&M spend the entire night together in his room (though this is never addressed) and decide to gang up on Merle (the other goons having already left for some reason). Of course Merle turns out to be a man and Makepeace conveniently puts on the black widow outfit. But during the exchange top goon Stavros notices something different about her hands. That was quite a nice touch, as Starvros would notice such things. It is also at this point that Lei Shan (remember her?) finally sees Dempseys face and notices he's not the man she's after all. Not that this matters at this point, for their cover had already been blown. So, Stavros escapes taking Makepeace hostage. And here comes one final big leap of logic: Dempsey manages to cut off their fancy car by running all the way to London Bridge and arriving their first. Stavros falls off the bridge (not quite the same as falling off a building but good enough) and as usual Dempsey makes a final wisecrack that really doesn't make any sense in the context of the situation at all. End spoilers.
It's a shame I don't have that golden haired action figures any more, really. Can't recall any other London Weekend Television TV show from that time having it's own toy line (not even Robin of Sherwood). Also, even though Dempsey and Makepeace was very popular with the younger crowd, it always seemed to be on in a much later time slot than more 'kid friendly' fare such as the aforementioned RoS. That did change over the years, as repeats began popping up in the afternoon and morning, but then again by that time the toy-line had long been forgotten.
7 out of 10
Watching it again on DVD with IMDb updates in mind, I'm struck by the fact that there aren't that many people falling off things after all and the T-shirt episode is one of the most plot-hole ridden episodes of the first series. Of course the entire series was pretty high concept to begin with. Dempsey is the proverbial NY cop who always acts like he's in a movie and Makepeace being an upper class daughter to the dotty Lord Winfield. Both of them were clichés in their own way, something their relatively normal co-workers at M.I.10 would often point out. However, this episode is completely OTT from the start. The leader of a gang of drug dealers is a black widow with a thick veil who goes by the name of Merle. Now anyone who's seen the start of Thunderball will know where this is going. Needless to say, the following paragraphs are filled with spoilers.
Dempsey takes the place of an American hit-man named Schwartz after the man is intercepted at the airport. This is what Dempsey does all the time. Just a few episodes earlier, he posed as an American pilot. There is also a subplot involving the drug dealer's contact, Lei Shan, wanting her own personal revenge on Schwartz for killing her brother. Although this seems promising for a moment, it is soon sidetracked and rather forgettably resolved near the end. It there's one difference between this British cop show and it's American counterparts is that there seems to be too much plot crammed into every episode. Usually D&M will start of investigating one crime, only to stumble upon something bigger and completely different along the way.
Meanwhile, Makepeace gets a stolen T-shirt (yes, that one) from one of her endless supply of London based contracts. Foolishly, she puts it on immediately and goes to investigate the warehouse where it was stolen from. She's surprised to find Dempsey/Schwartz there, as well as Merle (who's face we have now seen and it is most definitely mannish). Merle has just finished explaining how the shirts are laced with heroin and how much they're worth. Therefore, Makepeace has to be bumped off right there and then. But she manages to escape and Dempsey, rather than having one of Merle's men go after her, says he'll get rid of her himself.
Obviously this entire story was written around the concept of Dempsey being undercover and having to assassinate Makepeace. Therefore the entire 'did he really shoot her or didn't he' part of the story is drawn out for as long as possible. They even go as far as having Spikings, the head of S.I.10, visit Makepeace's father to tell him the bad news (however this scene is mostly played out for laughs owing to Lord Winfield's character). Of course we all knew Makepeace would never get killed in the middle of a series and Spikings takes her to his flat for safekeeping. Here the screenplay starts making one far fetched leap after another. First off all Dempsey has managed to break into Spikings garage to find out if Makepeace is alive or not. This is still kind of in character. But when he returns to the villain's mansion he finds Makepeace has somehow crept into his room as well. She claims to have simply climbed up the drainpipe. Never mind the fact that Spiking forbade her to interfere or that she's supposed to be dead. She hasn't even bothered to disguise her very recognizable bleached blonde bob.
Naturaly the next day is the day of the big drug exchange. So, apparently D&M spend the entire night together in his room (though this is never addressed) and decide to gang up on Merle (the other goons having already left for some reason). Of course Merle turns out to be a man and Makepeace conveniently puts on the black widow outfit. But during the exchange top goon Stavros notices something different about her hands. That was quite a nice touch, as Starvros would notice such things. It is also at this point that Lei Shan (remember her?) finally sees Dempseys face and notices he's not the man she's after all. Not that this matters at this point, for their cover had already been blown. So, Stavros escapes taking Makepeace hostage. And here comes one final big leap of logic: Dempsey manages to cut off their fancy car by running all the way to London Bridge and arriving their first. Stavros falls off the bridge (not quite the same as falling off a building but good enough) and as usual Dempsey makes a final wisecrack that really doesn't make any sense in the context of the situation at all. End spoilers.
It's a shame I don't have that golden haired action figures any more, really. Can't recall any other London Weekend Television TV show from that time having it's own toy line (not even Robin of Sherwood). Also, even though Dempsey and Makepeace was very popular with the younger crowd, it always seemed to be on in a much later time slot than more 'kid friendly' fare such as the aforementioned RoS. That did change over the years, as repeats began popping up in the afternoon and morning, but then again by that time the toy-line had long been forgotten.
7 out of 10
