How do they do it? Week after week, they give us two hours of spell-binding, intelligent, stimulating drama. There is nothing I can fault. Tonight's was in a class of its own, but all the rest of the series has been better than any other drama on the TV.
The storyline is consistent from start to end, yet you never know until the last few minutes 'who dunnit' Each week they come up with a different, seemingly far-fetched, line, and each week it resolves into perfect logic. The main characters are three-dimensional, despite their almost lack of personal life (and I love that lack of personal life, I really do). Each of the five main actors* play their parts superbly. Understatement and nuance being far more important than melodrama.
The episodic characters are always believeable, and they've got a good ensemble of guest stars. Paul Kay was outstanding in this week's.
Everything about the production speaks class from the lighting and camera work to the music and forensics. I assume that the forensics are (more-or-less) accurate; I find them totally fascinating, to the point that they overlap into other viewing - eg I watched the first act of Tosca on Artsworld (Acts 2 and 3 have been taped) and when Scarpia was searching for Angelotti in the church and found the fan of the Marchesa Attavanti, I assumed they were going to test for DNA, or at least fingerprints (in Napoleonic times?).
I don't know if anybody noticed, but the closing scene when Boyd is writing on the perspex board, the music playing was clearly influenced by the sublime Benedictus from Karl Jenkins' Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Kind of ironic that Karl Jenkins started his composing career writing music for TV that 'sounds like something familiar' and he is now being sampled in the same way. But what a fitting tribute...**
At the end, they had a screen saying "In Memory of Alexei de Keyser 1967-2004". He was Executive Producer. What a fine legacy he left...
Oh, and Trevor Eve is really quite delectable to the eye...
*/** see below
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Now four - how could they kill-off Mel?
** you know, to DS Mel Silver
