Suspects

A homegrown cop drama on Channel 5?  Unlikely but true.  What makes this slightly different to the usual product is that the camera is hand-held (or appears to be) and the cast are improvising.  This gives the story of an abducted toddler a fly-on-the-wall documentary feel which is at once believable and discomforting.  Believable because it unfolds much as you'd imagine a real case would, with no sharp and clever lines and no amazing coincidences that solve the case for them, but discomforting because this is fiction, peopled by actors, presented as vérité.  Yes, we know that describes all drama to an extent and yes, Lars von Trier fans will applaud, but is dramatising a case of child abduction in this way somewhat tasteless?

Each episode deals with a case in 45 minutes including breaks, which thankfully allows no time for the usual buddy banter or sexual undertones down at the station and relates well to the unspectacular nature of most real crimes.  Television drama now features ever-more baroque explanations and/or resolutions, from 'Midsomer Murders', where it was always a specialty, to 'Lewis' and 'Gently'.  Having a straightforward story makes this refreshing, but even to solve a case such as this in reality might take several days or weeks, so despite the shaky camera and the unrehearsed lines, this is still speeded up and played out for the screen.  Inevitable, yes, but then that's what makes the attempt to take the illusion one step further than the average drama so disconcerting.