Mad Dogs - Season 1 - DVD

Content: Rick (Marc Warren), Baxter (John Simm), Woody (Max Beesley) and Quinn (Philip Glenister) have been friends since they were young. But in recent years, they've lost track of each other a bit. Now, however, the men in their mid-forties want to get together once again for a real man's holiday at the villa of their friend Alvo (Ben Chaplin) in Majorca to celebrate his early retirement. Alvo, who has made a fortune in real estate, wants to offer his buddies pure luxury: at the pool, on his yacht, on the beach, everywhere they should just party and forget the everyday life. But the first dark clouds start to gather when the friends discover a dead goat in Alvo's pool and Alvo's behaviour changes more and more. Again and again there are tensions and arguments. But the dream holiday finally turns into a nightmare when Alvo is shot dead by a mysterious stranger in a Tony Blair mask and the four friends suddenly have to deal with a stolen boat, a drug deal and the disposal of the body - all of which is made considerably more difficult with the appearance of policewoman Maria (Maria Botto).

Mad Dogs was born out of the four leads' desire to finally work together. Simm, Warren and Glenister had already been in front of the camera together on the mini-series Murder on Page One, a collaboration that Simm and Glenister had successfully continued in Life on Mars. Now Max Beesley was to be brought on board as well, which led Cris Cole to write them a story about an aging rock band. But since this concept was a bit too overused, the musicians became old childhood friends without further ado, who are somewhat estranged, but have to grow together again during a short holiday in Mallorca to get out of the dicey situation alive.

It's a story about friendship, but also about growing older and dealing with the fact that not all youthful dreams actually come true in life. This content is combined with elements of drama, thriller and comedy to create an extremely entertaining whole, which primarily thrives on the good chemistry between the actors and some cleverly constructed moments of suspense. Admittedly, some of the dialogue scenes are dragged out and the tensions between the men, which are unleashed more and more often, are a bit overused. But despite such minor hang-ups, Cole and his two directors do a very good job of keeping the viewer entertained until the finale of this first season.

Although not all of the surprises work as such, some plot twists are executed extremely effectively. The ending of the first episode in particular really packs a punch. And the finale is also really executed in a first-rate manner. So it gives enough answers to make a relatively finished impression, but with the little back doors left open for a sequel, makes you really want to watch more episodes of the series. Thankfully, the second season has already aired in the UK and a third has already been commissioned. So we can only hope that the Mad Dogs will find enough friends in Germany, too, so that the sequel will be released on DVD here soon. If you like it characteristically, humoristically and dramaturgically a little darker, you can confidently access here. Worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The audio-visual realization of the four episodes of the first season leaves an overall positive impression. The image is clean and the overall sharpness is at a good level. In the darker scenes can be detected here and there slight drizzle and also minor weaknesses in the detail representation can be made out in such moments. On the other hand, the vibrant colours are fully convincing, allowing the beautiful shots of the Mallorcan landscape to come into their own. The sound remains largely unobtrusive, dominated by the directionally mixed dialogue. But every now and then, some sound effects like gunshots, sea noise or squealing tires bring some movement into the surround area. For a TV series this is absolutely sufficient. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, there is a nearly half-hour making of, in which the creation of the series is traced from conception to shooting. The whole thing is presented with a mixture of interviews, clips from the series and footage from the shoot. Not spectacular, but well worth watching.

Conclusion: Mad Dogs is a thrilling drama series that, enriched with a little bitter humor and strong characters, despite some dramaturgical hangs over the four episodes of the much too short first season captivates and knows how to entertain well. Therefore, the technically well implemented DVD version of the series, which also has a Making of worth seeing to offer, can be warmly recommended to all lovers of British TV series of a special kind. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp