Having made no effort to catch Jed Mercurio’s previous antiseptic
offerings ‘Bodies’ and ‘Cardiac Arrest’, we came to this with only the hope of
something less self-conscious than ‘The Shadow Line’ and less run-of-the-mill
than almost every other cop show.
The first of five episodes set up some nice
ambiguities. If none of the characters
are hugely sympathetic, so far, then they’re not outright bad-guy villains
either, just people making choices according to circumstance. Wonderful Lennie James is DCI Tony Gates,
whose soaring crime clear-up rate brings him under suspicion of cherry-picking
easy-win cases. DS Steve Arnott (Martin
Compston), whose moral compass points so truly to north he probably can’t sit
down, is assigned to Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) to
investigate. DC Kate Fleming (Vicky
McClure) meanwhile has succeeded in joining Gates’s team undercover. Whether guilty or innocent of the above,
Gates is compromised: he has a wife (Kate Ashfield) and children, as well as a
mistress (Gina McKee) who has dragged him into covering up her involvement in a
hit-and-run that may have been deliberate.
Nothing to dislike so far.
(Neil Morrissey as a sleazy cop may just be inspired casting.) The style is background to the script and
action, for once, and it’s a promising premise to look at the system of modern
policing as something that allows or even encourages foul play.
We didn't update this, but... we'll be watching series two. Not devoid of TWNHs but had us glued to our seats.
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