George Gently review
I'd been looking forward to GG for aaages (after the devastating delays caused by the damn tennis last week), and last night I finally got to see it!
Martin Shaw was on terrific form, I thought. I'll never be able to get used to his accent as GG (sort-of-London), but there were actually lots of points where he just looked exactly how he used to as Doyle. I have to admit that I found car scenes (and indeed waiting-in-corridor scenes) a bit... well, *wrong* - it just felt like Bodie was missing ;) Goodness, how I'd love to see Lewis Collins as an older detective or somesuch these days... Every time there was one of these scenes, or a reference to a character in it called Doyle, this is what I was thinking :)
Anyway, enough of the reminiscence. You want to know whether it was good, don't you? And it was. Slow paced, perhaps, and there wasn't a large base of characters to work with so it sometimes felt as though it was being stretched out more than necessary. But, saying that, it was sort of calming. Not exactly exciting (except for MS' presence!), but very nice and watchable. I think next week's looks a bit more actiony though, for the action junkies out there.
Ooh, and there was a nasty Special Branch guy in it who was played by Robert Glenister, who happens to be the real life brother of Philip Glenister, who plays Gene Hunt in Life on Mars... Hey, gen writers - write this into your stories! ;)
So yes, it was very good, and everyone should watch it if they have a chance. And MS really does still look great :)