Blackpool (2004)
"I was a fine idea at the time; now, I'm a brilliant mistake."
Blackpool, a six-part series from the BBC, combines a gritty murder mystery with lavish musical numbers, a romantic love triangle, and a brilliant character study. Set in the tacky and faded seaside town of Blackpool, it focuses on an arcade owner, Ripley Holden (David Morrissey), who has grand plans to build a Las Vegas-style casino hotel. Blackpool is trying to reinvent itself as a gambling destination and Ripley believes (or says he believes) that his future casino will be at the center of it. Dragged along for Ripley’s ride are his put-upon wife, Natalie (Sarah Parish), and two teenage children, Shyanne (Georgia Taylor) and Danny (Thomas Morrison).
Ripley’s “perfect” life and future plans are disrupted, though, the day after the grand opening of his latest arcade when a corpse is found in his “family establishment”. Both Ripley and his son met the deceased on the night he was killed, and it doesn’t look good that the body was found on Ripley’s property. Sent to investigate the murder is D.I. Peter Carlisle (David Tennant), a wry Colombo-ish detective who suspects Ripley from their first interview. And after Peter meets and falls in love with Natalie, he’s even more convinced Ripley is guilty and doubles and redoubles his efforts to put him away.
Ripley and Peter
In much the same way the Sopranos used the Mafia as a slight misdirection from its true nature as an American family drama, Blackpool begins with a murder mystery that is really an excuse to study three characters and the nature of self-reinvention. When Blackpool begins Ripley is basically a prick. He ignores and cheats on his wife, he bullies his daughter’s boyfriend, he insults his son, and he seems to be living in a state of complete shallow gratification. As he repeatedly says, he came from nothing, changed his name and his self, and is now a “winner.”
However, with each episode things get worse for Ripley - his money runs out, his wife starts to stray, and the police keep closing in. And as the crises pile up, Ripley lets down his mask a bit. He has a strange sort of friendship with Hallworth (David Bradley), a religious man who spends his days protesting the godlessness of Ripley’s establishment. Although the two men are at cross-purposes, Hallworth is one of the few people Ripley is honest with and at one point, Ripley asks him if there's a way he can “get back on speaking terms with God.” It’s moments like these, when we see how truly adrift Ripley is in the midst of his ambition, that make him sympathetic in spite of himself.
In addition to Ripley, Natalie and Peter are also very well-drawn and well-acted characters. Peter comes to Blackpool as the detective who’s got everyone’s number, but as soon as he meets Natalie he’s thrown for a loop and begins to commit more and more ethical infractions in order to get close to her. Natalie at first blush seems pretty lackluster - she's someone who's grown used to being overlooked. In an attempt to escape the shallow commercialism of Blackpool, she spends her time volunteering at a suicide hotline and it's the only thing she has in her life that means anything to her. In the first episode, it’s hard to believe that she and Ripley were ever on the same wavelength long enough to date, let alone marry. But as Peter pursues her, she comes alive, gets some fire back, and even her affection for Ripley resurfaces.
Natalie and Peter
All three main characters antagonize, seduce, and change each other in various ways. In the show’s musical numbers, duets between Natalie and Peter will be joined by Ripley and vice versa. My favorite part of Blackpool was how the three of them interrelate and balance one another. There’s a one-off sequel to Blackpool which just starred David Morrissey as Ripley and I think the large part of why it didn’t work was because Ripley’s desperate energy needs to be counterbalanced by Natalie’s begrudging love and Peter’s manipulative sarcasm.
I think I’d need many more words to really get into Blackpool’s biggest conceit, its lip-synced musical numbers, but all in all they work. I wish some had a bit more justification for existing (they often feel unnecessary) but there are a few that are really great and overall they fit the tone perfectly. The best numbers are usually the opening montages when all the characters take turns singing different lines in the same song. One opening number uses Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler” and the way the characters blend the song’s ridiculousness with genuine reflection sums up Blackpool perfectly.
Blackpool, a six-part series from the BBC, combines a gritty murder mystery with lavish musical numbers, a romantic love triangle, and a brilliant character study. Set in the tacky and faded seaside town of Blackpool, it focuses on an arcade owner, Ripley Holden (David Morrissey), who has grand plans to build a Las Vegas-style casino hotel. Blackpool is trying to reinvent itself as a gambling destination and Ripley believes (or says he believes) that his future casino will be at the center of it. Dragged along for Ripley’s ride are his put-upon wife, Natalie (Sarah Parish), and two teenage children, Shyanne (Georgia Taylor) and Danny (Thomas Morrison).
Ripley’s “perfect” life and future plans are disrupted, though, the day after the grand opening of his latest arcade when a corpse is found in his “family establishment”. Both Ripley and his son met the deceased on the night he was killed, and it doesn’t look good that the body was found on Ripley’s property. Sent to investigate the murder is D.I. Peter Carlisle (David Tennant), a wry Colombo-ish detective who suspects Ripley from their first interview. And after Peter meets and falls in love with Natalie, he’s even more convinced Ripley is guilty and doubles and redoubles his efforts to put him away.
Ripley and Peter
In much the same way the Sopranos used the Mafia as a slight misdirection from its true nature as an American family drama, Blackpool begins with a murder mystery that is really an excuse to study three characters and the nature of self-reinvention. When Blackpool begins Ripley is basically a prick. He ignores and cheats on his wife, he bullies his daughter’s boyfriend, he insults his son, and he seems to be living in a state of complete shallow gratification. As he repeatedly says, he came from nothing, changed his name and his self, and is now a “winner.”
However, with each episode things get worse for Ripley - his money runs out, his wife starts to stray, and the police keep closing in. And as the crises pile up, Ripley lets down his mask a bit. He has a strange sort of friendship with Hallworth (David Bradley), a religious man who spends his days protesting the godlessness of Ripley’s establishment. Although the two men are at cross-purposes, Hallworth is one of the few people Ripley is honest with and at one point, Ripley asks him if there's a way he can “get back on speaking terms with God.” It’s moments like these, when we see how truly adrift Ripley is in the midst of his ambition, that make him sympathetic in spite of himself.
In addition to Ripley, Natalie and Peter are also very well-drawn and well-acted characters. Peter comes to Blackpool as the detective who’s got everyone’s number, but as soon as he meets Natalie he’s thrown for a loop and begins to commit more and more ethical infractions in order to get close to her. Natalie at first blush seems pretty lackluster - she's someone who's grown used to being overlooked. In an attempt to escape the shallow commercialism of Blackpool, she spends her time volunteering at a suicide hotline and it's the only thing she has in her life that means anything to her. In the first episode, it’s hard to believe that she and Ripley were ever on the same wavelength long enough to date, let alone marry. But as Peter pursues her, she comes alive, gets some fire back, and even her affection for Ripley resurfaces.
Natalie and Peter
All three main characters antagonize, seduce, and change each other in various ways. In the show’s musical numbers, duets between Natalie and Peter will be joined by Ripley and vice versa. My favorite part of Blackpool was how the three of them interrelate and balance one another. There’s a one-off sequel to Blackpool which just starred David Morrissey as Ripley and I think the large part of why it didn’t work was because Ripley’s desperate energy needs to be counterbalanced by Natalie’s begrudging love and Peter’s manipulative sarcasm.
I think I’d need many more words to really get into Blackpool’s biggest conceit, its lip-synced musical numbers, but all in all they work. I wish some had a bit more justification for existing (they often feel unnecessary) but there are a few that are really great and overall they fit the tone perfectly. The best numbers are usually the opening montages when all the characters take turns singing different lines in the same song. One opening number uses Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler” and the way the characters blend the song’s ridiculousness with genuine reflection sums up Blackpool perfectly.
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