Stunning crime drama was the best of British
BROADCHURCH was stunningly good. It’s nice to see British drama, which used to be head and shoulders above the rest, back up there.
Interestingly, the top dramas no longer come from the BBC: ITV has done it again. This was Nordic noir without the bleak, washed-out landscapes.
It was visually stunning: that pretty village on the coast, the one that should have been a sanctuary, with those looming cliffs. As the drama progressed, they became more intimidating.
It’s a tradition in crime fiction that a murder takes place in a closed community, and that the perpetrator is local. In case many of you still haven’t seen the last episode, I won’t be looking at who did it – it’s enough to say it was a reasonably credible conclusion. There were enough hints to satisfy the intrepid cluehunter, and the hints pointing to other suspects were pretty much explained, though there were still unanswered questions.
But the series made for riveting viewing. The acting was universally magnificent – David Tennant and Olivia Coleman made a terrific team, both flawed, both likeable.
Coleman is always good, but she’s going to find it hard to better this performance, and she won bucketloads of awards for it. Then there was the writing, the plotting – those layers. No one was uncomplicated, and no plot line was, either. The complexities were so well realised – every story had another one interwoven. You can’t believe that a character didn’t see what was going on when it was right under their nose? Turns out it happens all the time.
I’m sure in a few months what I’ll remember most is its depiction of the vigilante instinct. The mob closing in on Jack the newsagent was positively medieval, while at the same time recognisably modern. It’s an instinct that makes the blood run cold.
And no wonder David Bradley won a Bafta for his portrayal of newsagent Jack. The viewer was as inclined as the locals to judge him because he looked a bit What used to be Media 3 has changed its name to Media Take and moved to Maori TV – Tuesdays at 10.25 pm. Toi Iti joins Russell Brown. It’s election year: let’s hope they go beyond the trivia and concentrate on the issues that really matter. seedy and he enjoyed the company of young boys. Not only this – he’d been in jail for sex with a minor. How brilliantly his tragic personal story was revealed.
If you ever needed an example of the danger of jumping to conclusions, this was it. Not to mention that there’s not just right and wrong – they’re linked by a continuum. Can’t wait for the next series. This is Tori Amos’ 14th studio album and only two years after Gold Dust, where she reimagined some of her best known songs with orchestra. (It was also an album that was a genuine fresh take on her works, rather than an excuse to flog them off again to pay bills.) Amos has also been stretching herself creatively over about the past five years too. There was the classical-leaning Night of Hunters in 2011 and co-creating a musical for London’s National Theatre last year. Unrepentant Geraldines could be described as a return to form. There are echoes of Amos the heart-onsleeve singer-songwriter at her piano ( Weatherman) and the usual associations with Joni Mitchell. But there’s an unexpected depth here, even for Amos. The important point is that it’s not an album that grabs you by the throat on first play, or even the fifth. But patience pays dividends – from the 16 Shades of Blue – a look at ageing at different ages, to the nursery rhyme-like Giant’s Rolling Pin which touches on revelations about NSA surveillance. The title track, inspired by paintings, effortlessly switches from ballad to rock.