It would be a crime to forget the victims
FOR ONCE an ITV crime drama in which the perpetrator is not overly glamorised by the series. The Hunt For Raoul Moat (ITV, Sunday –Tuesday), was a nuanced piece of filmmaking by World Production who wanted to put the victims first. It mostly achieved this, particularly in the first instalment, but by the third episode we were again straying into familiar territory as the gunman, Raoul Moat, toyed with police, with his own shotgun held to his head.
ITV should really have called it, The Tragedy of Christopher Brown (Josef Davies). This was the young man who started a relationship with Samantha Stobbart (Sally Messham), who, tragically for Brown, was the ex-girlfriend of Raoul Moat (Matt Stokoe).
Moat was not about to give up this relationship as they also had a daughter. Stobbart told him as a ploy, quite understandably, that Brown was a police officer when in fact he was a kind-hearted karate instructor living a rather quiet life. She hoped it would deter Moat.
The episode involved the audience in this new relationship as they went on dates in Newcastle, culminating one evening with drinks with Stobbart’s neighbour, and most importantly, meeting Stobbart’s mother. They were a promising couple. Hours later though, Brown was gunned down by Moat, and Samantha Stobbart wounded.
In what appeared to be a police gaffe, Brown’s mother Sally (Angela Bain) and sister were told of the “fatal shooting” of their relative on the doorstep. It wasn’t a traffic infringement. If that’s what actually happened, it was appalling.
Bain’s heartfelt performance emphasised the true tragedy of the moment, and how suddenly lives can change with a simple knock at the door. As a drama, the episode was 60 minutes of screw-tightening tension. Even though we all knew what was going to happen, the menace of Moat was palpable.
It’s a constant refrain that real-life killers are mostly glamorised by crime dramas. How many victims of famous serial killers portrayed on TV can you remember? Who were Myra Hindley’s victims? Fred West’s? Dennis Nilsen’s? All done by ITV – with huge audience ratings.
So well done to the channel for trying to change the focus.
The show’s bizarre epitaph: a mother and her two sons arriving from Surrey a year later to lay flowers where Moat had fallen, and to pay tribute. Says it all.
There’s a new Australian comedy, Colin From Accounts (BBC Two, Tuesday), which shows promise. Strewth! OK, it’s not the next Kath And Kim, much-missed, but has much of the same daft humour. Who can forget hunk Kel Knight and his speciality sausage, or Sharon Strzelecki and her abiding love for Shane Warne, unreciprocated alas?
Colin, meanwhile, is a stray terrier,
Scared Of The Dark (Channel 4, Sunday–thursday). C4 is going through a weird phase. It’s like it’s being run by teenagers. If it’s not nudity and
sex, it’s the bonkers formats. In wellbeing terms, it strikes me as borderline dangerous to put celebrities who are actually scared of the dark into a black-as-pitch room and see what happens. It’s not entertaining watching people go through that. We’ll laugh at most things, but not this. That said, Paul Gascoigne and Chris Eubank were inspired bookings as was visually impaired comedian
Chris Mccausland who helped frightened celebs around
the room. knocked down by Gordon’s ageing Toyota Cressida after he was “flashed” by Ashley. It happens to us all! Now Colin, without the use of his back legs, is being looked after by both Gordon (Patrick Brammall) and Ashley (Harriet Dyer) who move in together. Sort of.
It’s jolly enough, but it is rude in places and quite scatological. Gordon’s surname is also “Crapp”. Try it, but watch from the start or you will be as lost as the loveable terrier – played by Zak – who, yes, steals the show. Not since Skippy has an Aussie cast been upstaged so easily.
Dame Joanna Lumley’s Bolly-loving Patsy knew a bit about upstaging in
Absolutely Fabulous, which
CHEERS: featured in an enjoyable, two-hour doc on this national treasure, My Best Bits – In My Own Words (C5, Sunday). “We had trouble trying to get the studio audience to stop laughing,” said Lumley. I’m not sure we could think of a current studio sitcom where that would apply – and that includes Mrs Brown’s Boys. But let’s not dwell.
This film was bursting with showbiz anecdotes, some of which you may have heard only once. Lumley, who had been a Bond girl, was once propositioned by Frank Sinatra as she arrived at a party in the 1960s. The famous crooner said, “Shall we leave now?” She politely declined. As ever, Lumley did it her way.
Finally, The Diplomat (Netflix) is a surprisingly engrossing but uneven drama starring Rufus Sewell, Rory
Kinnear as the UK Prime Minister and Keri Russell as a new American Ambassador to the UK.
It began dramatically with a British aircraft carrier being torpedoed, maybe by the Iranians. What a start, but then the tone lightens with the two main players, married couple Sewell and Russell, bouncing off each other like it was a sassy, two-hander comedy. It also has a unique Netflix take on London, with Russell arriving at what is meant to be the Winfield residence of the ambassador but looked more like Downton Abbey.
All it needed was a meddling butler to serve up the lighter moments.