New Level for free-to-air drama
Drama at its best and worst features on our screens this week.
You can’t have missed the many trailers for UK drama The Level. The episodes are on over five consecutive nights this week, 8.30pm TVNZ1. It began on Sunday and ends on Thursday.
Billed as a ‘‘television event’’, it tells the tale of a cop with a double life.
Detective Nancy Devlin (Karla Crome) has just received a bravery award but, before the opening credits, she’s rolled around on her bed with a work colleague; dashed off to meet a dodgy businessman; and witnessed a murder and been shot. That’s a busy evening by anyone’s standards and it sets the tone for this pacy drama. Pretty soon, Nancy is at the heart of the investigation into the murder of the dodgy businessman, the father of an old school-friend. But she’s the hunter and the hunted, as she tries to treat her bullet-wound with ibuprofen and make sure none of her colleagues place her at the murder scene.
It’s packed with recognisable faces – Philip Glenister pops up as the dodgy businessman; Amanda Burton is his wife; Rob James-Collier of Downton Abbey fame is Nancy’s colleague and love interest. Sure, I’m not talking Oscar winners here, but overall it’s a strong cast with some good performances and intriguing characters. Occasionally it strays into slightly predictable territory. Like the early shots of Nancy running through trees in the pitch dark – cue heavy breathing, a sweaty face looking back in terror all the usual stuff. Later on, another character who is worried about being followed arranges a latenight rendezvous at the top of some cliffs – hmm, what could possibly go wrong?
But those are small points and actually half-an-hour-in, I was thoroughly gripped by this tightly written, well-performed drama. At its heart, it’s a great whodunit with enough intriguing suspects to keep you guessing and a central character that you’re cheering on despite her shortcomings. A pretty good start to drama on free-to-air.
If only I could say the same about Reckless (Wednesdays, starting from tomorrow, 9.30pm, The Box). Billed as a ‘‘sultry legal drama’’, it’s set in Charleston, where Chicago attorney Jamie Sawyer (Anna Wood) has moved for reasons unknown. Pretty soon she’s up against local attorney Roy Rader (Cam Gigandet) in a case revolving around a cop gone bad. But what do you know – there’s a mutual attraction between the pair, despite the fact there seems to be zero chemistry.
I don’t know what I liked least about this show. Was it the paper cutout characters? The paint-by-numbers story? Or the poor dialogue?
‘‘How come I never see you sweat?’’ Roy asks Jamie at one point.
‘‘I’m sweating right now in little private places you can’t see,’’ she responds. OK, maybe this is how people talk in Charleston, perhaps it’s all that sultry weather. That might also explain why Jamie only wears small, tight dresses. There’s Ray on the court room steps in a suit and tie, there’s Jamie dressed like she’s off to the beach.
This is a deeply mediocre piece of dross. Don’t watch. It will only encourage them to churn out more.