TV REVIEW: The Guilty - Episode Two & Finale

WARNING, THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS.

After an interesting but not wholly lapel grabbing start, The Guilty (ITV1) has now wrapped up its trilogy of episodes. All three hour shows had a fair amount to offer, but the programme sadly suffered somewhat from what I shall henceforth be referring to as Broadchurch 2 Syndrome right through until the end.

Episode 2 saw progressively more aspersions cast as to the moral turpitude of the chocolate box cul-de-sac of the show’s setting (not a sentence I thought I’d be writing this week), with bluffs, double bluffs and presumably triple bluffs galore to boot.  Daniel Reid (Darren Boyd), father of the victim, began to act distinctly shiftily, forcing his wife Claire, played by the marvellous Katherine Kelly, to doubt not only their marriage but everything she had so far gleaned about the death of her son. Meanwhile, in a plot arc I’m still not entirely sure of the point of, despite its obvious merit in terms of subject matter, the son of DC Maggie Brand (Tamsin Greig)  is put under scrutiny as potentially being on the autism spectrum, putting a strain on both her professional life and her marriage. Putting all this to one side however she still manages to interview both the former nanny of the Reid boys, as well as deal with this series’ ‘slightly odd villager’ stock character.

This, naturally, brought us on to the finale. It would be fair to say that it did not have anywhere near the level of closure hype as the finale of Broadchurch or even the inferior MayDay, due at least in part to it being such a short run. I, at least, still found myself intrigued as to who the murderer wold turn out to be, ever unable to resist a good old fashion whodunit. By this point DC Brand had a confession on her hands, but unfortunately not one she believed. Running out of options, she is forced to consider the possibility that the answer may lie a little closer to the deceased boy’s home than anyone would like to believe, especially as Daniel Reid’s alibi begins to unravel through the unwitting handiwork of former lover Teresa (Ruta Gedmintas). As the show reached its, actually rather chilling climax, the focus began to fall on the Reid children themselves, as well as upon the condition of young Sam, as his autism symptoms took a dramatic turn for the worse. 

 

Again, whilst nothing about this mini-series felt new and exciting, the big reveal at the end certainly did pack a punch. Not in the same league as Broadchurch, no, but it did have its own shock factor to bring to the table. All in all the ending felt far more resolved than its ITV Drama predecessor, which I think it’s fair to say will come to work both for it and against it in terms of posterity. From episode one, it has been the central performances of Katherine Kelly and Tamsin Greig which have held the show together, with Kelly’s raw emotional exposure and vulnerability as the victim’s traumatised mother clashing nicely with the measured, uptight career lady next door of Greig’s DC under pressure. This remained the case throughout, and the show was all the better for it.

The Guilty could just have benefited from the elusive ‘little bit more’ in so many areas. More twists, more suspects, particularly as it only ever really felt like there were two, heck perhaps even more episodes, just to allow what was a genuinely strong and well-constructed script the space to develop.

It all needed a chance, really, and it’s just a shame it didn’t get it.

-          Jen

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TV REVIEW: Broadchurch - Episode Three

Now that we’ve reached the dizzying heights of Broadchurch, Episode 3 (I know, already!), we could be forgiven for expecting a few surprises here and there. A few plot twists and turns. And lo and behold, we were not disappointed.

Last week, we saw father of the deceased, Mark Latimer, taken down ol’ Broadchurch nick for a spot of questioning. Having seemingly lied about his whereabouts on the night his son disappeared, claiming to have been with a ‘friend’ he’d rather conveniently forgotten the name of, later remembering it to be hapless colleague Nige Carter (Joe Sims), not to mention the discovery of blood on the family boat, he was fast inching his way up to number one on the list of suspects. At least, that is, until lead investigators DI Hardy (David Tennant) and DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) uncovered the truth. Unfortunately, however, so later did wife Beth (Jodie Whittaker).

Meanwhile, Susan (Pauline Quirke) was acting progressively more suspiciously, behaving in such a hostile way towards the police that one can’t help but be surprised that she hasn’t been imprisoned for something or other already, whilst Will Mellor’s bumbling psychic, Steve, became more and more desperate to give Beth his message from Danny. Which he duly did. In other local news, Arthur Darvill’s Reverend Paul Coates crossed over into please-let-me-help-I’m-having-a-bit-of-a-professional-crisis-over-here overdrive, being the only person in the know about Beth’s baby. The two super sleuths were also as persistent as ever, although with some actual motive behind Karen’s (Vicky McClure) behaviour revealed, and editor Maggie (Carolyn Pickles) remained as hostile to all outside creative influences as ever.

So yes, plot developments. Most striking, was the discovery of Mark’s not so very subtle affair with local hotelier Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay), it being reasonably obvious from the get go that he wasn’t really responsible for the death of his son.  He was also introduced as a suspect far too early to ever really be believable. We all know from our heritage of countless detective programmes and crime novels that the real killer is always the wild card that swoops in at the end – the one who was there all along but nobody ever really considered. That said, the sympathetic, totally un-shifty and sort of on the periphery and thus actually a little bit of a suspect award would currently have to go to Reverend Coates, were it to go to anyone. And  in these times of general and widespread Church distrust, I can’t help but feel that, not only would it be a tad cliché if Darvill’s character turned out to be the murderer, It would also be far too reminiscent of a game of Cluedo come to life for my liking.

Episode 3 also saw a little bit of character development between the two police detectives, Hardy and Miller, with Ellie inviting Tennant’s Hardy round for dinner, because that is ‘what people around here do’. Clearly unhappy about the fact, she wouldn’t take no for an answer, leaving us looking forward to a welcome bit of light relief in the form of a cosy family meal gate-crashed by the matriarch’s grumpy and not terribly popular boss. And in a TV series about the murder of a childhood, family breakdown and town suspicion- goodness knows we could do with it. Meanwhile Beth developed a feistiness towards her husband, admittedly born from mistrust, that it seems we may see more of in later episodes.

Sp things are moving along nicely down in Broadchurch. Much in the same way as you’d expect from almost any detective series, but nicely nonetheless.

Broadchurch is next on tomorrow night, 9pm, ITV1.

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/broadchurch

Jen

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NEWS FEATURE: Scott & Bailey

We won't keep you long, but just a brief heads-up: Series 2 of ITV1's Scott And Bailey draws to a close this evening, in about an hour, in fact.

Tonight's finale sees the return of Nasty Nick Savage, the slimeball corrupt barrister who tried to have Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones), murdered upon her discovery of the extent of his illegal proceedings. What will happen when they meet? Did Rachel assault him? Will anybody actually be in any real peril for longer than an episode? Well I could be wrong, but probably not.

That's the thing about Scott and Bailey. It is a bit predictable. The murderers are so obvious that the suspect may as well wander in with a bloody dagger shouting "yeah an' 'e deserved it an' all!", although of course in a more suitably Manchester accent.

The plotlines are predictable. It's all too often screamingly obvious which conversations are happening for the sole reason of setting up the next episode. Certain characters who I shall not name (Sean) may as well have 'I am a plot device' scrawled across their foreheads in permanent marker, and that's not to mention the overwhelming sense that every murder will inevitably involve a male misdemeanour along the lines of what he could or could not keep in his trousers at some juncture.

The female characters are unusually strong, granted. Amelia Bullmore's Godzilla, also known as DCI Gill Murray, is particularly fabulous, Pippa Haywood's DCI Julie Dodson comes a close second, and of course no discussion of Scott & Bailey would be complete without its Scott, Lesley Sharp's Janet.

But again, predictably, and sadly in this case, the men they are surrounded by, with the exception of the odd, well none, actually, are a collection of increasingly gormless twerps, barely able to string a coherent sentence togther let alone solve a Major Police Incident. Which is a shame, as there is little point having strong female characters when there is no one for them to satisfactorily outshine.

All this said, however, and I do feel I am being a tad critical, the show is, to put it blunty, bloody brilliant. It's predictability really doesn't matter a jot once you get more than a couple of episodes in, in fact, it's all part of the fun. All that really matters is Janet, Gill and Rachel, and what's happening in their personal lives is usually of far more interest than any actual crime storylines anyway.

All jibes and criticisms aside, Scott and Bailey is engaging, fun, and comes complete with a script so full of razor sharp one liners you'd think the producers' hands would be covered in Elastoplast by now.

And sometimes, that really is all you need.



Scott & Bailey finishes tonight, on ITV1 at 9pm.


- Jen