Posh and his cockney sparrer
Thoughts on last night's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Wire in the Blood I feel I need to make defensive noises about myself and murder mysteries. My tv watching taste is usually towards sci-fi, good American dramas and kitsch American dramas. Wire is currently the only must see tv I have on ITV. In fact, I mock my parents openly for watching The David Jason Grumpy Old Man Vehicle and only Orlando Bloom made me watch Midsomer Murders. I don't care for movie thrillers, usually. I did go through an early-mid teen Agatha Christie phase, but I got bored. I adore my Lord Peter Wimseys though.
And sardonic coroners (see Taggart post Taggart left but with the rest of the original cast but not Silent Witness.) Love them!!!
Anyhow, the main selling point for Lynley is Nathaniel Parker. First came across him playing the only bearable Hardy hero (sweeping generalisation admitted.) He looks hotter with the longer hair! (I'm ignoring the involvement in The Haunted Mansion.)
So I watched Lynley though and switched on to Wire. My rationale was Wire is less about the whodunnit than the journey the characters take to find it. Plus I fancy Parker; Green may have my grudging respect for Tony Hill but he was part of that monstrosity known as Robson and Jerome.
Lynley is a toff and a working detective! The conceit is that his colleague is cockney working class (working class = bad hair, terrible clothes, anti-authoritarian streak, empathy wiv the poor and various family problems) Barbara Havers. The fact that she's totally the wrong age to be a Barbara notwithstanding, I thought she had a few nice tops under that hideous coat/bag combination she had on last night. Originally, they marketed this relationship as some cross class/rank divide UST laden romance, the BBC did. Well there was this ad with lots of heavy breathing. And the UST's there, sort of, but then he went and married his horse faced toff girlfriend last series. But spent his honeymoon on a case. So we can all click out our thumbs at the wedding band he wore in the ep, whatever our moral take on marriage.
Last night's ep had that bloke off State of Play doing a rather good young Hugh Grant, Timothy West acting like he was doing King Lear rather than a mid-market detective show, and a Meg White look alike playing a prostitute. She was meant to be appealing because she looked like an eleven year old, which is probably a more general kink than rock starrr drummer doppelgangers.
Wire is nasty. It's totally why I watch it. Oh and the soundtrack is fabulous. I'm going to have to hunt down records by The Insects one of these days. I haven't read the books upon which the series is based, so I don't know if Green is true to the original incarnation of Tony Hill, the geeky, anti-social, and intense psychologist who consults with "Bradfield's" murder cops. I did think sometimes the clothing choices were OOC and pandering to his housewives heart-throb persona, but having not liked him at all as a singer or actor up till last series, he's grown on me. His leading lady is not a cockney sparrow but a sensible senior detective with a cat. So I like her.
The show is very stylised grand guigniol, dealing usually with serial killings. Tony gets inside their minds, the cops flap about looking for evidence, various theories are discarded. Some more nasty killings happen, one of the team is endangered, the cops and Tony wed motive to evidence and we have an ending.
Last night's director was far, far too fond of flashy visuals, cf. the overkill on the stigmata as a final shot. I mean, honestly. . .
or was it Mel Gibson slumming it?
And sardonic coroners (see Taggart post Taggart left but with the rest of the original cast but not Silent Witness.) Love them!!!
Anyhow, the main selling point for Lynley is Nathaniel Parker. First came across him playing the only bearable Hardy hero (sweeping generalisation admitted.) He looks hotter with the longer hair! (I'm ignoring the involvement in The Haunted Mansion.)
So I watched Lynley though and switched on to Wire. My rationale was Wire is less about the whodunnit than the journey the characters take to find it. Plus I fancy Parker; Green may have my grudging respect for Tony Hill but he was part of that monstrosity known as Robson and Jerome.
Lynley is a toff and a working detective! The conceit is that his colleague is cockney working class (working class = bad hair, terrible clothes, anti-authoritarian streak, empathy wiv the poor and various family problems) Barbara Havers. The fact that she's totally the wrong age to be a Barbara notwithstanding, I thought she had a few nice tops under that hideous coat/bag combination she had on last night. Originally, they marketed this relationship as some cross class/rank divide UST laden romance, the BBC did. Well there was this ad with lots of heavy breathing. And the UST's there, sort of, but then he went and married his horse faced toff girlfriend last series. But spent his honeymoon on a case. So we can all click out our thumbs at the wedding band he wore in the ep, whatever our moral take on marriage.
Last night's ep had that bloke off State of Play doing a rather good young Hugh Grant, Timothy West acting like he was doing King Lear rather than a mid-market detective show, and a Meg White look alike playing a prostitute. She was meant to be appealing because she looked like an eleven year old, which is probably a more general kink than rock starrr drummer doppelgangers.
Wire is nasty. It's totally why I watch it. Oh and the soundtrack is fabulous. I'm going to have to hunt down records by The Insects one of these days. I haven't read the books upon which the series is based, so I don't know if Green is true to the original incarnation of Tony Hill, the geeky, anti-social, and intense psychologist who consults with "Bradfield's" murder cops. I did think sometimes the clothing choices were OOC and pandering to his housewives heart-throb persona, but having not liked him at all as a singer or actor up till last series, he's grown on me. His leading lady is not a cockney sparrow but a sensible senior detective with a cat. So I like her.
The show is very stylised grand guigniol, dealing usually with serial killings. Tony gets inside their minds, the cops flap about looking for evidence, various theories are discarded. Some more nasty killings happen, one of the team is endangered, the cops and Tony wed motive to evidence and we have an ending.
Last night's director was far, far too fond of flashy visuals, cf. the overkill on the stigmata as a final shot. I mean, honestly. . .
or was it Mel Gibson slumming it?