My spouse and I are long-term fans of the Dalgleish series, but are a little surprised that it survived this near disaster of a production. The leads are fine in UK stock company tradition, but many of the supporting players turn in really terrible performances.
Distractions mount up to the point where we started looking for things going wrong with the production rather than the main flow of the narrative. For example, watch for a seen where an actress is bottle feeding a baby. Baby Debbie audibly gurgles in the scene, duly captured and sweetened in the soundtrack with unintended humorous effect. The scene collapses into hilarity when the actress yanks the bottle from Baby Debbie and the kid's expression looks like she has been traumatized for life. The actress reveals herself as never handling a baby before and the scene gives the feeling that Debbie was thrust into her arms followed by a quick call to "Action!" by the director.
Like any avalanche, once the snow starts sliding downhill, there's no stopping it. What was the use of a "extra" policeman bobbing his head framed by an interior door window, distracting from the main business of a scene? Was this an early appearance by Ricky Gervais? Why did Dalgleish need to arrive at the former stately home crime lab on a helicopter? Did the entire cast need to stare out of the windows to ooh and ahh at this dramatic arrival? Why does Dalgleish talk to himself? Why does the plot unfold in Agatha Christie style: victim plus half a dozen plausible suspects?
We'll keep watching, but not for the keenly modulated suspense and story telling that we have come to expect from the Dalgleish series. I give the production six stars out of loyalty, but deduct four for clumsiness, as enjoyable as it might be at certain moments.
Distractions mount up to the point where we started looking for things going wrong with the production rather than the main flow of the narrative. For example, watch for a seen where an actress is bottle feeding a baby. Baby Debbie audibly gurgles in the scene, duly captured and sweetened in the soundtrack with unintended humorous effect. The scene collapses into hilarity when the actress yanks the bottle from Baby Debbie and the kid's expression looks like she has been traumatized for life. The actress reveals herself as never handling a baby before and the scene gives the feeling that Debbie was thrust into her arms followed by a quick call to "Action!" by the director.
Like any avalanche, once the snow starts sliding downhill, there's no stopping it. What was the use of a "extra" policeman bobbing his head framed by an interior door window, distracting from the main business of a scene? Was this an early appearance by Ricky Gervais? Why did Dalgleish need to arrive at the former stately home crime lab on a helicopter? Did the entire cast need to stare out of the windows to ooh and ahh at this dramatic arrival? Why does Dalgleish talk to himself? Why does the plot unfold in Agatha Christie style: victim plus half a dozen plausible suspects?
We'll keep watching, but not for the keenly modulated suspense and story telling that we have come to expect from the Dalgleish series. I give the production six stars out of loyalty, but deduct four for clumsiness, as enjoyable as it might be at certain moments.