Martin Compston, Keely Hawes & Vicky McClure
This is one of those series, that I know, but for some reason have never actually watched a full show of, until this week (Naturally, the BBC wishes this to tie in with Season 6 that will air shortly).
Starring Adrian Dunbar (as a head of a police Internal Affairs department), who I’ve always thought was either iffy, or in over his head with many roles (His cameo in Death in Paradise a few years ago, should have had him finding a new agent!), along with Martin Compston (A Glasgow ned – look it up!) with an English accent, as his number 2.
I’d heard rave reviews about this, but until watching a recent Gogglebox episode, that reviewed the last series; when two of the reviewers not only had to watch the final show of Season 5, but also looked genuinely shocked at the ending (I thought it was when Compston didn’t know that someone had followed him up the stairs?) – I felt I had to give it a go, and I’m glad that I did, watching episode 1 on the Beeb, and finishing the rest on iPlayer.
As for the series, let it be known that there is NO character development whatsoever! None! And in particular, Compston’s character either screws anything he gets his hands on, or makes mistake after mistake – and still somehow manages to keep his job.
Equally, none of the characters have any redeeming characteristics of any kind, and there are literally, holes everywhere in the plot. Hey, I can accept this, but for this series, even after six episodes, I was STILL not sure who did what by the end. And I was not alone, as I’ve read an interview with Jed Mercurio (writer), where he had to answer something like fifteen questions about just what exactly happened.
Why did I love it then? I’ve NEVER seen anything on television, with only one thing on its mind like this – that thing being Suspense. The entire series is set up to do suspense, and NOTHING else! Nothing! From the endings of each episode, to the many plot points during the episode, like one when there were two delivery drivers who somehow were allowed to enter the control room of the police division, complete with their helmets in place! I thought this runs counter to standard procedure? In this particular scene, nothing of importance actually occurred, but it still had me thinking as to whether something WAS going to happen; a hit, a gun fight; something.
This is a winner and I can’t wait for Season 6 to begin.
Curious Bystander 